my day off,,,, so i tinkered wit the tinny

[choppa]

on those rare days where i get to have off,,, mrs choppa normally has plans in place that have been set for a month or so,,,, BUT today was my day,,,, with the tinny,,,,, and its no wher near done yet,,,, so i'll add more as it progresses

first off,,,,, clean it down,,,, scour the paint,,,, uh oh,,, the transom was the worse area t be found,,, so out with the wire brush and scourer once more

[choppa]

then came the stickers,,,,,, only to discover the prior owner had literally painted arond them,,,,, they were stuck to he original ally

off to the hardware we go,,,,, acetone,,,, mrs choppa wont let me use her nail polish remover

[choppa]

off with the top,,,,(then i put it back on again to kep my ""chemicals"" otta the sun,,,,,, (1 part coke/2parts johnnie)

and a generous coat of etch pro

[choppa]

ummmmmmmm,,, whats this i hear you say,,,,

i had this premade during the past week,,,,, its ""part 1"" of a special replacement hard top thats being made now

[choppa]

DON'T YA LOVE BLACK????????

the spreader bar between the rod holders was designed to this shape,,, it will hold an interior light,,, switchboard,,, and a cubby hole for valuables,,, the top is flat to accomadate anchor light,,, aerials

[choppa]

and a ""nervous 5 seconds"" to see if i got the measurements right followed

[choppa]

the interior of the panel has plans to hold a shelf for sounder/gps/tele,,,,on one side,,, and shelves and a ""photo album"" panel to hold maps,,, (this will make more sense onc its done and pics are posted)

exterior will be used for rego and stickers,,,,,,,,,

[Deiter]

Geez Choppa, looks like you are going to mount a big fan in there, ala one of those swamp boats in 'Grizzly Adams".

As long it is functional....

Damo

[shayned]

Well done, gives it a nice miami vice drug running street cred type of look now.;)

[choppa]

the hard cover locks onto this rear piece and has 2 supports in the bow area,,, this takes away the prior tangle of piping that restricted fishing,,,, it will also have a sliding middle section to cover the bow,,, (shade) but more importantly will also have a ""sunroof"" slide to enable access to the top to stow witches hats/floats etc etc,,, instead of in the boat,,

under the hard cover additional,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, oh just wait and see,,,, it'll hopefully be finished by sunday and i'll post pics then,,,

once its altogether,,,, off to the paint shop,,,,

the interior has MAJOR plans drawn up,,,,, but first things first,,,

also the motor is definitely going,,,, we're still bouncing ideas around on this

all in all though,,,from 8ish this morning,,, til 3 this arvo,,,,, from this to this,,

not bad

choppa

[buhky62]

Good transformation choppa its a totaly different look now mate keep us up to date ....BOB

[Blackened]

G'day

Bloody hell chop, looks like you got your inspiration from the stealth bomber!! I like it!

Dave

[kingtin]

Looks like the drive is getting a makeover as well choppa ;D

By the way, I finally got round to washing the deckie's Paj (yes, it's taken me that long) ::) and that stuff you gave me for the bumpers did a great job..........cheers mate :D

Got a shock when I opened the bottle though, it looked like gel toothpaste. I'm still trying to figure out how a blue gel can turn something black ?

kev

[Cheech]

LOL with your 2 pack mix.

[Mercury16]

Now to complete the blackness, add a nice black merc to the back! ;)
good job mate, looks good
Peter

[Tangles]

Crickey Choppa Poppa,

Whose been looking at too many Batman movies;D , you could always leave it as is, love it, I just want to know how many spotties you have planned for this thing? and how big is the Ausfish sticker going to be,, cant wait to see how it turns out, after all mate you have to match your 4bie

cheers
Mike

[Blackened]

G'day

Hey choppa..... I think i've worked you out.

It's black so you can run in hundreds of barra fingerling in the dead of night so you can keep this conspiracy going!!!!

Dave

[finga]

Looking good mate. I feel a trip north may be in order just to have a sticky beak at the activities :)
PM me when you get another day off to work on the tinny and I'll see if I can get Wally over the humby back bridge.
:)

[sharkymark2]

Just have to add the radar dome up there and you might get a job with immigration;D

[reidy_g]

i thought it was a rear spoiler to keep the ass in the water at break-neck speed! ;D ;D Nice one.

[Wahoo]

well i think all looks good 8-)

Daz

[bushbeachboy]

I wonder how it would go with a mid-mounted 350 Chev?

[haggis]

hey choppa wont be hard to miss .
good job .
cheers fae haggis .................

[choppa]

well another day,,,,, more work on the tinny,,,

funny though,,, i could swear this dog was a golden color when we got him?????

[choppa]

anyhow,,, the boat got a nice coating of black midnight just to match,,,,

[choppa]

navigation and anchor light attached,,,, a couple of stickers to get it started,,,, then a quick break before we scoured (once more ) the inner and coated this in a spasmodic etch coat for the glue to adhere too

[choppa]

mrs choppa nearly died of fright when i got the wet 'n dry vacuum out,,,,,, she thought i was gunna do the lounge room,,,,,,,,,, nahhhhhhh

the boat came with a transducer attachment but it was too small for the new one,,,,, SURPRISE here,,, the 2 staino screws holding it on fell out in my hand when i turned em no more than a quarter,,,,, so much for water tight,,,,,

put the new bracket on,,,,, and now to find a home for the 375 yards of cord,,,,

i'm still thinking of cutting/splicing this although i've been advised not too

[choppa]

had a visitor interupt proceedings at this point,,, but i managed to fit the ally brackets to the rear of the anchor well,,, and to the front of the middle seat,,,, we then cut the NEW carpet to shape for the front section,,,,, and at around 3ish i decided to GLUE the middle seat section of carpet on,,,,

make note to oneself,,,,,,, when directions on can say,,,,, very strong adhesive avoid contact with skin,,,,, it means ""very strong"",,,, i'm still picking bits off,,

didn't get pics of this part as camera was inadvertantly left on and battery went flat,,,, but i should have roof and floor sections to fit in the next few days so i'll post then,,,

another day when i could'a been fishn,,,,,,,,,,,

choppa

[Raesen]

Choppa

Just get the butler "Alfred" to finish it off !!! :)

Looks great well done and congrats.

Cheers
pete

[shano]

what is the top made from? and how much did it cost to get made up? cheers shano.

[choppa]

shano,,, top is all ally,,, in the attached pic you can see part of it hiding behind the brick pillar prior to painting,,,

the extenable roof will lock onto this and have 2 supports towards the bow,,,

sunroof style slide inner and outer will take care of the ""gap"" over the nose area,,

cost,,, dunno yet,,,, a customer of mine is doing all work,,,,,, including a few pieces that are going under the roof lining,,,,

choppa

[shano]

nice work!

[mini696]

Since the paint wont be in the water for extended periods, do yo uhave to use marine paint, or can you use normal automotive paint?

[choppa]

mini,,, i had the same query for the paint doctor,,,, expecting him to say ""marine"" all the way,,,

problem was the paint work originally was ""enamel"",,,,,, straight from the tin so to say

he had a tinny painted in black midnight,,, so after i had a look at it and couldn't see any worse for wear,, i decided to give it a go,,,,

preparation is the key i think,,, heaps of etch pro was used,,, and a small amount of hardner added to the final coat (coats)

theres still one more cover to go on,,, but i'm hoping (pleeeeeeease god) to have all bits n pieces for the roof done by tomorrow to enable fitting on saturday (don't tell the boss where i'll be,,, in the workshop,,,) THEN,,,, on the water saturday

then its just the finer bits and last THE decision on what to do with the motor (motors) transplant,,,,,,,,,,,

choppa

[Heath]

Holey SHIT! It's batman! :)

[Argle]

Holy spot x's Batchop! Thats one wild looking machine! Whats this "motors" talk? A twin rig tinny maybe? One to push the boat and one to power the spotties?;D
Looks cool mate keep the pics coming!

Cheers and Beers
Scott

[choppa]

i'm getting rally peeved here,,,, so i'll throw an open question

one of which i've had a lot off ,,,,yeh,,,dunno,,,why would you do that,,, can't be done,,, (and the list goes on,,,and on )

simply put,,, you have an outboard thats tiller controlled,,,

now place another beside it,,

is there SOMEONE OUT THERE,,, that can explain why you can't ""join"" them together to form twin motors

reason why i ask,,, electric start 9-15 hp motors come with tiller control

throttle and steering can remain tiller,,, thats what i prefer due to room issues,,, but i'm open to any suggestions

as a passing comment,,, there was a mag i read on one of my many stays in the RBWH,, that had a pic of a Merc twin powered tinny in 15hp tiller controlled,,, thats where my idea came from to do this update to the motor,,,,

all the ""experts"" who i've bounced this off at Merc/Yamaha/Johnson say otherwise

outboard jet is looking to be the flavour of the moment

choppa

[tunaticer]

It is certainly doable just not done is all. I know about 20 yrs ago Noel Stanaway's brother used to fish Deep Tempest in a banana boat dory with twin 15hp yams pushing it lazily along. I didn't say he was a wise man but he did it almost every weekend in winter heading out from Scarborough and returning bailing out water to keep afloat with all the fish he used to catch. We referred to him as Halfway instead of Stanaway cuz we would see him halfway accross the bay either coming in or going out. That and thinking he was a halfw*t for going out wide in that boat.

But back to the main story it is possible to link the two motors to steer and to work the throttle with the one tiller handle, it's just a matter of engineering it and maybe a steering damper too.

Jack.

[choppa]

jack,,, thanks for the vote of confidence,,,, the steering is (i believe) the easy part,,,, with a ""rod"" connecting both motors,,,,

i've been told,,, 18" is the preffered distance between centres,,, 've been told that you can get (import USA) a tiller control that allows gearbox/throttle control for a dual setup,,,

so all the prelimary stuff is positive,,,, then the ""experts" say,,,, nah,, waste of time considering it,,, can't be done???????????

i'm thinking opposite,,,, has to be a way thats simple and easy,,,,i've even offered a cash settlement on 2 new motors to the first to raise there hand and say,,, yep,,,can fit it next tuesday,,

PODS are the key,,,, once i sort out the transom upgrade cost to have them attached,, then i'll get serious

choppa

[Steve Jassid]

Hey Dude.... where is my boat? mmmm lol

[shano]

i think it can be done for sure! if all you need to be told is it can be done.... then it can be. but on a serious point i think it can be done and i dont think it would be a prob! once you have the two motors i think it will be easy to work out a way to make them work.

[finga]

Save yourself the headache poppo choppa. Just bung a 25 on the bum and away ya go :D
A pod would be interesting though...maybe a pod on 'Junior' as well??