1969? Edinboro cabin project

Mark_VTfisherman

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So time for a thread. Also I need to find somewhere to host my pics. Hate that.

Edit: not perse, actually see rule #8.
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IMO using photobucket or other 3rd party site makes it easier to ask for and render assistance. The pix show up IN a post and can be viewed all at once, plus dont have to be opened to be seen so the text describing the pix is also available for reference.. John​
 
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Mark_VTfisherman

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Going to use 1x3 strapping and refrigerator boxes to mock up a cabin. It is very important to me this doesn't look like an abortion.

Goals are to leave enough under cover space to throw a sleeping bag for my almost 6' body and provide just enough overhead clearance to stand up and walk under the hardtop.
I plan to accomplish the lay down room by cutting out a portion of the raised floor in the bow and glassing a level floor. That will gain me almost 14" which adds to the fishing space aft. Also going to cut the oem dash/helm back and fab a new one at the current windshield location.
Not going straight up, either, so it won't look like a floating phone booth or waterbound greenhouse. Irritated I can't just post my pics here like on jeep forums and such. When you use other places to host pics a server change or provider change breaks all your pic links and posterity doesn't get the benefit.

The gunwales are being modified as well to have a nice long flat deck about 9" wide which is good for both mounting down riggers and for making a not-quite-18-foot boat think it's much bigger. I have owned- and fished hard- a 14' Niagara since like 1992 and I've rigged and used that boat at level well beyond its size. Over-rigging a small boat teaches you A LOT about space, useability, and what works well along with what doesn't work. The Niagara has been in its present state of rigging since 2007 and really I can't do any more with it. I can fish 7 rods in holders plus 2 in the downriggers if I want to (I don't cuz having enough people (5) to put out 9 rods is insane in a 14' boat) and I want the Edinboro to be at least that flexible. I have often stated that my 14' Niagara is the biggest little boat you'll ever see, and I want to extend that functionality to the Edinboro which being so much bigger a boat will be like heaven. Lake Ontario might be doable some days :)
 
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Mark_VTfisherman

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Motor-wise it has an old 85hp on it, hydroelectric. But I am switching that out for a mid 80s (hey, it's still newer) 90hp with low hours and amazing condition that has trim/tilt and cable shift. Showroom perfect and runs sweet.

Also have one of the old OMC hydraulic trolling motor brackets, and a very nice Johnson 6hp for a kicker. If money were no object I'd have an Etec 90 and a new 4stroke kicker but money...is an object. The trolling motor was free but needed three or four hours labor, and the 90 a friend let me steal for $800 when he went 115 on his.

Also have new-to-me steering, a nice used Uniden vhf, newer 690 sonar/GPS, a stereo, and a used plastic fuel cell. All in all, I have more in the motor than everything else combined, so budget plan is working.
 

sphelps

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Looking forward to what ya got going Mark ! Maybe something like seastompers
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Thank you JB and SP.

I will check out seastomper after nightfall. Summer is precious.

I will look at photobucket again but last I checked they only let you park 10 images for free? But last I checked was prob years ago...I didn't actually know I could iboat 'em. What I was suggesting was the handy feature of jeepforum that allows uploaded auto resized images for sharing. With or without a paid membership. So basically no matter what changes elsewhere there is a perpetual databook archive that is browsable... I've gotten so used to that one click image upload convenience. Makes it easy to share.
 

sphelps

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Photobucket gives you quite a bit of free image hosting . I have around 160 pics on mine and it's about 21% used up .. Just click on the IMG code on the right side bar and it sizes automatically .. Then just right click and paste into your post ..
:joyous:
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Checked out seastomper last night. Nice read and some good ideas. I had read that before but it was a long time ago
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Progress: the "paper white" polyurethane paint is two-coated. Now just gotta decide on an upholstery color to match a paint to.
Used short-fiber bondo to fill in the bulk of and deepest of the scratches first. While not perfectly gouge free, it looks very good.
Still haven't tried firing up the 85hp Johnson yet but it appears to be properly wired up.
Since my buddy's lawnmower ate my muffs that were at his house those are in the buy list, along with a new hose and primer.

Can't wait to be putting together and not just prepping and fixing!
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Looking forward to what ya got going Mark ! Maybe something like seastompers

Photos of a few stages of progress soon!

Actually tried firing up the 85hp and after 10 minutes of checks decided I didn't want to find out why it didn't have spark... That was easy.

Put it on craigslist and sold it to a guy with same motor who just took out his lower unit. For what I paid for the boat.

>>>SIDENOTE. Sad to see like almost no activity here in MFG. Don't want to rustle up old threads either. But there used to be good regular stuff in this subforum- what I can do?

Anyway, I got the keel completed and some paint on the outside of the hull. That was it until recently.

Donned coat and fired up the jeep and headed to the barn with some temps in the 30s and fishing coming soon. I hoped.

I took a sawzall to the window decks/seats and cut it all out.
Did some careful measuring from the splashwell sheer and used a length of unused moulding to pencil a fair line across the bow deck where the raised area for the windshield will be fashioned. Also faired 15" lines forward from the windshield to meet the faired line across the bow. This will form the base of the hump. (I have to rise from the OEM window ledges almost straight up in order to use the Edinboro windshield. From there forward, however, I can curve and lean and angle the structure to please the eye better.)

Then I decided to finish getting stuff out of the interior, like the aforementioned fiberglass panels/ski racks that I won't be re-using. (Where did that post go?)

Oops. Should have taken them out first! Removing them revealed very bad structural damage. And I also know why, too. Because in the course of evaluating a "fix" I discovered what caused it: the trailer has a 'tilt' release that is worn out and has over 2-1/4" of up and down movement even when locked. Every substantial bump basically hinged the boat which led to the floor to hull bond to completely separate and fail for almost 40". This damage extends from behind the seat position forward to about 11" forward of the raised underdeck bulkhead. Catastrophic. But I think I have a repair that will not only be stronger than factory by almost 50%, but it should also afford me substantial structural improvement for the planned coaming. This is important because I want to raise the windshield top to 54" (factory is about 44") and there was a lot of need to restore longitudinal support when I cut the factory dash and helm station out.

And yes! I'm welding the stupid "tilt load" trailer beam into a solid beam like I did on the Niagara around 2001. That tilt trailer is what wrecked that boat!

Oh, you wonder what I'm doing for a motor? Well I *want* to buy a 70 horse, but money won't let me right now, so the very nice 90hp Johnson intended for my Starcraft Holiday 18 is currently hanging on the transom. Same size as the 85 that I sold, but I think 70 would be fine. And lighter. This is a fishing boat build, not a ski boat.

That's it for today. Come alive MFG people! Let's have some fun!
 

sphelps

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Ya know Mark none of that happened without pics .... :D.....:pop2:
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Ya know Mark none of that happened without pics .... :D.....:pop2:

Ya, I tried but since computer has been dead for year and not replaced dI have only iPad to play with. I need to sign up for photobucket or whatever cuz the iPhone pics are too big to load here and I just haven't done it.

Took the ski racks / side panels out and discovered hidden damage where the deck pulled off the hull from apparently the 2"+ of flex the 'tilt' (sic) trailer had in it. That's welded now, and I have the rollers partly realigned. But there's 36"+ of tear to repair when finally gets 65-70 degrees.
I need to see if I need to replace the bunks, and reorient them from vertical (1-1/2" bearing surface) to flat (3-1/2" bearing). I have some old 2x4s and 2x6s saved from a deck remodel job. They're old, but they're solid and the best part: they're CCA not aquious copper quinine so they won't be corrosive to the trailer. Once I finish giving the ol' thing a nice solid base to rest on I can make sure everything's square and right so I don't glass in twist.

An annoying setback but at the same point it might let me have time to procure a 70hp and relegate the 90 back to the 19' Starcraft where it is a better "fit."
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Discovered something cool.

Worked a lite on the Edinboro yesterday. Sorted all the unbolted stuff into one clean bucket. Got looking at the black mars on the nice, white, vinyl rub rail that didn't come off with the pressure washer. Plus it had a few other mars of paint from the previous owner's apparent 'contact' with some things that were apparently blue, brown, and tan. Looked OK from 10 feet but closer were not attractive.

Loaded up the light soda blaster gun I have to clean a CB350F front brake pivot (aluminum) and it suddenly occurred to me: what would this do to vinyl? So I shot some spots with the soda blaster. Clean and white like the rest in /seconds/ and NO damage to the vinyl. Literally took off three spots in like two or three seconds!

The pressure washer had done a great job last year but this is an epiphany. This is the most efficient way I've ever seen to clean these white vinyl strips- mere seconds and virtually no cost. I'd bet I used a lot more pennies in gas trying to clean that rub rail with the pressure washer than the teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate it used to make that strip look new.

So I tried it on the MFG hull badges. Again, just a few seconds and they were clean black plastic, no damage. This is just an awesome discovery.

:feeling powerful:
 

sphelps

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You did that with the r/r removed from the boat ? I guess if you masked the aluminum off you could do that with it still installed ... Sounds like a good quick way to clean them ...
 
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