Turning the ugliest boat in Costa Rica into a respectable 28' Center Console Diesel

[GringoJohn]

Yep, it's pretty nuts the amount of time these things steal while you build them. But it beats watching TV

[GringoJohn]

Didn't bring the camera yesterday so i had to run out there today to get the shots! We started by putting in the two motor box breathers, those are the boxes on either side of where the motor goes. They also reinforced the sides which wobbled a bit.





And then i took a hole saw and cut two holes and connected them with a jigsaw to make the outside part where it will get air and blow out (One side in one side out)





We built the floor and the top of the livewell, didn't get a chance to fiberglass the top of the livewell on because we ran out of resin, but the floor is done, we also made the inside corners more round with a thin laminate to keep the amount of corners down so the fish live longer. We are going to paint the inside black as well, i think that helps the bait live longer. We decided to piece together some pieces of foam instead of cutting a whole sheet, and the underside of the top is already glassed.





And then we built the air intake for the motor itself. The other intakes are for the fresh air inside the box, but this is the box the motor will actually get the running air from. We are going to put holes in the front, side and bottom so that it can't get a bag stuck to it or anything like that.



Tomorrow, we are going to keep going and finish up the live well and then we are going to using the micro-spheres and resin and try to fair out the boat a bit this week.

[GringoJohn]

Not too much to show, we are mostly sanding and fairing. We did manage to get the Livewell glassed in:



And a funny picture. We buy used clothes and get this big bag for 2 bucks, and we wear the clothes once and then throw them out as they are full of glass. Today Harold got a pink Kimono

[swamp snorkler]

Have him tell everyone that's his Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume.

[GringoJohn]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

Have him tell everyone that's his Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume.

Does Caitlyn Jenner need a Halloween costume?

[GringoJohn]

Pretty interesting day yesterday. We were kind of out of funds to keep on building until next month, but yesterday the project received a huge blessing! Costa Rica used to have strict laws not allowing salvage recovery until last month. You used to not be able to collect boats that you found offshore, but now with the new law, anything you find abandoned in the ocean is yours as long as you let the costa guard know what you found before they find you. It looks like I’m going to be the first person to take advantage of that law! Yesterday I got a phone call from one of my captains that there was an unclaimed 32 foot panga out there, waiting to fund the rest of my build




So yesterday, me and harold took my other 28 foot diesel Panga and set out in search of funds! it was a terrible pull, took about 10 hours at 1 knot, but we made it. Talk about a long day, with the new law in effect, it was the first person to throw a rope on it and call the coast guard, so I set out at redline and missed breakfast and forgot to bring even water, so it was a tough day, but looks like it was worth it. A boat like this here will fetch between 10 to 18K, and with that I get can my new boat finished! Here’s some pictures when we got it to the shop, and this morning when we got it flipped over. I have some buyers coming by tomorrow so with any luck




And with the salvage operation out of the way, we started again on the build. Here’s the assembled overhead electronics box. I’m taking a long lunch today to make up for starving yesterday, and this afternoon I’ll probably get the outside glassed, right now only the inside has glass.




And then harold and the homeless guy (whose name is crab) started sanding some more. The sanding is coming a long way, I think we will gelcoat next week.



Here’s a close up of the border, the fairing isn’t too thick, it’s just mostly a weave fill. I’m excited how it’s all coming along!

[keakar]

so what is the latest? is it finished? where are the pictures?

[GringoJohn]

We'll hopefully here are the last pre gelcoat pictures for the outside of the boat. We have been doing lots of fairing this week, making lots of dust, long boarding, orbital, all of the above. Every time we make the fairing compound, we add different amounts of blue tint to the gelcoat/microbeads, so that we can tell what is good. After we sand, we got around with our hands and a pencil, circle the spots where there are still pin holes or imperfections, add more fairing compound, then sand it down again. To get the boat a little higher, we realized we can lift it up with just two people and then the Crab sticks some blocks under it, so we can fair it without it being on the ground. You can see the blocks in this picture:









And then with the boat on an angle, I got some better inside pictures













The whole thing is really close, we still have to do the door jambs on the interior, so we have decided to paint the outside first.

And then for fun, and kind of to show off either how light the boat is, or how strong Harold is (probably not a good idea to laugh at his pink outfits while he's around ) here's a 15 second video of him squating the hull:

Lifting Weights - YouTube

Lifting Weights - YouTube

[GringoJohn]

Will hopefully post some Gelcoat pictures on Monday !!!

[swamp snorkler]

This is my favorite thread on SC!

So why is crab homeless? Do you pay him?

[GringoJohn]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

This is my favorite thread on SC!

So why is crab homeless? Do you pay him?

Thanks!

Crab is homeless because every time he gets money he spends all the money on beer. I do pay him, not alot, but we give him 2 bucks an hour, which is good for here. Usually I pay him on Saturday, he is wasted Sunday and Money and starts back with us on Tuesday. BUT, last week, I paid him, I think it was like 120 bucks, and he spent 110 in beer, and 10 dollars in lottery tickets. He hit the jackpot and won 3000 bucks (jackpots here aren't quite like the states). So he spent all last week drunk in the chair and bought shoes for various women in the neighborhood and didn't work last week. He ran out of money last Friday and Saturday was back at sanding I don't think there's much hope....

[meaux fishing]

Originally Posted by GringoJohn

Thanks!

Crab is homeless because every time he gets money he spends all the money on beer. I do pay him, not alot, but we give him 2 bucks an hour, which is good for here. Usually I pay him on Saturday, he is wasted Sunday and Money and starts back with us on Tuesday. BUT, last week, I paid him, I think it was like 120 bucks, and he spent 110 in beer, and 10 dollars in lottery tickets. He hit the jackpot and won 3000 bucks (jackpots here aren't quite like the states). So he spent all last week drunk in the chair and bought shoes for various women in the neighborhood and didn't work last week. He ran out of money last Friday and Saturday was back at sanding I don't think there's much hope....

lmao!!

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by GringoJohn

Thanks!

Crab is homeless because every time he gets money he spends all the money on beer. I do pay him, not alot, but we give him 2 bucks an hour, which is good for here. Usually I pay him on Saturday, he is wasted Sunday and Money and starts back with us on Tuesday. BUT, last week, I paid him, I think it was like 120 bucks, and he spent 110 in beer, and 10 dollars in lottery tickets. He hit the jackpot and won 3000 bucks (jackpots here aren't quite like the states). So he spent all last week drunk in the chair and bought shoes for various women in the neighborhood and didn't work last week. He ran out of money last Friday and Saturday was back at sanding I don't think there's much hope....

Hopefully he got traded some smaller for the shoes.

LMAO

[Matt G]

Originally Posted by GringoJohn

Thanks!

Crab is homeless because every time he gets money he spends all the money on beer. I do pay him, not alot, but we give him 2 bucks an hour, which is good for here. Usually I pay him on Saturday, he is wasted Sunday and Money and starts back with us on Tuesday. BUT, last week, I paid him, I think it was like 120 bucks, and he spent 110 in beer, and 10 dollars in lottery tickets. He hit the jackpot and won 3000 bucks (jackpots here aren't quite like the states). So he spent all last week drunk in the chair and bought shoes for various women in the neighborhood and didn't work last week. He ran out of money last Friday and Saturday was back at sanding I don't think there's much hope....

I've worked with quite a few guys like that. They make some damn good workers when they need beer money. Thanks for sharing this experience. It is awesome to see this thing come to life.

[latravcha]

Originally Posted by GringoJohn

Thanks!

Crab is homeless because every time he gets money he spends all the money on beer. I do pay him, not alot, but we give him 2 bucks an hour, which is good for here. Usually I pay him on Saturday, he is wasted Sunday and Money and starts back with us on Tuesday. BUT, last week, I paid him, I think it was like 120 bucks, and he spent 110 in beer, and 10 dollars in lottery tickets. He hit the jackpot and won 3000 bucks (jackpots here aren't quite like the states). So he spent all last week drunk in the chair and bought shoes for various women in the neighborhood and didn't work last week. He ran out of money last Friday and Saturday was back at sanding I don't think there's much hope....

Sounds like half of the guys I worked offshore with.

[Bluechip]

Lol....

[SLAB]

Man this is the best. Really enjoying the read. Hope you start another build when this is complete so I will have more post to look forward to

[GringoJohn]

Originally Posted by SLAB

Man this is the best. Really enjoying the read. Hope you start another build when this is complete so I will have more post to look forward to

I've already taken out my 31 foot Ocean Master and we're going to see how light we can make it and turn it into an express from a center console, so there's more coming

Here's the before:



Here's what I'm going for:


Or kind of like this:

[GringoJohn]

Well, we finally got some white on the outside of the boat! First two coats of GelCoat finished on the outside, and I'm super happy about how everything is turning out!













And then in between coats on the hull, we went ahead and shot some Gelcoat on the motor box.





We didn't get all four coats on, just two, so tomorrow in the morning we are going to shoot one more, and then one more with wax. We are spraying the Gel Coat thick so that we can wet sand it every year to keep it looking new and then when we get done spraying we are going to have to go after it with some 400/1000/2000 grit wet sanding to get out the shine! Going to finish up the last two coats tomorrow, and then we have to fill in some pin holes on the inside and shoot the inside as well, probably Wednesday. Really moving quickly, hopefully my aluminum will get in soon so we can start on the tower when the paint dries!

[swamp snorkler]

Nice job on the gel coat