Thanks for all the help tonight!!!! I'm a little computer illiterate!!!

Your boat looks amazing!! i've looked through your thread alot

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New birds and letters on her

I'll try not to flood the system with pictures!!!! i've wanted to get on here and post some pictures just couldn't do it with my I Phone!!!

What a great site always someone willing to take some extra time to help with anything that people need help with!!!

Wow, looks great!

What did you finish the swim deck with?

It's called teak guard it ha a one year guarantee! Never used it before but I will let you know how it holds up!!

Where did you get the bird and letters? From formula directly or elsewhere and how much?

I need new formula letters for my boat also, but I have a 24" vinyl cutter so thought about doing a custom color/layout to match my paint colors.

Think I am going to walk away from my desk right now and go play with my formula for a bit.....

Brian

I picked up the birds and letters from Formula of Missouri at lake of the ozarks.
The birds were $15 apiece and the letters were $65 per side!! Kinda pricey but they are original and come out perfect!!!!

The staff they have a FORMULA BOATS OF MISSOURI are great to work with!! If they don't know the answer they will get back to you with an answer they don't treat you like a poor person just cause you're fixing up an old boat!!! We stayed at their marinathis fall rented a slip!! That's where that red Formula picture came from that I posted last night!!! It's like you're instantly family just because you have a Formula!!

Thanks for explaining the red sign. I saw that picture and was like "Wow, this guy has gone off the deep end for formula! He has posters and a neon FORMULA sign at his house." Good to know your just a normal bird fanatic like the rest of us....... :whistle:

And walking to the boat was not as easy as I thought, had to dig through two feet of snow and then deal with the snow blindness once I got in! Now I am back in to get a gear puller to remove the steering wheel. Fun times.

Brian

What kinds of products do guy use to clean polish and protect your boats everything interior and exterior?
When I bought mine it was pretty dingy so I used "THE WORKS" toilet bowl cleaner, it works great for bringing back the white from that dingy yellow to the brightest white you have ever seen!!! Then Formula boats of Missouri hooked me up with some stuff called Babes Boat Bright!! Wow is that some good stuff really makes the colors pop deep luster, sprays on wipes off !! It almost seems to easy!!!
But I haven't found anything amazing for cleaning and protecting the interior, and something that's not oily!! I have new interior and don't want to mess it up!!

Anybody got any miracle products you use on your boats?

I would probably hang that big sign on the garage if I thought they wouldn't miss it!!!!! Lol I'm sure my neighbors would love it!!!
LMAO

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the weather warmed up today made a test fit ready to bolt on!!!

I made the aluminum support structure the wood was getting to weak and needed support. I extended the aluminum with a grab rail to make the dimensions of the swim deck fit the boat a little better. I have always thought the platform looked to small for the boat. We also have a drop down three step ladder to bolt under the platform.

What do you think? Any comments?

I'm not the most OCD about cleaning, but find Spray Nine Marine cleaner to be amazing. Can find it at Carl's Hardware at LOTO, end of Horse Shoe Bend Parkway, or old HH, in the basement of Carl's Grocery store at the Bitter Sweet intersection. For really hard stains, Mr. Clean magic eraser. And, sometimes just leaving your boat in the sunshine will remove a stain. At least on white upholstery. Don't have a good oil for the vinyl, so hope someone else does.

I do like the full support under the platform. Looks nice and solid now. That is one reason I threw my teak one out and made one out of 1x4 oak. I tip in at 270 lbs (Yeah, I know I slow the boat down, thanks) and there was no way I was putting my weight on the stock one. Now, I can stand on the very corner and it is solid.

On mine I moved the whole assembly backwards some to leave a gap between the transom and swim platform. There is quite a bit of overhand between the transom surface and the rub rail there, so I wanted to maximize the usable portion of the swim platform without having to add another 1x4 or extend the existing brackets. You could slide it back, but that would cover your hand rail piece.

Are you going to leave the bracket raw aluminum or paint it to match the boat or transom? Black would blend in or you could do a blue as a nice accent color with the dark teak.

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It was warm today swim deck is mounted a look from the sundeck . I did move the whole structure back
1 1/2" it does make it more useable!!! I think I'm going to leave the aluminum natural for a while, I can always change it later!

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Rockford M282's and M262's and M600 installed today to go along with the 10" Rockford subs and the M1200 amp . I left the old Blaupunkt RL4500B box speakers on the dash they still sound good and kind of a throw back to the good old days before all this amazing sounding equipment we have today!!! Busy day on the boat!!!! And some beers!!!

More snow coming again!!!! WTF is this winter ever going to end?

First day back in the boat it's been about a month! Didn't really do much today! I bought my boat mid summer so wasn't much time to explore her just used her! As I look through the boat learning new thing about her I am amazed at every turn of the quality and workmanship that went into these old flat glass girls!!! Usually the only thing I find that is sub par quality are things that happened between 1984 and now!!!! CUDOS TO THE EMPLOYEES AT FORMULA!!!! I am definitely a proud owner!!!

Headed to LOTO April 18th through 22nd and I have lots to do yet! Ive got upholstery work that I had repaired down there that sucked that needs to be fixed we will see if they make it right!! Thats why i am headed down so early!! I need to install new Hummingbird depthfinder and GPS shooting thru hull anyone have any helpful hints? First oil change and fuel filter change and spring start up on this boat!!! It's my 4th boat but I have never been on a site like this and it's always nice to learn new helpful hints!!! Thanks
ITS FINALLY SPRING!!!!!!

I am looking to put an extra cleat midway up the port and starboard side of the bow is there anything under the fiberglass that will hold a cleat without pulling down the headliner? I added 2 in the back about 2' in front of the back cleat and I had to add wood under that area!!
I don't want people hooking the fenders to the grabrail in the back! And no cleats between midway up the boat and the front cleat!

I'm sure a couple of you guys have had that torn apart!!!

I will try to look in mine tomorrow, but I do not think there is anything in there other than an 1/8" of padding and the headliner. Might be able to come up with a special bolt that may work. Do you remember what size bolt was used in the rear cleats?

Brian

The bolts are 1/4"

I was pretty sure you would be able to help with you having a trailer up restoration!!!! Thanks for looking Brian

And the verdict is....
 

Verdict is your screwed...... :lolhit:

OK, take a look at the first picture. This is the front window in the Vberth section. You have the curtain holder in yours and that is about it. The deck is probably 1/4" (maybe thicker) solid glass there. Nothing but foam and headliner under it.

My thought was to use a barrel nut from the underside. (see 2nd picture which is from McMastercarr.com) Use the barrel nut with a 1/4" flathead from the top side. You still could make something custom if you have a lathe. Larger diameter with a dome shape to it so it just presses up into the headliner, would look finished. But my fear is adding a cleat there without proper backing material is asking for trouble. If you do not reinforce it, someone will eventually tie the boat up with it and it could then rip out of the deck.

Why not use the grab rails for the fenders? Have you seen these little nifty clips? They pop right on, hold securely enough that they are not falling off yet will pop if pulled on before the railing breaks.

But you have given me an idea on mine. Since it is apart I might just add a pop up cleat there.

Sorry I didn't have better news.

Brian

The fenders on the grab rail will eventually bend it I have cleats now for 2 fenders it's just a little difficult to get to that front cleat when docking several times a day so I just leave a line tied to it and run it back to the middle of the boat!! If you don't dock much it's no problem!!!

I would add one while you have your cuddy apart!!

Has anyone ever installed a Hummingbird 597ci HD combo depth finder, sonar and GPS unit in a Formula? I'm about to start installing on and looking for helpful hints!!

I have an hds 5 which is a great combo unit. Was easy to install. Only had to run ducer cable from engine bay up to dash and reconfigure dash panel which I had all new gauges anyway.

Another. Countersunk

Next wanna add these

That looks really good!!!! Any problems with shooting through the hull?

Mine is transom mount right now. Panel still needs paint and hydro dipping. All panels are being redone. Commandersander did the work on the panel. Great guy.

Thinking I might pull the motors next "winter" if you call it that in south Florida and redo the transom. Has 2 soft spots in upper right corners. When it is redone I may switch to thru hull ducer

Ya I'm back and forth on transom mount or shoot thru hull!! I have heard it works alot better transom mount!!

We've had transom mount on all our boats and no problems. One extra hole in transom above waterline below platform. Seal it and no problems.

Does the second motor affect the placement on transom?

No. Mine is between drives down low on the v.