340EC project

I have to tell you when I 1st saw the photos, not having read the thread, I thought they were photos of searay's latest model for 2008!!

Absolutely incredible!!
 
Dude....your superhuman!!!!! I thought the same thing as Randy, Lake Erie Boater
 
Completely agree, thought it was a 2008 model. Well done and a great inspiration to us all!!:smt038
 
I agree. That is GREAT work. Have you made a video or kept a running log of this project?
Again, You have out done yourself! JC
 
Awww, shucks...

Once again, thank you for the kind words. It means a lot.

I haven't done any video, though I may when closer to being done. As for a log, yeah, sort of. When I first started on the cabinets, I grabbed a pad of yellow 8 1/2" by 11" paper to make notes. As you all know, there isn't a square thing about the interior of a boat, so I'd write down measurements, notes on how I was going to do this or that cut, and the angles of those cuts. For whatever reason I'd date each page. Now, over three years just in the interior, I have almost two full pads full of those sketches and notes.

So, since I'm at a kind of milestone, having finally finished every bit of trim in the salon / galley, I was looking last night in the current note pad at where I was six months ago, or a year ago. It's an interesting way to have documented the project.

I have probably over a hundred photos of the project in the works; you know, before, during, and after shots. I'll be tearing out the stateroom in the next few days, and will take good pics of it before I start.

Everything takes an incredible amount of time, and I've got a more-than-full-time job to start with. For example, just installing and wiring the A/V stuff took close to three months, including testing a few different ways to configure everything before finally buttoning it all up. I try to put at least a few hours a night, several days a week, into it. Maybe a couple of weekends a month I get to put in one, very full day. So, on average, I'm guessing I work 10 hours a week on it. I started on the bilge just over four years ago.

I've used up the 500k storage space we're allowed for attachments, and just figured out yesterday that I can post additional photos in the Gallery. I don't know what the limit is there, but I'll post more as I progress.

Thanks again,

John
 
Hey JC3, I see you split your time between Kentucky and Key Largo. We had this old pot in Key Largo for a night in August '01. Bought it in Bradenton as a very sad shape repo, and ran it to Key West and up to Vero Beach. Shipped it home a year later.

I want in the worst way to boat the Keys again! Maybe someday...

John
 
John, We love the Keys. On our very first trip 15 years ago(Fell in Love with Key Largo) and bought a vacation house. Sold house and bought 450DA and leave it in the Key Largo area year round. Getting ready to go for 2 weeks(Christmas) vacation. I have always wanted to restore an older Sea Ray and will be watching your progress. Great work and good luck as you finish! JC
 
I've posted a few more photos in the Gallery area. We are limited to 500k for photos posted on threads, and I've used that up. I hope this is 'kosher' to do so. Please let me know if not.

Thank you,

John
 
Love the before and after of the galley......True craftsmanship!
WOW again. Spring launch is gonna be sweet I bet!
 
im new to this board. im on another (I wont say which). I must be blind because as much as I would like to see John's pictures..... they dont show up for me.
Phil
 
John:

Your work is superb...and I'll repeat my WOW!!!.

I would love to add a wood floor in my galley area. However, I have a few issues and my limited talent to deal with.

The galley area isn't that big, however, in the small area in question, I have a floor hatch, a small upward curve in the floors corner (not a completely flat furface) and I butt up to the existing rugs. Can you offer any advise, spefically about trimming around the floor hatch? Are you planning a trip to NJ in the near future ?...:grin:
 
Phil,

We are limited to 500k total for attachments, so check the 2nd page, I think, of this thread for photos recently posted. The first several photos were lost when this site went to a new server / software, but they and several newer ones are now in the "Gallery". Click on "J" to get to mine, and next to my screen name click on [gallery] to view them all.

Dominic,

You're too kind, really. Thank you for the compliments.

As for the sole in your 410, I'm sure it'd be similar to mine in that nothing is flat, or straight. I can speak to what I did on mine, and a lot should transpose to what you might do.

Our old boat sole had carpet, of course, and no trim of any kind around the storage compartment 'hatches'. It was simply plywood that had been sprayed with gelcoat, and wrapped with the carpet.

I wanted some nice tight tolerances on the new hatches, so I ripped the carpet off sole, and threw out the old hatches. After a bunch of head stratching, I built a framework of the beechwood that fit just inside the original opening. I kept it from bowing in the middle by brad nailing strips of scrap plywood to the frame. This insured that it was perfectly true in width from one end to the other, and kept it square. I set it in place and taped up the gaps in the inside between my new frame and the old sole opening. I then mixed West System epoxy and poured it around the outside of the frame. The masking tape inside kept it from running out.

So now the frame is in place and it's square. The rest was time consuming, but pretty simple. I routed the inside of the frame with a 3/4" rabbiting bit, leaving a 'notch' or 'lip' for the new hatches to sit on. The router gave a nice radius to the inside corners. I used an 1/8" roundover bit to take the sharp edge off the inside of the frame and the new hatches.

Simple, huh?

As for the 'curved', that is, not flat sole, some of that was taken care of by pouring epoxy into those areas. It was pretty much like pouring concrete- it self leveled, and after a ton of sanding (belt sander), I had a really nice flat surface to put my wood on.

The sole was first marked for where the yellowheart border would be. This would tell me where to stop with the epoxy for the next step.

The beechwood was laid first, by spreading epoxy with a tile grout trowel, and brad nails to hold it down while the epoxy was setting up. The small nail holes are easily filled with wood glue mixed with sawdust.

I brad nailed a board to use as a fence for my laminate router to the beechwood, and trimmed it back around the perimeter. When done, I was left with the 3 1/2" +- area around the whole thing to place the yellowheart in.

All of that having been said, another good option would be to make very good templates of the area you want to cover, first with maybe a stiff cardboard, then with plywood. Once the plywood had been sanded and worked until it fit nicely, you could laminate your hardwood to it and a pattern bit on a router would trim it back. The plywood could then be epoxied in place.

One last thing- I wanted to preserve all of the headroom I could, so I milled my material to 3/8".

Once again, I've been too wordy here. Any more questions, just ask.

Oh, and no, I don't have any plans for New Jersey anytime soon. I do hope sometime in the next few years to buy another boat and cruise your coast, though...

Thanks again,

John
 
John, I brought back alot of purplheart from my last tour in Iraq. What do you think about that as a floor. (swelling, shrinking ect) you also said you milled it to 3/8 inch. was it T&G or just butt against each other?
Phil
 
John:

Thanks for the detailed reply....I'm still mulling over how to start this in my head. I'm sure I'll have a few questions for you later if you don't mind........
 
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Riptide,

Purpleheart, yellowheart, and the third I believe is greenheart, are somehow the same species, or of the same family. Don't ask me what the tree looks like, though I do wonder about that.

Yeah, I did try to do some homework on what kind of wood to use, but I sort of did it backwards, that is, my wife and I looked at several, narrowed it down, and then asked if the beechwood and yellowheart were hard enough, etc. I knew going in that I wanted a very light color on the sole to balance the dark color of all the teak we were going to have.

Both of the woods we used are very hard, but they do have a tendancy to expand a lot with moisture, especially the beech. No, I didn't tongue and groove it, I just lathered epoxy resin on the edges and pulled them together with long clamps before brad nailing them. Once the resin set up, everything was sanded flat. I was told this wouldn't work, but it's been done almost two years now and held up well.

By the way, last time I went to the lumber yard that I buy all this stuff from, they had a display showing purpleheart used for patio decking.

Dominic,

I'd enjoy sharing with you what I've learned, and what I might do next time. You're welcome to PM or email me with more thoughts. If I had your phone we could talk about it, which might be better than typing back and forth. My cell is free nationwide, so it isn't going to cost anything.

The interest is flattering, and helps to keep me perked up about the project. I thank you again for that.

John
 
John, Again, I think what your doing is great. Labor of love to be sure and something you and your family will appreciate. Keep the pics and post coming. JC
 
Thanks JC.

Boy, you should see the stateroom about now. It's looking u-u-u-gly! Much of the overhead and hull side carpet is now gone, as well as half the cabinets. The good news is that the coring in the overhead seems to be dry. I was worried about that. The coring in the galley / salon was a rotted mess.

I'll keep you posted and keep checking in. In the meantime, take some photos of Key Largo when you're down there, would you? I need a vacation too, if only vicariously...

John
 
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