gbt

Getting close, here are some pictures from this weekend. Teak is 99% done, hatches fitted, 99.9% of painting done except the water line we will do that when everything is installed and the boat water tested. Hope to start wiring and plumbing and installing motors and electronics this week.

Got the interior final painting done over the weekend, we are going to do the non-skid next day or so and start installing the hatches and hardware.

Moving along, getting closer each week.

The shop is not mine but a friends he is letting us use it and he is doing the final hull prep and painting for us. He is a very professional boat builder and we are very lucky to be able to work along side of him. The deck hatch on the forward compartment between the bench seats is going to have a SS piano hinge on the side, the hatch for the bilge on the stern is going to have a catch type flange with a 1/4 turn handle so there is no hinge I decided not to use a hinge I would rather be able to remove it and set aside if I had to open it out at sea it would be safer than having it close on me like I had it happen in the past on other boats. I am making an L type Stainless bracket that I can slip under the rear lip and latch down.For the rest of the hatches we are using SS piano hinges. Thanks

And then we had to do some touch up to get it perfect ( or really close to that....) teak is great but a lot of work

got the teak deck sanded

An update

Thanks Alan

Made 2 of these a few weeks ago, cut them on a water jet out of 3/8" aluminum and going to either polish them or maybe powder coat them ( silver) I am also thinking I should clear coat them. Planning on mounting them on either side towards the back, probably use a drill and tap the back side and use a hidden screw from the back that way they will look clean and less of a chance for water to get through.

How are you planning on getting the controls and power to the engine? or engines? We went through the top of the platform so we did not have to step over the engine controls , I had mixed emotions about going through the back of the transom, didn't want to loose the space for a fish box or storage. Just curious, enjoying the updates on your built.

Thanks, I enjoy your updates on your project also.

Update...!!

Thanks for the advice guys. I have not though about using a resin and filler mixture instead of the tube/sleeve method and that seems a reasonable solution. I am looking at all the options and I am planning on using a backing plate on the back side of the transom anyway but just wanted to be as prepared as possible to eliminate future problems. Thanks again , also here is picture of the floor between the front bench seats.

The G10 tubes (yellow)are stronger than just epoxy resin, the 1" OD by 1/4" wall thickness and 1/2 " ID tube had a tensile strength of 32,000 psi and impact strenght of 5.5 ft-lbs/in because of being made with resin and fiberglass fabric and there are also Structural fiberglass tubes (green) that have 30,000 psi tensile strength with 25 ft-lbs/in that are even stronger . But I also though about making the sleeve out of brass or even stainless steel and I know that would be even stronger. I think it would be better to do it out of G10 or Structural Fiberglass versuss brass or SS because I can glue them in and don't have to worry about water getting in the hole. That is what I am thinking, I just don't have previous experience with that sort of thing so I need to figure it out. Thanks for the input, that helps me get the info I am looking for.

Thanks guys for the input. We did buy the 2017 white motors with the new decals, we received them 2 months ago and itching to get them on the boat. I am planning on installing crush sleeves through the transom where the bolts come through for the motors. We are planning to use the Garolite G10 composite tubing and epoxy them so there is very little compression from the bolt motors, we are also going to use a backing plate on the back side top to help with the load stress of the motors tork. Every motor we installed in the past we had to go back and retork the bolts over time and with the transom being built out of plywood I think it would be better to keep it from cracking the paint and compressing the wood. Didn't know if anyone else has done this before and had any suggestions or better way of dealing with it. Thanks again for the input.

We are using twin Suzuki 175's and we decided to go with the electronic throttle / shifting controls, I have not used them before but heard good things about them. We originally planned on twin Yamaha 150's but with the extra things added to the boat we felt extra HP would be safer, Yamaha does have 175's but they are not available with counter rotation and the electronic controls start at 200"s and up. You can always throttle back and I am big believer of no substitute for extra HP when you need it. The Suzuki 150's and 175's are virtually the same motors weigh and displacement wise and also about $4,000.00 less than Yamaha.

No this is the floor section in the forward seating, it has a hatch on the floor.

Thanks Farmboy and you are welcome. We are working on the teak floor for the forward raised floor area, once we get it done will be glued and the hatch will be fitted.

A few more pictures

Keep working on it, a little slow these last 2 weeks. Shaped the bow toe rail, working on the hatches, installed more teak on the hatch rings where plywood edge was showing and trimmed out the anchor hatch with teak trying to dress it up a little. Also fared the bow and mid rails. Hope we can start sanding and touching up the hull this week.

Jay and any one else that is interested on seeing the boat in person you are welcome to come by the house / shop just PM me and we can make arrangements. Have a great day

Hello Oyster Yeah we are redoing some stuff that should have been done differently, it hasn't been too bad. Overall it is good, just having a different set of eyes looking at something and having friends that are experienced boat builders has been very helpful. Their insight and knowledge is eye opening, I have learned a lot through this experience and if I ever built another boat (and probably will after I recover from this one) will be a lot better. We are hoping to get the hull work done and painted by the first week in June and then I have to hang the engines, finish the wiring, rigging and plumbing which will take me 4-6 weeks since I have a business to run and will be doing that work at nights and weekends. If all goes well we will be doing sea trials by the end of July, the boat will be located on the Pamlico river and plan on running it between Bath and Ocracoke this Summer, hope to do some fishing late summer and through the rest of the year. Where are you located? As far as Jay's question to what shop I am in, all I can say it is a very professional shop with a lot of history behind it. Have a great day

A little more progress.

A few more pictures got the teak cover boards glued across the stern and also finished the varnish on the teak bump for the steering we were going to glue on the console but decided to bolt it through and also use some 5200 to water proof the joint area. Also we are doing some additional work on the hatches, we are gluing teak strips to water proof and protect the exposed plywood edges. Keep working on it a little slow but we are hoping we will be ready with the hull by the end of April.

We are working on the 256 redoing some items. We replaced the teak across the back and rounded the corners because it was fitted with square corners and it did not look good square also we replaced the toe rail it was installed with screws so we replaced with teak and glued it on the deck to give it a cleaner look and enlarged the bow section of the toe rail so we can install the bow navigational light on the teak portion so it can be seen better. Also we flared the sheers from mid ship forward and replaced the mid rails with a composite material instead of the fir that was used. Using other than a rot resistant material on the rails it is not a good idea since that is where most of the abuse is on a boat (banging against docks and pilings) we were going to use teak or mahogany but we decided to use a composite instead (easier to work with) also we are going to use a solid SS rub rail instead of hollow back type, when you put pressure against the hollow back it acts like a set of knifes and cuts in the rail and water gets inside the structure behind it and rots.