38 Top Gun Project
 

Well, it was time to re do the Top Gun, I have had it for a month now and it's time!! New cockpit, New paint, oh yea and the reason for all this to begin with..... new fuel tanks. has a leak in one of the tanks and did not want to chance anything. so they are both gone !! Thanks to LSjr. he will post some pics for me throughout the project as I am far from computer literate. So far removing the tanks... SUCKED !!

But I am leaving the engines alone...:rolleyes:

How did you know the fuel cells were leaking? fuel in the bildge?

Please post the process.
That sucks that you had to replace them. The boat isn't that old for that to have happened.

I consistantly had a little fuel in the bilge, and alot of fumes everytime I opened the hatch. I inspected every hose clamp, sening unit etc.. I could see before pulling the tanks. I found a small 6 inch crack on the weld of the tank. The foam was soaked with fuel. I was driving a time bomb, so I am glad I did remove the tanks. I have pictures that I will post Monday.

that does suck! Well, now I'll know if I ever have that issue.:drink:

Glad you caught it before something bad happened

The old owner has stepped up to the plate and said he would pay for the new tanks. it was a question I had before buying the boat, and was told nothing was wrong. At leastit is taking care of. I have a 4 year old that loves the boat .... thats all I need to say !!!

Are you going to repaint the boat in its original colors?

Hell NO !:D A little to early 90's for me , with the "splash" graphics and all. Here is a pic of the boat now.
I hope it uploads. I will post the during and after pics when it is done

That´s the spirit! :evilb: I´m helping a friend who´s redoing his TG, and now i woundering how I can get my hands on the correct paint-code for the gelcoat.

The removing of the tanks

Tanner, what type of paint scheme you thinking of going with?

Remember, you can always do a vinyl wrap for a fraction the cost.

Tank ,something like to 2007 blue and white top gun at Lip Ship.

Cant get the link up Sorry

Yea, that boat is SICK! Great colors.

It would behoove you to look into wraping it with graphics. You're talking 3-5k compared to 40+k. You could do vinyl and change the graphics every two years for 20 years and most likely still have not paid as much as paint.

We're very happy with the vinyl on our boat. Even Steve (oso) asked, "is that vinyl?" when he was tied up next to us in Havasu. The new 3M vinyl they have is amazing (not dull like vinyl used to be) and they can do any design, shading, color, etc.

Just a thought. But hey, if you have an open checkbook, go for paint.:drink:

Here's a shot of our vinyl.

Ordered the Lonseal flooring (Lonplate 1) today, all new guages from Livorsi ( Monster carbon fiber) and scoops for the hatch!

I've got a ? for ya Tanner. It looks like you had to cut the tank for removal. When you install the new tank is there enough room to slide back towards the bilge bulkhead ?

Yes I had to cut out a center section and then slide out the front and rear sections. The new tank will be approx 30 gallons less as it has to fit in the 79 1/2 " opening of the floor. the old tanks were 127 Gallons each. I spoke to Craig Barrie and he confirmed they built the boats by setting the tanks and all the plumbing in the hull before they attached the top . Kind of a pain in theass.... but know I will know the boat in and out. The new owner will really love that everything is new !!!

It was pretty clever attaching the eye hook and the come-a-long. I had the floor on the Bullet a few years back scratching my head about that. Good work !!! Take alot of pics. I'd like to see the progress. Are you replacing both of them ?
If ya dont mind how much were they ?
Stan

I am doing both of them, I am already there, so why not go the extra mile and be done with it. The new tanks are going to run around 1900 each. They charge by gallons , so it is yet to be exactly calculated. I will post more pics as the whole project keeps going.

Any updates/pics ?

Just got the new tanks and installing them this weekend! Will post pics tomorrow

I thought of this post a few weeks back and just the the other day how tis is haunting me. I bought a 19' cuddy cabin from someone at work. Boat was stored for 3 years so I figured making a few bucks cleaning it up etc. I put 5 gallons of gas in the tank. Next day it was it was slowly dripping out of the bildge. Needless to say I sold that boat with carry on's. LOL.

Anyway..While working on the Bullet I drained the 10 gallons or so to put about fresh 20 gallons in. Just enough for a quick run before I tow it to Murray next week. Figuring I want as less weight as possible I'll take fuel once I get there. I can only hope with my luck the inevitable won't happen.

I had removed both tanks and it seemed that only 1 of them had been leaking. I have spoken to many people on this issue before I got into it... including Craig Barrie( he was at CIg when my boat was built) and they all said that it is pretty rare for this to happen, but it does happen. The tank that did not have the leak in it , did have a baffle laying at the bottom of the tank, welds just broke off... pretty strange.

Question for ya. Is there a cross over between the two tanks ? Seems like the 88 Bullet does but the '89 I had did not.

I did the same replacement of the tanks in my 1984 38SE, two years ago. What a "chore". I did some research and found the company that supplied the original tanks to Cigarette in 1984. Thet still had the prints for those tanks, (131 gal/ea.). The total bill for both tanks, to me, was $2100.
I did basically the same "cut", to the floor, that is shown in the previous pictures, only we took the cocpit floor and 2' up the rear seat bulkhead along with the "shelf" in front of the engines as one piece. That access allowed us to take the tanks out through the engine compt. We used an electric chain saw to cut the foam to free the tanks. They were still bonded to the bottom of the boat, from the original instillation, so we had to us my engine lift to supply vertical force to get them to release. With the engine lift attached to the tabs of the tanks, the boat was still lifted off the trailer. Finally, after 2 of us jumping in the enging compt. (the engines were out) we got the tanks to release.
After all that we still had to clean up the tank area, put the new tanks in place and foam them in. After that the floor had to be re-installed and glassed in place. WHAT A CHORE.
We also did the outside engine stringers while the motoes were out. Another fine mess, but needed and well worth doing. I have stories on that also. A tale for another time.

A little progress.... new tanks are in, new upholstery is starting to come in and some pics of the new scoops I made for the hatch!

the new style air ducts on the hatch.

1 more

I have been think about redoing my visor. Where did you get your vinyl? I really like the carbon fiber patern on it. Did you have to get it from Lip Ship or Cigarette???

The vinyl came from yourautotrim.com They have a marine grade section. I have used 2 others compoanies in the past and this vinyl is the best yet.

Finally got the seats ! Waiting for the paint to be finished and my summer can begin :drink:

Looking good...when you planning on the splash ?

pics of new paint..

deck

HOLY SH-T! That boat is sick. Who did the interior and how much? Who is doing the paint and how much? I have to do that to mine.

Good looking boat. Congrats on the progress.

Looks great..............

That is sweet!

WOW.............That looks GREAT!!!

Damn, that is a great looking cig. Who did the paint?