1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Quik update, here is one of the clear seals in the mold after the excess caulk was pulled from the sides of the wood. Obviously by the pics, you can see it won't be completely clear because it is so thick. I may end up going with the white.

Or something different completely. No, not black, anyone want to guess what this mold is filled with? Hehehe

This is the caulk I am using for the white and clear seals I am making. Its good stuff, have had it down around my tank lid for 3 years, still looks great and seals good. This is the stuff I have used throughout the boat above the water line.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Black RTV? A bunch of small tubes worth?

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Black RTV? A bunch of small tubes worth?

Nope, next,lol

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

jbcurt beat me to it,,,,:facepalm:. that was my guess as well.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

It was plasta dip. I got it for free, thought I would see how it would work in the mold. failed miserably. Shrunk atleast half of the pour. Going to stick with the silicone for now.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

interesting that you should come up w this.... I'll add a couple points to keep ya thinking.... I have in the past used a router bit and a sheet of particle board to make molds for my own silicon gaskets.
trace your shape with a sharpie and route it out, wax (or vaseline) mold, put in a layer of silly cone and allow to skin. add rope (even a bright color if using clear) for strength and then more silicone to fill mold.


I have been planning on keeping it a secret but since we're on the subject, I'm planning on experimenting with rgb led's INSIDE my silicone hatch seals and also I'm gonna try silicone "chair rails" with embedded led's.....

They say great minds think alike..... obviously that isn't limited to JUST great minds lol

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

interesting that you should come up w this.... I'll add a couple points to keep ya thinking.... I have in the past used a router bit and a sheet of particle board to make molds for my own silicon gaskets.
trace your shape with a sharpie and route it out, wax (or vaseline) mold, put in a layer of silly cone and allow to skin. add rope (even a bright color if using clear) for strength and then more silicone to fill mold.


I have been planning on keeping it a secret but since we're on the subject, I'm planning on experimenting with rgb led's INSIDE my silicone hatch seals and also I'm gonna try silicone "chair rails" with embedded led's.....

They say great minds think alike..... obviously that isn't limited to JUST great minds lol

Hahaha, great minds, hahaha. seriously though, i thought it was brilliant,lmao. I got lucky, the trim piece I used was perfect, good idea on the rope in it, but it would have to be pretty small in my seals.

Silicone chair rails?? hmmm. I have seen one guy already imbed the rgb light into resin in a wood trim.

Good to here from you smoke, how has things been going. You going to have a chance to boat soon?

By the way, just finished up the last to seals I needed, will be installing tomarrow night hopefully, then putting her in the water for the week end. yeah!!!

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Well, the seals for the fishboxes/livewells aren't done curing yet. So I tackled a couple other projects tonight after a very long hot day at work today.

I have been up in the air about wether or not to put the 254 Chris Craft logo on the side of the cabin where it was before.

I decided to go ahaed and do it and get your all opinions, I think I like it. It was just to plain looking without something there.

This is what it looked like before the logo was removed.

This is the lettering I used for the license number and the same went on the back for the DAHL FINS logo.

I used the same lettering on the this. Its bolder than the original but I do think I like it. Plus there is no striping on the boat anymore.

Let me know what you guys think, I can remove them easily. I need to get some more letters because I am short two A's for the other side, argg, the bad thing is I have no idea where I got them about two years ago,lol Not a clue. :facepalm:

You may have noticed that my boat grew a foot to, the boat actually measure 26' 4" so it is now a 265 Seahawk instead of a 254. And thats not including the swim platform and bow pulpit. Hahahehe. Took care of my twofootitis, well almost anyway. lol

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

I also tackled the anchore issue. I didn't like the way it was moving around up there. It would move side to side and it would also tilt a little. That drove me bananas, and we all know there is no bananas allowed on the boat. So after considering many different options which non seemed to work or look goo, I came up with this.

It still mves a little but no tilting at all, think its gonna work and looks fine. Its a 3/4 piece of starboard notched to accept the thin V of the anchor.

It sits nice and level now and remember them rubber dodads that I was putting on misc. things, well the biggest set out of that pack which I didn't think I would use, guess what they fit on. The anchor had raw ends before.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Banana's,,,lol,,, did he say banana's,,,
i love me some nana's ,,, bahahaha,,,lmao,,,,, cant believe you said bananas

i like all the font the same,,, thumbs up from here in the burgh,,,,, btw my west marine(toy store) has like 5 of them sets in those colors, so if you cant find em i'll float ya some on down in a tire,,, the next high water

also dig the starboard,,much better than the black rubber piece i invisioned.

keep pluggin,, and for cripes sake get her wet and join us slackers,lol,,, the water is way slow up here, it should be calming down, down there.

enjoy the weekend

 

[Colorado_Boater]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

let me say that is a very nice boat you have there, I read the whole thread and I am very impressed with what you have done.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Banana's,,,lol,,, did he say banana's,,,
i love me some nana's ,,, bahahaha,,,lmao,,,,, cant believe you said bananas

i like all the font the same,,, thumbs up from here in the burgh,,,,, btw my west marine(toy store) has like 5 of them sets in those colors, so if you cant find em i'll float ya some on down in a tire,,, the next high water

also dig the starboard,,much better than the black rubber piece i invisioned.

keep pluggin,, and for cripes sake get her wet and join us slackers,lol,,, the water is way slow up here, it should be calming down, down there.

enjoy the weekend

Lol, Thanks man, She will be getting wet this weekend, there is a in water boat show at the new docks we built downtown. Gonna check that out by way of water and do some fishing. Of coarse I will be taking some pics as well.

I think I got the lettering at Bass Pro or target or Dicks sporting goods or walmart or sears or hd or lowes. :facepalm: Got to go find it so its done. Blahhh

let me say that is a very nice boat you have there, I read the whole thread and I am very impressed with what you have done.

Thankyou Sir, and welcome to the thread.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

The refurb continues!!! HAHAHAAAAAAAA

I pulled the silicone seals from there molds today after letting them bake in the sun for two full days. Patience is a virtue when it comes to making these. The new seals really came out well and are installed.

Here is a couple pics of the install on one of them. The fishbox between the seats didn't have a soft radius so I cut the seal and mitered the corners with a razor knife. Then just simply bed them in some silocone and pressed them in and cleaned them up with a rag. Dark when I got around to pics, but there done.

Both livewells and the fishbox have seals now.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Also here is a day pic of the seahawk logo on the cabin side.

And why not!!! Lmao Found where I bought the lettering, will pick up what I need in the morning to finish it up. This needs an "A" and I need enough to finish the other side of cabin as well.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

The seals are just cool...

The new lettering looks real nice, too...I like the way you are tying everything together with the same font...

 

[bear_69cuda]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Yep... Seals are over the top... I gotta say it... YOU RULE!

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

The seals are just cool...

The new lettering looks real nice, too...I like the way you are tying everything together with the same font...

Thanks Gt, Thats exactly what I had invisioned was tieing in all the lettering to one font and color. These were very cheap and I think they look fine. I have played with the lettering since trying to make it spaced right and just look right overall. Dropped her in the water today to find out I had a leak, but it was coming from some contraption behind the motor. This is where I become clueless.:facepalm:

Yep... Seals are over the top... I gotta say it... YOU RULE!

Lmao, thanks Cuda! But as you see above, i only rule with non mechanical type stuff,lol

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

Here is the part in question that leaked today when I was running the boat. I have started a seperate thread to find out what it is, but if any of you know feel free to inlighten me please. It looks like someone tried to jb weld or epoxy repair before. Hope its a part i can get or I will be trying the same thing. :facepalm:

 

[ben2go]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

I believe that is the engine heat exchanger.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1990 Chris Craft 254 Seahawk ( Refurb and upgrades)

I believe that is the engine heat exchanger.

Thanks man, you are correct Sir!