What would you have done differently?

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Hindsight is 20/20, right? Someone asked the other day if I had any regrets on my build. Luckily I can't think of anything major that I would have done differently, but it did get me thinking. I would love to hear from those of you who have finished a rebuild and put some hours on it, and even those who never made it to the finish line. What would you do differently if you had the chance to go back and do it again?

I'll start. I built my hatch gutters from scratch. In an effort to keep the hatch openings as big as possible, I slid them up under the deck a little more than halfway. While it's really nice for access, cleaning leaves and stuff out of them is a pain in the a$$ and I find myself breaking out the hose every few weeks to clear them out good. I guess if that's the worst I can think of, I did okay.

[RickK]

Yup I have the same problem. I have been thinking about replacing my hatch design with a commercial access hatch.

[Capt. Bob]

Well I didn't rebuild anything yet so...... maybe buy a Contender?

All kidding aside, I've owned 4 so I either failed to learn from history or I just like the brand. I grew up with them so maybe that's it. Still, I loved my CCP (Mini Contender) and personally feel that my 210 WAC is the best Aqua I've owned.

Not exactly what you were looking for Mike but just sayin'.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Not exactly sure CB. I feel like while everything looks great when it leaves the showroom floor so to speak I've often wondered how they've held up. I learned a ton during my build thanks to you all. I tried to share the bad as well as the good in hopes that someone can learn something from me as well, so maybe this could end up being a "what not to do" thread.

[Fish Head]

I think your on the right track Mike. I am in the auto biz and we incorporate all our best design features into a “Best Practices” design guides. Keeps us from redesigning the wheel again for every new vehicle or getting to share other Engineering regions ideas. Also slows down the same questions being asked all of the time. This site already has the threads nicely organized in the General AquaSport Forums and AquaSport Mechanicals so maybe a tab could be added in each with “Best Practices”. Maybe a short description with a couple pics and also a link to somebody’s build who has it explained in detail. Or a separate section all in itself? You could have a vote from a round table of Master Builders for an idea/design feature that makes it into “Best Practices”. This feature would put CA.com on another level from the rest. I think I have started to get carried away. Sounds like a lot of work for somebody, um probably Rick  . Just an idea inspired from Mike’s thread. Cheers Fish Head