JBandWater
New Member
- Oct 12, 2010
- 13
- Boat Info
- 300 Sundancer 1988
190 Cuddy 1977
245 Sundancer 1980
190 Open bow 1978
- Engines
- 350 gm crate motors with alpha drives
Great looking AJ looks like you did a great job on it ...
85 Amberjack 255 re-power & Modifications
- Thread starter CAGE RATTLER
- Start date
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
Re: 85 Amberjack 255 re-power & Modifications
My newest project got underway today.
I've been wanting to install a windlass but just didnt feel comfortable with the short teak pulpit being strong enough so I decided to look for a fiberglass pulpit to replace it with.
I found one from a 60' trawler on craigslist that I picked up dirt cheap compared to prices ive seen on ebay for used and new ones.
This thing is rock solid and very heavy.
Obviously i needed to cut down the length which worked out well since i was able to cut it off above the holes that were in it from the PO's windlass cut outs.
Only had a couple hours today after it stopped raining and the sun came out but was able to pull off the teak pulpit & hatch and the hatch frame.
I did my 1st cut on the new pulpit and had to extend the notches a couple inches where it will go over the bow edge.
Still have some fine tuning to do to it and its taller than the deck right now so i may cut the thickness down to be flush with the top of the boat where it will mount.
I did a quick dry fit to see what its going to look like and so far I think its going to look great.
Heres a few pics i took as it was getting dark on me.
Teak pulpit & hatch removed
New pulpit cut down
A quick dry fit
I've been wanting to install a windlass but just didnt feel comfortable with the short teak pulpit being strong enough so I decided to look for a fiberglass pulpit to replace it with.
I found one from a 60' trawler on craigslist that I picked up dirt cheap compared to prices ive seen on ebay for used and new ones.
This thing is rock solid and very heavy.
Obviously i needed to cut down the length which worked out well since i was able to cut it off above the holes that were in it from the PO's windlass cut outs.
Only had a couple hours today after it stopped raining and the sun came out but was able to pull off the teak pulpit & hatch and the hatch frame.
I did my 1st cut on the new pulpit and had to extend the notches a couple inches where it will go over the bow edge.
Still have some fine tuning to do to it and its taller than the deck right now so i may cut the thickness down to be flush with the top of the boat where it will mount.
I did a quick dry fit to see what its going to look like and so far I think its going to look great.
Heres a few pics i took as it was getting dark on me.
Teak pulpit & hatch removed
New pulpit cut down
A quick dry fit
Big Island Lifer
Active Member
- Feb 1, 2010
- 1,406
- Boat Info
- '96 330 Formula SS
For Sale '85 255 Amberjack
- Engines
- Single 5.7
Looks very nice!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
berth control
New Member
I replaced my pulpit like this too. I made a new teak one, but same principle. It extends back over the locker hatch and I really like it. That way you can mount the windlass right on the pulpit and it looks clean, works great, and actually makes the pulpit stronger because it is fastened farther back on the boat, if you get what I mean. Nice job, looks good! Oh, make sure to through bold the new pulpit down through that little strip BEHIND the anchor locker, and it would prob. be wise to seal that wood coring with some fiberglass while you have it apart too. Not a hard job, just stinks a lot. I think I might have even sealed my bolt holes with 5200, I just hate the idea of rotten wood coring. And use stainless fasteners. Like I said though, looks good and it will be pretty much mant. free when you're done.
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berth control
New Member
Also, do already have the launcher and windlass?
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
I have an anchor roller that i picked up last year.
Havent gotten a windlass yet but will be going with the lewmar pro-fish 700 for the free fall capability.
Im not even sure i will add the windlass this year. I may just put on the achor roller, cleat and a rope deck pipe for this season and add the windlass later.
Did you close in your hatch or just seal the edges and place the pulpit over the opening??
Unfortunately with this pulpit I have, Its not as wide as the opening so i will have to close it in.
Trying to figure the best way of doing that now.
I guess I can either start with some 3/4 marine plywood (have some left over from another project) and glass it in witha layer of gelcoat over top. Or go to the boat salvage yard and cut a section of deck off another boat that will fit. Its exactly 1" thick at the opening and 12 x 17.25.
Ive used boat resin before (the west marine system) and its easy enough to work with but have never really done any gelcote work so that will be new territory for me. I'm assumming it will be just like using bondo on a car?
Havent gotten a windlass yet but will be going with the lewmar pro-fish 700 for the free fall capability.
Im not even sure i will add the windlass this year. I may just put on the achor roller, cleat and a rope deck pipe for this season and add the windlass later.
Did you close in your hatch or just seal the edges and place the pulpit over the opening??
Unfortunately with this pulpit I have, Its not as wide as the opening so i will have to close it in.
Trying to figure the best way of doing that now.
I guess I can either start with some 3/4 marine plywood (have some left over from another project) and glass it in witha layer of gelcoat over top. Or go to the boat salvage yard and cut a section of deck off another boat that will fit. Its exactly 1" thick at the opening and 12 x 17.25.
Ive used boat resin before (the west marine system) and its easy enough to work with but have never really done any gelcote work so that will be new territory for me. I'm assumming it will be just like using bondo on a car?
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
Trying to get some suggestions on this project so I posted a thread in the repair area of the forum.
http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/42169-Teak-to-Fiberglass-pulpit-change
Sorry if I'm being a bit redundant.
http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/42169-Teak-to-Fiberglass-pulpit-change
Sorry if I'm being a bit redundant.
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
Got a little work done on it this weekend. Didnt get much response for tips and suggestions on this project so had to just wing it!
It was cloudy all weekend and i was afraid the rain would start falling as soon as i started coating everything with epoxy resin but it held off for the most part.
Been trying to figure the best way to go about this and decided to use a larger than the opening, piece of 3/8th plywood that would go underneath with a piece of 3/4 plywood attached that would go up in the opening and use epoxy resin to bond it along with stainless screws that would pull it up tight.
Here is a pic of the bottom side with the screws in. All pieces and the opening were sealed with epoxy resin as well.
This is the top side of the patch. The 3/4" plywood section fills the hatch opening with about 1/16th" gap around the edges.
This is the hatch opening with all edges ground down a bit and also sealed. I also sealed up all the old screw and bolt holes.
And here is the patch all gooped up with thickened epoxy resin and ready to put in.
I added a small handle so it would be easier to hold in position from up top while I screwed in the screws.
Seemed like a good plan to me but as usual my plan didnt work as well as i had hoped.
My GF was up top and pulled it up in position and i started to start screwing it up tight.
I had my cordless drill with a phillips bit and as soon as i stared with the 1st screw I couldnt get enough pressure to get it to go in and spun the bit and stripped out the phillips head on the screw :smt013
Right then i knew i should have made pilot holes to screw in to but it was to late. I wasnt about to pull that goopy mess down out of there. Tried screw # 2 being a little more careful with the drill/driver but it just wouldnt go in. After alot of cussing I scrambled into the garage to find my right angle drill. Started backing out the screws one at a time and then drill a pilot hole up into the boat. The drill/driver was still slipping on the screw so i tried screwing them in by hand.
At this point I'm trying to get up in the tight opening better to get some pressure to get them screwed in but it was tight and i just couldnt get enough pressure on the screw driver. By now im really frustrated and have epoxy all in my hair from trying to get in there better. :smt101
After a lil more cussing i decided to try grabbing the head of the screw with a small pair of vice grip to get them. Not the best way of doing it but i had to try something as i was worried the epoxy was going to start setting up on me. The vice grips worked well enough to get 5 of the 10 screws in but there was no way in heck i was going to be able to get the front screwed up in there so I grabbed some 2x4's to use as levers to push the front up tight while the epoxy sets.
I thought about screwing from the top to get everything pulled up tight but i really didnt want to take a chance of adding stress to the gelcote and causing possible cracking. In hindsight, I probably should have went from the top and counter sunk the screws and then sealed them in. Or i should have used small lag screws that i could have put a socket on from underneath. Oh well live and learn :huh:
I didnt get any pics of the patch in place cause as luck would have it, It started raining right after I finished filling in the gaps up top and I was scrambling to try to get everything covered up. I did the best i could but there was no way to stop the water from getting on my work without covering the whole front of the boat including the hard top. I spent the next few hours dabbing water off my work every 15 minutes as it was puddling up right on my patch due to it being 1/4" lower than the top of the boat.
Wasnt much else i could do at that point so i went to the garage and started sanding on the pulpit and filling in old screw holes.
Their calling for more rain tomorrow but if it turns out to be a decent day I'll start on building it up and getting a layer of gelcote on the patch. Plenty of work to do on the pulpit though if it does rain.
I am going to try my hand at getting a nice gelcote finish on the patch area and getting the color close (Oyster white) but if I dont like how it turns out, I picked up a piece of starboard that will fill the entire patch area and deck in front of it and its a perfect color match. The only problem with doing that is everything will be a 1/2" higher and the pulpit is already going to be taller than my deck.
Another hindsight thought tonight was this would have been a whole lot easier if I would have just skipped the patch completely and used the starboard to cover everything from the get go ... lol. Only thing with the starboard is it doesnt work well with adhesives and it would have to be bolted down with silicone or some 5200 under it to keep it water tight. But.... the patch Im putting in there will definitely strengthen everything and i should have no worries once its done.
It was cloudy all weekend and i was afraid the rain would start falling as soon as i started coating everything with epoxy resin but it held off for the most part.
Been trying to figure the best way to go about this and decided to use a larger than the opening, piece of 3/8th plywood that would go underneath with a piece of 3/4 plywood attached that would go up in the opening and use epoxy resin to bond it along with stainless screws that would pull it up tight.
Here is a pic of the bottom side with the screws in. All pieces and the opening were sealed with epoxy resin as well.
This is the top side of the patch. The 3/4" plywood section fills the hatch opening with about 1/16th" gap around the edges.
This is the hatch opening with all edges ground down a bit and also sealed. I also sealed up all the old screw and bolt holes.
And here is the patch all gooped up with thickened epoxy resin and ready to put in.
I added a small handle so it would be easier to hold in position from up top while I screwed in the screws.
Seemed like a good plan to me but as usual my plan didnt work as well as i had hoped.
My GF was up top and pulled it up in position and i started to start screwing it up tight.
I had my cordless drill with a phillips bit and as soon as i stared with the 1st screw I couldnt get enough pressure to get it to go in and spun the bit and stripped out the phillips head on the screw :smt013
Right then i knew i should have made pilot holes to screw in to but it was to late. I wasnt about to pull that goopy mess down out of there. Tried screw # 2 being a little more careful with the drill/driver but it just wouldnt go in. After alot of cussing I scrambled into the garage to find my right angle drill. Started backing out the screws one at a time and then drill a pilot hole up into the boat. The drill/driver was still slipping on the screw so i tried screwing them in by hand.
At this point I'm trying to get up in the tight opening better to get some pressure to get them screwed in but it was tight and i just couldnt get enough pressure on the screw driver. By now im really frustrated and have epoxy all in my hair from trying to get in there better. :smt101
After a lil more cussing i decided to try grabbing the head of the screw with a small pair of vice grip to get them. Not the best way of doing it but i had to try something as i was worried the epoxy was going to start setting up on me. The vice grips worked well enough to get 5 of the 10 screws in but there was no way in heck i was going to be able to get the front screwed up in there so I grabbed some 2x4's to use as levers to push the front up tight while the epoxy sets.
I thought about screwing from the top to get everything pulled up tight but i really didnt want to take a chance of adding stress to the gelcote and causing possible cracking. In hindsight, I probably should have went from the top and counter sunk the screws and then sealed them in. Or i should have used small lag screws that i could have put a socket on from underneath. Oh well live and learn :huh:
I didnt get any pics of the patch in place cause as luck would have it, It started raining right after I finished filling in the gaps up top and I was scrambling to try to get everything covered up. I did the best i could but there was no way to stop the water from getting on my work without covering the whole front of the boat including the hard top. I spent the next few hours dabbing water off my work every 15 minutes as it was puddling up right on my patch due to it being 1/4" lower than the top of the boat.
Wasnt much else i could do at that point so i went to the garage and started sanding on the pulpit and filling in old screw holes.
Their calling for more rain tomorrow but if it turns out to be a decent day I'll start on building it up and getting a layer of gelcote on the patch. Plenty of work to do on the pulpit though if it does rain.
I am going to try my hand at getting a nice gelcote finish on the patch area and getting the color close (Oyster white) but if I dont like how it turns out, I picked up a piece of starboard that will fill the entire patch area and deck in front of it and its a perfect color match. The only problem with doing that is everything will be a 1/2" higher and the pulpit is already going to be taller than my deck.
Another hindsight thought tonight was this would have been a whole lot easier if I would have just skipped the patch completely and used the starboard to cover everything from the get go ... lol. Only thing with the starboard is it doesnt work well with adhesives and it would have to be bolted down with silicone or some 5200 under it to keep it water tight. But.... the patch Im putting in there will definitely strengthen everything and i should have no worries once its done.
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
Not to much done today as i had to do some plumbing over at my GF's house today.
But did manage to get 2 layer of cloth and 2 layers of mat layed down.
Hopefully will be able to get some filler on there tomorrow but i'm back to work tomorrow.
1st pic is the patch in place and 2nd pic is after laying the mat & cloth.
But did manage to get 2 layer of cloth and 2 layers of mat layed down.
Hopefully will be able to get some filler on there tomorrow but i'm back to work tomorrow.
1st pic is the patch in place and 2nd pic is after laying the mat & cloth.
Big Island Lifer
Active Member
- Feb 1, 2010
- 1,406
- Boat Info
- '96 330 Formula SS
For Sale '85 255 Amberjack
- Engines
- Single 5.7
It's a tough job. I think you're on the right track. When you are finished you will have a much stronger bow area to anchor you windlass to. The starboard wouldn't have the structural integrity of you're patch.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
kingmike477
New Member
do you still have bow pulpit and anchor lid , or not??
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
I'm assuming you didn't receive my PM's?
I do have it. I'll send you another pm tonight. Let me know if you do or don't get it.
I really don't want to discuss any sales in this thread.
Edit: just sent you an email
I do have it. I'll send you another pm tonight. Let me know if you do or don't get it.
I really don't want to discuss any sales in this thread.
Edit: just sent you an email
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CAGE RATTLER
New Member
I havent updated this as i got side tracked quite a bit on the work i was doing but here is a few pics I had to take for my insurance company. The pulpit is done and windlass installed and im loving the ease of anchoring now. More importantly, my GF is loving not haveing to pull the anchor in .... lol. These arent great pics. I'll have to get some from up top when i put her back in. Had to pull her for Irene.
I also removed the stripes at the top.
I dont think i ever posted any pics of the new engine in so heres a few. Once again, not very good shots. Its pretty tight front to back but still have alot of room on the sides to do maintenance.
I also pulled out the old alcohol stove since i never used it and put in a microwave. I was going to completely redo the counter top but its not in bad shape so i opted to just put a piece of laminate on a piece of plywood to cover the hole and mount the microwave to that.
Heres a couple pics showing some other work i did.
I took out the back to back seat on the drivers side and put in a nice garelick helm seat with flip up bolster. Much more comfortable when driving standing up.
I also added a new switch panel with updated rocker switches and breakers. I also put white vinyl on the dash piece covering the switch panel and had to make the opening larger for the switch panel. I bought the switch panel pre-wired. I also made a panel for the other side where the ignition is and added the rocker switch for the windlass. I also recovered the left side
dash piece with the white vinyl and will probably do more in white next year when i redo my guages and guage panel.
You can also see where i covered the fake teak laminate on the hatch and doors. I used a shower surround from home depot to cover them and it turned out really nice. I liked this idea better than sanding and painting and then have to repaint down the road. I still need to put the pieces on to the left and right of the doors. I also wrapped the hinges with the white vinyl.
And here is a quick pic of the interior.
More to come....eventually
I also removed the stripes at the top.
I dont think i ever posted any pics of the new engine in so heres a few. Once again, not very good shots. Its pretty tight front to back but still have alot of room on the sides to do maintenance.
I also pulled out the old alcohol stove since i never used it and put in a microwave. I was going to completely redo the counter top but its not in bad shape so i opted to just put a piece of laminate on a piece of plywood to cover the hole and mount the microwave to that.
Heres a couple pics showing some other work i did.
I took out the back to back seat on the drivers side and put in a nice garelick helm seat with flip up bolster. Much more comfortable when driving standing up.
I also added a new switch panel with updated rocker switches and breakers. I also put white vinyl on the dash piece covering the switch panel and had to make the opening larger for the switch panel. I bought the switch panel pre-wired. I also made a panel for the other side where the ignition is and added the rocker switch for the windlass. I also recovered the left side
dash piece with the white vinyl and will probably do more in white next year when i redo my guages and guage panel.
You can also see where i covered the fake teak laminate on the hatch and doors. I used a shower surround from home depot to cover them and it turned out really nice. I liked this idea better than sanding and painting and then have to repaint down the road. I still need to put the pieces on to the left and right of the doors. I also wrapped the hinges with the white vinyl.
And here is a quick pic of the interior.
More to come....eventually
douglee25
Well-Known Member
Nice job!
Doug
Doug
Big Island Lifer
Active Member
- Feb 1, 2010
- 1,406
- Boat Info
- '96 330 Formula SS
For Sale '85 255 Amberjack
- Engines
- Single 5.7
That is a lot of great work! I have major motor envy!!!
How hard was wiring the windlass? Care to share the steps you went through to make it happen?
How hard was wiring the windlass? Care to share the steps you went through to make it happen?
Getaway
Well-Known Member
- Oct 13, 2010
- 1,077
- Boat Info
- 1998 290DA Sundancer
Lowrance electronics, Fishhawk, Scotty Downriggers
BoatWheels Tri-Axle Trailer
- Engines
- Single big block 454 MPI Mercruiser engine and Bravo III outdrive.
Nice job with the 25AJ. Those are some big wide girls for a 25ft class boat.
That motor should move her along pretty good.
That motor should move her along pretty good.
CAGE RATTLER
New Member
Wiring it was very easy. It comes with leads off the windlass about 6 feet long.
I used 6 or 8 awg (cant remember which i used) duplex marine wire to run the length from the windlass leads to the battery.
It comes with a 50 amp breaker that needs to be mounted near the battery. I mounted mine right near the small hatch in the back so i could just lift it to turn the breaker on. The breaker needs to be off when not using the windlass in case you accidentally hit the switch when running. I have a pin through my anchor so thats not to much of a problem anyway.
The lewmar 700 usually comes with a toggle switch and no contactor and the 1000 series comes with a guarded rocker switch and contactor.
You need a contactor (duel direction solenoid) to add foot switches and/or a remote control. I may opt to do that later. I found a deal on the 700 pro-fish that came with the contactor and rocker switch all for $748 including shipping. By the way, I got the pro-fish model because it has a free fall feature that makes anchoring quicker and also saves battery life.
Running the wires on our boat was very easy. If you look in the cabin and also in the bathroom, you will see a strip about 3 inches wide that runs the length of the cabin & bathroom between the wall & ceiling. Just pop the caps off and take the screws out and you can run the wires behind it. The wiring to the lights at the front of the cabin are back there already. The running light wires may be there too. Cant remember now. Theres also an opening from the anchor locker at that point to easily feed the wires through as well as openings from the cabin to bathroom and bathroom to cockpit below the dash. I placed my contactor inside the rectangular area under the shifter which made running the wires to the rocker switch easy as well. At the bottom of the rectangular enclosure is where all the wiring comes up from the engine so feeding the wires down through there to the batteries was easy as well.
Heres a link to the manual for the lewmar windlass that has wiring diagrams.
http://www.lewmar.com/cms%5Cassets%5C1%5CLiterature/B10490%20Iss2%20Pro%20Series-Fish_English.pdf
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