My restoration project *(PIC HEAVY)*

[BDS05]

To begin, I should be fishing instead of hassling with this thing now! It's a '01 1756 Xpress that wasn't quite set up how I wanted it..
To Begin

First process - Pull ALL Carpet :cry: I've spent HOURS trying to get it paint ready.

Almost done here.. I thought.. Gun box, seat storage, pedestal bases, navigation lights, trolling motor and rear casting platform are coming out.
Cables and all wires come out now. I'm hoping I can remember how it goes back together. :D

An idea of my case of OCD or whatever they call it. This only NEEDED scratching. Not to mention I've got all welders lag up (There was A LOT).

All surfaces are finally paint ready, including the outside, besides the console and boxes.
I'm currently waiting on a welder to have some floor space. The bottom of the boat will be 1/8" aluminum over the ribs. I can't paint until this is done!
Plans for NOW are order paint (lockstockbarrell.com) and stencils (styx-river.com) this week.
Once the painting is done, I will find a trolling motor and possibly recess the foot pedal? and order HydroTurf from gatortraxboats.com.
Future - Get a deck light kit from bluewaterled.com and find a way to get some more storage in here. When I hit the lottery, I'll raise the deck and run a genny with halogens for stickin carp.

 

[BDS05]

Tips, Hints and Info are certainly welcome!
BigJ,

I don't know that you can tell, but the red gig on the left is the switch. Two boards: Left is pos. right is neg. That switch and the black and red wire in the bottom of the pic were for two lights (driving lights). The previous owner had the TWO positives coming from both lights crimped to ONE wire going in the switch. From the switch, he had one hot going to the pos board. For negatives, he just had two wires crimped to one going to the neg board. Then of course, the bigger leads on top or bottom off both boards will run to your battery.
I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN. I DON'T KNOW THIS IS THE BEST WAY. Any input, feel free..

 

[SilverFox]

Looking good. If you're not on www.tinboats.net I would join there. Any questions you have can be answered there... at least 99% of them anyways. It's a great site.

I have a 1756 Triton aluminum boat that is camo also. I don't know that I will ever own a glass boat due to the areas I like to put my boat in. If my garage door was bigger I would like to have a 1860 or 2072 aluminum.

I don't understand the 2 wire deal... unless he felt one wire was not big enough to supply it with power? Unless it was a big watt bulb the 8 or 6 gauge wire you have pictured should have been plenty. The only other thing I can think of is maybe he had 2 lights at one time and went to 1?

 

[catman529]

Looks good... I'm using a similar stripping tool to clean off the aluminum as well. Can't wait to paint it. I don't have any carpet glue to worry about but I do have a lot of scraping to do on the bottom. It's some good work...

Keep posting pics, I like to see these projects...

 

[BDS05]

Looking good. If you're not on www.tinboats.net I would join there. Any questions you have can be answered there... at least 99% of them anyways. It's a great site.

I have a 1756 Triton aluminum boat that is camo also. I don't know that I will ever own a glass boat due to the areas I like to put my boat in. If my garage door was bigger I would like to have a 1860 or 2072 aluminum.

I don't understand the 2 wire deal... unless he felt one wire was not big enough to supply it with power? Unless it was a big watt bulb the 8 or 6 gauge wire you have pictured should have been plenty. The only other thing I can think of is maybe he had 2 lights at one time and went to 1?

Where exactly do you mean the 2 wire? Going to the switch.. I assumed that was to get power for two lights on one switch? The wiring on that switch is for 55 watt halogens (2). Without really looking, I would guess that wire is 10 or 12. The smallest wire in this boat was 8 which was for trollers and from board to battery. The troller will be replaced to six.
I wanted an 1860 and of course a 2072 but couldn't pass up this deal. Triton sure makes a fine aluminum rig.

 

[BDS05]

Looks good... I'm using a similar stripping tool to clean off the aluminum as well. Can't wait to paint it. I don't have any carpet glue to worry about but I do have a lot of scraping to do on the bottom. It's some good work...

Fortunately catman, I didn't have to use that on the whole boat. My sanity could not tolerate that. Everything else but the outside of the boat was sanded down with a 7" sanding pad. I only used that there so I didn't knock off the aluminum treads. For the outside, I used a 100 grit sanding sponge to scratch the surface and am tempted to go back over it with an 80.

 

[easy45]

cool

 

[SilverFox]

I read the post wrong... Not enough sleep.

 

[7mm08]

Can I make a suggestion?. One I am NOT an electrician but I have a 96' Flats boat so I have done quite a bit of rewiring. Save yourself a lot of pain in years to come by using HEAT SINK connectors everywhere you can and follow up with LIQUID ELECTRIC TAPE at the ends of those connectors. They will not corrode, shake loose, or let water get in there and ground them out....Lowes or Home Depot carries them.

looks good, keep it up.

 

[BDS05]

7mm.., I'm assuming you mean heat sHrink? Great suggestion.. If that's the case, I hadn't even thought that far ahead of schedule although I do plan on redoing it all with new wire and connections. Soldering and upgrading troller to 6 is as much as I've thought about as far as electrical so far. I'm not familiar with the liquid..

 

[7mm08]

Yep. Sorry, it is shrink, just like my neurons are doing these days! Liquid electric tape is overkill if you use the heat shrink connectors but worth it especially on hard to get to areas in the future.

 

[vanleerbuckbuster]

looks like your doing a fine job.

 

[spitndrum]

Looks Good so far

 

[BDS05]

After dealing with different welders for over a month, I've decided heck with it and decided to throw some rivets in..
Now she's at the motor shop and if all goes as planned, will be getting paint next week!

 

[Big J]

Coming along! More pics soon I hope.

 

[SilverFox]

:D