Fletch's 1976 170 Rebuild

[Fletch170]

I hear you on the time thing.....and time is not on my side at the moment. The shop where I am working on my boat is sold, and I need to get the boat and everything out by the end of August......I'm really sweating bullets here.

I work 50 minutes from my house, and the shop is 40 mins from my house...in the other F*cking direction. So, every time I go to work on my boat, I spend at least an hour and a half in the car....which sucks.

I spend at least one day out of the weekend working on the AS, and since my deadline has moved up, I drive to the shop every night after work. I remember the winter months that I spent staring at the boat, which I could do glass work. Had I been down south, I'd be fishing on the boat right now. Ugh.

I guess being patient is the part I'm having a hard time with. I look over the boat and make a list of things I need to do, and there is only SO MUCH you can do in one day. I admit, it's somewhat overwhelming. ALSO, I have zero help from my friends. While they are pretty good at drinking beer, they have no experience with glass.

So, I'm doing this all by myself, which is daunting.

The other issue I'm having is making the build "right" in my head. I realize, the end product will not be as nice as some of the boats I've seen on here. However, this is my first build. I'm always walking the line of getting it done right, or right now. Now let me explain that all of the structual portions are, if anything, overbuilt. However, I've had to convince myself that "commercial/ workboat" finish quality will have to do for now, as I need to get this thing done.

Well, here she is as of last night, all blasted.

Any "barrier coat" products you guys would suggest? Or should I just prime and paint? She was soda blasted....not sure if that makes a difference.


http://fletch170.blogspot.com/

[gran398]

Regarding the time constraint with the shop you're in:

From the looks of the shop, seems they have a compressor on hand, which is valuable.

Up here, there is A LOT of commercial space available due to the economy. An empty bay rents pretty cheap. You could rent/borrow a compressor and get a bit closer to home. Just a thought.

Keep up the good work.

[Fletch170]

I have a compressor, which is a life saver. I picked up an air powered block sander.....which made fairing the transom a lot easier.

I'll take a look on CL to see if I can find a space closer.

-Fletch

[gran398]

Good deal.

Re the space, I was looking for a spot to store mine in every winter. There is an industrial park pretty close by...I took a little time and rode through there one day, rode through the back alleys, etc...they had "For Rent" signs on several bays.

Some of those guys aren't real big on Craigslist

[dburr]

The idea about wiring up the console and then putting it in the boat is a good one.. Then you can do that at home with maybe a little help/guidance from the big boss to be and try and sell it as "together" time.. Yeah that's it....

You could run all the remote connections (nav lights, live well pump etc.) to a terminal strip that would be easy to get at while laying on your side and working with one arm  that is hopefully close to the rigging tube..

It would be WAY easier to be working on that stuff with the console up on saw horses working "downhand" vice upside down and backwards.. If SB could do that his sciatica wouldn't act up...

[kraw2]

I wired everything in the console using terminal strips. When the console was set in the boat it took 15 minutes to have everything wired and working. Nav lights, Bilge pump and float switch, LED lights. Also the wiring harness for the tilt and trim.

Pre wiring the console is the easy and fast way to go.

[kraw2]

Hey Fletch,

I posted some more pictures in the post "More restoration pictures on a 170"

The pics show how I wired the boat and the bulge pump.

Keith

[Fletch170]

Making some decent progress...check it out.

http://fletch170.blogspot.com/

[RickK]

You've done a great job of documenting your rebuild - thank you, it will be a grand help to many.
One image I saw that made me chuckle when I saw it and generated a thought

"Hmmm, was it measure once, cut twice or...."

[johnnyred_1999]

Fletch,

You did an amazing amount of work!!! I checked out your entire  Rebuild forum it is excellent!!! I am lucky that it was just foamed in fill lines for the moment. I was able to get the vent line free tonight so the tank is going in this weekend,and then I can mount the console and rig the boat.

Thanks for the Blog it is incredible!

[gran398]

Nice work!

On the tank install...give a close look at the install threads here on the board, especially regarding airflow around the tank

[Fletch170]

Thanks guys.

Admittedly, I bit off a bit more than I could chew for a novice. But I've kept my shoulder to the grindstone and I'm almost done. I suppose the best bit of advice I could give anyone thinking of doing any type of project like this is:

Is this necessary? Every 2 minutes of grinding is going to equate to roughly 2 hours of sanding and fairing.

Basically, as this was a learning process, there are a lot of things I would have done differently....most involving be going ape-s&it with a grinder.

The beer helped with the mindless work:)

[louiefl]

I just went through all of you blog pictures - all I have to say is wow! Definitely a lot of work went into this - more than I would want to attempt. Everything seems like it is coming together quite nicely.

I did have a question for you and maybe other rennovators as it relates to the rigging tube you installed. Would it have been better to use gray PVC electrical conduit with large radius sweeps instead of the 90 degree white PVC elbows? Seems like the sweep fittings would be easier when pulling future wire, remote cables, steering cables, etc. Mine doesn't have any fittings, just a piece of straight tubing, an access deck plate, and a hole under the console. It really sucked running a fishfinder cable and a new steering cable.

Keep up the good work!

[Fletch170]

Yes and Yes.

If I were to do it agian, I think I'd do a 45 from the deck out to the outside of the stringer and just run rigging along the bottom. The reason I did it they way i did, was that I didn't want a lot of voids in the stringer (if that makes sense??) if you run a 45 through going forward to aft, you get a larger void and thus, less strength.

I got to rigging the boat, and the throttle linkage on the control cables would not go through the tube, so they are run along the bottom.

Agian, if I did it agian....a lot would be different.

[Fletch170]

Painted the hull sides last night. Should be all painted next week, and the rigging done.

http://fletch170.blogspot.com/