My Restoration Thread

[Ima Bass Ninja]

The most important part of this whole layout is the Burrito storage space! LOL NICE

Jeff

Agreed... You can't have a serious rebuild without a complete burrito storage space.

[(='_'=)]

oh no i havent stopped!! in fact i have been working so hard i havent been able to upload pics... last night i completed 90% of the frame for the storage space, ill upload pics today (hopefully)....

and the plan for today is to wrap the rear of the boat, re-install the motor, and if time allows, wire everything back in place.... i plan on working all these evenings, and all saturday, and hopefully be fishing by sunday morning.... i know the outside will not be painted yet, but i think by sunday i may be able to have every functional part of the boat ready... painting will have to wait, since my friend is the one who paints and he will be out of town for 10 days starting tomorrow.... but hopefully by when he comes here i will have everything ready....

and yes, a mexican fishing boat would not be complete without a burrito storage space.... =)

[(='_'=)]

more progress!! yesterday night i wrapped the transom and installed the motor... i used a gray wrap, and on that i will put a couple of stickers or something, i havent decided yet.... and as you can see, we have not painted the motor yet....but my friend, the painter, is out of the city for 10 or 12 days, and i dont want to wait that long.... when he comes back we will remove the motor, paint, and reinstall....

here it is... the wrap was $3 USD for enought material to cover the transom and a little spare....

i also have about 95% of the storage space wood frame completed but i dont have pics of it right now.... tonight i will begin wiring everything back again, and tomorrow i hope to finish wiring and take the boat for a test ride on the local lake... if it works, tomorrow night ill continue on the storage space, and sunday morning i get to go fishing....hopefully....

[Nitrofreak]

Lookin really good !!!

Good luck with the rest of it and I can't wait to see the finished product.

[(='_'=)]

thanx Nitro, neither can I !!!

[DON1937]

Restoration threads are enjoyable. Your's is very thorough. Thanks for posting and keep it up!

[(='_'=)]

thanks Don!!

today i did more progress on the boat... i didnt even went to work so i could begin earlier.... at 8 am i was already out looking for materials... i saw this picture once some time ago, and really liked it, since i used to have all the wires and cables just laying there.... here is the pic i saw on te Nitro website:

tomorrow i will post the pic of my boat, since tonight its too dark to take good pictures.....

besides fixing the cables, i also wired what i could.... i have the livewells ready, the pumps and the plumbing are done on both of them... the fuel pump is also ready, and i removed and cleaned the gas tank, im thinking about relocating the tank to put the filler hose on the side of the boat instead of right on the middle...

after that, i worked a little more on the storage space, specally on the rod storage... i got room for 5 rods. for this, i bought 5 pieces of 1 1/2 cable duct, and closed them with a PVC endcap crazyglued to the end.... i got this picture when there was still some light left.... on the right 2 spaces i can fit 7 feet rods, the other 3 are 6´8" max.

now for the bad part.... i couldnt get the starter to run... i dont know what am i missing, but i tried all afternoon and couldnt get it to work... i believe the problem is on the ignition, since im pretty sure i have the wiring properly hooked on the motor (there are only 2 cables)... but i couldnt do it.... and another bad thing, i cant find the steering wheel!! i looked everywhere, twice at least, the closets, the garage, and i cannot find it... i was thinking about getting another one anyways, but i think with the steering wheel there is a base or something to cover these bolts:

so, thats the progress for today... tomorrow i will get some better pics (not cellphone like today) and upload the progress.... i dont know what to do tomorrow, i guess i will try to finish the storage space and maybe this week carpet the boat....

oh, more progres, i gave my grandma the seats and the materials for her to do the upholstery.... =)

[Traveler2586]

You could get more rod length in the tubes if you removed part of the brace on the right side of the right hand tube and started the bend of the tubes at the start in the rod locker. The end of each tube could hit the inside of the starboard gunnel with the left hand tube ending at the bow point.

[(='_'=)]

im not sure im understanding... i already had to remove some bracing, so i wouldnt want to remove much more... besides i dont think i will need to store rods more than 7´ long, and with this setup i can store 3 rods that lenght ( i dont have any yet)...

[Scorcher214]

Ya know, might I suggest a burrito stora....OH, you already have that alright, good.

[(='_'=)]

i had been absent from the forum for a while, due to personal issues that left me with almost no spare time... however, on the small time i had i kept working on the boat.... the storage is almost done, and more progress will be done this weekend... so i think i will be uploading pics by next week....

[Shawn Dompierre]

Good, I was wondering! I can't wait too see some pictures.

[GLADES]

Where are the pics???? I have following your restoration..lurking quietly

[(='_'=)]

i dont know how much time it took for me to say this, maybe 2 months since i started, but i feel really proud to finally announce....

SHE IS ALIVE!!!!

but first, a little update...

this past weekend i had to go to El Paso, so i left the boat with my friend for him to work on it a bit... when i came back, i was really surprised.... he had painted ALL the underside of the boat, there is not one spot missing paint.... i dont know how he did it, but he did... he painted the motor as well... and, he had replaced all the original carpet... we still need to trim the edges and some minor details, but the boat looks great... today i took some pics with my phone, so they are not of very good quality, but here is one to give an idea... i will post more hopefully this weekend....

maybe one month ago, i decided to replace all the fuel lines, im not sure if i mentioned it at that time... anyways, while at it, i installed this as well since it was missing and the fuel hose was directly from the fuel pump to the carbs...

also, while replacing the fuel lines, i decided to clean the carbs, so i completely took them apart, cleaned them, and put them back together.... last time i used the boat, it was taking some time to start, i dont know if it was because the weather was really cold, but it was having problems....

so, this weekend while at EP i went to Academy and bought me this:

and today we finally had time to try it.... so we connected the fuel lines, got some fuel, and wired the ignition switch.... if you saw the post titled Electric Help needed, you will see i was also having problems with that switch, but we figured them out last week....

anyways, i pushed the Choke button, cranked the engine, and the motor turned on at the second try.... i let it run for about 5 seconds, but since no water was coming out of the motor, i turned it off.... i tried turning it on again, this time without the choke, and it turned on as fast as a new car.... again i turned it off quickly, since therw as no water coming out...

so, i have some questions.... shoud it Pee right away?? or would it have peed eventually if i had left it running for more time??? hopefully this weekend we will try it at the lake, but i would like to know how the device works in case we need to work on the boat at home....

so we still have some work missing, we need to finish the storage spaces, upholster the seats, install flush pedestal bases, replace the steering wheel, install the fishfinder, install the stereo and speakers, reinstall the trolling motor, replace lower unit fluid.... so this is not over yet, but it is fishable now!!!

[(='_'=)]

today we did more progress.... at first, the plan for today was to remove the upholstery of the seats, to make the wooden parts and begin the upholstery work tomorrow... we are going to do 2 of them, and have the other 2 done by a shop... my grandmother was going to do them but the fabric was too heavy for her machine...

anyways, while my friend removed the upholstery of one, i began wiring an automatic switch on the bilge pump... it is one like this:

i wired it on a 3 position switch, automatic on one position, OFF on the middle, and ON on the other position.... however, i noticed that while on Auto, the switch sometimes would be on the OFF position but the pump was on... it seems the internal moving parts are getting stuck... this i didnt like, maybe i will change the switch sometime soon....

anyways, after i finished, i noticed a loose wire below the console... i followed it and it was loose on the other end also.... so we removed it... one thing let to another, and when i noticed, 2 hours of cable pulling had passed and we had removed almost all the wiring from the boat... so right now there is only the harness going to the starter switch, the harness going to the panel which has only 4 switches, and thats all... i took a picture of all the wiring we removed, i will post it later... there were lots of wires hooked only to one end... the lights didnt work anyways, and neither did the front switch panel, besides the trolling motor.... so maybe tomorrow we will wire the trolling motor again, and then we will build a harness for the lights, switches, and navigation lights... this was a task we didnt want to do, because it was a real mess, but somehow we began without noticing, and now, the hard work is done, rewiring again will be easy....

[(='_'=)]

this weekend we did more progress... we actually have the boat ready to go fishing tomorrow..

so, now much description here, just pics...

these are all the cables we removed from the boat....

now here is the motor:

and finally the boat, al cleaned and ready...

yesterday i installed the fishfinder i got from a member in here:

whas do you think?? as you can see, there are still some things missing... we need to put the lights on... we also need to install the switches on the fron panel... recarpet the interior of the original rod locker... upholster the seats (a friend is doing the work, hopefully we will have them by mid week)....

and after this we need to finish the additional rod locker and storage space.....

so there is still some work to be done, but it will have to wait, because tomorrow we are going fishing!!

[Traveler2586]

Looking gooood

[fishinkeebs]

Great job so far man. Excited to see it all coming together

[(='_'=)]

thank you!!

heres a question.... where would you put an stereo and speakers?? we have been thinking about putting the stereo on top of the console, and making a console extension with fiberglass... but nothing is decided yet....

[Jig Meister]

awesome man!

[(='_'=)]

thanx Jig!!

today i tried to place an order from marineengine.com for an impeller, some cleats, a steering wheel, some flush pulls for my locker lids, and some other parts... the order total was $102, and shipping was $49... of course i didnt place it... i placed the order for the impeller, O ring, and oil seals from boats.net, and the total came to $40 shipped.... does anyone buys from marineengines?? supposedly they had 9.95 shipping on items less than 20 pounds, i dont think my order was more than that....

[Shawn Dompierre]

Nice! Best part is looking forward to fishing

[(='_'=)]

finally, after about 2 months, it fished again!!

this last weekend we took her to a lake 2 hours from home, where i caught my PB last year, a 20" bass just over 5 pounds, pictured on the first page of this thread.... we went there for the weekend, and fished hard both of them, on saturday from 9 am to 8 pm, and on sunday from 630 am to 6 pm because we had to come back home....

at the end, i had caught 16 bass and my friend had caught 10... but best of all, we both caught Personal Bests!! i caught a 5.5 pound, 20 1/2" bass, and 3 casts after he netted my fish, i was netting his, a bass just over 4.5 pounds, 19 3/4" long.... we also did a double, catching both at the same time, and over all had a lot of fun...

now, the bad part.... the boat is having trouble to start... in the morning when we launched, one of us had to put some carb cleaner on the carbs while the other one turned the key... after 3 or 4 tries, the motor would start... then, after letting it run for a while, we could turn it off, and then it would start with the key sooner than a new car, without even pushing the choke... but if we fished on one place for too long, and the boat was off for long periods of time, it would struggle again, and as soon as we sprayed carb cleaner into the carbs, it would start, at the first time, every time... then again, we could run to several places, and the motor would turn on every time... we had to use the carb cleaner maybe 3 or 4 times through the day, first at the beginning of the day, and then maybe 3 or 4 hours after that....

so, what could be the problem?? when the motor turned on, it would run great, we could achieve hat-blowing speed, and the motor had a good sound...

pics of the fishing trip to come...

oh by the way, we also had our seats upholstery done by a friend, they didnt come out perfect, but she nneded the job and charged 1/3 that the best quote i got from real upholsters, plus she had them in 2 days, while all of them wanted at least a week... and, i also made some home made flush seat bases for free..... pics of that to come also....

[Fishing Rhino]

Did you try squeezing the primer bulb to make sure the carb(s) was full of fuel? It sounds like it's a fuel problem, and the engine is not getting fuel after sitting without running for a few hours.

Do you have fresh fuel in your tank? Stale fuel might run and start an engine that is warmed up, but not a cold engine.

[(='_'=)]

yes and yes....

i actually removed the fuel tank last month, cleaned it, rinse it, and let it dry... then we put 10 liters last sunday to test it, and 40 liters on saturday morning on our way to the lake....

and, the bulb, early in the morning i squeezed it until it was really hard, but after it, i didnt squeeze it... then the boat wouldnt start at mid day, we just tok out the carb cleaner, i didnt try squeezing the bulb again.... but i had already donde that in the morning, with no effect...