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Work has been very slow on the Baron. Who ever said that two children are no more work than one lied to me. Its hard to get anything done with a 7 month old in the house.

We just received the parts from the chromers. They did a great job. The only item that couldn't be chromed were the Bertram emblems, so I'll have to purchase some stainless ones to replace them. The missing fuel gauge was also found in Georgia to complete the set of gauges. As a bonus it also came with a matching Hour Meter that was only a few hours over the original gauge. I have been slowly wiring up the stereo that will consist of 4-7" speakers and 2- 10" subs hidden under the rear bench seat. It will all be powered by a 600w 5 channel amp. I'll get some pictures when it's all installed. I have also been trying to get a set of prop hubs machined to allow the old drives to use modern props. The prop shaft is a 17 spline 1-1/8" dia that is next to impossible to find props for. If the hubs can't be made I'll have the shafts turned down to 1" and cut to a 15 spline pattern. My goal is to have it in the water this spring.

Awesome project. What mods were done to the motors to get more power from them? I know nothing about these older straight six's, and would love to hear some details.

Steve

I've started refinishing all the aluminum rub rails and trim. I started by stripping all the old anodizing off the parts. This was done by soaking for 3-4 minutes in a 190 degree bath of 1 part Phosphoric acid to 4 parts water. I was amazed at how quick the coating came off although it was a struggle to soak a 16' long section of rub rail. All the parts have been stripped and now I'm in the middle of polishing everything. After everything is polished I'll apply a coat of Sharkhide clear protectant.
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This is what I came up with to soak the long lengths of rubrail. It work well except I didn't factor in the temperature of the solution softening the pvc pipe and causeing it to warp and bend.
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This is a picture of the rubrail after stripping the anodizing and the finished product all polished up.
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Here is a picture of the lower dash switch panel. It was covered with small pits but I was able to sand them out and still retain the engraved switch labels.

Sweet work. What are you using to polish with?

Awesome!!, If You get in a pinch, contact "Speedmasters" in North Fla., Gaylan still has his race boat, restored it a few years back when he moved up there, The only Original Race one out there so far!, Keep in touch, We're all trying to get a Offshore Museum going somewhere by 188th!!, In the next few years, It would make a nice "Loner" display. Check the Miami Boat show next week!, Safety Symposium on Feb 18th!, A Must Attend!, Get Heard!!, Your Voice/ Ideas Matter!, contact Lisa Mathews on FB for Details!, Fountain Bleau loks like venue so far, Help Save/ Improve Our Sport!!, Before We Don't Have One!!, Pass the Word!! Thanks!!! Live View/Call in maybe by date, not confirmed yet....

I'm using a 1/2 hp bench top buffer with a spiral sewn wheel and tripoli compond for the first cut. The final buff I'm using loose section wheel with white rouge compond. I finish it off with a little Mother's posilish applied by hand.

2 kids are more than twice as much work as one! I always tease my friends with one kid that they are just "hobby parenting".

Nik

I have the dash all assembled and installed. I've applied a couple coats of west systems to the wood then followed it up by 8 coat of varnish then compounded and polished to a mirror finish. You can also see the windshield is beginning to be installed but I need to polish the edges before it is finalized. Hopefully I have more pictures to come soon!
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Every part of that boat that you've touched so far looks awesome. Quality workmanship is the result of planning, hard work and love. Your boat shows a ton of all of them. Keep up the good work!

Nice work