Both engines are out for valve springs and custom paint, the generator and hot water heater are out, all plumbing and wiring is out for a rigging cleanup and bilge paint, even the platform in front of the engines is out, to have the soggy wood replaced by polished diamond plate. All in all, it's a major birthday for the 8-year-old gal. The wife has been a MAJOR trooper on this one, volunteering to do all the bilge prep, sanding and painting. What a woman!

Hopefully , I won't encounter the same nasty surprises that OffTheFront did....

I am getting ready to pull the engines out of the race boat and clean up the bilge myself. Tons of fun

That's a nice little project you have there! The Diamond plate on the floor will look great. Are you going to do anything to the tray that the generator sits on? Mine is already starting to look like it's going to need some attention. I was considering powder coating it. Don't forget to add the LED lights in there when you're done!!

The wooden panel in my 382 that is covered with the plastic grey colored diamond plate material is rotten. The piece that holds the gen is pretty bad. After a test run on Friday, I am sending her to the shop for the valve spring job, and will pull the gen to replace the rotten material.

What type of material are you replacing with? Alum diamond plate?

I probably will add sea strainers also.

You said you have a water heater in the boat? What is that for? Shower in the head?

My diamond plate job from 2 years ago:

Sea strainers went in last winter:

Chuck,

The progress so far looks good. I'll be interested to see how it continues. You must have more time on your hands, because I've just gotten mine winterized, much less any projects started.

Keep up with the pics.

Port engine ready for the heads to come off, and starboard engine waiting in the wings. These are from 2 days ago; the starboard engine has just about caught up now. Man! EVERYTHING on these engines is heavy! I took about 200 pounds of mounts, brackets and heat exchangers to the media blasters to get stripped.

The Admiral has been flat-out in the bilge all day, filling in all the old screw holes with West System epoxy and filler. We may be able to start painting in a day or two.

RedDog - What did you bond your diamond plate to as a backing? It looks like you re-used the factory edging, too? I bought stainless steel valves for my strainers, too. (Strainers were already in, though...) Most of the boat's being built from the McMaster-Carr catalog.

I cut the aluminum diamond to fit the factory plywood, then just overlayed it and drilled the holes for the hinges. The factory edging helps hold it in place. I also had the diamond plate powdercoated in clear to prevent corrosion.