Boat Steering

I cut a hole in the dashboard with a hole saw and then used a wood rasp to get the desired angle.

The steering boss was sunk into the dash to get the steering wheel spacing correct, so it will need brackets to mount it to the back.

Here i have made some wooden blocks that i glued and screwed to the dashboard, then the metal brackets were screwed to this . The steering mount is now securely fastened.





                                                                                                
                                                                                                  

The steering rack was fixed to the pinion with bearings and then the rack was mounted to two wooden battens.










The steering wheel came from Lake Michigan and is an original 1950S Boat wheel. It was in need of some TLC so after using some paint stripper to get the old paint off i primed the wheel with grey Zinc primer then applied 4 coats of white primer to prepare for the top coats . I decided to go with the blue and white theme that used for the seats and sprayed the half the wheel with gloss white then masked off and used gloss blue , I layed 6 coats of each colour and then finished with anouther 6 coats of clear laquer .

Transom modification.

Decided not to have a jack plate but to add on to the height of the Transom instead. This addition will allow me to mount the 75hp Mercury outboard directly to the back and will mean the steering arm will operate within the Splashwell with some minor adjustments.:)

 I used a 35mm bulk of Mahogany that i found in the wood shed.  The template was made with 3mm mdf and then transfered to the Mahogany and cut out roughly with a jig saw, then i sanded with the belt sander to get the final fit. I cut a slot in the Transom and a corasponding slot in the new piece of wood and made a sapele tongue to fit, this meant that i could position the transom precisely . Both surfaces were smeared with a liberal helping of epoxy and clamped until set.

Photo on the right shows the outboard mount template taped to the back of the Transom in roughly the position it will sit.

Boat seats

 The finished rear bench seat in all its glory! To say i am pleased with the finished seat would be an understatement, i cant stop smiling.

 I glued the 4" foam to the wooden seat base and covered that with wadding,then slipped the covers over and pulled tight before holding in place using stainless steel staples and a good quality industrial hand staple gun.

The tuck n roll worked well and i think gives a nice contrast to the aqua blue piped border'

  This picture shows the back of the seat and the neat finish achieved by doubling the vinyl over and stapling through a double thickness , this also gives strength to the fixing.







                                                                                     

                                                                               

        
Here are a few pictures of the rear seat in position in
the back of the boat (Looking Good!) This seat is
hinged on the front edge to tip forward and allow
access to the fuel tanks and battery .

Boat Deck Varnish

The picture below shows one coat of varnish and the one above shows the deck after 5 coats, starting to build up nicely now

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Started the Varnishing today !  using Hempel Dura Gloss Varnish as it is a quick drying one part varnish so no need for measuring amounts and mixing.

I started by flatting back the Q19 base coats with 360 grade wet and dry , then spent time with the hoover and a toothbrush getting all the dust out of all the cracks and crevices . Lastly i went over the surface with a tack rag to remove all traces of dust

I used the Varnish straight out of the tin and managed to get a nice flow ,which was helped by it being overcast and windless , temperature was 19 and humidity at 60 .  My 4" flat synthetic varnish brush worked very well and all of the brushstrokes settled out, the trick is to work quickly getting the varnish on , about an area of a square foot and then brush out in one direction , dont work the varnish too much and plan you're root around the boat so as to always work on the wet edge as much as possible .  When its done check for runs or sags and then walk away as you will create dust if you hover around for too long '