This is my favorite straight bottom gun. I was trying to buy it right before you. Love the colors. Didn’t know it needed that much work. Doing an amazing job!!!!

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Look Familiar??



photo by Mikey.. sommerfliesby...

Great picture !!! Yea she needed some work but to be honest it prolly would of ran for years to come the way it was . I would go out on a limb and say 80 percent of these 30 plus year old boats have some moist areas on them. But all in all are still safe to run I just got into mine and never stopped lol. But for me I will really enjoy it when it’s done knowing how much went into it . Thanks for all the support !!! Been a long project with air more to come but it’s finally to the stage we’re it’s going together and not apart 😂

I also looked at it I couldn't come to a deal with the seller at the time, I love that boat and it definitely wasn't as bad as it seems Eric's just really picky lol

The crushed/bare electrical wiring was a good thing to find and correct.

Tim is correct it wasn’t that prolly wouldn’t have ever given me structural problems sometimes lights flickered that due to the wiring but that was under the liner that was all factory. It really just snow balled down the hill once I started. I got a great deal on it for what it came with parts and stuff. Any way I figure it will be a brand new boat when it’s done and I could never afford a brand new one. After more sanding primer and touch up filler in the bilge it’s ready for gel coat just deciding on color!!!

I was actually scrolling through and thought that dark grey primer looked pretty cool in the bilge.......

I agree I’m really contemplating using that color in the bilge/ only thing is my engines are all black and I mean all black lol fittings lines everything so I just don’t want it to look odd. I could
go with a lighter silver and the engines would pop a little more or just white. That’s my next decision

I say go with white awl-grip, let the engines do their own thing against the background. white also allows you to identify leaks and drips. I'll get you some ceramic coat for you to coat the bottom of the bilge with to make everything just run out and not stick.

When I built a new Cig race boat back in the day I had them paint the bilge red.
It looked great against the Black 280 MercCruisers.

How big to drill drain holes in stingers ? 1inch ?

I just posted this in the engine bay color thread... don’t use grey it washes everything out so bad you can’t see in there even with a flood light. I’m going from grey to white

Yes I have heard the darker colors make it harder. Got the drain holes drilled and glasses almost ready for final coat. Tanks are being made moving along . It liquid foam still the way to go under and around tanks or is there a better solution know a days ?

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Drilled the old mounting holes out to 7/8 and glasses in doll rod and glasses over then used marine filler. Didn’t want. Just use filler.
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Filled in we’re old pvc pipe ran for wiring.
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Filler applied !!
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Glasses up and ready for filler

I had new Aluminum plates that have the logos engraved into them for under the motors and I have a new top shelf plate with the trim pumps mount I should have them out of the machine tomarrow

Looks awesome. Where do you plan on going with the cables and wires to the engine bay?

I think it would look over the top custom to do a super polished bilge in grey to match the outside with the cig ovals on the gunnals to match the outside as well. I dig that look. Easy clean up off a super shiny surface too. No better time to do something over the top while it's torn down that far.

So I got ride of all the cables and staring over fresh with all wiring the trim tab and drive indicators are electronic know so that get ride of 4 cables the throttles and shifters are the zero effort fly by wire. I’m drilling a smaller hole prolly 2.5 in lower bulk head next to side wall and running wires through there and will make up a nice harness and tuck it next to stringer so hopes are that it’s all hidden. I’m doing all the water lines in 12 AN fittings and fuel in 8An all in black line and fittings. The new water pickups that 12An fittings in them so should be pretty clean.

Get pvc to run front to back while cabin is open!

^^^ yup run some 4 inch pvc down the side on the starboard side, just hold it on with tabs. leave an opening by the seat area for other wires to enter/exit there and run it to the back. leaves a nice channel and a good place for them to lay and not chafe.

Hey I know that guy in the Fountain....LOL

Spent most of the last week in the bilge just fine tuning the walls and bulkheads with filler the top shelf were the trim pumps are I ground down to raw glass I’m going to put one layer of 1708 die it having a lot of little screw holes from past mounting of who knows what lol. Once it’s glassed I will then glue my new aluminum plate on top of that. Hoping to have bilge painted this weekend and while that cures I can go on to the stringers. Side note I’m welding up new water pick ups how far should they stick down past the hull ?

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Almost there !!

GREAT WORK!.... and LOTS of it!

Thanks it’s been a journey that’s for sure lol with a long Windee steep road head!!!!

Impressive my man... impressive!!

Figure out what you’re gonna do color / paint wise for bilge? Or is it a surprise? 😁

Man hardest decision lol I got the new tanks done. Ready to paint the bilge just can’t decide. I got the out side colors and paint figured out viper blue dark silver and some white. Trying to figure out bilge I want it to match And I can not decide lol 😝

ya know, there is no law saying how you have to do it. do the floors white and the sides silver... or floors white and the same paint scheme on the outside on the inside, be a little more time for laying it out but would look cool as hell... the only limiting force is your own imagination.

Those are all very good points !!! I did a bit of final small touch ups today while I had some time to ponder. I spent along time leveling the boat and laser checking the bottom today getting ready for stringers. New tanks ready to install. Everyone still leaving them a inch or so off the bottom and using liquid foam?? Ordering some bilge paint this week and looking to get that done and the new plates in to dazzle up the bilge.

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Small final touch ups
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Can’t believe how many hours I spent in this bilge
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A lot of life pondering spent in hear song with 15 gallons of lightweight filler 16 boxes of sandpaper and 36 shop across filters lol but I think once it’s painted it will be worth it ..

Figure if the tank was foamed in originally then it should go back in that way
I would place rubber strips down where the tank will contact the hull, then fill with 5 lb foam

I only used thick rubber strips . that foam attracts or can hold moisture .

Also best thing I ever did was paint the bilge under the engines black, really helps my OCD.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...7deb7c9cfc.jpg

Made some progress this weekend. Spent some time with lasers and tape measures and stand and levels lol making sure it was completely straight. Took a lot of time but the bottom has been all blue printed already and the board ran very good before so I wanted to make sure we were on the right track. After that we were able to build the front fuel tank bulk head and make the fuel tank stringers all the stringers are 2 layers of 1/2 laminated with 1708 to make a 1 1/8 stringer to bet glasses in. There curing and being ready to cut to length and install next weekend !!!

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New core
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Laser lines and leveled
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Laminated some parts
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These builds always amaze me and wonder where the skills come from. I thought I saw somewhere that your a fire fighter which explains the time available. Where did you get the knowledge to do all this work?...especially on the truck and boat!

Yes I’m a full time firefighter. I work one 24 hour shift then I’m off for 3 days so gives me time. I do small house remodel jobs to on the side. I grew up with my dad owing a body shop so always had the mechanical touch. To be honest a lot of these restoration are not that difficult just time consuming. The average person could do any of what I’ve done so far with a little research some patients and some trial and error. I have spent many hours on the phone talking to glass Dave and others about certain parts of the build. I a very good friend who owns a machine shop and helps me with the custom parts. Thing is I could never afford a new cigarette topgun. But when I’m done it will be all new. And for me being able to say I built that boat from a bare hull gives me a warm a fuzzy feeling lol. All the boats I’ve had I’ve done small stuff painted the bilge maybe a interior or stuff but in the back of my head always wondered is the transom soft ? Is that fuel I smell ? Are the stringers wet ? So I decided I was going to go all out and start over. I have really enjoyed building it it will probably take one more year to be in the water but will really be worth it . I have a lot of custom rigging I’ve been working on , all new trim pumps with billet tanks. All new lines the entire water and fuel will be AN fittings even bilge pumps and stuff so it will be really slick can’t wait to post the progress !!!

Keep at it. I love following along and thanks for taking the time to share!

Where are you a FF at?

Avon Ohio