Nice art work C- Spray, I like both of the center ones but maybe the right center a little more. Can't wait to see them all done. Nice boat. Propwash

Chuck, may make it look a little busy. The right one in the middle is my vote.

It will be the right middle, with a brushed stainless background. I found a terrific deal on a 2' by 4' piece of leftover piece of laminate today. It's REAL stainless by Wilsonart, and $30 took it all.

Propwash: Thanks - It's Adobe Illustrator, and has saved me lots of aggravation over the years. You can give the files to a decal shop on a CD or flash drive and save $$ on their design and layout fees.

Further updates: The new stripe graphics are laid out on the side of the boat in tape, the polished aluminum diamond plate for the engine bay platform and the new raw water pumps are in. The valve covers and coolant tanks will be painted by Thursday. (All while I'm 2800 miles away in LA....) Gotta keep the momentum up!

gotta get me one of those Admirals....

givin' cuda's Deb a run for most valuable first mate...?

First engine's out of the paint shop! It's looking a little like the Silver Surfer at the moment, but all the accessories and brackets will be black. The nicest thing now is that when I pick up a ratchet out of the toolbox, it's set to "On' instead of "Off"...

I guess this is "progress"...

Actually, a lot of things are starting to come together now. Hopefully there will be significant progress in the next few weeks.

Chuck...it looks like you are in the middle of major surgery. It will be worth it on your one-of-a-kind boat. Keep the pictures coming!

I have to ask you, how do you remove the fabric piece in the cabin that covers the speakers. This is the vinly covered panel approx 5 inches wide that buts up to the ceiling, and to the wall. I see you have yours removed on the pic.

I have some staining on my fabric that covers the speakers near the roof of the cabin. I am not sure how to remove the panel.

Just go boating...it will come down!


Looking great Chuck!

Nort's right - Just look for rough water, and they'll come right down....

First, you have to remove the bottom panel with the lights in it. This is held on by a combination of "killer" Velcro, and by being pinched between the wall and the vinyl-covered trim panel. I used a plastic pry bar, started at the back and worked forward. The lights are hard-wired, so you have to either let it "dangle" or cut the wires.

Once you have that off, remove the speakers and unplug the wires. (You'll need a right-angle ratchet screwdriver to get the outboard speaker screws out.) Reaching through the speaker holes and other access holes with a deep 3/8" socket or wrench, remove the 5 nuts that hold the trim panel up. I could not reach the front nuts on each side, so I cut a new 3" hole underneath, as far foward as possible.

We're replacing the blue vinyl on these valance panels with black to go with the paint scheme.

We are also replacing the "sparkle" Ultraleather on the starboard side, as the halogen lights got turned on when we had the panel hanging down, and it burned the Ultraleather. (Duh!) We will have enough material left over to do one side if anyone needs it.