Post by herchenx on Jul 8, 2014 0:01:08 GMT -5
We have an 89 Mach 2 Fish/Ski boat that has a new engine (well 3 years old, but probably less than 50 hours on it)
We bought the boat very used and in pretty rough shape 4 years ago. The engine block was cracked due to the former owner not winterizing it properly. We had a new 5.7L Chevy racing engine put in and it is sweet (when I'm not cracking headers from stupidity) - but they didn't have a cover on it either and the seats and vinyl were bad enough we didn't bother to cover it either.
We were so busy last summer we never even put it in the water, never even de-winterized it! I brought it home last week and started through my punchlist of menchanical stuff, but the seats and all the vinyl was shot and we knew we needed to redo it.
We saved tax return money to pay to have it done, but when I was in the store getting oil change/outdrive lube supplies I saw some brand new lounge chairs for $250.
I impulse bought them and chatted with my wife about just doing the rest ourselves because the reclining seats were the part I was most intimidated by and we had those. I combed the city getting all the plywood, vinyl, foam, adhesive, staples, screws, fasteners etc. I thought I'd need and headed home.
Three winters ago I winterized it by myself. It was all great until I de-winterized it the next spring to find water spraying everywhere inside the boat due to me having not properly drained the headers. $750 and new headers was a disappointing way to start the season.
I got home Friday and went to work checking the engine out. I had to make another trip to the hardware store because I was missing some hose clamps from when I winterized it 2 years ago. I got it all together, put a battery in it, and was beyond happy to hear the engine come right to life and purr like a happy tiger. I checked it for water or oil leaks, and it was perfect. The oil had only seen about 25 hours on it, and when I checked it cold and warm there was no sign of water and no oil had leaked, so I opted to forego an oil change until later in the season. I did flush the outdrive and refilled it with new gear lube.
Here is a rundown of the interior issues:
The old motor cover with destroyed seat cushion:
Old reclining seats
Bow seating area, seats and backrests
Exposed engine and old side seats
We sat the new seats in and what an immediate difference!
I got my first mate to swab the deck, which lasted about 30 seconds before he quit (it was a miserably hot day admittedly) and I ended up taking over scrubbing off the fiberglass
Every cushion was ruined. Not only was the vinyl trashed, all the wood was rotten. I spent all day Saturday in the miserable heat of the garage - the wind was blowing the wrong way so I had no ventilation in spite of the open doors - and I disassembled all the cushions and traced them as best I could onto new plywood, cutting them all and test-fitting and sanding. I'd hoped we'd be able to seal them all Saturday as well, but we only had time to get started. I took everything out of the boat other than the trim along the inside and the tanning rest on the back, we can do those later.
We finished priming Sunday after a great afternoon in the park with friends and all our kids, letting the kids wade in the creek to cool off
I wanted to start making cushions, so we cut the foam (electric fillet knife works great for that!) and adhered it to the sealed plywood. I wanted to make one cushion start to finish just to make sure we were getting the process done right, but when I went to staple the 9/16" staples through the vinyl in the plywood, they would come up short, not going all the way in.
We have a decent stapler, but it didn't have the guts to push them all the way in.
I dashed to home Depot and bought a "contractor grade" electric because they were out of pneumatic. Came home, SAME RESULT!! I was fuming. My weekend was over and I didn't have a single cushion to show for it.
Well today I ran over to Harbor Freight and got a pneumatic stapler that looked like it would take the T50 staples, and paid less for it than for the electric one that I will try to return tomorrow. Once I got the pressure high enough from my compressor (I had it much lower for general use in the garage) it worked great!
Tonight it came together, finally!
My wife holding the seat cushion for the top of the motor housing:
And we finished all the seats before we knocked off due to a mosquito invasion
I don't sew, and I didn't want to put the little fancy bead and 90-degree sides on the cushions, so we are just "rounding" them off. They aren't as nice as what a pro would do, but the boat is 25 years old and we are saving about $1500 so we're thrilled.
I'll update this once we get more done, hopefully we can get it in the water in the next week or so, although I have a hounding trip that may slow things down a bit this weekend.
Thanks for reading!
We bought the boat very used and in pretty rough shape 4 years ago. The engine block was cracked due to the former owner not winterizing it properly. We had a new 5.7L Chevy racing engine put in and it is sweet (when I'm not cracking headers from stupidity) - but they didn't have a cover on it either and the seats and vinyl were bad enough we didn't bother to cover it either.
We were so busy last summer we never even put it in the water, never even de-winterized it! I brought it home last week and started through my punchlist of menchanical stuff, but the seats and all the vinyl was shot and we knew we needed to redo it.
We saved tax return money to pay to have it done, but when I was in the store getting oil change/outdrive lube supplies I saw some brand new lounge chairs for $250.
I impulse bought them and chatted with my wife about just doing the rest ourselves because the reclining seats were the part I was most intimidated by and we had those. I combed the city getting all the plywood, vinyl, foam, adhesive, staples, screws, fasteners etc. I thought I'd need and headed home.
Three winters ago I winterized it by myself. It was all great until I de-winterized it the next spring to find water spraying everywhere inside the boat due to me having not properly drained the headers. $750 and new headers was a disappointing way to start the season.
I got home Friday and went to work checking the engine out. I had to make another trip to the hardware store because I was missing some hose clamps from when I winterized it 2 years ago. I got it all together, put a battery in it, and was beyond happy to hear the engine come right to life and purr like a happy tiger. I checked it for water or oil leaks, and it was perfect. The oil had only seen about 25 hours on it, and when I checked it cold and warm there was no sign of water and no oil had leaked, so I opted to forego an oil change until later in the season. I did flush the outdrive and refilled it with new gear lube.
Here is a rundown of the interior issues:
The old motor cover with destroyed seat cushion:
Old reclining seats
Bow seating area, seats and backrests
Exposed engine and old side seats
We sat the new seats in and what an immediate difference!
I got my first mate to swab the deck, which lasted about 30 seconds before he quit (it was a miserably hot day admittedly) and I ended up taking over scrubbing off the fiberglass
Every cushion was ruined. Not only was the vinyl trashed, all the wood was rotten. I spent all day Saturday in the miserable heat of the garage - the wind was blowing the wrong way so I had no ventilation in spite of the open doors - and I disassembled all the cushions and traced them as best I could onto new plywood, cutting them all and test-fitting and sanding. I'd hoped we'd be able to seal them all Saturday as well, but we only had time to get started. I took everything out of the boat other than the trim along the inside and the tanning rest on the back, we can do those later.
We finished priming Sunday after a great afternoon in the park with friends and all our kids, letting the kids wade in the creek to cool off
I wanted to start making cushions, so we cut the foam (electric fillet knife works great for that!) and adhered it to the sealed plywood. I wanted to make one cushion start to finish just to make sure we were getting the process done right, but when I went to staple the 9/16" staples through the vinyl in the plywood, they would come up short, not going all the way in.
We have a decent stapler, but it didn't have the guts to push them all the way in.
I dashed to home Depot and bought a "contractor grade" electric because they were out of pneumatic. Came home, SAME RESULT!! I was fuming. My weekend was over and I didn't have a single cushion to show for it.
Well today I ran over to Harbor Freight and got a pneumatic stapler that looked like it would take the T50 staples, and paid less for it than for the electric one that I will try to return tomorrow. Once I got the pressure high enough from my compressor (I had it much lower for general use in the garage) it worked great!
Tonight it came together, finally!
My wife holding the seat cushion for the top of the motor housing:
And we finished all the seats before we knocked off due to a mosquito invasion
I don't sew, and I didn't want to put the little fancy bead and 90-degree sides on the cushions, so we are just "rounding" them off. They aren't as nice as what a pro would do, but the boat is 25 years old and we are saving about $1500 so we're thrilled.
I'll update this once we get more done, hopefully we can get it in the water in the next week or so, although I have a hounding trip that may slow things down a bit this weekend.
Thanks for reading!
