Putting my 1991 31 foot Ocean Master on a SERIOUS diet!

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by GringoJohn

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.

I have no clue but they are.

[GringoJohn]

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.



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



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



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





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

[swamp snorkler]

You can hideout in that ice chest.

[GringoJohn]

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.

[GringoJohn]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

You can hideout in that ice chest.

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

[GringoJohn]

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!

























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!

[Matt G]

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!

[Baychamp1]

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

[swamp snorkler]

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

[GringoJohn]

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!

[swamp snorkler]

We need pics!!

[GringoJohn]

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







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.



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.



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.



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!!!!

[GringoJohn]

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.









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





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.



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.

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by GringoJohn

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.

This dude is ALOT braver than me!

[GringoJohn]

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.



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





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.





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



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

[swamp snorkler]

Looks great with the Tower.

[GringoJohn]

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

[bobo23]

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

[GringoJohn]

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!

[GringoJohn]

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.



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,