Custom Fiberglass Extended Swim Platform

[tpenfield]

The weather has not been cooperating this weekend, but we managed to get out a little bit to try out the new swim platform.
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[kcassells]

Ahhh Yes! Now I see the need!

 

[chevymaher]

The weather has not been cooperating this weekend, but we managed to get out a little bit to try out the new swim platform.
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And it is perfect all I hoped for. congrats

 

[Scott Danforth]

The weather has not been cooperating this weekend, but we managed to get out a little bit to try out the new swim platform.
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And that is the pic that we have been waiting for.....cheers Ted

Job well done

 

[Mad Props]

And that is the pic that we have been waiting for.....cheers Ted

Job well done

I'll 2nd that... congrats

 

[tpenfield]

Someone on the boat design forum raised a good point. ( yes I was surprised too ) With the extended platform, there is the opportunity to have more people at the stern of the boat and a bit further out than normal. This would have the stern sitting low in the water and could possibly cause water to get over the existing risers and into the exhaust manifolds.

I was wondering if I should consider adding a 3” riser kit to the engines as a margin of safety :noidea:

Thoughts?

 

[Scott Danforth]

I was wondering if I should consider adding a 3” riser kit to the engines as a margin of safety :noidea:

Thoughts?

measure your static water line to gunwale...... then measure the gunwale to elbow.

 

[tpenfield]

measure your static water line to gunwale...... then measure the gunwale to elbow.

Yes, the Mercruiser spec is 13 inches minimum. I’ll measure my boat to see how it compares to the spec.

 

[kcassells]

Interesting point. So just keep the chubbys towards the bow.

 

[tpenfield]

I measured the height of the elbows above the static water line with no people load. I got 15” using the method specified by Mercruiser . However, Merc states that the boat should have a full people load, which would sink the stern about 3-4”. So, the height would only be 11-12” with load vs. a spec of 13”.

I could probably add a 3” riser to be sure. There is about 5” space for a riser.

 

[Mad Props]

That sounds like something that needs added to a sticky or something.. I wonder with some of the major refurbed boats around here if this is an issue no one thinks about... I know I never would have

 

[tpenfield]

That sounds like something that needs added to a sticky or something.. I wonder with some of the major refurbed boats around here if this is an issue no one thinks about... I know I never would have

Yes, I didn't think much of it before doing the platform, and we would always have a bunch of people at the stern of the boat. The platform adds about 150 lbs to the stern, so it was a goo idea that I checked.

 

[tpenfield]

We have been out on the boat the past few days and the swim platform is working out nicely. (I wish I could say that for the rest of the boat )

Here are a few photos for the platform 'in action' . . . if you can call it that


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[Scott Danforth]

Cheers Ted......Fido looks happy

 

[tpenfield]

We have put a decent amount of load on the swim platform so far. Nothing too excessive. Here are some of the crew hanging out on the platform. The platform holds up well. The stern is down about 4" with 4 people sitting on the platform.



Not sure when I will have time to add the 3" riser blocks. Probably an all-day job to do both engines.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Man that looks awesome, you have me thinking about a platform for the Chap!!

 

[tpenfield]

Here is a video that I put together showing the significant steps in building and installing the swim platform . . .

Enjoy

 

[froggy1150]

Even though I have been with this from first post.... cool slide show