What Do You Do To Your Boat

[Assassin]

Do you have a boat just for fun and never touch it or modify it yourselves, or is it a more of a hobby if you do various modifications and upgrades yourself.

To date i have fitted twin Detroit Diesels myself as the boat came without engines as it was an insurance scam by the first owner, he falied to make payments and removed the original engines and sold them.

Made LED lights from scratch and replaced every light on the boat with LED replacements, and added many more in places i would like them, and made a number of underwater lights. Consumption is now so low that it would give me over two years of light with every light switched on, on its current battery bank.

Replaced all combustible appliances with electric, so no gas or petrol aboard, even the tender has a tiny inboard diesel which gets filled once a year.

Made twin battery banks, one runs the main electrics while the other one runs the supplementary equipment such as lights, and acts for the electronic systems.

What have others done to their boats, and do you use them purely for sailing, or for saliling and tinkering.

 

[Wiggo]

Oh, tinkering for sure...

Upgraded the domestic electrics
Upgraded the charging system
Fitted a monster inverter
Made (yes, made) a fully sprung mattress for the forward cabin
Fitted blinds to both heads
Made hardwood gratings for both heads
Fitted mains lighting with remote dimmers

Currently working on remote exhaust temperature alarms and an engine sync gauge...

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

I do everything I can. Mix of interest, parsimony and poverty. Rebuild of galley to fit better fridge. Replaced cooker. Rewiring and adding additonal lighting in the cabins and galley. New clutch tool for anchor winch. New battery charger, new nav lights and anything else I can do really. I need to find a kindly diesel expert to show me some things and raise my confindence level on more engine diy.

Winter plans include removing both intercoolers and all 4 gearbox oil coolers for a clean, new temperature gauges with some fudging as the senders for a fiver off ebay look to use the engine as a return. Lots of revarnishing and relining the forward saloon deckhead, after finding and fixing the leak of course!

Fantasy plan is a total rewire or at least making a useable diagram of the rat's nest I bought with a boat round it

 

[tico]

'Mix of interest, parsimony and poverty'... love it! Couldn't have put it better myself

 

[Forbsie]

I removed and replaced all my topsides from about a foot below the decks.

 

[kcrane]

Anything major, specialist or time consuming I get done, for example VolvoPaul does the engine servicing, Osmotech fitted the sternthruster, Clive Hook does the antifoul. Smaller things, like replacing a strumbox and pump for an aircon unit or the steering hydraulic oil I do myself. Would be quite happy though if there was no maintenance to do and I simply used it.

 

[iangrant]

How does

Oh, tinkering for sure...



.................and an engine sync gauge...

Work please?

Ian

 

[jimaxum]

I consider doing all your own work half the fun of boating. After two complete refits, a couple of engine rebuilds, a few engine isntallations from scratch, a few engine marinisations, fitting a bow thruster this year and eberspacher heating next year. Also doing all my own servicing, electrics, fibreglassing and painting. As well as keeping costs down you get to really know your boat inside out. Best of all SWMBO lets me do all this

 

[tinkicker0]

Do everything meself over winter, all maintenance and repairs, drive bellows, gimbal, manifolds etc and usually have a project.

Last winter it was making up a secondary bus and house battery, fuse board, Aeromotive type switch board with LED status lights for the Star Trek look, make up all wiring looms to IP67, several new systems for the switchboard to operate and a nice quad sound system.

So me new switches now independently control:

Cabin power and ventilation fans in the cuddy.
Sound system.
VHF (yet to be bought and fitted).
Second pole light and socket to starboard (so I have an anchor light on the live side on the river).
Aux bilge pump switching relay.
Hidden Neon deck lights for after dark ambiance.

This winter, need to fit the aux bilge pump and hoses, the VHF set and tall antenna to fly me forum burgee from without upsetting passing Seamaster 27 skippers and maybe the seat upholstery redoing if I can afford.


EDIT

Additional Pole light and socket on the live side is on the PORT side. Surprised no one picked the bones out of that.

 

[hlb]

and tall antenna to fly me forum burgee from without upsetting passing Seamaster 27 skippers.

Dont do it, it bends like buggery at 20 knots.

 

[Divemaster1]

Re-uphostery, maintaining and tuning my Detroits, fitting fire supression system, replacing shower pumping out systems, replacing water tank, fitting holding tank, replacing fuel tank, fitting radar arch and replacing all electronics.

Hobby and recreation for me, as well as being a great family vacations...

 

[PaulGooch]

and tall antenna to fly me forum burgee from without upsetting passing Seamaster 27 skippers.

Dont do it, it bends like buggery at 20 knots.

Indeed. I expertly fitted mine to the top of my 2.4m Glomex last weekend. It blew 16 knot through the marina shortly after fitting and made a hell of a racket. Had to chop it off! Gonna refit to the radar reflector pole next weekend.

 

[PaulGooch]

If it needs doing, i do it. Servicing, antifoul, electronics upgrades, anything and everything.

So far, no-one else has done anything. I even bought a tig welder and learned how to tig weld stainless (with some tuition from a mate who'd a tig welder by profession). Made new transom handrail and scanstrut style radar/radar reflector/allround white light mounting.

 

[crazy4557]

I attempt to do as much as possible, normally in a rush and end up calling in the pro's to sort both my work and the original fault.....I never learn !! Costs me twice as much in the long run.

 

[enterprise]

Im with PaulGouch, try and do as many things as possible, even to the point of learning new skills to be able to do them.

Main things so far;
Installed, Eber heating system, new dash, new companionway steps, resurfaced the galley and heads work surfaces, new shower, new toilet, new charger and galvanic isolator.
New interior lighting, additional sockets and TV/DVD combo, inc new arch mounted Glomex Ariel.
Battery status monitor, Radar and depth sounder and networked all the instruments.

Professional help includes full reupholstery, new canopies, new carpets and soft furnishings, occasional servicing (when we cant do it) winterising and commissioning (just because we feel it's better to have these things done when were not on holiday).

We do the annual antifouling and polishing, anodes and cosmetic upkeep.

We try and balance what we do between holiday relaxation and weekends dedicated for maintenance but the majority of work usually gets done when it's pouring with rain outside, hence we got most of the above done during the last two summer seasons !!!