1989 Saltare - My god Spock, what have I done???

[sybrmike]

Thanks, guys - it's getting close...

TT - I designed the pattern/layout so that the gray only touches the hull in a few places since I knew I wouldn't find a vinyl that matched the hull exactly. I think the white accent & black piping trick the eyes into thinking they're the same color gray. Only time will tell how functional the new layout is for moving about. The pictures are deceiving - I've got ~18" between the rear bench seats and back of the doghouse.

I received the special hinges needed for the bimini, but have to wait until the tower's up to figure my angles & measurements. The angled wishbone front half of my TitanII is gonna make things interesting... Cool is the idea, but it's just an idea - I only hope my execution is as good as yours.

Thanks Salty, but no need to kid - the armrests and top ledge of the rear bench were designed just for that purpose. The whole seatback/armrest assembly is a sandwiched construction of 2x2 and 1/2" ply with minimal foam on the top face to support a sundeck. However, once I built it - the armrests, cupholders, and doghouse had the rear seat bottom trapped (again, best laid plans & all that). So I split it into two pieces, but still plan on having the rear bench(s) convertible to a sundeck and to allow the two MC X-2 450# sacs underneath to fill to their full 20" of height for surfing. I'm gonna add some hinged braces to the underside of the seats that fold down to support the middle edges when in the "up" position. We'll soon find out how/if it all works out.

Jet - I'll get some better pics for you once I've got it back for the last time. The seat base is rectangular with 72" clear length inside for ski storage. The backrest piece has angled 2x2 uprights with a 2x4 top and skinned in 1/2" ply all mounted on a 1/2" ply base that is bolted to the base. It's hollow inside with storage access through the top hinged backrest. The seat bottom lifts out to access the base storage (although I made the blasted rear armrests too long trying to cover existing holes & have to lift the backrest cushion up to lift the bottom out).

[sybrmike]

Got it back from the upholsterer one last time (or so I thought) - found a small tear in the ski locker lid, but I can just take that one piece off to have him repair it.

Got the doghouse hatch trim installed - easy. The doghouse hinges - not so easy. They don't have a lot of "reach" between the two halves so the the thru bolts are at the edge of solid wood & glass, so I fabbbed aluminim backing plates - hope they hold. They've got a removable hinge pin, so the cover can be lifted off without the base.

doghouse hatch & hinges.jpg

Salty- here's the rear bench seat bottoms in the "sundeck" position". I made vertical supports out of carpeted 3/4" ply, hinged on the inner edge (still need to align & screw to the seat bottoms). I'll figure a way to hold them up flush with the underside of the seat bottom when not used & gotta figure the best routing for the ballast hoses with them in place. For now, a simple bungee cord secures them to the center crosspiece in the seat base & locks things together pretty good.

sundeck up 1.jpg sundeck up 2.jpg

[Moose]

sybrmike If you find yourself getting tired of your boat I would be willing to trade you straight up boat for boat. Yes it would be tough dealing with the loss but I think I will be ok with it after enough time goes by. That's one sweet lookin ride.

[jet]

OK..now we are going to need pictures of that diy bimini TOO!! I started on mine but back burnered it to do the boat so I have the fram made but had to stop there. I also need for it to be removable so I can lower my tower each time I bring it home. I am a lil worried that my roswell bar is going to make this difficult to design so I have been thinking about one on top of the tower but not sure if that would look wierd or not??

[Okie Boarder]

mike...great work...she looks really good!

[sybrmike]

I went to put the tower on Saturday morning, but the heim joints for the front wishbone wouldn't drop down into the feet - the tolerance was just too tight. Didn't want to waste the little time we had fighting it, so loaded up & hit the lake for a half day shake down cruise without the tower. Forgot the camera, so only a few crappy cell phone pics - but she floats! Once I tweaked the carb a bit, she started & ran great all day. I finished plumbing the ballast late Friday night, & played around with it some on the water. Seemed to work well, but didn't load it up too heavy since it was just me & the girls - no good backup if something were to go awry... Bilge stayed bone dry, stereo rocked (still needs tuned), adjusting the trim tabs actually made a difference while underway, even the ice chest held ice all day in 90 F instead of the orignal ice melter.

maiden voyage 1.jpg maiden voyage 2.jpg

So a little grinding on the front feet this week should get the tower mounted. Unfortunately, looks like the front tower wishbone is gonna have to come off/on each time she goes in the garage. Sucks, but it's only two bolts. Can't wait to finish the few remaining details & start hitting the water in earnest to see what she can really do and finally start enjoying...

Thanks again - couldn't have done it without ya'll!

[TitanTn]

Congrats Mike. It's been a long haul, but very much worth it I'm sure. Looking forward to seeing the finished product with the tower installed. I love seeing the family out on the water. This is what it's all about. And guess what! You're just in time to make the trip to our Supra boat meet in Chattanooga!

If anyone is just now picking up this thread, please start from the beginning and see what has transpired.

[sybrmike]

What long haul? It's only taken 2+ years... Only wish we hadn't lost all those pics with the site upgrade so it might be more helpful to others undertaking such projects. At least there's a batch of new ones (you, lively, ben, grog, etc.) carrying on the rebuild torch complete with pics.

Oh so close to calling it done (although don't think projects like this are ever truly done?). Yep, watching the girls giggle & goof around on the tube all afternoon was exactly the reward I hoped for. We'll get serious on the surfing/boarding once the tower's up & I'll get back on the skiing once somebody else learns to drive (wife almost ran me over after my kneeboard session!). Probably beg off on the Chat meet-up, but gonna try & make the Moomba/Supra Jam closer to home in August.

[lively]

Great job bro! Im looking forward to my day when I'm pulling the fam around

[sybrmike]

Haven't been able to get out lately - tweaked my old back injury while on family vacation. However, I was able to finish one more project - the RGB LED interior lights are up and running.

I pre-wired harnesses for each of the speaker pods. Each harness has two surface mount, waterproof, RGB's from Oznium for under each cupholder and one 4 light, waterproof, RGB module from EcoLights mounted facing down in the original courtesy light location. I wired each harness with a 4 pin connector so that I can easily unbolt and unplug the speaker/cupholder pods if needed.

Pod LED Harness.jpg

I cut the backs out of some standard trunion bulb stern lights to replace the original courtesy lights, so I have a nice clear lens and s/s trim ring to finish it off. I also added one of the EcoLight modules and trim lens/ring to the panel below the walk-thru by the ice chest. I did not put one in the helm cupholder since I thought the glare/reflection off of the tinted window would be too distracting.

I wired all the lights to an RGB controller mounted up under the helm with a remote that controls the 13 different modes (solid colors, fades with adjustable speed/brightness, and 2 audio modes). I took two of the speaker level outputs from the head unit through a Stinger line level converter as the audio inputs to the controller.

The effect is pretty cool - I can change the color to suit the mood, or the kids love the full on disco. A neat feature of the audio modes is that the brightness is varied with the volume in addition to changing colors with the beat. The reflection in the new s/s cupholders is more subdued than the RGB rings, but looks really cool with a bottled beverage of choice installed.

All I have is this crappy cell phone video, but you get the idea... http://youtu.be/FqjKbk3D6HU