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I would like to give you a quick summary of the work that went into this boat. I purchased the boat in Aug. of 02 for 1500.00 which I thought was a little high considering it had a hole in the bottom about 8'' in diameter. the consol rigging was a ball of wire that was all shot but the motor was in great shape and had a new power head on it so I thought I couldn't loose for that kind of money. Well I stared gutting the boat. The consol went to the dumpster after I took off the original Mako wheel and the windshield. I then took the tank out to find it was shot. Off to the dumpster. By the end of the story the dumpster will be full. The damage to the hull was worse than I thought. The port stringer was broken in two and 36'' of laminate had pulled loose from the hull. After rebuilding 12;; of stringer and relaminating most of the midship section I had a 27 gal. fuel tank made for the boat. Lets not forget about all of the foam I took out of the hull. I then flipped the boat over stripped off the bottom paint to find hundreds of blisters. After doing the exterior repair on the hole I spent many hours filling and fairing the hull. I then painted the bottom with gel coat for the simple reason that hulls get scratched and gel coat is very inexpensive. After taping off my boot stripe lines I shot the hull with blue metallic Imron. Now its time to flip the boat over. After the boat was upright I decided to redesign the boats interior. I added a hatch to the bow to access the anchor locker and closed in all the wells and added Bomar hatches. the center and starboard wells are plumbed for use as live wells or storage. I used an 1100 gph pump with 2 jets per well. As for the consol, I made a mould from an existing consol that I liked the design. It is 24'' wide and gives the boat alot more walk space. I made my battery switch flush on the port side and put the batteries under the front seat of the consol. I then added a flush tackle box. I then added Teleflex hydraulic steering and a Teleflex SL-3 control handle. All the electronics are Raymarine. The gauges are Teleflex blue vectors and the stereo is a Jensen AM/FM/CD with Poly Planer speakers. I made the doors on the consol from1/2'' starboard with a 1/2'' rabbit for the gasket. The floor is made from Brazilian walnut or ipe which is used in decking for docks. I buy the wood in 5 1/2''x1'' then rip them and plane them. The floor is sealed, screwed and plugged. I have also added Bennett trim tabs to the boat. The top side is painted with Awl grip and I sprayed the non skid. I added lift up cleats and an anchor roller to the bow. I hope you enjoy my labor of love.
-Gary Shallbetter of Shallbetter Fiberglass and Refits
