We bought our beloved 2006 Com-Pac Sun Cat, Wily Conch, back in 2009 and have enjoyed owning her very much. At right is one of my favorite moments, sailing in the 2013 Sun Cat National Championship Regatta with my friend, Pete. While working as … [Read more...]
Boat Repairs & Upgrades
Upgrading and repairs can be costly and time-consuming. But one thing you can always count on: Your boat will need upgrades and repairs.
Repowering the Old Pontoon Boat
I repainted the whole deck after the repairs detailed in the first post in this series. I once again used Behr deck paint from Home Depot, but this time tried their non-skid additive. It is a fine powder, almost like flour, and gave the deck the … [Read more...]
New Life for an Old Pontoon Boat
We bought an old 24 foot Lowe pontoon boat from a local fishing guide. He had coated the pontoons with , replaced the deck with 3/4" ply, added a small center console and 20 gallon plastic fuel tank, and powered it with an old 75 hp Mercury. His … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 16
December 5, 2011 First Gelcoat on Pec, Small Repairs and Fairing Richard the welder was an early riser and he delivered the second hard top frame just after sunrise, reminding us that we had yet to fabricate tops for these … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 15
November 27, 2011 Minor Fiberglass Repairs All the grinding in recent days finally came to fruition today as we went around and applied fiberglass to several minor repairs. To reinforce and smooth the gunwale edge where swimmers will … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 14
November 16, 2011 Fiberglassing Decks on Both Boats We got an early start and were out on the boats doing final preparations for fiberglassing the decks over the new fuel tanks before our young helpers were really alert. After doing a … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 13
November 11, 2011 The day started like many others: with someone running a grinder. This time it was Adam preparing the pieces of marine plywood deck for installation. The undersides were previously coated with resin but drips and areas that would … [Read more...]
Outboard Lower Unit Crack
We have an old 3 cylinder Yamaha two-stroke on the 15' Boston Whaler and the normally reliable beast recently stranded us for the very first time before magically fixing itself. It has been running perfectly ever since. I think it has an intermittent … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 12
November 7, 2011 Another leap forward in time has occurred and I am returning to writing about this project on September 22, 2012, almost a year after the events unfolded. The pictures will have to tell the parts of the story I have … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 11
Ready to Repair October 16, 2011 Repairing Port Side of Pec We started the day disassembling the repair that we dry fit the night before, then Gene went to work vacuuming the pieces of wood and solvent wiping the repair area while I gathered … [Read more...]
