Cafe Resto
 

After breaking a drive last year at the Shootout, a known wet transom, engines that probably need a refresh plus overall boat showing age, i decided it was time to gut her & redo it all.

Today we got the swim platform removed, drives pulled, along with the steering components & exhaust.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psz83aw1jp.jpg

The transom was pretty soft. Just pressing in the exhaust cutouts caused the wood to turn to dust.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...pstmg1yryk.jpg

http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psg3zf6bg6.jpg

Looks like someone previously tried to fill it in with some sort of resin in one of the cutouts.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psomip1ydk.jpg

Even the stern transom light cutout was rotted.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psjci8gxtt.jpg

Wow! It was about time! Wait till you really start cutting the transom out! Im sure its gonna be even worst than what you just saw!!!
Post pictures! Another nice project!
Good luck!

Much easier to get to all the crap I dropped in the bilge with the risers off.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psi7cbhbn6.jpg

Removed the aged hatch mirror. Never liked it & was curious what was under there. The cutouts for the air intake never looked factory. Also there was a drop-off with the sunpad that caused people to slip while crossing over or making their way to the swim platform. So we are going to redesign the hatch for more clearance.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psankjqz65.jpg

Under the pad, here is the extra clearance that was made probably due to the blowers. Doesn't look factory compared to the rest of glasswork,
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psawtx7fg9.jpg

http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...pswftshbdk.jpg

http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps4cbxofca.jpg

The hatch pad looks like it had modifications too. Was told the metal brackets were electrical plates. So not sure if this was someone else's work too.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...pssxv6bci7.jpg

Next we will take the hatch off & then pull the engines.

Was'nt this boat from new jersey 1 or. 2 years ago?

No, he has owned it a while.

That's a big project to be starting at the end of March!!!!

I started a smaller project in October and am still worried about the summer sneaking up on me

I only used it twice last year & ended up breaking the drive so figured might as well not delay the inevitable. It will probably take a couple years to do everything i want to do.

Keep us posted, you will be busy.

Love project threads. What's the boat look like previously?

This is how it looks now. Plan is to get rid of the fuschia & replace with purple, & come up with new design around the logo.

http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps2caf67ab.jpg

Cool! It's always fun to see someone make a Cig better than it was before. Who's doing the work or are you going to tackle it?

Good Luck! Can't wait to see the results!

Cannot wait to see it complete!!

A friend & i (mainly him) is doing all the de-rigging. He is going to do the transom work since he has replaced on some others. As far as the hatch work & paint, I am not sure yet.

the boat looks sick! you're correct, that hatch is BUTCHERED. what are the plans for the motors? rebuild or going bigger?

Finally making some progress. Taking my hatch to Vincent in next couple weekends, he has some ideas to shape it 575-like & add some custom touches. I think i will do a hard top & do away with the pad.

I am going to start ordering some parts this week. Replacing the old bulky transom water pickups. Cant figure out what type i would need. Any suggestions? i found these two styles, but not sure how to know which style to use. I will have to grab measurements on needed pickup length.
http://teaguecustommarine.com/em0011...ll-mounts.html
http://teaguecustommarine.com/em0011...ount-1014.html

Also doing away with the old sea strainers & all re-plumbing with stainless. Would these strainers work, or do i need something larger?
http://www.cpperformance.com/p-12831...tsoutlets.aspx

Finally for now, opinions on Autometer gauges over Livorsi's? My current ones are Autometer so it looks like i could use the same wiring, where with Livorsi i have to purchase the deutsch connectors. I will be replacing my controls with Livorsi's so trying to decide if any benefit to have all Livorsi components.

Go auto meter so you don't have to wire in the 4 pin deutsch connectors

I'm very excited to see the hard top on the cafe hatch. I was tossing the idea arohnd of doing that on the top gun but that's a lot of square footage to glass and shape.

Been delayed & slow going, but finally made progress.

Engines removed
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psk7ryn1pq.jpg

Do not think Cigarette did this, but bottom filled with resin at rear of center stringer. Water looks to be trapped under it as it will bleed through the crack when pressed. Will need to dig all this out. We will paint the engine compartment white which should make it look much better.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psuv6ygvxc.jpg


Sending off to get dyno'd. I want to see what the girls are really making before we do some upgrades.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psonlgr9h0.jpg

Bought some monster (compared to my current ones) sea strainers. Thanks Jason for delivering to me while at Shootout. Also picked up a swim platform from an 03 Top Gun. Will need to strip it & powercoat purple.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps1cezfkvb.jpg

This weekend i should be able to get the rest of the compartment de-rigged.

Already have quite a few of the replacement stuff purchased; coosa board, bilge blowers, hoses, bilge pumps, battery trays, etc. Still need to figure out what kind of LED's to buy for the underwater lights & to bling the engine compartment.

OOOO boy, good luck and be strong my friend.

looks familiar, from this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]544908[/ATTACH]

to this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]544909[/ATTACH]

to this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]544910[/ATTACH]

is a painful, painful process.

I'm getting dizzy just looking at those pictures.

But believe it or not, we all have faith in you. Stay strong, godspeed.

Keep posting pictures.

If the bottom is pushing water out when pushed on I hope your core isn't bad......

I don't think it is. There was some resin up towards the front where the two drain holes dump by the stringer. I pried it out & it seems as if it was poured on top of the original glass. So water was trapped between the two. But does not appear to have penetrated the original layup.

Thanks for the pics Frick! Gives me idea of what it will look like done.

Another long day in 90 deg heat yesterday to pretty much finish the transom stripping.

First assembly removal was a *****. looks like someone poured resin in with everything mounted. had to dig out in order to remove the lines.
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psost33unf.jpg

Transom cutout showing where resin was poured to try & seal i assume
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps5uujgdry.jpg

She looks pathetic without the hardware
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psk1yoygvf.jpg

The good news is the transom is rotted from the drain whole to the stern light to both the tabs, so shouldnt be hard to remove what wood is left! I am wondering though if the transom flex could have caused some sort of drive issue under load that then broke the drive.

For replacement water pickups, should i bring them at the same angle as the originals on the vee, or straight down towards the keel? I dont know if there is a difference in location for better pressure.

http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/e...psvaq8udaz.jpg

Still need to remove the trim pumps & some other minor things & then it's time to start cutting. Hoping to get it cut out & cleaned in next weekend or two.

Oh the joy!!!! Keep up the progress and don't lose your vision of the finished product!

Holy moly there is rot everywhere!!!

Good luck with the project!! Keep us up to date.

Haven't posted in awhile so figured would just give quick update. The only way to view progress is to look at my CC bill & checking account depletion! I have pretty much all the new exterior transom parts purchased. New stainless steel water pickups, billet cable clamshell covers, stainless water dumps, swim platform, LED Nav light, & LED underwater lights. Not sure if anyone makes stainless transom exhaust cutout covers to replace the old plastic ones or if i will just need to have them fab'd. Would have liked to have some SSM's or Konrads hanging off the back but just not in the budget. :(

For the engine compartment, i have made a good dent in the items i wanted. New stainless strainers, bilge pumps, blowers, LED's, battery charger, hatch light, bilge coat. Now i need to get the lengths/sizes for the drive/tab hydraulic hoses & then all the fuel lines to replace all them. Plan on getting new fuel pumps once i figure out what to use.

Next i move on the helm. Livorsi gauges & controls, new switches, Innotech dash panels, Isotta wheel, Garmin chartplotter, heads up indicators.

I might have to sell my body to about a hundred fat girls for about $500 each, or maybe $1000 each to fifty really fat girls to get this completed. Either that or start a gofundme page. :)

You may be better off( cheaper) buying that #5 Café in the classifieds!

Believe me, I've thought about it! But then i would have to sell mine first & everyone would steer potential buyers to the one i was trying to buy. ;)

The Livorsi gauges are not what they used to be. Needles fade out, rims pull off, mostly junk.. Look at auto meter marine, they will do colors also

It is always expensive... Used boats in need of repairs, or new/ newer boat with much more depreciation... Either way, expensive... But in the end you ll have something strong, reliable, and nice looking!
So keep up the good work!!!

I know what you are going through. I am into a Café rebuild although I did not have any rot to fix I am doing a full repaint, upgrading motors, power coating and repainting all hardware parts, refinish complete cockpit, it seems overwhelming at times being a one man operation that has a full time and part time job. hang in there in the end you will have something to be proud of.

jim!! how is your rebuild going!! any progress pics???

Post pics to help keep me motivated & to give me ideas. :)

Does anyone know the correct length for Cafe (or other 35's) throttle & shift cables for TRS? My shift cables are both 22', which doesn't make sense, & the throttles were 24/20 p/s. I did some searching on here & found a 38TG were both 24/22, while a 31Bullet was 22/18 for both. I asked Lipship & he said they no longer have that info avail for Cafe's, but agreed they should be different lengths. He said either one was too long, or one was originally too short & may have been too tight. Because the other models were matching, I would assume mine should too. Was hoping someone recently replaced theirs & knows for sure. If not, i guess i will have to run a line & try to get my own length estimate.

Cafe Restoration
 

The restoration is going but never seems to be fast enough, it takes a long time to get around these boats. All cracks, scoffs, dock rash, unwanted holes have been repaired, glassed, all original stripes removed and it has a lot of primer on it now. swim platform and a few other parts are at powder coating right now, cockpit interior is getting redone along with sun pad, motors from my old boat are on engine stands awaiting upgrades, I wanted to job out the motors to Marine Kinetics for new cams and top ends but he is booked up for 2016, guess I will have to get the parts and do them myself which is going to bite into more time from me getting paint on the hull. I will post a series of pictures as soon as I can start putting something back together. This is a lot of work and I am a one man band that works 2 jobs. Thanks for asking Phil. I will post pictures when I get something completed. right now I am out of control fighting this battle on 8 fronts.

I wish I could find out the correct cable length throttle and shift for a Café bravo boat, it would be nice to pull the new cables through the boat as I was pulling the old cables out

[QUOTE=jsand117;4392554]I wish I could find out the correct cable length throttle and shift for a Café bravo boat, it would be nice to pull the new cables through the boat as I was pulling the old cables out[/QUOTE

You might ask someone at http://lipship.com/

The length should be written on the cables in inches.

I tried lip ship but the person I talked to said he did not know on such an old boat?

Thanks Griff I will check the cables to see if there are any markings on them