And the vberth. Unfortunately, I spun a rod bearing over the weekend so I'm back to rebuilding engines.

Steve,

Cabin does look great! Excellent work...now about that rod bearing...that, sucks. Didn't you jus thave thos motors done? How many hours? What happened? Hope you get it back up and running soon, summer is still a month or so away...

BTW, I tooka ride on the ole 28 this weekend, I'll be sad to see her go, but I can't wait to put the 35 in the water!

Sean

Same bottom ends on the engines as last year - about 100 hours. All I did was upgraded the blowers. The pisser is I have no idea what caused it. I'm just glad it happened now and not in July!! The machine shop said they can turn the crank so my repair costs will be minimal.

Hi Cig, Mongo here.

Your boat looks GREAT! I just bought an 89 Cafe and had the cockpit re-done before I shipped it here to St. Thomas. I've been looking at re-doing the dash the same way you did, white gauges and backing plate on the black dash. I have a question or two:

1. Did you buy the dash and back plate as a kit or did you do them yourself?

2. How do you keep the black so black? Mine is a little sun faded and kinda chalky. What is your solution to this? I take it this is gelcoat, can I just hit it with a good finish restorer and some compound and follow it with a good wax?

Thanks for your help. This is my first Cig (I had a Donzi before, the Cig is SOOO much better) and want to do the best I can to keep it in good shape.

Mongo :D

Mongo, thanks. Im pleased with the results. I ordered a new 502 this morning so that should take care of my engine problems for a while.

The dash plate you see in the pictures is being trashed. It was a lexan panel that I had made up at a sign shop in the winter of '00-01. The first time water got on it the colors "ran". I bought a set of laser-etched plates from Nisonger Marine that will be replacing them. I'm not real happy with Nisonger - I wanted the "Cigarette" logo in red and they sent them to me with it in gray. They said that was the only way you could get laser-etching.

I use 303 on the black. I also put a black non-skid pad above the glove box to walk on when you're getting on the bow. The black is some type of paint - I could see the edges when I removed some of the upholstery.

A Cig in St Thomas - that must be a blast!! Best of luck!

Hi Cignificant Steve, yor boat looks incredible. I have my cabin headliner and side panels out and are being redone at the moment. I hope it comes out as good as yours did.Sorry to hear about the motor:mad: but these things happen with these kind of toys:rolleyes: I spent the afternoon on the lake getting used to the Top Gun and came home to find a huge oil leak:eek: looks like the timing cover of balancer seal. I hope it`s something simple
Hope all is well, Kurt.

CIG
 

What I want to know is how the cooler turned out? I thought that was the best feature

Hi Cig,

Glad to hear about your new motor. Hell, the weather is starting to get good up there now. Gotta have it running in time for the warm stuff!

I have been told that Gaffrig makes an entire kit that includes the dash plate and gauges. Have you heard of or seen this kit?

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "303"? I have time on Saturday to do some work in the boat in preperation for the usual run to White Bay with a boat load of babes to drink Painkillers on the beach. Is it a finish restorer or a paint? The finish really looks like gelcoat. Great idea on the non-skid. It will make my GF very happy.

Thanks again!

Mongo

Oh yea, Biggus can hang on the Cig forum now!!

The headliner was a ***** - even the guy at the upholstery shop didn't want to do it. So I had to do it myself. Don't worry about oil leaks - just add more new oil. You won't have to change the oil if you just keep leaking out the old!!

Linster, you know the cooler is always in good repair!!

Mongo, "303" is a cleaner/protectant that you can buy at many of the boating stores. Here's a link..

http://www.boatus-store.com/browse/i...SR=1&IID=19556

I've never looked at the Graffrig packages. My boat had Graffrig when I bought it, so all I needed were the panels.

So, you're running to a place called White Bay in the Caribbean with a boat load of Babes? I wonder how much plane tickets are to St Thomas?;) ;)

Hi Cig,

Here is the link to my hangout: http://www.sandcastle-bvi.com/

The soggydollar bar is the place. It is called that because there is no dock, so you have to bow and stern anchor and swim in. The money gets wet, but there is a clothes line behind the bar where you can hang the $$$ till they dry. Don't worry, I'll post some pics on Monday...

Thanks for the info on the 303. I'll give it a try.

Mongo