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It's the bimini that ships with New Dimensions Towers now. Someone showed him the design and he changed the tower and the bimini design.
The two poles insert into bungs in the tower.
The two poles insert into bungs in the tower.
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Small update.
Picture of the underside of the bimini.
Color scheme we decided to go with for the names. (mask due to pollen destroying me this past week)
Got my 4'x8'x3" cnc running this weekend. Much tuning to go.
(you can see some z axis errors in the nautique logo)
my plan for it once up and running is making my own seadek/epf foam panels for friends that contributed and some other projects.
oh,
And i got the amps all wired up and ready to go back in the boat.
On the road this week for work. So next weekend will be another rush to try get more done in less time.
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Nice Lowrider V3 CNC! I still need to convert my V2 but I took it off my table because I needed the space in my small shop. The V3 does a much better job it seems at being removed and re-added to the table which means my smaller shop should be able to make it work.Comment
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northernoak I"m still dialing in the CNC. Too many projects plus travel for work.
I installed the amp panel a weekend ago and got everything soldered in and heatshrunk. Sadly, it looks like i broke one of the tower wires when installing the tower so only one tower speaker works. Then in trying to fix that, i broke the other tower speaker wire. So I will be re running those two wires.
As part of the upgrade. The stereo cubby hole will be updated to include a panel that holds 2x 2x PID and USB B chargers, plus a volt meter to show what the batteries are running at. I will also be adding a 12v 30 amp socket in the rear locker and one in the cubby so that pumping up tubes/floats etc is easy to do.
I did start on the trailer this week, put some brake fluid in the cylinder (to no affect), I need to try bleed it before I dump 400-500 bucks in new braking system.
I also got the carpet off of one of the fender liners. New carpet I got that was supposed to be super thick bunk carpeting looks to have half the pile the original had. I'd love to do a HDPE or something panel, but sourcing 6'x12" of it per inner fender appears to be super costly. (at 1/2" thick). and I still feel the carpet may do a better job at aligning the boat if i ever misalign the boat coming in.
List of things still to do: (this season)
try clean the carpet for the season (once the cnc is up i'll attempt seadek myself in the fall.) [would power washing with an electric power washer work to revive it some?]
remount the tower (again)
oil change (weather keeps dipping cold so i keep putting off warming the motor up to change the oil)
fuel filter change
transmission oil change (and oil cooler change)
Nautique emblem seadek on fenders to stop kids from slipping.
reinstall interior
install depth gauge.Comment
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I did a refurb on the BIL's Boatmate trailer last year that, as with most of these projects ended up with a tremendous amount of scope creep. It started with re-carpeting the 2 rear bunks, it ended with making 2 new rear bunks, re-carpeting the rest of the bunks, the fender guide pads, brake calipers/pads, wheels/tires, fixing rust, re- painting 70% of the trailer, making new step pads, new winch strap and bow roller. I had $2K into it by the time I was done without my labor. Trailer looks great now and should be good for the next 10 years but this is what a lot of guys don't understand when they go looking for a used boat and don't do their due diligence on the trailer. It's very easy these days to spend a grand or more just getting a decent trailer safe to be on the road. Get one that's been neglected and you're into $2K real fast.
Anyway, after doing a ton of research looking for bunk carpet that would last, as I don't want to do any more bunks for a while (did the bunks on to lifts last year as well), I came across these guys. Great, quality product and they'll work with you on sizes if you call them.....
https://cudapowersports.com/Comment
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bturner I appreciate the contact. Trailer rework was factored into my purchase. (i paid substantially under market for a 216 due to condition).
Heck, the wife has made me hold off a season. But i want to repaint the trailer Teal to match the stripes i'm putting on.
Hilariously. The Cuda powersports bunk forever (36oz) carpet is what I purchased from amazon. :PLast edited by bionaraq; 04-27-2023, 06:42 AM.Comment
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One suggesting on the planning aspect for the trailer. Make sure you have plenty of time to do the bunks. The ones I did looked fine until I pulled off the old carpet. Once off I could see the split in the wood that ran from the rear lag to the front one. The carpet was basically the only thing keeping the bunk from splitting in two. I then had to go play "in search of" trying to find pressure treated 2x6's that were long enough and of good enough quality for the replacement. I had no luck at HD or Lowe's and ended up paying a premium for the boards at a lumber company. This probably added another 8 hours to what I thought was going to be a quick re-carpet.Comment
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Finally feeling like i've made some progress.
Stereo in and working, detailing of the outside is done, interior is clean.
some progress of the exterior: After sanding
after one step of M91 power cut and wool:
Three steps of m91 and wool
final cut with M67? Meguires marine cut/polish.
for the rear transom:
can see the deep scratches the sand paper on the random orbital put in to cut the oxidation here.
boy did i make a mistake and go one level too low. The rear transom took an entire day by itself and i ended up redoing the 500 and 1,000 grit sand paper several times to get rid of the 360 (buffing grit) wet sand marks. in the end it came out pretty clean. This is the only area i used the 360 thinking it'd help speed me up and it did such a good job removing the oxidation. but it required so much more work to level out afterwards.
final look. (swim deck has had zero attention and neither has any of the fiberglass above the rub rail. I just dont have the energy this season to get to it coupled with wanting a teak swim deck).
The Teal shows very dimly in the phone image but it worked out perfectly. the passenger side the sticker replacement I got perfect. then somehow not as much on the driver side. It'll have to do for a season, at ~150 a pop, not cheap.
I also took a pass at cleaning the trailer up. looks like a good wash/wipe down, and a pass with a polish will get it about 80% how I'd want. My wife gave me side-eye when I mentioned painting it teal to match the pinstripe.Last edited by bionaraq; 05-10-2023, 11:26 AM.Comment
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bturner, I grabbed a roll of bunk carpet a few weeks back from Cuda, seems good quality for a reasonable price. We got the 2 rear long bunks replaced last weekend, front 2 this weekend. The carpet is the easy part, the old carpet doesn't play so nice in the removal process, what a mother bear. Took a small compressor and generator to the lake, love me an air stapler.
bionaraq, boat is coming out nicely, love that gloss on the gel, good work!Comment
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Hey bionaraq that looks frickin' awesome! Nice work!
Really don't think I want to try to do anything like that this year as it is finally starting to stay "warm" around here and I want to get the boat in the water (aka, too lazy this year). So refinishing the teak platform was it for me this spring. Baby steps as this is only the 2nd full "season" I've own the boat. Thanks for the inspiration though!
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JDC02SANTE
I shudder to add it up, but I probably have 100 hours into the gelcoat. To me it looks great at 5 feet only. Up close I see all the issues. My neighbors cannot believe the difference from original. Though they tease me that I just prove how a boat is a project that never ends.
Scooter G I bought a huge roll of it at 12" wide thinking that would be enough for my fender liners and the bunks. Turns out i needed 14" wide for the fender liners on the trailer. (which are 10" wide but the thickness of the wood eats up just enough that upholstering gets tricky).
I'll post more on that this weekend when I mount the one fender liner and repair the other.Last edited by bionaraq; 05-10-2023, 11:27 AM.Comment
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I get that bionaraq, I measured like 6 times to come up with 12", even then not sure I had it right. Turned out perfect.
Thanks for the reminder on the fender liners, I forgot about that part of the equation, I was too focused on the bunks.Comment
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I'm behind a ton in posting. We have put 11 hours so far this year on the boat.
The only Bad:
I have a slight hesitation sometimes when starting the excalibur. Just enough where you wonder if it's going to start, let go of the key and it then fires up. Or on second try it'll fire. Not sure what to blame since it's all new spark plugs, plug wires, battery etc. Hoping it may just be a dirty starter cable.
Still todo (most now waiting for winter):
depth gauge hooked up
hook up second battery and dvsr switch.
find a different source setup, the bluetooth only is annoying.
From where we left off:
I love this angle of the boat with the rear trunk open. Looks like an F14 tomcat to me.
I also replaced the rear shocks on the trunk as having my wife ticked off from them hitting her is not good for my health.
My wife is a much better skier than me.!
Floating at Lake Keowee.
After driving several hundred miles, i looked at the trailer only to realize that one of the springs was not attached at all. missing bolt.
Late night trip to lowes and i put a replacement in.
Teaching him how to drive young!.
Watching the Carolina Show Ski Team. My eldest is taking part of their early skier program.
After the show, one of the boats by us was disabled (battery terminal fell off!)
so we dragged him home.
My FIL dragged his Body Glove up to Keowee as well, the very last day it was sunny so we cruised the entire lake up to Lake Jocasse Dam and then cruised back down.
Last edited by bionaraq; 07-11-2023, 02:50 PM.Comment
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