87 SS180 First Rebuild

[astor]

Makes the SS look like a shiny dinghy!

It does make it look small, time to move the SS indoors for the winter and hopefully finish it up before spring.

Just getting caught up here and Whoa!!! That is a dandy Islander. She looks to be in real fine shape. I had the Cobra drive in an Islander many a year back and never had any problems with it. Was a much better drive than the old WLOD. If the PO kept as good care of the drive as he did with the hull you should be fine. And your project rig sure looks shiny!

Thanks, the Islander is in pretty good shape the PO had all the mechanical work done professionally, hope I can resist the urge to improve it for at least a season.

That Islander looks right at home parked next to its little sister. By the way I think the 18 is gonna rock. I can't believe how that finish is so mirror like. Looks great. I've always thought it was mighty ambitious to take a hull down to bare metal and then polish the heck out of it. All that hard work sure paid off in your case.

Thanks, I think this is the last boat I will polish though.

Mutt and Jeff there, astor. Nice big tin. Won't it be nice when you get the SS done and you have pick which one to take out.

GA_Boater it will be awesome to have the two boats to pick between, Where I live on the Great Lakes, though the 18SS can only be taken on the big lakes when the waves are small and you don't go too far out. So I think I will use the 18SS more often in the river and inland lakes, but I can see a lot of fishing trips on the Islander out on the lakes next year.

 

[spegtoast]

Heading up the river with the SS? If you hit side cut for the walleye run I will be the guy on the bank with my thumb in the air!:fish2::wave:

 

[astor]

Spegtoast, don't think I'll be taking the SS that far up the river, I fish sidecut nearly year round and it gets really shallow and rocky. But don't wait for the walleye run, to fish for the walleye. they are in the river right now, as well as sauger, and I was up at the Grand Rapids dam a few weeks ago and a guy caught a salmon.

This is one I caught in 2' of water a few weeks ago at Sidecut, at the upstream tip of Bluegrass Island.

 

[Watermann]

Nice wally dog ya got there! Would love to have a deep fryer full of those. :hungry:

 

[spegtoast]

Nice! I think I have a few of those rooster tails in my tackle collection!

 

[astor]

Spegtoast, I usually use those, or a variety of #2 Mepps

Waterman, them wallies are good eating, but I never keep the river fish, always let them go to catch them again.

I always b#tch about not having time to fish year after year, so this year I got up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning and hit the river for a couple of hours, mostly for smallies. Gotta love the river smallies, they run a bit smaller than the monsters you can catch out on Lake Erie, but man do they put up a fight and jump several times while you are bringing them in. Makes for a fun couple of hours of fishing every week when they are biting.

I grew up on this river and never knew the number or diversity of fish it contained, till a guy was telling me about it a few years ago, I doubted him, so he invited me down to the river during the spring walleye run. He brought a 10' seining net, and we each took a pole and started 10' from the bank in waist deep water. We brought in a net full, and there must have been 20 different spiecies in the net- from smelt, perch, 3 types of bass, crappie, a walleye, chubs, fat head minnows, and serveral types of darters, bluegill, several cat fish, etc.... I was amazed and have never looked at the river the same since.

couple more pics of the river I took while fishing this summer:

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Nice wally and sweet pics of the river. Hard to beat a mess of eyes in the fry pan. My wifes favorite fish to eat. So that means it is mandatory to get up to Saginaw bay and and get some for her. I usually like to go for them in mid - late June as they are quite plentiful on the east side of the bay known as the slot. Usually can fill a 4 person limit in a couple hours of trolling then.

 

[astor]

As I get ready to start working on the SS again, I recalled jbcurt00's previous post a long while back about the new EPA fuel tank venting requirements for manufacturers. At the time I thought these were good ideas, but multiple searches failed to find parts available to the DIYer. But today I looked again and found nearly all the components are now available from Attwood.

The reason I was looking again, was when I topped off the fuel tank on the Islander a few weeks ago, I got the typical belching of fuel out the vent line.
I found a combination vent surge protector, fill limit vent valve, and inlet control valve, carbon canisters, and all the other parts. But the carbon canister alone was $120, and to put the whole system in would mean a new hole cut in the fuel tank and somewhere around $300 to complete. So I was thinking at a miniumum I will put an Attwood surge protector in the vent line.

Re: 87 SS180 First Rebuild

Seems like a good place to drop this & this on installing an aluminum tank

These maybe of some use as well:

Both of these are for OEM boat builders. But may prove helpful to us backyard builders too............

 

[Weep'n Willy]

I used the Atwood P-trap vents on my Chief. So far I have to say they work well and I did not get the usual gas splash out like I do on my Thompson.

 

[astor]

good point Willy, I think the P-trap and surge protector will be used on both boats.

http://www.iboats.com/P-Trap-Fuel-L...523926--session_id.562347352--view_id.1183589

or they can be bought separately

http://www.iboats.com/Attwood-Fuel-...11523926--session_id.562347352--view_id.37945

http://www.iboats.com/90-Degree-P-T...11523926--session_id.562347352--view_id.21382

 

[astor]

Haven't been getting anything done on the boat the last few weeks, its now back in the shop, been way to busy at work,
but I stopped by a buddies house on the way home tonight, to see his project- and I thought Id share the cool riveting work he's been doing building a kit airplane. This is the left wing with fuel tank. notice all the clecos these plane builders use.

 

[GA_Boater]

Which tin kit is that, Astor? Looks like it might be an RV. All we worry about is sinking.

 

[astor]

good eye GA, you must have the bug or know someone building one, its the RV7a, I have another friend that is about 90% done with the same kit.

 

[GA_Boater]

Lust and jealousy, Astor. Van's RVs are one of, if not the best tin aircraft kits.

 

[astor]

:laugh:Lust and Jealousy- absolutely, Love taking the yoke or stick of the little planes. I've gotta get my license one of these days so I can do it alone or myself. doing the kit bare bones will cost you a minimum of $60K. I can't seem to complete a simpler restore of a tin boat in 2 years with all the other distractions in life, let alone spend the thousands of hours it takes to build one of these machines. some day........

 

[GA_Boater]

I think the build time is underestimated by a bunch.

 

[dozerII]

That's pretty cool Astor, when I was 11 or 12 we lived in a little town in south west Manitoba that had an airport with a very eccentric owner (kind of reminds me of Howard Hughs), He restored World War II fighters, Hurrcaine, Spitfire, P51, Zero and a Val Dive bomber, I got to work there while this was going on, mind you all I did for the most part was sort bolts and rivets and drool on the broom handle, but pay day was awesome cuz it was a ride in a plane, usually a Piper cub, or Monocoupe, but every once in a while, it was the P51, or the Harvard (AT6).

 

[Weep'n Willy]

Now that is a buttload of rivets on that wing. Pneumatic riveter in order for a project like that for sure.

 

[GA_Boater]

Van's Aircraft - The co. making those kits estimates tool cost @ 2000 bucks. That is for special tools, not counting hammers, air compressors and other "common" tools like wrenches, etc.

 

[jbcurt00]

I raise you a few clecos:

BTW: Notice the WING-nut clecos ^^^, upto a 1/2" draw