Still awaiting delivery. Should have a firm date sometime this week- likely delivery towards end of next week. Caribbean had a nice long xmas break, I'm told... Some more decision have been made in the meantime. The trailer ended up going to 2.7tonne rating, to get load sharing suspension and 14" wheels. For outriggers, I've ordered Rupp Topgun Revolutions--these operate through the hardtop, and are deployed without leaving the cab. Not cheap, but they are rated as the best. The Taco's of similar design are a bit cheaper, but they are alloy bodied. It turned out that the kiwi ones which took my fancy were actually on Rupp bases.
An EV-100 Raymarine auto pilot was added to the electronics, and the outboard will have the Merc Eco gauge, the all-in-one digital which also had the NMEA 200 gateway built in. A bit less real estate taken up on the dash than the VV4. Shurflo has been bought for the deckwash. A s/s frame for the helm seat was purchased--I originally intended to have a self-built icebox with split lid and cushion on it, for someone sitting behind the skipper watching the trolling spread, with the option of putting a fridge in there for extended trips. Then i decided it was just cheaper and easier to build a fibreglass fridge, instead of just an icebox. and buy a fridge. So when I get the frame fitted to the boat, I can work out the dimensions and build it. There will be no need for a slide if I do the split lid right, and I'll have a least 40 litres of fridge/freezer.
i can testify to the awesomeness of having a good fridge on board.. whilst the oldschool in me still has a soft spot for reaching into a esky of slushy cold chunky ice for a cold can...it does feel very nice not having to worry about buying "fgor some crazy reason" ever more expensive bags of ice just for a trip out..
Summer = 2 bags of ice a day for say 3 weeks away. thats about $200 worth of ice where i head off too. fridge pays for itself pretty quick
Moose
She has arrived in Perth. After what seemed like forever, it is in the dealers' shipwrights shop, having some work done before I take delivery to do the rest. it is fitted with the n-cost raised hardtop option--plenty of headroom under there now.
I am having a transom door cut in--Caribbean don't offer this as a factory option, but mansfields have a mould for them now, and cut them in themselves.
It will be ready for me to tow home when I get in from work next week--just a short detour to a nearby sign shop to have the graphics applied to the side.
In the last picture you can see another one ready to go out the door. Fitted with a 150 Merc, same as mine, Bennet tabs, VV4, Axiom 9 RV with RV-100 transducer, deckwash pump, Fusion stereo, 2 radios, polished s/s rocket launcher, raised hardtop , side clears and standard trailer--the full price breakdown was stuck to the window, and it was out the door for under $90K. And remember, anything built over east and sold in WA has at least $4,400 freight on top of what you would pay in Melbourne.. Unbeatable value for a solid 6.4 m boat with impeccable sea manners.
Well, she's home. Picked it up in Perth late yesterday afternoon after a delay with my ute tailights when I hooked up, took a couple of hours to fix, so I did 200 k's then packed it in for the night. Checked everything over int he morning, upped the trailer tire pressures, towing exceptionally well. here it is 150 k's from home.
Quick bite of lunch when I got home, then into it. No room at all between the back of the tank and the transom, the B175M is a very neat fit. got the hole cut, epoxy seal the edge, cut in the water intake and wet bond it in, probably the worst job of the whole boat mostly done.
Congradulations mate, thats looking like a real swish boat there. higher windows suit well
Not looking pretty at the moment, at least down the stern area. Got the B175M installation finished today. Thank you Caribbean for giving me , according to the tank plate, 234 litres of fuel, but I'd gladly drop just a little to have the back of the tank another 20mm forward. The big spacer they supply with the xducer is sitting right up against the tabbed part of the hull where it tapers up into the transom, and I spent an hour shaping it so everything sat flat and sealed well ( I hope). I do appear to have it sitting between two stakes, at the theoretically best position.
I spent the first half of the day fitting all the rod and cup/sinker/jig holders, because otherwise I'd be dodging installed wiring when I drilled them-rather run the wiring around them later. Deckwash pump mounted and plumbed, finish the bilge pump plumbing first up tomorrow , then onto the battery installation.
Then, onto the Raymarine gear and the panel--that's the stuff I'm looking forward to, when I can get away from the plumbing. I have to have it seaworthy by Wednesday lunchtime so I can tow it 150 k's down to the outboard installer. It will be ready for seatrials when I get back from work Friday week.
I'll get some photos up tomorrow.
itchy as , but most of the cutting and wallowing in the dust is done. I need a couple of battery lugs to finish off the rear end electrics, plumbing is finished, ready to start the panel wiring tomorrow. I took an extra day off to make sure it was going to be ready to give to the Merc dealer to fit the motor while I was out at work.
I've been using a fair bit of a synthetic board the shipwrights at Mansfields put me on to. it's not like starboard--it had a gloss surface and a softer interior, takes a self tapper really well, works with wood working tools, including a router, which makes it easy to put a nice bullnose finish around a cut end. I've made up a drop-down battery panel with it--nowhere to fix hinges without drilling into the well, so I stuck some to the underside. key up the back side of it with the angle grinder, and it sticks to flocoat like the proverbial with Sika.. makes it easy to mount stuff where you can't drill into the substrate. I've used it to make battery cable supports, trim tabs reservoir mount, and even a backing plate with studs for the fuel filter. You can actually tap it, so I ran a 8mm tap through it, recessed the bolt heads, then araldited it all together--voila, studs to mount the fuel filter to.
Very nice ranmar850 and love the name
Cheers
Rod
is that plastic material rather light? almost areo inside?
Apparently impervious to water, very strong and light. It won't show a clean edge like starboard when you cut it, and will pick up dirt, but it's ability to stick well to flowcoat makes it very useful when you have no way of mounting stuff otherwise. I'll have to find it's proper name.
Got to the pointy end wiring today, dry fitted all the panels, mounted the NMEA 2000 bus, fuse panels, termination strip, AP head...connected up all the flywiring from my flash switch panel and started connecting up load before the sunset beat me. I've got a full morning tomorrow to get it seaworthy for delivery to the Merc dealer. Some stuff obviously won't be done, like the anchor winch, extra lighting, live bait pump, deckwash, RV-100 transducer, stereo, but the basics will be there for a going legal boat.
That's a good looking boat, congratulations and hope you get lots of trips out. Good on you for taking the plunge.
The plastic shops up this way call that PVC board. I use it for what Ranmar is using it for, great stuff.
TMC
We use a HDPE board "same as king starboard... use that from time to time as well" for building baitboards or backing plates on some winch installs. cupboard doors etc
we use a material called " sea board" which is similar but about 50% less dense... interesting material. doesnt have the strength but for cupboard carcasses etc it helps keep the weight down
I used that material to make up a hinged battery switch panel that locks up under the well, switch face up. The hinges fit to more of the same stuff sika'd up under the well.
Now you see me
Now you don't
You can see the fuel filter mounting bracket I made on the transom inner. I was surprised at the thickness of the hull--these things have a reputation for toughness, but check out the thickness of the hull cutout for the B175M. I showed this to an ex-builder of large commercial hulls, and he was really surprised.
This picture below would be the thinnest cut I took through the coaming top while installing the rod holders
it's now at the merc dealers having themotor fitted, sea trials next Friday when I fly in from work.
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