2800SX Outboard Restoration
 

After 6 months my 28 arrived July 4th at 5:00am!!! I couldn't sleep so the boat got it's first bath in years!!!

Yesterday was the first day I got to work on the boat. My wife and I gutted the cabin. We removed all the cabinets, seats, galley, shelves, carpet, headliner, etc. We must've removed 300+ pounds out of the cabin!!
The cabin will get all new padded vinyl headliner, new carpet, flooring, etc. The bulkheads will be refinished before being reinstalled. The seats will be recovered in white vinyl with red piping. The upper cabinets and shelves will not be reinstalled.

The transom/bilge is allready rigged nicely. All I need to do is mount the pumps for the Offshore clamps and tidy up some wiring. The boat will initially be rigged with twin Mercury 2.4L 200's on 25" mids with Bob's nose coned lower gearcases on Mercury High Performance clamps. I'll eventually build some potent 2.5 for the boat.

sweeeet!

i like the factthat there is no splashwell.....

I'm going to have some lazer etched panels made for the dashboard and upgrade the gages. Priority number one is getting the boat back on the water. Sunday I'll be mounting one of the 2.4's....and fighting some rusty bolts on the other 25" mid to marry it to my other high performance clamp!

????? 2tonchevy, our boats do have splashwells with drainage. My splashwell is covered by a fiberglass racing hatch..

I'll eventually get the trailer sandblasted and painted. Anybody know who paints trailers in south Florida??

I think it would look bad ass with that windshield gone..give it a more sleek look...

Day two...swapped my 2.4 from my 20" mid/clamp to my High Performance clamp and 25" mid section. I need to install some longer studs in the powerhead to reach through the high performance adapter. Next will be marrying my 2nd 25" mid to the 2nd high performance clamp..I need a 2nd 1-piece high performance adapter for the 25" mid!!!

Congrats on the new boat! I look forward to seeing and reading about the progress.

Found out some very cool history on my boat. Mike Combs (Checkmate) faxed me over the original build sheet & order sheet. The boat was was ordered 04/26/1984 and shipped 06/21/1984. It was a Custom Edition called the "Ashland Special" and layed up with AME 4000 resin, transom modified for 3 engines, blue printed bottom, 96 gallon fuel tank, triple pre rig harnesses, fuel gauge, stainless steel trim tabs, tab dash indicator, dual hynautic steering with tie bars, xtra heavy duty Gil Battery boxes, etc. The boat was ordered from Dorchester Marine in Charleston SC by Benny Robertson. Maybe Ben's still around and will chime in!!

Looks like it needs trips on it..since thats what it was ordered for :evilb:

man thas awesome to have that kinda info on the boat.

can you pm me his contact info ? id like to see if he could/would do the same for me! be sweet to have that.

and i just notice d that your boat has that cover over the well! it looked at first glance tha it didnt! just got done makin a aluminum sun deck on the rear. made a template the shape of the splashwell and cut it out of 1/8 aluminum to fit flush inside. it covers the well and all the fittings and through hull unions for the controls etc....very clean looking. waitin on my lower to get back....then off to the upholstery shop!

Benny Robertson is definately still around. I talked to him in KW last Nov. I think he is south of Charleston and is still doing repair work. He just set up my friends counter rotating cle last month.

Was wondering if...
 

it was that B. Robertson. Cool pc of the puzzle if so.

PM sent.

Spent the entire day high speed wheeling out the hull with Maguires Cleaner Wax..man I'm sore!! Here's a few pictures:

Weekend Progress!
 

Made some progress the last two days. I removed the 20" mid and stock clamp from the boat. Wire brushed & painted my offshore single piston clamp, polished my shifter/throttle box, removed the old batteries, cleaned the bilge, etc. Today was a day of torches and wrenches to take apart the 25" mid from a stock clamp and marry it to my offshore clamp and 1-one piece high performance adapter. I also swapped out the tilt tube with my side steer tube and mounted the entire assembly onto the Gil bracket. I also mounted all my steering rams...just waiting on some longer studs for the bottom of both my powerheads to finish mounting them. I also installed a new deck hatch...getting closer!

man its comin along!!!

kep it up! cant waitto see how it runs!!

Awesome stuff! I'm jealous.

Lookin great Jup! Almost there!

Here's a quick update! Worked on the boat last night for 4 hours. Installed a new water pump & housing into the portside Bob's lower unit and intalled the lower onto the port midsection. Swapped out the lower block studs in the port powerhead and installed the port powerhead onto the mid section. The boat finally has both motors installed!! I still have to swap out the studs on the starboard powerhead, mount the trim pumps, fuel pumps, batteries and tidy up some wiring. I'm rebuilding/duplicating the port side seat bolster guts out of new materials and then I'll recover the bolster with the original vinyl. Getting closer. Once the boat is on the water I'll begin working on the cabin..

keep it up!! cant wait to see how it looks and runs!!

do you know the weight difference in the race hull and the pleasure hull? just curious. i read 4200 pounds was the weight of the 2800sx. but idk where i read it.

do you have any plans for the cuddy? are you gonna put it back to factory?

ive got the interior out of mine right now. putn carpet in the cabin and cuddy. i also installed a Bomar hatch in the front for light and ventilation. ive decided to keep the two man race bolster for now...i dont wanna drill holes in the floor and i kinda like the security of it. plus it makes a cool "bench" to sit on while at anchor. im havin it recovered in gray and red like the back pad and seat.

Hey Chevy..I don't know what the weight of the boat is..I don't think our particular model was ever put into a Checkmate brochure. I'm going to do a makeover on the cabin. New headliner, recover all the seats with new marine vinyl (white with red piping) and I'm going to refinish the wood bulkheads in polyurathane. The only thing I'm undecided upon is whether to reinstall the overhead storage cabinets that run above each couch...I'm also still debating on what to do on the floor..new carpet?? gelcoat splatter? colored bedliner??. I really don't want to deal with anything that will hold moisture so carpet is the last thing I'm thinking about. I kind of like the idea of trying a colored spray in bedliner for the cockpit floor and cabin floor..I won't have a chance to work on the boat again until August 29th...still need to install trim pumps, hoses, batteries, tie bar, etc.

Cool boat!
 

I drove past the checkmate factory last weekend. Pretty cool to see the place your boat was built.

I agree with previous post. Trips have to be in the future!!

Yep.
 

Almost every Summer weekend, all of my life. Always slowed down to see what was in the parking lot. If you were lucky there was a load of boats to be ogled.

I bought two new Eagle One Performance style cowls for the 2800. They arrived a few days ago. Hopefully I'll get to work on the boat this weekend and wrap mostly everything up to get her in the water..

Got some much needed work done last weekend. I finally pulled the starboard powerhead to replace the studs with longer studs and brand new stainless hardware. I drilled and mounted my new Eagle One 260 cowls to both powerheads. I also wired up the trim pumps and mounted them to the slide brackets..just need to fill them, run power to them and bleed the system. Here's some pics of the cowls mounted:

Coming along nicely. You got plans for trailer when boat is finished?

Yes, I'll eventually will have it soda-blasted and painted....or I'll just sell it and replace it with an aluminum trailer that will handle the salt water better...

Finally hit the water for the first time this past monday. Stll have some gremlins to iron out but she ran pretty strong!

nice dude!

congrats!

2nd time on the water. Turning BIG Suzuki 4-blade 15"X24 pitch props we saw 67MPH at 5700 rpm with more in it. Switching to some Merc Chopper 26's should yield some more rpm at top end speed numbers. I hoping for 6400 rpm at about 74MPH. Boat ran well and we stayed out on the water for dinner. Here's some pics and a quick video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScFAXJSkrwc

Good for you Dude!
It appears Mama likes it too :thankyouthankyou:

My new props arrived yesterday! I bought a pair of Mercury 26 pitch choppers worked by DAH. They need a little cleaning up but I'll run them first to get a base line of performance. I need to replace some bad motor mounts on my port motor..hopefully I'll get time to work on the boat this sunday and try the props.

great pics. jup are they bone stock 200's? if so your set up is doing better then me with setting it up. i am about 6 or 800 lbs heavier than you i think but same hull i believe. best i have seen is 63 on gps so you are off to a good start. love the engine video. love lookin back at twin egg beaters.

Yes, the are stock 2.4 Merc 200's mounted on one piece exhaust plates, 25" mids, and Bob's coned lower units.. Motors are on Gil brackets and set back 24" at 18" centers..

Ran my new DAH 26 pitch choppers last sunday. Netted 71.11 MPH @ 6000 rpm on the right motor and 5800 rpm on the counter rotating motor. That was with 96 gallons of gas and two adults. I think with more seat time, light on gas, some new reeds and I can sneak up on 75 mph!! Not to shabby for a couple of fishing motors!!!

For stock 200's you are hauling the mail....I am impressed.