TOPIC: 1973 Century Resorter 16 Restore

63 Sabre wrote: can't view your video. locked out. you have to open it up for public.

Sorry about that, I just moved my videos to YouTube after Photobucket wouldn't let me add any more videos to my account..

It should work now..

Last weekend, while I was running the engine, I was noticing that it didn't seem to be moving as much water thru the cooling system as it should.. I pulled the water pump and tore it down, the same hack that "fixed" the oil filter adapter must have worked on the water pump too.. Instead of replacing a worn shaft seal, it got a glob of silicone smeared around the shaft to seal it up.. It had a set of fairly new impellers but the cams, wear plate, and shaft are wore smooth slap out along with the shaft bearing and support bushing..

Also was having some wild temp swings from side to side on the manifolds, looking in the service manual, I came across a service bulletin that required the installation of restrictors in the elbow inlets.. So I pulled the elbows and sent them to the machine shop earlier in the week to have a counterbore machined around the upper water passage.. The counterbore will locate a restrictor washer that will force more water thru the manifold before sending it to the engine and then back to the elbows..


Picked up my elbows from the machine shop this afternoon, they did a jam up job on milling the counterbore for the restrictor washers..

100_2896 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

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Here's a few pics of the water pump carnage.. The poor shaft and wear plate took it in the shorts when someone took what looks like a cut-off wheel to a stuck impeller.. Then to add insult to injury, they replaced the original stainless impeller keys with mild steel keys, the keys had almost rusted completely away.. I sure hope that the previous owner didn't get hosed too bad for this "quality" workmanship..

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The "major" repair kit, new shaft, and a pair of new impeller keys will be here next week..

Hopefully with a fresh rebuilt water pump and the restrictors in the manifolds, cooling system temps should stabilize..

Youch that shaft is in bad shape for sure. Good thing you found it now.

Bob

Good thing you found that problem before disaster struck on the water at high speed. All your work would have gone up in smoke. As far as the previous owner is concerned I consider that not all the shoddy work can be blamed on the person. Some just do not have the resources, money, knowledge and ability that is available to others. If the person really enjoyed being on the water (and who can't blame them) things are done whether good or bad to get where you're going. If it takes a tube of RTV to get through a day than go for it. But.....knowing that things like that were done and while selling the boat they should let the buyer know that there are shade tree fixes and things need to be dealt with. I carry a tube of silicone, and a roll of duct tape in a small tool box in my boats all the time.
The motor sounds sweet, 'specially love that gurgling sound that just cannot be duplicated by anything else. Of course those 3" straight tail pipes help somewhat.

Check this out after a I did a rebuild of a AMC 327 that was in my Century Sabre.

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube.+sabre+on+the+frozen+tundra&view=detail&mid=027326708A8BDAB50C66027326708A8BDAB50C66&FORM=VIRE

Waterwings wrote: Touch that shaft is in bad shape for sure. Good thing you found it now.

Bob

Yeah, that shaft is something else ain't it?? If it wasn't totally worn out from having been spun inside a seized bearing at some point in the past and from a heavily worn rear bushing, I would have just let it slide since the gashes cut in it really wouldn't effect it's performance or the fit of the impeller hub.. The repair kit, shaft, and two keys came up to $342 including shipping, that's still close to $400 cheaper than the best price I could find on a NEW complete Sherwood D60 pump..

63 Sabre wrote: Good thing you found that problem before disaster struck on the water at high speed. All your work would have gone up in smoke. As far as the previous owner is concerned I consider that not all the shoddy work can be blamed on the person. Some just do not have the resources, money, knowledge and ability that is available to others. If the person really enjoyed being on the water (and who can't blame them) things are done whether good or bad to get where you're going. If it takes a tube of RTV to get through a day than go for it. But.....knowing that things like that were done and while selling the boat they should let the buyer know that there are shade tree fixes and things need to be dealt with. I carry a tube of silicone, and a roll of duct tape in a small tool box in my boats all the time.
The motor sounds sweet, 'specially love that gurgling sound that just cannot be duplicated by anything else. Of course those 3" straight tail pipes help somewhat.

The boat's previous owner wasn't one to get any grease under his fingernails, he always took the boat to various marine repair shops for all of it's routine maintenance or repairs.. I think most of the hack repairs done to this engine were done later in it's life when finding knowledgeable Chrysler inboard techs began to get difficult after Chrysler Marine was shut down as a result of Chrysler's first Government bailout..

This little 318 has a wonderful sound even breathing thru a set of mufflers so my neighbors wouldn't come after me with pitchforks.. When it goes back in the boat, it will be sans mufflers exactly like Century installed it.. I'm really surprised at how much "burble" it has in the exhaust note given how mild the cam grind is.. The stock cam grind isn't anything spectacular (Duration - 252* In./ 256* Ex., Lift - .373 In./.400 Ex.), it's about what you'd find in the 318 in grandma's 1972 Dart..

63 Sabre wrote: Check this out after a I did a rebuild of a AMC 327 that was in my Century Sabre.

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube.+sabre+on+the+frozen+tundra&view=detail&mid=027326708A8BDAB50C66027326708A8BDAB50C66&FORM=VIRE

SWEET!!!!

Hopefully my little Resorter will get to make some sweet music on the water this year..

Cool video Cal thanks.

John, yeah I'm hoping to get a nice burble out of the 350 when I'm done. I want it close to 300hp if possible. It's going to have 76cc heads I wanted lower but it was suggested not too. The cam is an erson 224 int 224 ext .450 int lift .460 ext lift and should be good to 5000rpm. I was going to put a 600cfm Edelbrock with a Performer EPS intake on it but now I'm thinking of spending the extra money and getting the Holley 650 and put it on the Performer.

Bob

Waterwings wrote: Cool video Cal thanks.

John, yeah I'm hoping to get a nice burble out of the 350 when I'm done. I want it close to 300hp if possible. It's going to have 76cc heads I wanted lower but it was suggested not too. The cam is an erson 224 int 224 ext .450 int lift .460 ext lift and should be good to 5000rpm. I was going to put a 600cfm Edelbrock with a Performer EPS intake on it but now I'm thinking of spending the extra money and getting the Holley 650 and put it on the Performer.

Bob

After going back to your build thread and seeing pics of your engine, your probably gonna be limited on the amount of power you can make with that "flywheel forward" setup.. The weak link is the transmission coupler that is pressed on the front of the crankshaft and the very small damper that fits it.. The strongest "production" flywheel forward 350's were the Chris Craft 350Q's at 235 HP because of the limitations of how much horsepower you can transfer thru the crank snout and that small coupler & damper.. The conventional, flywheel aft 350K models were rated at 250 HP because the flywheel end of the crankshaft is designed to handle the full output of the engine..

Also when choosing a camshaft for a marine engine, pay close attention to how much valve overlap it has.. True "marine" camshafts have very little overlap to prevent reversion in the exhaust system that can cause spent cooling water to be sucked back in to the manifolds during low speed operation.. This is even more critical if you're running "center riser" manifolds because they tend to have a very short distance from the exhaust outlet to where the cooling water is dumped into the exhaust stream..

As far as carbs & intakes go, I've had good luck with the basic Edelbrock Performer intake on 350's.. It's not any taller than the OEM cast iron intake, so there's no clearance issues under hatches or motor boxes (this helps a LOT if you need to use a wedge plate to level out the carburetor), but it breathes a lot better than the OEM intake.. Edelbrock also makes a "marine" Performer intake that has a brass liner cast inside of the water passages so it can be used on raw water cooled engines used in salt water.. For the RPM ranges that a 350 Chevy inboard operates at, the Edelbrock 1409 Marine Performer 600 CFM carburetor is more than adequate.. I'm running a Performer 600 sitting on top of a basic Performer intake on the 383 stroker in my Chris Craft and it has no problem making 340 HP at 4400 RPM.. I've never been a fan of Holley carbs mostly due to the fact that they seem to never hold a tune, they always seem to require frequent adjustments to keep them at peak performance.. Every Edelbrock Performer I've installed has been "set it and forget it"..

Yeah crap I keep forgetting about it being power off the snout. For some reason I keep focusing on the other stuff right now. LOL Yeah good point and I think that's why we didn't press with 68cc heads now that I think about it.

The cam is actually pretty much the same grind as the 350 Mercruiser more or less so I should be good there.

Thanks for the info on the Edelbrock good to know. I'll stick with the 1409 I was looking at in the first pace then. I know about the marine intake but I'm trying to stay cheap and at the price of the normal one, buy the time it would ever really get eaten through I could buy another an still be ahead technically. Plus I plan on using Salt Away any time I run in brackish/salt water.

Bob

Waterwings wrote: Yeah crap I keep forgetting about it being power off the snout. For some reason I keep focusing on the other stuff right now. LOL Yeah good point and I think that's why we didn't press with 68cc heads now that I think about it.

The cam is actually pretty much the same grind as the 350 Mercruiser more or less so I should be good there.

Thanks for the info on the Edelbrock good to know. I'll stick with the 1409 I was looking at in the first pace then. I know about the marine intake but I'm trying to stay cheap and at the price of the normal one, buy the time it would ever really get eaten through I could buy another an still be ahead technically. Plus I plan on using Salt Away any time I run in brackish/salt water.

Bob

Bob,

Between you, me & the gate post, the Performer intake on my 383 is just the standard automotive version.. It's been on that engine since I first built it over 15 years ago, it's been run in saltwater numerous times with nothing more than flushing it on a garden hose after every trip.. When I tore it down back in 2011 to replace the rotted out block, the intake was no worse for wear.. When I reassembled the engine, I fitted a FWC kit so it has antifreeze cooling the block & heads now, that intake will probably wear the engine out now..

Marine engines are better off staying low compression to stave off detonation under load.. Running 68cc heads with flattop pistons will result in a compression ratio high enough that detonation will be a constant risk unless you want to feed it 100+ octane fuel all the time or massive amounts of octane boosters.. My 383 is running 76cc heads with 1.94 intakes and 1.600 exhaust valves paired with Sealed Power H-859-CP Hypereutectic, .110 dished, stroker pistons.. The final compression ratio ended up around 8.8:1 and it will live on 87 octane pump swill with no problem.. The dizzy is a Mallory Unilite marine that has been set up to deliver 18 degrees of advance "all in" by 2800 RPM, with a 10 degree initial, total advance is a very conservative 28 degrees.. It's camshaft is a "stock" replacement reverse rotation 305/350 cam that I had reground to 270 duration, and offset ground to increase lift by .100.. It has a bit of "lope" at idle and pulls like a locomotive from idle all the way to 4000 RPM.. I kept the build very conservative because my old Catalina Express weighs about 6500# and has a 1:1 direct drive transmission that loads the engine pretty hard.. Swinging a 13x11 FOUR blade cupped ski boat prop top speed is 33MPH @ 4100 RPM and will cruise at 26MPH @ 3000 RPM burning 9 GPH..

Here's a video of it's test run after replacing the block and adding the FWC system..

Got up early this morning and finished up the electrical panel for the little Mopar.. Yesterday I got the holes for the circuit breakers drilled & deburred, primed and painted the panel.. This morning I finished up the electrical feeds to the breakers and mounted them in the panel before mounting it to the engine.. I deviated from the original Chrysler setup in the interest of safety since Chrysler didn't originally install circuit protection on these engines until '75.. The 20 amp breaker is the feed to the instrument panel and the 40 amp is located in the alternator output..

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The water pump parts should be here Wednesday so I can get the pump rebuilt and back on the engine..

Yesterday I pulled the engine wire harness that connects the engine to the instrument panel so I could give it a good going over.. The 45 year old tape it was wrapped with was literally falling off of it from years of laying in an oil soaked bilge.. I stripped the harness bare, gave it a good scrubbing with Simple Green and warm water and hung it up to dry.. When I got home this afternoon, I checked out each individual wire from one end to the other and checked resistance with an ohmmeter.. After it got a clean bill of health, I broke out a fresh roll of Scotch Super 33+ electrical tape and rewrapped the harness so its ready to go back in the boat before the engine is installed..

Here's the harness hanging in the garage drying out after it's degreasing..

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And a couple of pics after being rewrapped and connected to the engine to recheck all the circuits..

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So what's you're technique for getting such a smooth, tight wrap over the entire harness? It looks better than factory. I've taken to using plastic wire loom on most stuff. It doesn't create the sticky nasty mess over time that tape can, and it's easier to add/fix/change stuff in the harness. Of course, none of my taped projects ever turned out looking THAT nice either.

ultraclyde wrote: So what's you're technique for getting such a smooth, tight wrap over the entire harness? It looks better than factory. I've taken to using plastic wire loom on most stuff. It doesn't create the sticky nasty mess over time that tape can, and it's easier to add/fix/change stuff in the harness. Of course, none of my taped projects ever turned out looking THAT nice either.

The main thing to getting a tight wrap on a harness is being able to keep a steady tension on the harness while it's being wrapped.. This can either be done with a helper holding the harness taut, or by clamping one end of the harness to something secure and pulling it taut as you wrap it.. I also slightly stretch the tape as I'm wrapping the harness, it helps the tape pull down tightly around the harness..

I generally wrap harnesses that I know won't have any other circuits added at a later date.. Since this was just the engine harness that only handles the engine's circuits between the engine and instrument panel, I decided to just rewrap it like it was originally.. The boat has a separate harness that handles all the "boat" circuits for the navigation lights, bilge blower, horn, fuel gauge, and bilge pump.. It needs to be pulled and checked, and I'll probably wrap it with plastic wire loom to make it easier to add wiring for a stereo & depth sounder as the boat gets reassembled..

Excellent!!!!

Bob

Well, a little box full of expensive ($342) water pump parts showed up this afternoon.. I got the water pump assembled and mounted back on the engine.. Here's a few pics of the pump assembly.. Kinda short on pics as this pump was taking both hands to keep all the pieces in place during reassembly..

Contents of the small box of "gold"..

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I'd say that the old original cams were just about worn out!!

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After pressing the bearing on the new shaft and pressing the shaft into the pump housing, I installed the new shaft seal and retainer ring.. Once that was done it was time to install the cams in the housings.. The cams got a thin coat of Permatex sealant on the back side and a bit on the screws before the were mounted in their housings..

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After installing the cams, the front impeller was installed along with a gasket and the new wear plate.. After installing the rear impeller in the rear housing a new gasket was placed on the wear plate before installing the rear housing on the pump..

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I'll do a test run this weekend to see how the engine temps are doing after the pump rebuild and installing the restrictors in the elbows.. I'll shoot another video and check engine temps with an IR thermometer..

Got to make a little thunder this afternoon, I rolled the little Mopar out in the daylight for the first time for another test run.. I set up the exhaust exactly as it will be installed in the boat, in other words, NO MUFFLERS.. I'd say the water pump rebuild and service bulletin mods cured the uneven manifold cooling issue, I ran it over a two hour period, shutting it down and restarting it a few times.. Both manifolds stayed steady between 125-130 degrees, and the temp of the spent cooling water exiting the exhaust evened out at 95-100 degrees.. Cooling flow is substantially improved after rebuilding the water pump, it's moving at least 25-30% more water thru the cooling system than it was on the first test runs..

And now what you've been waiting for.... A little sweet Mopar music and the sweet smell of a healthy V-8 without any emission controls!!

Outstanding John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love that V-8 sound!!!!!!!!!!

Bob

Waterwings wrote: Outstanding John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love that V-8 sound!!!!!!!!!!

Bob

Thanks Bob!!

I'm hoping to be able to hear it bark in the boat at least by the end of summer.. I'm gonna try to get all the materials rounded up this week so I can get started on replacing the floor in the boat and building a new set of engine beds.. The original plywood engine beds that sit on top of the stringers have been crushed from the weight of the engine over all these years and have begun to delaminate..

Yeah never was a fan of the plywood.

Bob

Waterwings wrote: Yeah never was a fan of the plywood.

Bob

I'm not really a fan either, but I figured the original ones lasted 44 years before needing replacement.. The new plywood replacements are gonna be saturated with CPES before painting & installation, so they should last at least another 44 years.. By that time, replacing them will be a job for the boat's next owner..

Yep that'll work.

Bob

Between work and other projects around the house, not too much progress got made on the little Century this week.. I did manage to get the new engine beds cut and drilled for the lag bolts.. Gonna try to mix up a batch of CPES this weekend to soak them with before they get a coat of red bilge paint..

The front beds were in pretty decent shape, only the thin plywood shim on top of the beds needed replacement..

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The rear beds were in a lot worse shape, they were crushed down from the weight of the engine sitting on them for over 40 years.. They also had a bit of dry rot creeping thru them from water that drips from the top hatch of the motor box.. I had a scrap of some 3/4" marine plywood that was big enough to cut the two main parts of the beds, the original ones Century installed were just cut from regular exterior grade plywood sheathing..

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I figure the marine plywood saturated with CPES will definitely last longer than the painted plywood Century installed..

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I've got a box of electrical components ordered (new fuse block, & switches) that should be here early next week.. Once it gets here, I can get all the little nit-pick electrical work done in the boat before I start ripping up the old floor to replace it.. Gotta get all the tedious underdash work done before our weather starts getting too hot..

The doggone spring "honey=do" list keeps getting in the way of real work.
Each day gets you closer to the dock. Nice work.

63 Sabre wrote: The doggone spring "honey=do" list keeps getting in the way of real work.
Each day gets you closer to the dock. Nice work.

Thanks!

It's not so much a "honey-do" list as much as it's all the "end of month" bookkeeping that has to be done when you're self-employed in the pool service business.. A good portion of my evenings over the past week have been spent in the office getting my monthly statements ready to send to my 50 weekly service customers..

I also have several "customers" from my participation on a few of the forums that cater to the fiberglass Casita travel trailers.. Part of last weekend was lost to doing some minor appliance repairs, a brake job and bearing repack on one of my local Casita customers' trailers.. The other part of the weekend was lost to installing an auxiliary fuse block in a neighbor's "new" fishing boat, along with some 12VDC outlets and a dash mounted USB charger for his various handheld electronics.. Those two little side jobs pumped up the little Century's restoration fund by just over $700..

Took advantage of some unseasonably cool weather we've had the past two weekends to clean up and update the little Resorter's electrical system.. It got a fresh set of switches for all the main boat circuits along with a new 12 gang fuse block with integral ground bus..

Our cool weather made it bearable to lay under the dash for several hours cleaning up the rat's nest of wiring behind the instrument panel..

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I also pulled all the gauges and buffed & polished the bezels and lenses before re-connecting all the wiring..

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The new fuse panel will make adding extra electronic devices much easier, as I now have a few extra slots for adding a stereo, courtesy lights under the gunwales, and an extra bilge pump..

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Also got all the harnesses that run to the rear of the boat re-secured under the gunwales and under the rear deck..

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Pulled the glovebox liner out, added some reinforcements and an extra support under the dash so I could mount a marine stereo with iPod dock in it's back panel.. I didn't want to hack up the dash for a modern stereo that would look out of place with all the original instruments..

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Then this afternoon I broke out the buffer and the Meguiar's and buffed, polished and waxed the hull.. Then it was time to sit up in the boat with a cocktail and a cigar to watch a beautiful sunset.. Next weekend the decks will get a buff, polish, and wax..

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Got my materials list together and will be rounding up all the stuff this week so I can get started on replacing the floors along with rebuilding some of the interior furniture..

That is a full days work in anyone's book. You deserve the tottie or two or three. Kick back and enjoy the sunset. Now you can spend Monday nursing a sore back.
I see someone photobombed one of the pics, big ole' haybelly got in there somewhere.
Nice job of getting the essentials cleaned up.

63 Sabre wrote: That is a full days work in anyone's book. You deserve the tottie or two or three. Kick back and enjoy the sunset. Now you can spend Monday nursing a sore back.
I see someone photobombed one of the pics, big ole' haybelly got in there somewhere.
Nice job of getting the essentials cleaned up.

Working under the dash wasn't too bad on the back, I made a backrest from some scrap plywood and padded it with a couple Harbor Freight moving blankets.. It was like laying in a comfy recliner while working under the dash and rear deck..

Yeah, sorry about the belly sneaking in that pic, I already had the boat strapped down on the trailer so I could take it back to the storage unit and I was too lazy to try to crawl under the gunwale strap to get a shot under the rear deck..

Yeah that's a hell of a hit list to get done any day, well done!

Bob

Well guys, a good portion of the electrical work got done the previous weekend, then I had to wait for the big brown truck to bring my new fuse panel and switches.. I got up early this past Sunday and hit it before sunup and finished up the electrical while the outside temps were still in the low 60's.. Then later in the afternoon it got backed up in the middle of the front yard under the shade of my huge live oak, so I could compound, polish, & wax the hull..

I was really surprised at how well the gloss came back up on the original gelcoat, other than a few "whiskey" dings it's picked up over the decades it's almost as glossy as a new boat.. I want to get the top decks done next weekend and get at least two coats of wax on them before I start replacing the floor.. A heavy coat of wax will make any accidental resin splatters a lot easier to clean up..

The stereo is just mounted, I still have to figure out where I'm gonna mount a pair of speakers without hacking any holes in the boat and run the speaker wiring to those locations.. I'm leaning toward a set of Poly Planar marine box speakers and see how they'll sound being mounted up under the dash or the gunwales.. Also have to pick up an 8-gang plug to wire up the stereo into the boat's electrical system..

Looks like your plate is still half full. I've only been to TX once a few years back, did the river walk thing in San Antonio. Beautiful area. It would be nice to have some temps in the 60's for awhile. Still getting freezing temps at night. Live oak?? does that mean you have lots of dead ones around???
If you need some shade trees you can come to my place and take a few. Here's a shot off my back deck this morning at sunup.
You're going to have some good times in that runner to enjoy all the effort.

My "punch list" for the little Resorter is still pretty long, I still have to peel up the old rotted plywood floor and replace it.. The rear seat cushion base has a bad case of dry rot and has to be rebuilt, it was still in good enough shape to use it for patterns to cut all the new parts.. The fuel tank platform needs a new set of "feet" to replace the ones that were rotted from being screwed down on top of the original carpet flooring.. The front seat backrest needs a new plywood back made as the top and corners are rotted from the foam holding water.. I have a full weekend manning the table saw just to get all the pieces cut before I start treating all the new wood parts with CPES before assembly..

Once all that is behind me, I get to start reinstalling all the engine systems in the boat (gauge harness, main battery switch and cables, fuel lines/filters, water intake line and strainer, and exhaust system), the engine will probably be the last thing to be installed before the seats go back in..

Live oaks are pretty common in SE Texas, they don't lose their leaves in the winter, they go thru "releaf" in February/March and sprout new leaves as fast as the old ones are dropped.. Their wood also makes some damn tasty BBQ!!

Here's a pic of it from about ten years ago, it's about half again bigger now than it was in the pic.. It completely shades the entire front yard, it comes in handy for some shade for waxing the trucks and now the little Resorter..

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Figured I'd post a quick update...

I've been busy making sawdust for the last several evenings.. I managed to get a new base built for the rear seat cushion, cut a new back for the front seat backrest and made a new set of feet for the fuel tank platform.. Kinda in a lull right now waiting on some more supplies to come in, got a gallon of Century mahogany bilge paint and two gallons of CPES on the way in so I can seal & paint all the new interior parts..

I used the last of my CPES that I had on hand to seal all the parts of the new rear seat base before assembling it the other night.. I figure this one might outlast the boat since I assembled it with stainless crown staples instead of the plain mild steel ones that Century used on the original one..

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All the parts for the front seat backrest awaiting a fresh batch of CPES before assembly..

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And the new "feet" for the fuel tank platform, had to break out the taper jig to dupe these rascals..

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Once I get my fresh set of CPES in and seal all the new parts, everything will get assembled then get two coats of the mahogany bilge paint sprayed on it..

Excellent, plugging right along.

Bob

Waterwings wrote: Excellent, plugging right along.

Bob

Thanks Bob!!

Luckily, most of the original parts that were rotted were still in decent enough shape to be able to take accurate measurements to make their replacements.. There were a few parts that had enough rot damage that I just had to make an "educated" guess on some of the measurements so I could duplicate the parts, some of those will get a few test fits in the boat along with a few "adjustments" before getting painted..

Now if I can just get past Memorial Day weekend, my day job will give me a bit of a break so I can get a few good licks in on replacing the floor in the boat before our really hot weather settles in..

Good progress. Those adjustments are what I call "field engineering". Gotta put the part in place and then make those minor changes that the designers say should fit.

63 Sabre wrote: Good progress. Those adjustments are what I call "field engineering". Gotta put the part in place and then make those minor changes that the designers say should fit.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I'm all too familiar with having to perform "field modifications" to make parts fit.. I've had plenty of practice from being in the pool maintenance & repair business for over 30 years.. At least once a day I end up having to tweak an OEM replacement part in order to make it work or fit properly, or in the cases where parts are NLA, adapting parts from another manufacturer's equipment..

Not too much progress to report, work has been keeping me tied to the whipping post and not allowing for much "Quality Boat Time".. Hopefully I'll be able to get a pile of parts painted this weekend as we're gonna have some great painting weather.. All the little odds & ends for the interior are cut or built, coated with CPES, and waiting on a couple coats of mahogany bilge paint..

Once all this little stuff is out of the way, the floor replacement will be the only thing left to replace before reassembling the boat..