Vintage Inboard Cruisers to Centre Console Conversion

[blacklab]

Ouch !!!
No shame in feelin a bit light headed Gazza, done the same with some real nasty glass cuts over the journey, shock more than anything.

Dunno whether I mentioned or not, but a month or more back, I slipped on a steep concrete driveway with mould on it, it fair knocked me around I don't mind telling you. Though I'd broken my wrist, landed on my ass cheeks flat on my back, must have hit my head but got up and went and sat down on the customers front patio, and then lay down and passed out, the 90 year old customer was in a panick when I came too. Delayed concussion, shock, I dunno. My wrist come right, had a nice size lump on the back of my head, missed the concrete edging by centimetres. the worse part was the afters, my butt cheeks were seriously sore for a couple of weeks afterwards, had trouble walking. ...

Chuck your finger in some ice and get ready for it being sore in the morning...

Now Don't you be using this as an excuse not to be getting more done on the boat tomorrow Gazza, ask your mum for some " toughen up princess" pills, she will no what I mean ....

Great progress today Gazza, keep at it...

Col

[gazza2006au]

Lol Col yeah im use to cut hands and skin peeling off my nuckles working on engines but have never had a thick chunk of skin peel back the pic is after i folded the flap back over to stop the bleeding the flap goes to the side of my nail

Im still going to crack on, at the moment i only have 2x 10mm bunnings bolts in the engine didnt have cash to buy a 12.5-13mm drill bit along with the proper bolts but i'll hopefully have that sorted this week, i checked ebay for some bolts alone $15 each thought bloody not cheap are they

Hopping to order more resin and 10 meters of double bias this week so i have plenty of glassing to get done

Going to run some gray paint down the sides of the hull to match the transom but i need to organise the paint and rollers

Im also going to do a ice box in front of the console in the floor im picturing it taking only about 5 hours in total to complete i just need to cut down my keel stringer to make room, glue in the foam, fillet than glass it all done than a simple lid when the floor goes down


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[gazza2006au]

Surely this guy is taking the rona piss out of customers $51 a bolt https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/M12-x-12...QAAOSwku9etMLP

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[Noelm]

Go to a dealer or wreckers, they will have a bucket load of second hand ones, if I think of it I will ask my local guy tomorrow and see what he's got.

[EdBerg]

Well some people are dumb enough to pay the price, I did a quick google search on stainless bolt suppliers which took about 2 minutes and found a packet of 25 bolts for about $70, ring around the stainless bolt suppliers and ask for how many you need as a lot will sell them individually. Certainly not at that E-Bay price.

[gazza2006au]

From what i seen on a google search i need 316 SS fine thread, do i need high tensile?

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[EdBerg]

Not sure, depends on what the outboard manufacturer requires, having said that, since you are bolting the motor to the the transom which hasn't got the best compression resistance capability I wouldn't imagine so, but you need to check that out with a marine dealer and you will need a very large (square?) washer to distribute the compression too. You may also need to put in a (stainless) tube slightly smaller than the thickness of the transom which the bolt will go through to limit the compression as well. The dealer should also be able to tell you.

[blacklab]

Using that composite stuff Gazza, I too have heard about using a spacer because of compression.
Ypou may need to get your head around that before you jump into it...

Col

[gazza2006au]

Thanks i'll look into it so far doing up the m10 bolts/nuts with a shifter and 40x40mm plates on the inside they have done up pretty tight without compressing the core material but i havent got a socket on it yet and swung that

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[gazza2006au]

Just went out the back and measured my transom its 66mm thick how thick is a regular transom?

I done nothing today just dropped the hoist off i was too buggered from all the stress and root around

Tomorrow i'll put both rear wheels on the trailer, install the two lower engine bolts and move the trailer forward hopefully

Cant really do much untill later in the week

I have a question i ordered a couple of months ago 10 meters of 300gram woven roving instead of wasting it where can i use it? Im thinking maybe under the floor plywood on the underside but if the glass shrinks and curves the plywood not sure if i can straiten it flat again

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[shakey55]

Surely this guy is taking the rona piss out of customers $51 a bolt https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/M12-x-12...QAAOSwku9etMLP

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I know nothing about metals, but these must be something special. This is the same bolt you saw on eBay, for sale somewhere else, but for half that price - still an expensive bolt

https://www.aimsindustrial.com.au/bu...nsile-hex-bolt


Shakey - If only I lived near the coast

[gazza2006au]

Thanks Shakey they are the roles royce high tensile and stainless steel they are probably only ever used on really high end house and comercial builds hence there price

I'll see if i can grab them next fortnight i want to focus on fibreglass supplies this week

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[EdBerg]

Before you buy those, I would suggest ring your motor brand dealer and see what they charge for genuine ones as I suspect the eBay ones are just a rip off. I was speaking to my Mercury dealer so I asked him about the engine bolts for my 150HP engine and he quoted me $11.00 for 120mm original Mercury bolts, and he said that they were nothing special and probably not even high tensile.

As for being used in "high end house and commercial builds" you would be lucky to find stainless bolts in any of those. Stainless is generally only used in machinery and structural purposes in a highly corrosive environment. Otherwise is it just high tensile steel only with maybe a galv. or gold/black coating.

Intrigued by what my the dealer said so I rang a stainless fastener supplier who supplies bolts to Haines, Riviera and a stack of other boat manufacturers and he said the same thing, all those boat builders use just plain 316 grade stainless bolts for the engine mounting, so 12mm x 120mm 316 bolt is $2.60 +gst. and the lock nut is $0.69 + gst. There is a higher tensile strength S/S bolt available in a A4-80 grade which is double the price I just quoted but it only gives about a 10% increase in tensile strength and he said it wasn't necessary and nobody in the boat building trade uses it for that purpose.

So go and save some money!

[gazza2006au]

Thanks Ed i just called one local mercury dealer and they have to call me back with a price im going to need i think 140mm bolts to double nut each bolt or possible fit a plate on the top and bottom bolts inside the hull

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[Noelm]

I forgot to go to my local guy, I have to go tomorrow, I will see what he's got, every repower they do they get the old bolts and toss them in a bin, every dealer will have dozens of them lying around.