1989 Saltare - My god Spock, what have I done???

Hey Mike,

I can't speak from actually having replaced the cap as of yet, but based on the swiss cheese that is the mounting holes between my top cap and hull I have opted to glass over theses sections from the rear side of the hull to allow me to drill new holes when the time comes to put the top cap back on.

Sound like you are getting close to having that boat of yours on the water soon enough.

see attached pic on what I am doing, laid the mat a bit wider than the hull and will buzz off with the air-saw when the time comes.

The cap is sitting down on the hull flush all the way around - the holes will line up vertically, just shifted fore & aft 1/8-1/4" in places depending on how I have it aligned? I was warned of this typical alignment issue before by a pro shop & think pretty good spatially in 3D, but still confused how the shoe box lid can fit tight, yet the holes don't match? Oh well, time for some new holes. To top it off, I buggered up a cosmetic repair I did to the nose while moving the cap around trying to get more holes to line up. Looks like the factory had a dry layup in that area. Guess when I re-fix the nose, I'll mix up some extra resin (epoxy this time) & milled fiber to fill the unused holes.

WSC - looks like that cap might of been off once before - that's alot of holes. Good idea of glassing in a backer. Unfortunately, I've already carpeted the hull sides (plus I really don't want to pull the cap again) and I should have plenty of meat left for fasteners. Plus I figure if after filling the old holes & seams with silicone/epoxy/5200 and attaching/sealing the rubrail - if water intrusion from behind the rubrail ever becomes an issue, I've got bigger problems on my hands.

Cadunkle - rudder swap was no biggie. Although it would have been easier if the bolt pattern on inboard rudders was universal. My original rudder was the old style with packing and had lots of play in it. I ended up cutting the rudder shaft to remove it since the shaft head was mushroomed & I couldn't get the tiller arm off. Turns out it wasn't a big loss because the shaft was severely worn anyway. Yeah, it's supposed to just be an unbolt, clean-up, and reinstall new type of job. I did have to jack one side of the boat up off the trailer during removal and replacement so that the rudder would clear the prop guard. The new one has 2 zerks and 3 o-rings, so no more packing.

I had just as many holes in my boat as WSC did. I'm assuming it had been from replacing the rubrail at some point. Now that I've replaced the rubrail myself, there's probably more negative space in the lip than positive space. The stainless rub rail has a LOT of screws!

Hey, Wotan - just consider them "lightening holes" so she'll get up on plane faster.

Cap is on - for good this time! Jockeyed the cap around for the best fit & was able to use about half of the original holes. It pulled in tight against the hull with only an 1/8" gap in a few places - small enough for the rub rail to cover except for the transom.

The transom seam had a pretty good gap from the factory (a good bit of silicone under the rubrail when I took her apart). It's a little tighter now, but I ran a bead of sealant in the gap full length across the transom in anticipation of tsunami sized stern rollers while surfing (o.k., maybe a little wishful thinking...). Also filled all the old joint & rubrail holes w/ 5200.

Mixed up a batch of poly resin (so the gelcoat will stick) and cut fibers to fill in the self inflicted bow wound. I'll wait until I finish grinding down the hull where I've got some shaft contact below the shaft log (just in case I go through the gel) before I sand and try & match gelcoat one more time.

Mike - I can see the results of your labor with refinishing the hull. It looks beautiful! Looking forward to seeing more pics...

I bet that feels good having the cap on knowing you're done with that part. Huge milestone!

Hey sybr. How did you make the little black squiggly lines in your bilge paint?? That looks nice. I was think of using the garage floor sprinkles. What do yall think about that??

First, Jet - bilge gel splatter done with an el cheapo Harbor Freight gravity feed gun with the atomizing holes blocked off and gel thickened with a little repair paste. The results aren't real consistent (even after first practicing on my floor which I later covered in carpet), but helps break up the accidental seafoam green bilge. Garage sprinkles should work fine if you're recoating since I would consider the bilge a "low traffic" area. I used them on a pool bath floor a few years back & they still look good.

Getting close to tackling wiring, but have a few questions. I have all the parts, but don't quite know the best way to hook it all up. On the supply side - I have two Optima blue tops with a Surepower 1314 isolator and a high output DB alternator. On the demand side - the standard boat electricals (guages, all led lighting, electronic ignition, etc.), plus two electric trim actuators (one 20 amp breaker), two Johnson ballast pumps (two 20 amp breakers), one 4 ch amp (20 amp fuse), and one 6 ch amp (2x30 amp fuses).

1. To confirm with the 1314, just connect pos of each battery to batt 1 and batt 2 terminals on the 1314 and jumper the neg of each battery together and ground to engine block?

2. Should I connect all power loads to their respective batteries at the 1314 or the the battery terminals themselves or the Optima's auxiliary posts?

3. Do I need to upgrade the wire gauge from the new alternator?

4. Do I need to run a wire from the alternator power directly to the 1314 (currently a single 10 ga from old alternator that splices into two 10 ga at the engine harness that then travel up to the helm?

5. Should I dedicate the second battery to stereo only (pretty much constant use at varying load) or tie in some of the other intermittent loads (ballast pumps, trim actuators, etc.)?

Thanks.

sybr, here's an explanation that might answer most of your questions.

I have two batteries. We'll call them primary and secondary. The primary battery is connected to the main power feed circuit breaker and chassis ground for the boat. I also have my ballast pump tied to that battery. My secondary battery is all stereo system. The main power to the motor circuit breaker is connected to the primary battery positive terminal. The ballast pump is piggy backed onto that. The main ground to the engine is tied to the primary battery negative terminal. The stereo distribution blocks are tied to the secondary battery positive and negative terminals. To wire in the 1314, I connected one side (main battery) to the primary battery and the other side to the secondary battery. The ground connection from the 1314 went to the primary battery. I connected a ground wire between the two battery negatives. That's the whole set up. This configuration favors the primary battery to be charged by the boat's electrical system and only connects the secondary battery if the primary is fully charged and a charge current is applied.

A couple notes:

1. Wire size from boat to primary battery is 2/0.
2. Wire size from distribution blocks to secondary battery is 2AWG.
3. Wire size of 1314 power connections is 4AWG. (Except it's small ground which is 14AWG, by mfg recommendation)
4. Wire size connecting two negatives on batteries together is 4AWG.