Builders Journal

Date	Work Done	Hrs
04/01	Cut and fit cleats for deck. Cut and fit trim pieces for the compartments. Finished cutting plywood panels for the compartments. Deck cleats can be seen laying on top of bulkheads awaiting installation.	3.50
04/02	More cutting and fitting of cleats for attaching the deck. Completed this and glued and screwed 1/3 of them in place. For my project there is a total of 43 pieces Intersection of bulkhead "E" with transom well and live well, showing cleats installed.	3.50
04/03	Glued and screw all the remaining deck cleats in place. Filled and taped joints along transom and the plywood on top of stringers. Glassed ply-stringer transition between "D" and "E" and "E" and Transom. Covered the two live well side panels with 6 oz cloth and then fill coated with epoxy slurry. Made two small plywood boxes to enclose gas tank connection areas which will protect them from water entering those bays. Cut limber holes (and epoxy sealed them) on outboard sides of bulkheads "E" and "B" to allow for drainage of any water that might enter thru hatches. Recessed an area between inboard stringers to receive a 1/2" ply doubler which will be bonded to the deck in order to support pedestal seat installation above bulkhead "B". Cut, fit and saturation coated doubler. Sanded forward cleats with the belt sander to assure they would be flush for deck installation.	9.00
04/04	Spent several hours "shopping" as it is time to start the rigging in some areas. Cabelas phone order first for hatches. They carry a nice aluminum hatch that has a rubber gasket drain channel and can be carpeted. West Marine, Boaters World and Home Depot was next for hose clamps, plastic tubing and fittings, fuel fill hose (two tanks = 10' of hose), 26 feet of fuel feed line, three way fuel shut-off valve, one racor filter, 14 feet of vent line, two vents, two deck fuel fittings, (7) 1/4"npt x 3/8" barb fittings, two battery trays, one battery box, stern light socket, two float switches, hose clamps, two dash mount bilge switches with indicator lights, 1 1/8 " bilge hose, 12" of 3/4 hose for livewell, hose clamps, 3' of 1 1/2" hose for livewell drain, a Jabsco water puppy pump for live well, (2) 6" deck inspection plates, (1) 4" inspection plate, 1 qt Interlux white polyurethane for inside of compartments, extra brushes, and a hatch spring..........annnddd......as I have done so many times before: I didn't buy enough hose clamps. ( I think its a good practice to double clamp all critical hoses....all gas lines, any hose below waterline, bilge hoses and any water hoses connected to pumps under pressure). I am not counting time shopping towards construction....but there are some hours spent making lists and hunting down materials.	0.00
04/05	Began the rigging portion of the project today and I am going to try and keep construction hours separate fro the rigging hours from here on out. I cut routing holes for the fuel lines. Located and cut holes for cable tube, live well intake, live well pump out, wiring, etc. Painted inside the anchor locker white. Installed the first section of decking. I took the time to use a dremel moto tool with a small sanding drum attachment to bevel and smooth all holes and cut outs that will have tubing or wiring passing thrue them. then I epoxy coated them all. Installed fuel filter and livewell pump under the transom hatch. Connected three way valve(tank 1, tank 2, off) This is on the starboard, aft side of bulkhead "B"".	2.00 4.00r
04/06	Rod tubes: I used a heat gun and a wine bottle in order to flare the tubes I will be installing in the rod locker. I used a 1/4" round over bit first to cut a radius on the inside of the 1 1/2" electrical pvc conduit to remove the sharp edge. After heating up the tube I pushed it down on to the wine bottlle. The softened plastic flared out. When it cooled it held its shape. (note: 1 1/2" is fine for bait casting rods or fly rods...but for spinning gear, check to make sure the larger guides fit.) Finished up both fuel tank hose connections. Boxed both areas in to prevent water intrusion. This was necessary since the tanks were not foamed in place because they are polyethylene tanks and need room for expansion. This view looking aft at bulkhead "B". Fill, vent and feed lines shown. Installed 6 rod tubes using silicone where they passed thru bulkheads "A" and "B" . Prepped cleats and glued down another section of deck. Love putting down those big sections of plywood. Instant gratification!	6.00 3.50r
04/07	Prepped area between "B" and "C" for installation of the deck. This included a small amount of belt sanding the bulkhead tops and cleats, putting the final coat of epoxy on the lower deck, and saturation coating all wood that had not been done yet. Glued and screwed deck in place. Installed the two narrow sections of decking on the sides between "C"" and "D".	6.50 1.00r
04/08	Cut out hole in front deck for anchor locker. Cut and fit last section of decking for area from transom to "D". Located and cut holes for 4 hatches and motor well. I didn't glue and screw this section in place yet as I still have work to do on the livewell. Checked on fit of the console I got on E-bay. Cut section out for step up onto upper deck from the cockpit.	4.50
04/09	Cut out for three more hatches including the one over the rod locker. Made bases for the two bilge pumps out of 1/4 " plexi-glass. Attached them and a float switch to the bases with stainless screws. Installed the 1000 gph pump in the cockpit area using silicone. Cut and fit a circular access cover over where the pump will be. Saturation coated the rear deck. Cut holes for the 1 1/2 " livewell overflow, and the two 1 1/8" bilge pump fittings. Put a wiring harness together with a dozen or so wires and ran them for the transom to the cockpit area.	1.50 5.00r
04/10	Taped and glassed all the seams in the livewell. Installed more thru hull fittings. Saturation coated the entire front deck (two coats). Completed installation of cockpit bilge pump. Glued and screwed the last piece of interior flooring in place. My son Dominic helping apply epoxy. Seat support can be seen next to his left hand. Coated a piece of mahogany I am using as a seat support and placed in the sun to dry faster. It wasn't till I saw all the bubbles that I remembered if you coat a cold piece of wood and then heat it, the gasses inside expand and ruin the finish . Always coat in warm environment and ideally let the cure take place while the temp remains the same or slowly falls......sigh.....just more to sand. In addition to hours work....I did another clean-up that took just under three hours.	4.00 4.50r
04/11	Worked on sanding and feathering the taped seams on the motor well and the live well. Then filled and coated those areas with more epoxy. Added doubler to the back deck section to support the pedestal seat. coated with epoxy. Installed bench seat support. Glued and screwed mahogany hatch support cleats for the rod locker. It is the only hatch cover I am building. All others were pre built. They say those who sail the seas' are superstitious......I don't know if superstition is the right term. Today I selected some mahogany that came from a 60' party (head) boat I owned for 6 years. John Larson from NJ had it built in '79. It made many trips 100 miles out into the Atlantic in search of tuna and wrecks to dive on. It was the "Deep Adventures II" out of Pt Pleasant. I bought it in 1992 , named it "Noli Eileen II" and sailed it 7 days a week on Long Island Sound until 1998. It is now the "Captain Francis" sailing out of Rhode Island. I will see that mahogany every day when I lift the hatch to the rod locker.............	4.5 3.5r
04/12	Back to the marine supply stores and Home Depot this morning......carpet, hose clamps, stainless screws, silicone, life caulk, teleflex steering system, bow light, rub rail, hinges, flare kit, more interlux primer, fuel gauge, drain tubes. Glued carpet to the seven hatches. Plumbed the live well system using a Flow rite valve. Things have been getting a little tight in the bilge area. I had to remove and re-install the live well pump 4 times before I was able to get everything hooked up. I must admit it is really the only thing I had to "fight" with so far on this project. Flow -Rite valve is lower left.	3.5r
04/13	I cut the holes for the gas tank fills and added cut outs so I could clamp the hose and then push the fitting thru the deck and screw it down. Installed the hatches on the forward deck. Tied up some loose ends here and there. Flush sanded the forward deck to the sides. Masked off the sides down about an inch and a half so when I filled holes and the deck seam, I wouldn't drip down onto the painted sides. Saturation coated the doubler on the back deck. Installed bow light. Tried sanding the transom well and the live well but the epoxy wasn't fully cured yet. I will have to wait another day.	3.50 3.50r
04/14	Added some 2x4's and 2x6's to a small boat trailer and set off at 8:00 am to pick up the 2000 Yamaha 80 hp motor which will soon be installed on the Phantom. Mission Accomplished!	4.00r
04/15	Installed drain tubes (1/2" clear plastic tubing) to the forward hatches. Drilled holes for then cut and fit brass drain tubes for the transom and epoxied in place. Sanded all ares that needed a third coat of epoxy for waterproofing (forward deck, side decks, aft deck, cockpit floor, misc. other areas. Applied final third coat just about "everywhere". (65 and sunny and dry .....wahhooo!!). Sanded and primed live well area and motor well with Interlux two part polyurethane primer. Gotta run.....Easter dinner at the folks house awaits.......Happy Easter!	6.50 1.50r
04/16	Covered rod locker hatch cover with carpet and hinged it in place. Sanded the cleats and deck stringers for the aft section of deck. Saturation coated all bare areas left. Sanded the primer coat in the live well and painted with interlux polyurethane. Glued and screwed the aft section of deck down.	3.00
04/17	Spent 2 hrs rounding up a few more parts this morning.....believe it or not....more hose clamps. Stainless screws, sandpaper, wire stripper, etc,etc. Sanded edge of rear deck flush, sanded primer in transom well, installed forward pedestal seat mount. Began work on installing console and controls. Fabricated new instrument panel from 1/4" black plexi. Installed guages. Located and drilled hole for stern light. Glued carpetting down with contact cement on front deck. Applied a coat of white Awlgrip to motor well.	9.50 3.50r
04/18	Not much work today on the boat. I cleared an area behind the garage and off-loaded a 20' Proline from the trailer I will be using for the Phantom. The Proline will spend the summer up on blocks. I oiled the rollers and and wanted to make sure the rollers would end up under the stringers. Completed the mounting base for the console and carpeted it.	1.00r
04/19	Back to the marine supply store to return the steering cable (it was too long) and purchased the control cables , a compass, a "throwable" flotation device (seat cushion) , more staimless screws for mounting hardware, etc. Stopped by the local welding shop for some 1/4" aluminum for backing up the motor mounting bolts. (2 1/2 hrs) Installed bow light socket, calked and screwed in the 5 remaining hatches, completed installtion of the fuel fills. Fastened console in posistion on the deck. Started the wiring job .	4.00r
04/20	Cut aluminum plate to size, rounded corners, beveleled edges, sanded and sprayed four coats of clear laquer. Continued running wires. Installed trolling motor mount on bow of boat. Cut recesses for two pop-up cleats on the bow. More wiring. Cut , fit, and installed small oak block under outboard deck stringer to support control box.	7.00r
04/21	Ran shift and throttle cables. Installed control box. More wiring....attached wires to instruments on dash. Cut and fit what I believe to be the last two pieces of wood! More wiring...... Installed the first of two fishfinders and ran the wiring for connecting another. Started wire tying the bundles together and supporting. It was time to put the boat on the trailer. It went on no problem!! Out of the garage!!! Moved motor into garage and uncrated it. Lifted it with an engine hoist from a rental center ($25.00) , backed the boat into the garage and lined things up. 2 hrs later I was ready to drill the holes. It ended up about 5/8" above the top of the transom. Coated holes with epoxy, siliconed the plates and bolted it on.	12.00 r
04/22	Touched up paint where sides meet deck. Installed steering arm into motor. Atached control cables, wiring harness, instrument cables and speedometer tub to the engine. Carpeted last section of the aft deck. Installed rub rail. Just a note on steering installation: I think the steering needs to be connected before the motor is hung on the transom. I found I didn't have enough room to slide the steering thru the engine tube even after cutting a new hole in the top aft corner of the motor well. I had to unbolt three mounting bolts and jack the motor up so it pivoted on the remaining bolt.	8.50r
04/23	It seems as if all of a sudden.....ITS DONE!!! Today is the day I can say construction and rigging is complete. I will have to start a new series as I put the boat into service.	8.00r
	This journal was visited far more then I expected. For March and April It averaged about 22,000 hits per month! I would like to thank all of those who wrote the nice e-mails in regards to my journal and also thank everyone who posted compliments on the Bateau message boards.