March 31st, 2011 - Bringing Home the Calkins Trailer

My neighbor, Don, and I went to Wisconsin to recover the trailer from the '76 GT-150 today. Our plan was to remove the motor from the boat, pivot the boat on it's transom and set it on the ground next to the trailer, and pivot the trailer up and around, so we could load it on another trailer and bring it home. Easy, huh?

First of all, the motor didn't want to come off of the boat. The steering cable wouldn't come out of the motor. With the steering cable attached, we couldn't seperate it from the boat, making it far more difficult to move everything around. We did get the boat off of the trailer, finally. Now we were on to the trailer. We tried to lift the tongue so we could pivot it around the rear but the one wheel still attached was frozen in the ground. We tried to dig it out, but the ground was really frozen. We ended up taking the hub off of the axle and pulling it free. This worked. We loaded it on the trailer and brought it home. It seems like it is a really nice trailer and I can't wait to get the '79 GT-150 on it.

'76 GT-150 off of the trailer but with the motor attached 

Ready to load up next 

The GT-150 is set in a position so it should be easy to get out next time 

Don attaching the trailer to the other trailer 

Our nice little package 

This trailer has really nice rollers 

Here is the hub that we had to take apart 

The other hub is fine and still spins 

The tongue is in great shape 

A view from the front 

Calkins

March 26th, 2011 - Installing a Tell-Tale

Today I installed a Tell-Tale. What is a Tell-Tale you might ask? Well, on other outboard makes, there is a stream of water that shoots out of the motor to let you know that the water pump is working to keep the engine cool. On Chryslers, they decided to leave that feature off. there isn't a good way to see if the cooling water is flowing. With this modification, you tap into the top of the cooling jacket through an existing capped hole, and when the water pumps, there is a stream coming out (if the water pump works, which mine doesn't!) I screwed a fitting into the hole, attached some clear hose and drilled a hole through the motor case to send the stream out.

The top of the cooling jacket and the screw that plugs the hole 

This screw can be very ddifficult to remove so I used a little help 

The screw removed 

The new brass fitting 

The new fitting wrapped in teflon tape 

Tightening the new fitting 

Attaching the hose 

The attached hose secured with a wire tie 

The hose routed through the motor case 

The outside view

March 23rd, 2011 - Interior Cushions, Motor Controls, Fuel Tank and Battery

After the carpet glue was dry, I installed the battery box tie down and the speakers.I also finished up the wiring under the dash. I hope it's all correct! After that, I attached the motor controls to the panel. Next it was time to attack the interior side cushions. I cut out numerous pieces of 3/8 plywood, 4 inches wide to use as a base. Then I put blind nuts in the pieces, clamped them to the wall and marked the sides for drilling. I then covered it all in one long string to go all the way around the boat. It was almost 20 feet long. Next it was time to attach it to the boat. I used 10X24 screws from the back, screwed into the blind nuts so they couldn't be seen. It turned out pretty nice!. 

 Side Cushion Backing Boards (rear of boat)

 Side Cushion Backing Boards (front of boat)

 Cushions Ready to be Attached

 Cushions, Fuel Tank and Battery Box

 Cushions, Front

 Cushion and Controls

Close Up of Controls and Dash

March 22nd, 2011 - Carpet!!!, Horn and Front Nav Light

It is finally time for carpet. I glued the carpet to the back wall, side cutouts and ski locker area first, them carpeted the floor in two sections. I did the back of the boat first, then finished off the front, putting the seam in the middle, to fall between the seats. I will cover this with a small aluminum strip after I get the seats mounted. Later, I took the horn apart to see if the reason it didn't work was a simple answer. It appears to be a little corroded. Maybe it will clean up and work. If not, I will have to get another one.

Back Wall 

Ski Locker 

Back Carpet 

Front Carpet 

Front Close Up 

 Ski Locker

Horn 

Old Light 

New Light 

New Light Again

March 21st, 2011 - Speakers, Stereo, Floor and Wiring

Today was a very productive day. I installed the stereo and new speakers, wired up the dash switches (horn, bilge, nav lights, radio) and reinstalled the gauges. I haven't hooked the gauges up yet but will soon. I also took this time to do a thorough cleaning of the dash area. We also added expandable foam to the hull under the floor to make it more sturdy and to fill in the voids. After all of that, I painted the floor with Rust-O-Leum top side hull paint and painted the battery and fuel area with Rust-O-Leum copper based hull bottom paint.

Stereo and dash  

Port side speaker 

Starboard side speaker 

Wet paint 

The floor and fuel areas

March 20th, 2011 - More Fiberglass

I added a battery hold down platform to the rear of the boat today. After that, I built a wall on the port side in the back of the boat to be used as a storage area next to the fuel cans. Then I started working on the front, specifically the ski storage locker. The walls were rotting away, so I cut them down to get square edges, cut plywood pieces to fit, and glued them in. After all of the glue set, I glassed the battery platform, the wall and the walls by the ski locker.

 Battery Platform

Back Wall

Back Wall Glassed

 Battery Platform Glassed

 

 Ski Locker

The stern

March 19th, 2011 - Primed the floor and Started Vinyl Work

Today I primed the new wood and fiberglass on the floor. Then I replaced the vinyl on the platform that holds the motor controls.

Primer 

 Primer part two

 Working on the vinyl

Getting there 

Trimming the vinyl 

 Trimming the vinyl 

Looks pretty good