kreed

iTrader: (2)

Looking good! Has it hit the water yet?

kidturbo

Not yet but it's getting closer.

Still a lot of little project to complete like the cockpit interior, everything at helm, and turbo back exhaust pipes. Only found two U.S. suppliers of 4", 4.5", or 5" 316L bends, and nether has tight (4-1/2") matching radius bend we really needed to make these turbo pipes line up. So wasted a few days past week just trying to source those piece. Besides that it's pretty much down to fuel, power steering hoses, and wiring up the engines. Then cooling lines to drives and trannies to wrap up the powertrain.

Did get hydraulics of both tabs and one drive all plumbed up this week. Also Steve Zeiger made us up a sweet tiebar to replace the factory unit I leg go with the #6's. After searching for several months for a good used one, don't waste your time. Steve's custom made to fit was very affordable, and has a no bind swivel setup that lets the bar spin when drives are raised separately. Much higher quality piece than the factory Merc unit.

kidturbo

And speaking for drive trim. Ripped out all the factory Merc 33C cables and sun baked trim indicators. Everything is going fully digital with a MDC Drive Sync handling the trim control and converting the positions into NMEA 2000 signal. Went with the race edition to allow for preset trim positions using the 3rd button on the throttles. Not knowing how our super high X dimension with these Weismann's are going to play out yet, I don't want Dave or whomever is at the wheel searching for proper trim angles. Soon as we get best trim angles figured out, program the presets and done deal.

Still had to run short cables off the drives into the transom, where I did a little custom mod on the old OEM cable thru-hull fittings. Started out with just two Livorsi digital senders for the drives, then ordered a couple more to handle tabs too. Now getting all these cables stuffed under the swim platform is another matter.

Keith Atlanta

I've always been amazed by those drives.

kidturbo

They certainly have a following for such a rare piece. Easy to work on, but a lot of extra parts like Tee fittings in steering, extend trim lines, and custom lines to the coolers.Had to extend every hose by at least 2 feet. Which just in SS fittings adds about a G to the cost of switching from #6's

Be the third big HP boat this pair has pushed. After all the hours put into restoring them, I really hope they amaze me too..

kidturbo

Over the weekend we sat the engine cover on for a final fitting before sending out to glass shop for panel installation. Bolted up the new hinges, and noticed it needs a third one for center support. Also checked OEM lifting actuators clearance, to find the one on starboard side now sits just 10" in front of the seawater pump inlet. Something else to work around.

But we got measurements needed to finalize the rear seat panels. And because climbing over a seat back, while simultaneously ducking under a engine hatch every time you want to check the oil level is so 80's, And lifting the whole back seat with the hatch doesn't really gain you any head room. So I had another Einstein moment. Well actually I remembered seeing a cool fix on a poker run boat few year back that addressed this issue. I also hate watching people stepping on rear seat cushions every time they get in or out of a sport boat. This OL seat bottom flipped forward on double hinges from factory. And it just so happens the middle seat back panel is exact same height as distance from floor to the seat bottom. So if you bolt those two pieces together, flip it over forward, you end up with elevated platform with all the fabric on the bottom side. Plus you gain a foot of head room, and can just step down into the bilge as I've done a few hundred times to date on this build.. Upholstery guy even likes it...

kidturbo

Besides the trim and gauge updates, we're also upgrading the sound system and Nav tools. Raymarine Axiom 7 MFD going front and center of the helm wrapped with the Livorsi Vantage View analog style gauges. Pretty cool little MFD running custom Android OS, which includes a built in WI-FI router, IP video recording, live weather and tide updates, along with Spotify, and Netflix. And almost forgot, you can even control your DJI drone from it..





The MFD links to a Fusion MS-RA70N multi-zone head unit by N2k and Bluetooth audio. It's going back in the cabin factory location. So you can stream and control the music from the MFD, or about any other BT device. Both units have remote control phone apps, and Fusion makes those slick little waterproof BT remotes you can stick anywhere like near the swim platform. The factory speakers were pretty much junk from years in the weather, so those are getting replaced with some JL audio upgrades. Should bring the audio up to modern standards.

2187

kidturbo

On the navigation side [which is what the MFD was purchased for before I found all the other cool stuff it does], we have latest Navionic maps running with AIS overlay. I forgot to mention above that these new MFD's can actually do dock to dock routing, rather than straight line routing across reefs and sand bars. Pretty much same as a car GPS, it will set multiple waypoints to a destination based on your draft, height, and beam, then follow channel markers. About Time....

Rather than buy a matching $300 AIS receiver to supply the MFD with surrounding commercial vessel data over the NMEA 2000 network, I found this Simrad RS35 VHF on sale for $189 with built in AIS receiver and N2k compatibility. Works great, but doesn't transmit on AIS, so your vessel speed and heading doesn't show up on other AIS receivers. Perfect.. LOL.. And it also looks to be a decent VHF radio. I took the VHF and Axiom MFD a ride down the river road in my truck to see how well they work together. Told me I was about to be ran over by a barge..

Wildman_grafix

Your hatch problem reminds me why I don't understand why more didn't have split hatches. After working on a boat with split hatches compared to a single seems a no brainer. Particular a staggered boat, those hatches can get LONG.