Update on Das Boat.... 1982 38' Excalibur
 

Well, I haven't posted in a while. Life happens and boat maintenance never stops. Here's an update on my 1982 38' Excalibur.

The paint has been done for some time, but I'm going to gelcoat the top shell in March when it warms up. I powder coated both engines red/green while I rebuilt them (previous owner used automotive gaskets and made a mess) and have started the deck furniture and flooring. Here's a few pics.

I didn't like the way the floors always got filthy so I tore everything out including the deck furniture. That saved me roughly 600lbs. Ouch
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So, I put down some foam flooring. It works great and sticks with some extra rubber cement that can be bought by the gallon and is weather proof. I hadn't joined the seams at this point, yet. the same flooring material will be used along the sides of the deck interior, too.
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Here's a mock up of the deck furniture using spare pieces i had laying around from another boat. I was going for the least amount of weight possible. It weighs much less without my old man in the boat :P
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Here's the final layout with all new furniture installed. Yes, the back bench was designed this way to prevent "heffalump" transport. Yeah, I'm about as shallow as the draft on Das Boat. :P
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Das Boat..... it was a nasty brown paint scheme and was named the Boilermaker. That name is cursed if you look it up on urban dictionary so it's getting renamed properly to The Barnacle Bill
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And here is the engine lid. I have one more piece to make and fix up to cover the storage space between the rear bench and the engine bay. No biggie.
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And here's an old pic of what it looked like when I bought it.
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Holy Smokes !!! Great to see u back on the old thread. Boat looks great,its always nice to see another 38 X !!!! I know the feeling of the maintenance and such on these old boats. Im debating on adding 110V and a breaker panel to mine, so i will be watching your progress. And Hydraulic steering. I see you have it on your boat !!!! any way you can add some pics of the steering layout inside and out ?

Real nice work

I'll get pics, but one of the rams leaks a bit. when I bought the boat, all cylinders were frozen and I had to take them apart for a rebuild. Couldn't find any of the originals or parts so I had to find creative ways to do it. I'm thinking in the spring of taking it to a shop in St. Augustine to have them install a new PS system (new cylinders mounted correctly) with dual pumps since I only have one running the system now and will be in deep dog doo if my starboard engine quits for any reason. looks like parts and labor are around $3K. Will probably get pics next week since I work at a college and don't have to stay to provide tech support late while we are in between semesters.

Ok sounds good :) any idea how long the rams are ? Total length? and stroke? or if u can measure when u take pics would be a lifesaver !!! :) I will be mounting mine inboard just like your setup :)

I've got the numbers written down some place along with the total left/right angle, but can't measure right now because I'm not ready to get the motors started up at the point. I had two batteries back in the engine bay and they were difficult to get to, but I'm adding two more that will be hidden behind the rear bench. Still debating if I want to go with 4x batteries or stay with two.

Awesome, well let me know if u find the numbers, I have a set of rams that are real nice but i believe they are a bit too long. Also looking back at your pics it looks like you have 110 power on the boat, Where is the incoming hookup? I dont see it on either side of you boat : ) as for your batteries are yours mounted in the engine room on the outboard sides just behind the rear seats? Mine are there and I have no problem getting them in and out, but maybe with the "lower" sunpad setup you have it may be different.

I have the hookup on the starboard side, but it's just the plug with nothing behind it and that's the last of my worries for now. Yes, both batteries were originally mounted on the outboard sides of the engines, but they are not stock engines. 541ci Chebby BB with MEFI-I injection and custom headers. There's little to no room to get the batteries in/out when needed unless I remove the fuel pump assembly on the starboard side. Port side is easy enough, but just have to hold some hoses out of the way.

Yea it looks like yours may be a little tight. Do you have any pics of how they are mounted? It looks like your boat may have less engine room than mine due to your “dropped” sun pad and maybe the engine room bulkhead on yours is closer to transom. You could mount both batteries on the one side. Also maybe you can go electric pumps and then you have more room as well?

Well, with the BB engines and the headers it's very tight. It originally came with 350 engines stuffed in there. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can get updated pics, but here are some older ones from the engine rebuilds. I had thought about electric PS pumps, but I'm on the fence about whether I would trust them or not. Can't be any worse than what I already have, but I don't have much space to mount anything in there. As for batteries, I want to keep them on both sides of the boat and separated for one of those inevitable "Oh-Sh*t" moments that always seem to happen.

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