My New Friend is a Pirate ARGH !

Hooray !!  gel coating and buffing is complete. The final outcome is very nice. The pictures tell the whole story. 

Here's that spot under the anchor roller , that's a complete change from the start.

This is the spot where the finger hook was at the stern ( 2holes close together).

This is the spot where some of the extra hardware and gouges were.

In all I'm very happy with the fiberglass work, all the promises were kept and Lehman's professionalism and attention to detail was over the top. I asked a lot of questions during the repair 

process and Lehman always took the time to give me an answer and not make me feel stupid for asking. I'm sure that I'll ask him to come back if I have any more work like this.

One of the things on  my list is a swim platform and in the last post I stated I had selected 

Little John's Fabrication to build it. For those of you who have not had the pleasure to meet

Little John let me draw you a picture. John is short in stature and tall in talent. If you are a mechanical sort of person you will hit it off with John in the first 30 seconds of conversation you have with him. John is the type of person that has the rare ability to see things through your words and then build what you describe.

During our first "platform" meeting John and I found  ourselves feverishly drawing pictures on note pads and just really getting into the theme of what we wanted to accomplish. We did agree that our goal was to create a  factory look , an option that no one had ever seen.   

Not that I was worried about anything, but I did wish to find out a little about John, after all I was getting ready to trust my boat and some money to him. So I went to John's web site and poked around in his photo galleries, looked at some of his mystery projects, and then it happened. I came across some pictures of John dressed like a pirate and hanging out with "Tim" the river pirate. 

Then it all became crystal clear--- John is a pirate--- My new friend is a pirate--- how cool is that?

Well all I can say is  ARGH !!! Lets be gettin on with that platform project matey.

John and I agreed that the best way to get a feel for the new platform was to get something visual 

going, he said "drawings" , I said how about a" full size cardboard pattern", John looked at me like he didn't believe me at first. I said John I've done something similar in the past your just going to gave to trust me on this one. 

This is how it started , a piece of cardboard  cut to fit the rear contour of the boat.  Before it's committed to aluminum this pattern will be cut and re-shaped a half dozen times. Under structure will be cut from cardboard and all taped together in a full size pattern that even John was more than a little impressed with. 

       

 

Next up : Help from my Friends       

Going Going Gone

The repairs are going well and some of the spots like the one under the  anchor roller are little shocking , the extent of damage and the size of the repair are quite different than what the original pictures showed. Here are some shots of the repairs in the rough out stage.

This is that area under the bow roller area, to get all the cracks out of that area Lehman has dug down almost a 1/2" in spots. 

This is that port rear vent area where the deep gouges and unused hardware used to be.



While Lehman works the repair spots I have decided to go shopping for parts that are on my list of stuff to get. One of the items on my list was a new deck hatch. The deck hatch in the main salon had never been opened and the hinges became frozen over time, I  soaked it with a WD-40 type material and slowly started to work it open and closed ever so slightly. It only took a few moments and the hinges gave out, well actually the frame broke. That's why I'm shopping for a hatch. My first stop looking for a hatch, the manufacturer, Taylor-Made. WOW !!! These people are proud of there stuff,
When I hung up the phone I was shaking my head , no way !!! The nice little girl in customer service had no problem telling me that a replacement hatch was $1995.00 plus the trim ring , plus the screen, and the shipping made the total $ 2650.00 and she could send it out to me today. I thanked her for her time and put on my shopping hat.

                                                      This is the hinge, it's done. 

I must have checked with 50 marine suppliers and none had any parts or a price that I was willing to pay. I even looked in EBAY , no listing for any products from Taylor-Made.  But the game changed real fast when I typed into Google " Deck Hatch Marine " , I got a truck load of leads and one of them was for a 20" Bomar deck hatch, at  first I dismissed it as it wouldn't match my other hatch. 
It was a shame too, that Bomar hatch had a  polished stainless frame and smoked glass It would have been a real sweet upgrade for my boat. "Oh !" I almost forgot the best part, the price. $300.00 

That's right $300.00 and man that was really kicking my ass good too. It was listed on Ebay and I must have went to that auction 50 times in two days, and then it was gone. As I frantically searched the auction board I swore to myself that if I could find another one that was that good of buy I would go for it, even if it was a different brand . About a day later the same hatch popped back up in a new auction, Man I'm in heaven so I sent the seller a message inquiring about shipping and the buy it now price of $300.00, What happened next was simply golden. His return message directed me to call his store in Fla. for details and I happily complied but during the conversation about shipping he casually said "Its a shame you don't want both of them the shipping would be almost the same". I said BOTH?. He said yea "I have two didn't I tell you that?" I casually said well what do you want for the pair? He said make me an offer, I said $ 500.00 , he said deal. I darn near choked.  I was pretty nervous waiting for the UPS guy to bring those hatches, the price was so right, something had to be wrong with them. I had myself convinced of the worst. Several days later  UPS dropped off the hatches and they are beautiful, not a mark on them, never been installed, virtually brand new in the box with the tags still on them. 

                                               That's a nice upgrade and worth the effort !

Lehman is nearing gel coat time and the repairs are looking very nice, The next photos are just before gel coat and buffing.  

This photo shows that bow roller area in final glaze before sanding and gel coating , this was by far the worst area we had repaired on the boat. My next post will have shots of the finished areas. 

Little John's Marine Service has been selected to fabricate the aluminum swim platform 
and we have set a start date and ordered materials. 


Next up : My new friend is a Pirate , ARGH !!
      

X Marks the Spot

Start day arrives  Lehman is on time and ready to work, He and I begin by walking around the boat and tape marking all the repair spots and comparing those to the estimate he had written previously. His estimates are unique in the fact that a small line drawing of a boat in the upper portion of the estimate is marked with the locations of the repairs to be done. I really like this feature as  it certainly takes the guess work out of what is to be done. I attached some pictures of some of the areas to repair.

This area is just under the bow roller for the anchor, Lehman found it during the primary inspection, I thought it was just a stain at first , wow I was wrong. 

This spot is in the port rear vent section, the scratches in the stripes are actually deep gouges and the circle with the dot in the middle was a loop post for a cover I didn't get with the boat.

This area is at the stern, the two small holes close to each other are the  mounting holes for a finger hook for a cover I don't have. Starting right here and working  my way to the right there are 15 of these double hole sets and Lehman will be removing them all.  
Now that all the repair spots are identified , Joe "Lehman's helper" begins buffing his way around the hull with Lehman following , repairing and fairing. I had done a test section prior to the guys starting the repairs, so I know what the finish should look like.

Here's a shot of the test section I did before repairs started , amazingly the color of the test area 
matched the gel coat that Lehman ordered almost to a tee. The gel coat will still require some tint work, just a lot less that I thought in the beginning.
I have to say that these guys did a real good job of all the things they promised they would do, and that really means allot these days.

So while the guys are buffing and repairing I have time to locate some needed parts.Suzanne and I have not yet found an upholstery company for this project and so the search continues. 



Up Next : Going, Going , Gone    

             

  
           

A Place to Start

Where do you start on a project this size ?

After several conversations with Suzanne  we decided to prep the shop for cold weather first, that would include adding a couple of furnaces and much better lighting. 
While completing the heat and light project in the warehouse I made a copy of the 
"To Do List" and began to get bids on work I was going to sub out. Once I got all of my prices , I decided that doing the outside of the boat was a great place to start as the outside project includes some of my labor as well as work from subs.
Before I say anymore I want to make it clear that all the subs that I used had no idea that I was going to write this blog or that  it would be linked to RiverBill's site. I want everyone to know exactly how I was treated and the quality of work I got. I hope that this information helps all of you when you need to hire subs for similar things on your boats. 

I selected Lehman Conley from Fiberglass by Lehman to do all the gel coat work and remove all the oxidization from the exterior of  the boat. In order to save some money I agreed to prep the boat by removing the stripes, hardware, snaps and covering the interior with plastic.  I  felt that buffing out all the stainless steel trim and rails now would be better than cleaning the buffing mess off the fresh gel coat. 

I spent the next  several days with an air eraser getting the stripes off, actually went through 6 eraser wheels to get the job done. I've owned the boat since 2004 and always thought that all the stripes were vinyl , 5 minutes with the air eraser would prove that assumption wrong. Seems the wide black stripe is painted on with a polyurethane of some kind. I was kind of looking forward to seeing the boat without the stripes so I could decide what was going back on if anything .  Suzanne and I had spoke of possible color changes in the beginning but with the black stripe being permanent it looks like its back to the  original style.  This is no real crime because I liked the original stuff enough to buy the boat in the first place. 

With the stripes removed and interior covered now is a good time to do the stainless trim. My first try was with a 3" air buffer, the trim shined pretty good but the mess on the boat was really bad, I switched to a full size buffer and the results on the trim were much better, but the mess increased as well. Taping and papering around all the trim was the only answer. 

The next shots are before and after of my test area.          

Before

After



This is the product that I used, I actually bought it from West Marine to see if it would restore my

gel coat and it does do a decent job of  cleaning and shining , but wow this stuff kills on stainless, 

big mess,,, but bigger shine. 

I called Lehman to let him know that the boat is ready for gel coat repairs  !!

Up Next :  "X" Marks the Spot

Something Good from Something Bad

So now I am  faced with a very overwhelming amount of repairs, more than I ever thought I would have to deal with. I'm not even sure where to start. So to get a fresh view of all this I get my
"go to gal " involved. Suzanne looks at the whole project and says to me make me a complete list of every thing that you want to do to the boat. 
So the very first Saturday following my talk with Suzanne, I went to the shop at 7am and with a notepad,  flashlight, masking tape and a Sharpie. I spent the entire day just inspecting every inch of  the "Fuelishness" and writing a list of things to fix , replace or upgrade. I have to say that at the end of  the day I felt really good. So with list in hand Suzanne and I sit down to discuss the project,  and as we begin to talk about the redo Suzanne asks me if this is all I want to do.
My answer was " There's probably a few things I skipped". Her answer back was a great one,
she said " You lost the season, not the time , finish the list , make something good out of something bad". 

The List goes like this :

• Fix all Scratches and Chips in Exterior
• Remove unused Hardware on Exterior (Old Cover Hooks)
• Seriously Polish all the Stainless Trim and Rails 
• Replace all the Cup Holders 
• Custom Cockpit Table 
• Extended Swim Platform with hidden Ladder
• Replace Headliner and Wall Coverings
• Replace Interior Carpet
• Replace Exterior Snap-in Carpets
• Replace Anchor line with All-Chain
• Upgrade Windlass Controls at Bow 
• Recondition Dash Panels 
• Reconfigure Dash Layout 
• Add IPAD to replace Stereo in Dash
• Recondition Exterior Cabinet Latches
• Recover the Cockpit Seating
• Upgrade Exterior Sound System
• Replace Bumpers and Dock Lines 
• Replace Enclosure Side and Front Windows
• Replace Deck Hatches 
• Recover Foredeck Sun Pad  and Cover 
• Replace Gas struts for rear Sunpad 
• Install Dri-Deck in Storage Compartments
• Re-condition all exterior Fiberglass 
• Re-stripe the exterior 
• Relamp entire boat with LED    

So now with a complete list at hand I'll be  getting bids for all the work I can't do myself and prices on materials and supplies for the work that I can do. 

Looks like it's game on!

Up Next:   A place to start
  

         

Making a List- Checking it Twice

In the opening post I stated that Suzanne and I had made a list of things that we felt were really important to repair on the boat. Scanning that list ,nothing jumps out and screams pull the boat out of the water until you get to the part about the headliner and walls .
Yes I said "headliner and walls " !!! 
Now for all of you non-Excalibur owners, the headliner and walls in an Excalibur are it's weakest point. I found out from people who actually work for Riviera ( the parent company) that the headliner and wall coverings were provided by the company who  made the folding cabin doors. The factory coverings are very nice and extremely durable, the weak link is the foam that is laminated to the back of the fabric , after a period of time the foam reacts with the glue and just separates. 
A good friend of mine who brokers boats and is very knowledgeable about all things boating once said to me that he looked at an Excalibur  with a drooping headliner to purchase,he said he passed, But I remember him distinctly referring to the headliner problem as the " Kiss of Death".  

So I'm not taking this part lightly at all. In fact as bad as I want it fixed that whole " Kiss of Death" thing is really bugging me. Suzanne and I agree that we are going to have to find someone who's definitely done this before. The search is on!!

The whole "list" thing at first seemed like no big deal, we even joked about it " Making a list -- Checking it twice"  But when we committed it all to paper and started budgeting money for each operation that's when we began to realize the real magnitude of  the project. I had mentioned in the beginning about an unpleasant surprise when we pulled the boat. After pressure washing the crud off the bottom of the boat and the drives this what I found.  These drives were installed new in the fall of 2008 and discovering this was a real game changer .
I called a good friend who is Mercury Certified  and had a long talk with him concerning the repair or replacement of these units. When the conversation was over I knew the season of 2012  would not include the "Fuelishness" .


Up Next:  Something Good from Something Bad        

A Very Lucky Guess

Making my plans to get the boat in the warehouse for the repairs obviously included a trailer ride to the warehouse and so I called upon my good friend Bill Moyer. He has a very large, heavy duty trailer and diesel truck. I really consider Bill quite accomplished in this area, and being  this is not his first rodeo I value what he says. As the planing begins I naturally figure that its going to take a travel lift to pickup the boat and set it on the trailer. During one of our many conversations leading up to "pull day"  I mentioned to Bill that we could  probably get the boat lifted and set on the trailer at Harbor Point. His response to that was not what I expected. He said no we'll just float it on in Alton , It will be fine. He was actually pretty calm about it. So when pull day came Bill put the trailer in the water , we floated the boat on and out came the "Fuelishness".  I'd love to say effortlessly, but the truck did earn it's keep that day for sure.  
Had someone bet me that my boat would have ever come out of the water on a trailer in the conventional sense I would have lost money. Because  up until today I was convinced that a

travel lift was the only way the "Fuelishness"  could get out of the river.  Thanks Bill. 

During the preparations for the boat to go to it's land home for the winter I became quite concerned about the height of the radar arch in relationship to the height of my warehouse door. I had a good number of sleepless nights wondering what would happen if the boat was too tall for the door. A lot of solutions  swirled around in my head. The worst one being , "pull the arch". I didn't even want to think about it.
I even went as far as calling brokers and individuals who had Excalibur's for sale that were on  trailers and quizzing him about the height. Wow I got some crazy answers, everything from 13'9" to 11'2".  All these folks were guessing and really kind of proud of the way they arrived at the answer. One guy even started telling me about the 34" inseam on his pants and the overall height of tires in relationship to --blah--blah-- blah. I think you get it. 

So after all that, I took a guess of my own and  since everyone had some crazy math formula to use I came up with my own science.  

The picture above is not my boat but one just like it and based on the photo and the fact that the steel wheel on the trailer is a 16" ( Yes I called and Asked) I made a scale that represents 16" increments and I measured the photo.  My measurements showed just a hair under 9 units tall , 9 units being 144 inches, or right at 12 feet.  That's some formula, that's some  science, you know what ?  In the end it's still just a guess. But ultimately I'm happy because a have a 12' door and I'm close.

I never realized just how close until Billy started backing the boat in to the garage. As he eased back and just as the arch was getting close I stopped him and removed the arch light stanchion . It's really going to be close, he comes back a little further and it's a miracle the arch is just under the drip edge moulding of the door opening. As he comes back a little further the snaps for the Bimini top snag the drip moulding and put  scratches on it as they pass under and just like that ,the Fuelishness is in the building.  

Next we lift the boat up off the trailer using hydraulic Yard Arms, man this stuff makes me nervous, We lift the boat and Billy pulls the trailer out from under the boat as we slide large oak cubes under the keel, once the trailer is clear of the boat Billy and I slowly lower the boat down on the oak blocks and set up the jack stands to level and steady the boat in her new resting spot.

    The Fuelishness in her current home


Up next : Making a list , checking it twice   



     



So as Billy slowly eased the boat

Are We There Yet ?

This blog is being written to chronicle the events of our current boat
"The Full Blown Fuelishness" and our plans to repair some nagging problems and what we learned in the process. 
Let me first introduce myself , I'm Kent Eberhart and I have been a "River Rat" pretty much all my life, even  when it wasn't cool to be known by the title. But big thanks to River Bill for bringing back the term via the t-shirts and  making it cool once again.

My wife Suzanne and I have been together since 2000 and she is my best boating buddy and my all around go to gal.  I'm sure  you get the picture, I have my best times with her and wouldn't change that for anything.

Currently our boat is on the hard in our warehouse and has been there since the fall of 2011.
How did that happen? In the beginning we had thought that we could get all the issues solved through the winter of 2011 and launch in the spring of 2012. Sounds like a good plan doesn't it?
Hey we even made a list of things we were going to do, and all was well with the world.  
Well when the boat came out of the water we got a few surprises and some were not too pleasant. 
Now after adding to our list all the new found surprises, we knew we were in for a much longer ride than  we ever anticipated in the beginning.      

Yes I missed a boating season, and Yes it was an especially difficult one to miss too. You see Suzanne and I recently moved from "the burbs" of Rosewood Heights to a loft apartment in downtown Alton complete with an awesome view of the river and Alton Marina, so picture this  "Kent sitting on the deck watching everybody else go boating" .  OUCH !!! Oh well at least it's shaded.

            

So now I find myself  just like a little kid on his first long car trip and every 2 minutes from the back seat .     " Are we there yet"?   or as it is in my case   "Is It Done Yet" ?   

Up next : A Very Lucky Guess