wish I had the knowledge you guys have. looking good though!

Thanks guys, we try hard. I don't know about knowledge, but we are getting better at making it up as we go :D

Mostly we have been sanding and resanding and resanding. So that doesn't make for very good pictures. But, in addtion to sanding ALOT, we have done a little building. Harold installed some tuna tubes:

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQueposc.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQueposd.jpg

They aren't done yet, but that are where they go, and they are stuck on there!

Then we put the rim around where the motor box goes.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQueposa.jpg

And we built the motor breather where we are going to expel the motor box air. This is very unorthodox, but i piped the air back there to get it next to the tailpipe so it's easier not to get downwind of fumes.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQuepose.jpg

And then we put in the speaker boxes. One on each side. Going with 6.5 fusion speakers. I put them under so they don't get wet and so you don't see them as much.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQueposg.jpg

And then here's the ice chest with the hatches installed

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQueposb.jpg

And a quick inside shot

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...unaQueposf.jpg

Like I said, nothing super exciting, but these are the details that take TIME. Tomorrow we are adding four more guys to sand, we lost two last week, so we need some new ones! I want to get through this fairing stage quickly, but it's a big boat with lots of sanding needed..

Never heard or seen these..... what are these used for?

"Harold installed some tuna tubes:"

To hold live bait, hooked up and ready to go. Think a live fish wit a hook in his nose head first in the tube. The tubes will have water of course

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

Yes and...

There are a lot of baits here, like any type of small tuna or bonito that can't survive in live wells because they don't get enough water through their gills. This tubes have a big pump on them and force the water through the gills and keep pretty much any fish alive. The only problem with tubes is if the bait is to small, it'll turn around and the tube will throw it back into the ocean, but after a while you get used to what works and what doesn't. For that reason, I see a lot of guys that have different sized tubes for different sized fish, but we have these all the same because there is a size of bait that the Marlin really like and that's what we are after!

Looking Awesome!!! Question about your double hatch ice chest. Will it be a fish box? If so, what's your technique for cleaning it. I really have to scrub my fish boxes well for them to smell decent.

No fish in the boat ice chest up front. Just drinks and food. We will have a yeti in the back of the boat for bait and bagged filleted fish. That way the stinky cooler is far from the seating. Sometimes when we get a lot of fish to bring with us, we will filet it up and double bag it and put it in the front ice chest, but we try not to do that too much. We can filet fish on the boat here, you guys can't :eek:

So much for putting it on a diet.

Yeah, I know. Why in the heck are those things soooooooo heavy? They work so well I make an exception for them, but really, I don't think they need to be so heavy.

:pissed:

I have no clue but they are.

Well, i shot some pictures today, even if there wasn't much to show. We got the tuna tubes faired up and then built a little border to keep the water out of the boat.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...r1fairingc.jpg

And then we got the rudder holder welded up, and put together. Here's a mid process shot:

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...r1fairingd.jpg

And here is a fairing shot of the inside. That's a big ice chest! :)

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...r1fairinge.jpg

And then here are some outside of the boat shots. Might GelCoat Saturday or Monday

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...r1fairinga.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...r1fairingb.jpg

We are going to do a lot of things tomorrow that are picture worthy, I'll shoot some more pics hopefully.

You can hideout in that ice chest.

It's really starting to take shape now. I was sitting up on the point today imagining water behind the boat. We had a problem with another boat, so we put the crew on the other boat and will probably not paint until the end of the week, but it's still almost done.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/P...rQueposSR1.jpg

Yeah, it's gonna hold a lot of something! :eek:

Well, we finally got the hull painted! We will probably Gel Coat the rest of the boat on Tuesday, we finally got the divinycell in for the last piece of the floor and the live well, so Monday we'll put that in and then hopefully tuesday or wednesday finish up the interior paint. Here's way too many pictures!

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoata.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatb.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatc.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatd.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoate.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatf.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatg.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoath.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoati.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatj.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatk.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...firstcoatl.jpg

We still have a lot of polishing to do. We will do the whole boat with 320 on the orbital, then 400, then 600, then 1000 and then we will hit it with some buffing compound, but that's just going to take a couple of days and this thing will have the mirror finish!

Every time I look at your updates I go back to the original picture of the boat as a comparison. The progress is amazing. Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

Thanks for sharing, makes me want to go to Costa Rico, amazing boat transformation!!!

Nice progress, how are yall going to get the boat out of the shed?

We are going to use the ugliest most rickety trailer you've ever seen! We have big jacks and it's pretty easy after you see the process once. And then I'll hook it up to the back of my little 4 banger 1997 toyota tacoma and bring it over to the water!

We need pics!!

Sorry, we've been super busy trying to get this thing floating. We have trips scheduled 100% full from the 15 of February to May, and I don't know if we are going to be ready, so I've been working days and nights trying to put her together!!! We got the outside painted and 400 gritted. We still have to do the 600 and 1000 so it's not shiny yet, but it's flat at least :)

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...R1400grita.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...R1400gritb.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...R1400gritd.jpg

We got all the live well and tuna tubes put together. They picture is a couple of days old, we have the door in the top of the live well now, and it is faired and we'll be painting tomorrow.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...R1400gritc.jpg

I thought this was the easiest way to get the water out of the live well. In our last boat, we made the holes too big and the sardines escape through the holes, so in this one, we made more holes and they are 3/4 inch. I put one at the bottom as well so when we turn the pump off the water will empty on it's own. I think I'll have a timer on the pump though, so we'll stick a little piece of bag in the bottom hole if I go that route. The holes on the top are the upper limit, the bigger hole on the right (not the tailpipe) is the rear bilge.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...R1400grite.jpg

And then today we were welding in the motor supports, like the ones that go on the engine. This is not the motor we are going to use, it's at the machine shop right now getting sleeves, but this is a parts motor so we can weld up the part of the motor support that bolts to the engine. We also put in the driveshaft, guides and rudder today.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...R1400gritf.jpg

We should have all the inside walls painted tomorow and then I'm going to assemble this thing is fast forward and get it out FISHING!!!!

Well, nothing like doing mechanic work with a paint respirator on! Had two crews going today, one building motor supports and the other spraying the interior gelcoat! Super happy with how the interior turned out, the lines aren't perfect, but it's light and I like the new look!

I really like the way the tubes came out. Nice clean install, and everything except the tubes themselves are corecell with a single 1708, so all that is very light and strong.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepainta.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepaintg.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepaintc.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepaintb.jpg

We also got the bridge wing on top gelcoated, so now we're really close!

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepaintd.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepainte.jpg

And this is my friend Bernal helping cut some heavy metal to build the motor supports. We are going with the big Barry Control rubber, but we are building the part that bolts onto the engine.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepaintf.jpg

And this might be the easiest engine layup ever for working on a motor. A TON of room, all the way around. Under the floor, I have another foot to as well in the front and back, so we can fix anything with the motor right where it is. Make for more days fishing and less days working on something. Should have a couple of trouble free years though, I am picking up my newly sleeved block Tuesday to put all new pistons and rings and bearing and turbo and this thing will have a new motor to go along with it's huge weight cut! We are going with a 330hp B series Cummins.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/Q...sidepainth.jpg

This dude is ALOT braver than me!

Pretty productive day, the type of day we needed if we want to be fishing in two weeks. We started with just everybody grabbing a sander and hitting the gunnels with 400/600/1000.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...rOnQueposc.jpg

Then we pulled the boat out from under the shade and put the tower on!!! :)

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...rOnQueposa.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...rOnQueposb.jpg

That was a lot more labor intensive than it seemed. We put the tower where it was going to go, marked it, and then hole sawed the top skin and foam, leaving the bottom glass. We then took out 2 inches of foam core (I'm talking about the gunnel where the tower sits) and filled it with the silica/chopped glass/resin mix. When that hardened, we grinded it down flat, drilled the holes where the tower goes, put some 5200 and bolted it down! Completely finished with the tower mounting today.

Then with that done, a couple of guys grabbed sanders and kept polishing the boat, and Harold and another guy started on the motor box top. We are out of money and material, so we had to use some pieces for the side, but that won't affect the final product and it'll still be strong and light. But it does take alot more time.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...rOnQueposd.jpg

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...rOnQuepose.jpg

And then I layed out the upper (and only) station and tomorrow we'll get that put together.

http://www.QueposFishAdventure.com/S...rOnQueposf.jpg

Going to hit it hard again tomorrow and we'll see where we get. I know Bernal is coming out to mount the rod holders tomorrow. I wish I could have bought new ones, but budget meant I had to use the old ones. That'll be my project for next year :)

Looks great with the Tower.

Thanks, I was really excited to see that bolted down as well!

Hey John. What's the latest? You got her on the water?

Nope. There is a holdup on the rebuild kit for the motor, so we are waiting to get pieces in. Boat is pretty much done, it's just been polishing and cables and stuff. Today I'm in the capital buying hoses. It's hard to keep everybody motivated when the boat is so close. Got the radio mounted yesterday and the speakers, sounds pretty good for only 2 6.5's. I went with Fusion as they really impressed me on the last pair I bought because they come with long marine tinned speaker wires. It's the details, right ? I'll try to get some pictures up here soon!

Well, not too much to show, the boat is getting really close. We built the top that will cover the motor. And have that gel coated. We have all the steering installed, all the cables and wiring installed. We just got the bottom paint in, and we’ll probably float the boat tomorrow to mark the line to paint the bottom. Had a small holdup with the pistons for the motor that I’m building for this thing, probably have that done by early next week and we should be fishing next week as well. It’s going to be tight, we’ll see when we get her wet. I’ll post some pictures of the first run and probably some video so everybody can celebrate with me. I’m worn out and need some time out fishing now…

Here’s the motor box. Weighs about 10 pounds, which is very light for it’s size. If I had more money, I would have done it with Carbon Fiber and corecell, but the way it is I used 1708 glass, just one layer, and then the 1 inch corecell.

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...stdonesr1A.jpg

And then I was in for a big surprise when the seat I bought off of eBay came in. It’s 100 percent rotten on the base. So I had to dig out all the old rotten plywood, and we were careful not to damage the outside shell, which was glass, and then we just replaced the wood with epoxied local light weight wood. Kind of cool I got to save a little more weight, here’s the seat base after we redid it and sprayed it with Gelcoat. All the arms look good, it was just the bottom,

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...stdonesr1b.jpg

Well, i miserably missed my deadline, but it looks like today is the day. We got her started up yesterday on the trailer, forward and reverse work, and then finally my gauge panel with alarms came in this morning. I promised myself I wouldn't put it in the water without alarms, as I had a boat burn up an engine a couple of months back, so we have been held up for that. Here's a pictures of the gauge panel I just got in from Sea Board marine, and then in the same shipment I got a nice Furuno Sonar.

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/Q...1lastpostb.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/Q...1lastposta.jpg

And then here are some more pictures. We put it in the water last week to paint the bottom and it floated only a half inch from the corners in the back, full fuel. I don't know how high it floated before, I wish I had measured that, but it was at least 4-5 inches deep in the same spot.


http://www.queposfishadventure.com/S...ransompicA.jpg
http://www.queposfishadventure.com/Q...1lastpostc.jpg
http://www.queposfishadventure.com/Q...1lastpostd.jpg
http://www.queposfishadventure.com/Q...1lastposte.jpg

Came out real nice, yall did a nice job.

Wow! It's beautiful. Great job. Can't wait to see a video of it running.

Thanks so much, it was a job! We'll get some video soon and post!

This is just wrong:

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/sr1inwaterb.jpg

Still have the tranny problem. I found a nice one I'm picking up tomorrow and we're going to get this thing moving soon. It does float though!

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/sr1inwatera.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/q...gsr1foruma.jpg

Runs great! Clean 21 knots at 2100 rpm, before we were really slow like 15ish, so it picked up a lot of speed and it looks like fuel is around half of what we burned before. Looks like the project was a success. :) Time to fish!

This has been a great thread to follow.

After

Before




Once again..... hell of job. A before and after for you.

Very cool! :)

What the latest Capt, you raising any fish with her?

Another beautiful transformation. I could read through rebuild threads all day!

We need some fish pics!

Fishing has been good, we put this boat in the big 70 boat tournament here, the IGFA world championship. Supposed to be the hardest to win. We caught the first fish of the tournament, and held first until about noon, finished top ten the first day. The second day we got people who couldn't hook fish (the customers/competitors have to hook the fish), but even with a 50 percent hook up ratio the rest of the tournament, we ended the tournament in 20 out of 70. I was happy with that, seeing as we only had the boat in the water for a couple of weeks before we had to go out there.

I have a friend that shot an awesome picture of a sailfish jumping right next to the boat, but he keeps saying he's going to send me the picture and hasn't yet. I'll post it as soon as I get it in!

mad skills!!

im impressed X10

Starting to get the itch again. I just had a friend loan me a 31 bertram, and in May we are going to make a mold and try to copy it! I'll post pictures up here again so you can see my torture and enjoy the project with me! :D

My body is ready

Well, the time has come. Going to copy the Bertram, here is the new Thread!!!!!


And Lord willing, here is what it'll look like an about a year!

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/BertbuildGoala.jpg

http://www.queposfishadventure.com/BertbuildGoalb.jpg