Copying a 31 Bertram in Quepos Costa Rica

[GringoJohn]

I am officially fired as the picture taker. I thought I was shooting more pictures today, I don't know what happened, I looked at the phone and I only found two. Either way, I got the upstairs all wired up, got the Nav lights wired up and the front LED light strips. All the GPS, Radar, Sonar, and gauges have the wires ready to go. The guys put the ceiling in the cabin today as well, I don't know how I missed that picture. We are really wrapping up. I went in to get a date for inspection and the captian of Quepos said there was a month waiting list!!!! I almost passed out. So I took a road trip to Puntarenas today and got a date with them for next Friday (Thank God). So I have to be in the water by Thursday with full gas ready to make the 10 hour hike (I like to go slow to not burn too much fuel) Here's a picture from today, and then a picture from last night when we got done painting everything. The hard top turned out amazing, I'm really happy with it. If only I had measured out 6 foot 6 inches, but hey I gotta leave something for next year...

[GringoJohn]

Ok, the hardest part by far, we got the gauges in. I actually made something on the PC, and then printed it out to get all the circles equally spaced. The wiring was terrible, but I think they work.




Then we got the roof stuck up with silicone 5200. There is nothing under the roof, everything goes in the side parts, so we are sticking the middle down so it doesn't vibrate. We put screws in to hold it down until the silicone dried. Then we are putting wood strips that are white and small screws over the seams. I also cut some holes out for some JBl 6X9s up front. TV or something with a screen going on the right on that wall.




Then I realized that we didn't put wood so we could screw in the doors to the ice chests. So we drilled out where the screws go and we are going to stick in some wood plugs and epoxy them in.




Put the doors on, and then you can see we put the LED's over the doors installed and wired. I got the speakers in too, but forgot to take a picture.




Here's what the ice chests look like with the top installed. The elements are installed as well.




Then we got the top on. We had test fitted it, but now it's painted and permenant!




I wanna have it in the water by the end of next week. Tomorrow I'm going to put all the lights and speakers in the hard top. Been some long days with alot of people. We put 3 guys all day long sanding the sides of the hull with 1000 grit too to get it to shine. We got ahold of some bad paint for the hull sides, and it didn't lay flat so we had to start with 220 grit on the sides, but finally it's looking like it should have from the start. More pictures coming soon!

[GringoJohn]

Here's some shots from last night. We got all the color changing LED's installed. We also started both motors again with all the new start switches. Pretty much all of the wiring is done, the gears and gas work, and right now we are putting in the new steering wheel. It had the old crappy system with the air tank, that is now gone! Here is the color changing LED's! I got them from Larry but I can't find the name of his store. Larry, if you see this, tell everybody where I got these things!













And these are some mid day shots. I'll get the finished pictures up tonight. But we are cutting and installing the windows and just finished the barrier coat on the bottom. Bottom paint and windows should be done today!








And then this is something to prove I'm still ghetto. Here is my diagram explaining to our company mechanics how steering systems used to work and how they work now. And, it doubles as a rash guard for people climbing over the transom! Maybe I'll leave it?

[GringoJohn]

Not too much to post, it's all details. We painted the floor, put all the windows in (I didn't get a picture of the back doors with windows, but they are in too), got alot of small electrical stuff done, painted the bottom, and mounted it on a terribly ugly trailer that I hope can make it 30 yards. We were going to splash it today, but the guy told me they would work Sunday for free doing details under the shade if we splashed it Monday. I'll pay them the extra day, but I hate to douse enthusiasm. Small things left. There is some electrical issue with the genset. It's the fuel relay/run switch, it's easy I just have to look at it. And we have to hook up the gauges on the generator. A little bit of paint on the inside. We are going to fill the screw holes on the window borders so they are cleaner looking. We have to paint the floor upstairs and in the cockpit. And then we are going to mount a fighting chair out of one of my other boats I'm not working this year while I fix the nice fighting chair somebody sent me. I'm hoping to be in the water Monday and have the AC guy out Monday or Tuesday. And that's a wrap. I'm sure we'll still have small stuff to do, but it'll be fishable and it's busy for the next three months. I'll keep the pictures coming when I find something work shooting, here's a few from yesterday and today:







And I'm sure this is the worst trailer ever posted on THT




I just hope it doesn't drop the boat....

[FF_T_Warren]

Dude this is incredible. I need to get you to copy me a Yellowfin 36!!!

[GringoJohn]

Originally Posted by FF_T_Warren

Dude this is incredible. I need to get you to copy me a Yellowfin 36!!!

We could do it! I think it's almost time to go fish now though

[GringoJohn]

So today was the day! Talk about taking the hard way. The tides here are usually 9-10 feet, so there is a bunch of water in the estuary. Thursday ends up being the LOWEST high tide of the year, and we only had around 6 foot and change of water in the estuary. But the ramp was built for the big tides, so we couldn't launch it in the morning. We had to wait for low tide, and then launch have a backhoe bring it down into the middle of the dry estuary, and then wait for the tide. Definitely the hard way. So it gave us another day to fix the bugs. It kind of stunk because the AC guy was here in the morning but with the boat out of the water, he couldn't do much. He connected up all the copper tubes, but tomorrow we have to run the 240V. So tomorrow we should finally get the AC going, and that's the last hurdle. Got a fighting chair all cleaned up and we'll put that in tomorrow. And then we gotta put the outriggers on. And wash it. Probably twice




But we got it in the marina. Only took from 7Am to 10:30PM, but we made it!

[swamp snorkler]

You did a great job on her!

[GringoJohn]

Hey guys, I guess I'll be the first to post about it, because I'm sure when Marlin magazine comes out everybody on here will see it anyways. I just had my 5th kid, a baby girl, and the charter business down here has gotten super busy (1515 trips in 2018 on 6 boats). And so it looks like I'm going to have to pick between running a charter business in paradise, which I love doing, or building stuff here in paradise, which I love doing too. The wife is worried with the 5 kids that if something happens to me she won't be able to take care of 5 kids and one of the busiest charter fleets down here. So I got an ad for Marlin magazine that will be hitting shelves July 23rd:



Wife wants me to get a vacation rental home, which will probably make less than half what I make now, but it's something she says she can handle if I kill myself seeing how fast my old chevy can make it around corners here in the mountains.

It took a lot of work to find the crews that I have and rebuild all the boats, I'm definetly not going to be broken up if it doesn't sell. My hope is that whoever buys it wants to add a boat to their fleet, and me and Harold and hopefully the new owner can put the 31 Bertram mold to use. I'd love to stay on, like indefinitely , to help out. I just got my Costa Rican Citizenship (I was a permenant resident before) so I refuse to leave. But I promised her I'd list it. If you any of you reading this want to move to Costa Rica and have somebody that's been here 11 years watching over you, this is your shot. I'll contractually stay on for a year, but in reality am never moving away and my heart is in the boating business here.

Anyways, check out the website we made, and if you know anybody wanting to retire in Costa Rica making an easy 6 figure income, send them the link:

www.LiveYourCRDream.com

Anybody that is booked with me don't worry, I will make sure the owner keeps me on for at least a year (if it even sells). And I really expect that none of the crew will change out, John W included. Hopefully this will just get me more time in the boat yard.