Been a member here for about a year now and have done a few updates to the boat but have not gotten around to posting about the updates so here goes a (hopefully) quick rundown.
Boat - 1982 246 CCP; Motor - 1994 Johnson 200 Ocean Runner
Bought the boat in March 2017 with intentions to complete the following:
- refinish the teak (check) (April 2017)
- replace bilge float switch (check) (April 2017)
- re-core fuel tank hatch (check) (February 2018)
- remove the tower (...)
So i accomplished most of my initial goals with the exception of the tower. When I got the boat, the upper steering was not operational so I figured it was kaput so why have the tower that takes up so much space around the console. During my research on this site, I found the brochure for the 246 which shows the tower as an original option. So what I thought was an aftermarket tower that didn't fit the boat very well was actually the original tower from 1982. Pretty cool I though. Then I did some digging into why the upper helm wasn't working. Turn's out the hydraulic steering is the older pressurized system and the system didn't have enough pressure to operate the upper help. Pumped it up to 15-20 psi and viola the upper steering worked...for a few days. The steering ram at the motor was leaking pressure and fluid so took it to Flex Hydraulics in Bradenton to have them rebuild it and the whole system worked like new. So now I have a working tower which is great for fishing the Tampa Bay area and I can deal with the limited space around the console.
Other items that have come up in the past year or that I added are as follows:
- Overheating alarm sounded while in Crystal River for scalloping. Real downer for the trip. Water pump replaced and problem fixed (July 2017)
- Built a rear seat the sits on the splash-well out of an older teak swim platform. It's loud back there but it's also the most comfortable spot on the boat (August 2017)
- Installed a stereo w/ amp, dedicated amp battery and Blue Sea ACR. Radio - rockville gauge style head unit, 2 8-inch rockville speakers up front, 2 6.5-inch rockville speakers in back, hifonics 5 channel amp (January 2018)
- Installed new switch panel + replaced some wiring as necessary for accessories. 8 gang rocker panel, 12v outlet and 2 USB outlet panel, 4 gang rocker panel. The idea behind the switches was the have a dedicated panel to all the pumps (bilge, wash-down, bait-well) and then a panel for everything else (January 2018)
- Installed new fuse block. The boat just had a bolt as a fuse block connecting the switches, bilge float switch, and vhf radio. I was amazed (January 2018)
- Installed off-road style spot lights on the tower for night fishing/driving (January 2018)
- Installed battery charger/tender (February 2018)
- Filled a soft spot in the deck in front of the console with epoxy (March 2018)
- Painted the deck w/ new grey non-skid (March 2018)
- Installed under-gunnel LED strip lights (April 2018)
At the risk of being too lengthy, I'll wrap it up here. That's about where I am at the moment. Not too much else planned for the summer other than lots time out on the water and not so much time on the trailer. If anyone is around the Manatee River/Egmont/lower Tampa Bay area, let me know. I'll try to get some better/more recent pictures of the boat and upload them when I can. Thanks!
