The Official 450 Express Bridge Owners Club

[Forrestkk]

I give up, where is that scupper drain located in the Qtip picture?

Some pics of the ding last weekend!

Bummer, so frustrating. Hopefully you can get it bent back soon.

 

[Shoyrtt]

I fixed the pictures for you. Remember you need to edit them or they will post sideways (just a quirk on CSR)

 

[Shoyrtt]

Here is my crude attempt on a fix. The red line is a piece of angle iron. I would have both a long and a short piece available. The yellow lines are straps. Two to hold the long piece of angle iron in place and the long one is pulling the bend out. Heat the bend and then slowly pull with maybe a come along attached to the dock or preferably a piling that is level with the bend. If it is $600 to have a pro do the job, I would probably chicken out and have them do it.

 

[Forrestkk]

So, my wife is always telling me when I retire that I should charter our boat. I always laugh it off, but guess she is worth about $3,500 a day down here.

Also, realizing I am not allowed to retire .

 

[Forrestkk]

Here is my crude attempt on a fix. The red line is a piece of angle iron. I would have both a long and a short piece available. The yellow lines are straps. Two to hold the long piece of angle iron in place and the long one is pulling the bend out. Heat the bend and then slowly pull with maybe a come along attached to the dock or preferably a piling that is level with the bend. If it is $600 to have a pro do the job, I would probably chicken out and have them do it.
View attachment 130202

Gel coat, bending metal that is supposed to be "pretty," and fiberglass work are all on my "hire an expert" list.

Everything else I get after myself, but just like cars, paint and body is more art than process.

 

[Shoyrtt]

Gel coat, bending metal that is supposed to be "pretty," and fiberglass work are all on my "hire an expert" list.

Everything else I get after myself, but just like cars, paint and body is more art than process.

And the pro can also clean up the scratches and gouging of the stainless and make it shiny again. I’m not patient enough.

 

[Shoyrtt]

So, my wife is always telling me when I retire that I should charter our boat. I always laugh it off, but guess she is worth about $3,500 a day down here.

Also, realizing I am not allowed to retire .

View attachment 130203

There is a 450EB in San Diego that charters for about that rate. It seems like a hassle to me. To charter you have to have a captains license and then carry commercial insurance with a huge limit to protect you from personal liability. I just have visions of some drunk knuckle head falling off the boat and the lawsuit that follows. No thank you.

 

[Forrestkk]

There is a 450EB in San Diego that charters for about that rate. It seems like a hassle to me. To charter you have to have a captains license and then carry commercial insurance with a huge limit to protect you from personal liability. I just have visions of some drunk knuckle head falling off the boat and the lawsuit that follows. No thank you.

It is a pain, for sure. Wouldn't dream of it now, but for a retirement gig I could probably stomach it a few days a week.

 

[Jack O'Brien]

Not me, yacht chartering my boat. There are yacht charter companies you can invest in though. One is Southwest Florida Yachts in Cape Coral. We toured their boats some years ago, a Jefferson 44(?), a Grand Banks 42, a Carver, and a Sea Ray 50. My idea was to bareboat one for a week with wife. If one of us didn't throw the other overboard, we would buy a boat. Well, we didn't act on chartering, looked at boats for sale, viewed a 450EB in Pensacola, then made an offer on one in Cocoa, sight unseen. Seller took it! Was like OMG, we bought a boat! Then, I took out an LOC on an investment, didn't have to mortgage the house or liquidate anything, went to closing with cash transfer. Two years later, and 25 boat trips, we are ecstatic. Have to admit, equipment upgrades, particularly electronics, and maintenance on a neglected boat, had been more than expected. BUT, so did it's value improve. Value to us? Priceless.

 

[Shoyrtt]

I finally got around to another item on the never ending list today. When we bought the boat the surveyor didn’t call out the fact that the master stateroom hatch was caulked shut. I didn’t realize it until after we closed. When I was chasing the water leak that turned out to be the two master port hole windows, I added more caulking to the hatch in an attempt to cover all of my bases.
I ordered a new hatch from Taylor Made in the fall of 2020 and it arrived in May of 2021. I finally got around to replacing it today.
Sealed shut:

Open for the first time:

Clean up:

Old vs New:

New caulking:

All done!

 

[Jack O'Brien]

Sealed shut...dam! Great work! Surprised at having to replace it entirely. Mine hasn't been open in quite some time but isn't sealed shut. I've had it open before. Sort of in the mindset leaving it alone tho. My stbd port hole leak was the source of a drip up near the mirror. Fixed. Btw, like the windshield covers. Took mine off, unsightly ugly, too weathered. Didn't dispose of in case wanted to replace. They were partial see-thru type fabric. Are yours opaque? Are they orderable or custom?

 

[Shoyrtt]

Sealed shut...dam! Great work! Surprised at having to replace it entirely. Mine hasn't been open in quite some time but isn't sealed shut. I've had it open before. Sort of in the mindset leaving it alone tho. My stbd port hole leak was the source of a drip up near the mirror. Fixed. Btw, like the windshield covers. Took mine off, unsightly ugly, too weathered. Didn't dispose of in case wanted to replace. They were partial see-thru type fabric. Are yours opaque? Are they orderable or custom?

I’m not sure a had to replace it, but I did find that Taylor Made no longer makes the rubber seal which is the part that fails.
As far as the window covers, they are Sunbrella fabric that match the Bimini top (not opaque). My neighbor just ordered a set of blue opaque covers for his windows. I might go that route if his looks good. Kevin might chime in if the OG supplier makes the window covers for our boats.

 

[Shoyrtt]

My last project this weekend was the new cover for the cockpit. Lots of snaps to install. It’s not as nice as a custom cover, but with the stretchy fabric it does the job.

 

[Forrestkk]

I’m not sure a had to replace it, but I did find that Taylor Made no longer makes the rubber seal which is the part that fails.
As far as the window covers, they are Sunbrella fabric that match the Bimini top (not opaque). My neighbor just ordered a set of blue opaque covers for his windows. I might go that route if his looks good. Kevin might chime in if the OG supplier makes the window covers for our boats.

I got the semi-opaques from Boatswain's Locker (came as part of my new canvas set). They block 90% of the rays, but you can still see out. They are also not fabric, and down here in the south the fabric ones grew because of the humidity.

So far, I am a huge fan of them.

 

[KellyK]

My last project this weekend was the new cover for the cockpit. Lots of snaps to install. It’s not as nice as a custom cover, but with the stretchy fabric it does the job.
View attachment 130268

 

[KellyK]

That just got put on my wish list! Very nice!

 

[Searay Chuck]

Here is my crude attempt on a fix. The red line is a piece of angle iron. I would have both a long and a short piece available. The yellow lines are straps. Two to hold the long piece of angle iron in place and the long one is pulling the bend out. Heat the bend and then slowly pull with maybe a come along attached to the dock or preferably a piling that is level with the bend. If it is $600 to have a pro do the job, I would probably chicken out and have them do it.
View attachment 130202

A friend hit 2 of mine and bent them. I used a piece of heavy angle with a 1/2" threaded stock. Modified a stainless canvas frame mount that I had laying around. Held in place to the stanchion with 2 straps and just started turning the nut which pushed the tubing back in place. No heat was used and it pushed back to its original condition. The top rail was also bent and used the same setup but used a 4x4 post about 4ft long attached to the rail the same way and pushed that back out as well.

 

[Jack O'Brien]

Very ingenious!

 

[RetiredSubGuy]

Waiting for transient to leave and use Pileon to attach comealong to and pull. I'll let you know how it works out?

 

[RetiredSubGuy]

Anyone ever have a funny not so pleasant smell come from A/C vents? Want to clean the inlet filter (metal mesh) is there any other filters in the A/C system? Will inspect ventilation tubing for mold/mildew this week!

Thanks,
Dan