The boat handled well, and the steering and shifting mechanisms work smoother than before.  The new interior looks great and provides plenty of seating.  It’s not a new boat, but it looks better now, and if all goes as planned, it should serve us well for many years.

The heavy steering cable was connected to the outboard engine.  It works well, and turns smoothly.  Likewise, the throttle and shift cables were mounted at the engine and control lever, but needs some adjustments to improve the smoothness of the shifting.

I won’t apply the new decals until the boat is completely finished, but I did manage to apply a tiny fish decal to the front gate.  I didn’t order this decal – it was simply included in another order as a bonus item.  The color matched the boat’s theme perfectly, so I decided to use the decal.  It will blend in with the larger stripe decals when they are applied.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I hope to get started on the wiring harness work.  I won’t likely finish that in one day, but I should make some progress.

I trimmed the carpet and installed the aluminum edge cap.  The new front corners were then installed, which are made of cast aluminum – more substantial than the original extruded corners.  Most of the time was spent digging old silicone rubber out of the side rails to make room for the new sheet aluminum fencing.  I installed the rear half of the rails, mounting them on new plastic risers to allow water to flow under the rails and to prevent the build-up of moss on the carpet.  I also routed the wiring for the stern light through the rails, replacing the corroded original factory wiring.

Sunday I got the remaining rails in place and installed the sheet aluminum fencing.  Cutting and fitting the sheet aluminum was no fun at all, and a few minor blemishes can be seen, but it’s nicer than the dented sheet metal that came off the boat.  The side decals will be installed later.

I cleaned the aluminum frame pieces that the support the plywood decking.  Foam insulating tape was applied to the top of the aluminum frame.  This prevents water from reaching the joint where two pieces of plywood decking butt together.  One by one I set the new decking onto the frame.  Once all 4 sheets were resting on the frame, I took countless measurements to ensure that the loose plywood decking was centered and properly positioned.

The decking was then secured with stainless steel bolts and self-locking nuts, an upgrade from the self-tapping galvanized screws that held the original decking in place.  A total of 96 bolts were used to secure the decking.

Next weekend I’ll glue the carpet in place and work on the side fencing.  Hopefully it will start coming together quickly.

One chore that I needed to get done was the sealing of the new plywood decking.  I chose CPES, an epoxy resin sealer used by many boat builders.  It’s not cheap, but it has an excellent reputation.  I used an old cottage cheese container to mix the 2 parts, then applied it per the instructions.  The sides of the decking were also soaked with sealer, so I’m confident that this deck will last for decades.

Once the plywood decking was sealed, I focused on the tear-down.  Everything had to come off the boat.  The rails and side molding came off first.  Even though most fasteners were stainless steel, they were a challenge to remove.  Much work was done underneath the boat, where little spiders often fell on my face and in my hair.  Enzo kept himself busy chasing the ducks and geese away.

After roughly 6 hours of work, everything was removed from the deck and the first of 4 deck sheets was removed.  Next weekend I plan to remove the remaining 3 sheets, then focus on cleaning the aluminum pontoons before the new deck is installed.

The new seats have storage underneath for life vests, ropes, and other equipment.  The center “flip-flop” seat can face forward of backward, and has storage beneath as well.  With the recent temperature drop and snow fall, I haven’t started the tear-down of the old decking.  It looks like April 18-19 will be my next chance to tear-down the deck.