Pulling the trigger on a pilot house on the 228

[luckydude]

About time for an update.

It's at Miguel's Boat Repair in Santa Clara getting epoxy paint and he's fixing up the dings and the holes from the hardtop. Hope to get it back in a week or two and I'll post more pictures.

And on an unrelated note, someone got a bluefin 20 miles out. In March. Go figure. I want my boat back

 

[Fishtales]

Can't wait to see her painted.... Keep the pics coming.

 

[Seafarer_Bob]

Pretty much the same as I was before. I'll measure when it is not raining. Boat is home now.

I have the same question and don't understand how it could be the same height. Does the crows nest fold or is it removable for trailering?

 

[luckydude]

I have the same question and don't understand how it could be the same height. Does the crows nest fold or is it removable for trailering?

The crows nest is just a chair on top of the roof with some pins that hold it in.

 

[luckydude]

So the boat is back from Miguel's boat repair. I know you east coast people have cheap labor, it was $11K to get it *perfectly* color matched, epoxy paint not powder coat, that paint will out live me, Miguel also patched up the holes where the former hard top was attached and you can't tell he was there, he fixed up some boo boos I did on my deck and he perfectly matched the non skid, he fixed up where the powder coat on my swim platform had bubbled, he did a great job. Did I expect $11K, no I did not, I brought him $10K in cash and he was willing to let the rest go (cash is king). I'm gonna pay him the rest because so long as I live I'm gonna take the boat to him every few years and say "fix it". And he will.

I need to get you guys pictures but my buddy Peter and I have been putting it back together. You would be lucky if you have a friend like Peter. There was a lot of cable drama, we had to pull them up to the box up top and down to the cables in the clam shell in the cabin. I got frustrated over and over and Peter was just "I've got this, let me do something". Putting it back together without him would have sucked big time.

What I did right was I printed labels for everything we took apart. Radar 7.5 amps +, 942 7.5 amps +, etc. So it's all going back together very nicely. It's almost done with the electronics. All 3 screens work, I did what Jens told me to do and made an extended NMEA bus up in the upper box, that works, radar works, spreaders work (and I wired them to a real switch so I can get the blue lights), nav lights work, pretty much everything works. I've got some GPS hockey pucks I need to put in, need to cinch down the nav light, but I'm mostly there. Gonna run NMEA to my radios so man overboard is more accurate, then a ton of cable management, then the windows, then fish!

I have some stuff I would do differently if I did it again but I'm behind of a few guys who did this and they say I did better.

I'll get pictures up soon. It definitely looks like something Grady should have offered, it's sharp. It's close to perfect for chasing tuna in the Pacific.

 

[Seafarer_Bob]

The crows nest is just a chair on top of the roof with some pins that hold it in.

Thanks for explaining. I went with a custom fold down that locks together when up and down. I'm still about 8" under the 13' 6" DOT limit so it's always on the roof and seems very solid

 

[Sdfish]

cant wait to see the pictures - stoked for you!

 

[Fishtales]

The nest looks sweet.

 

[luckydude]

The nest looks sweet.

Yeah, Charlie (the fabricator) wasn't sure about that when I asked for it but once he finished he told me "I should have done this on every pilot house I've built".

It's a really simple design, 4 maybe 2 inch tall sections of pipe welded to the roof with some drain holes for water. Chair drops into those and you pin it in place. So the chair rides on the deck when you are towing, on the roof at the dock.

It remains to be seen how good of a design it is, the weakness is that the legs have to line up with the receiving pipes.

 

[Fishtales]

Looks solid enough from the pics. Prob won't be up there in the rough stuff so hopefully the stress will be absorbed. Nice simple design. Can't wait for a pic with someone up there.

 

[luckydude]

More pics here: http://mcvoy.com/lm/228-pilot/index.html

We've been working on putting all the electronics back. Today we got the last thing (nav light) hooked up and Peter screwed the ethernet hub to the starboard in the back of the box, ditto the fusebox.

I just got back from trying to organize all the wires. See below. It's my first time, sue me, I know it looks like shit. But everything works:

Spreader lights work and have a labeled switch on the switch panel which means I can make them bright or blue,
Nav lights work,
Rear radio under the edge of the pilot house works (had to get a new antenna but a radio check to the Santa Cruz harbor worked),
Radar works,
Sees all the nmea2000 devices (had some drama, there is some ways where it doesn't see everything, need to figure it out, but it works),
Sees all the ethernet devices,
Everything fused.

It's been a lot but I know the boat electronics a lot better.

 

[Fishtales]

Looking nice. The pics with the 2 boats are beautiful. Almost looks like a natural GW variant of the hull. Painted pics please, most recent pics please and more pics.
You should show it to GW might be the Pacific Northwest version they need!

 

[luckydude]

Looking nice. The pics with the 2 boats are beautiful. Almost looks like a natural GW variant of the hull. Painted pics please, most recent pics please and more pics.
You should show it to GW might be the Pacific Northwest version they need!

I liked the 2 boat pics as well. That's Peter's boat, one of the guys helping me. He has a 1999 228 and the hardtop went to him. Fit perfectly.

It was interesting having the boats side by side. The hulls were identical and you really couldn't see much difference even though his was 21 years older. Grady makes a good hull. If you take care of it, 20 years is nothing.

 

[glacierbaze]

Do you have a schedule for your glass?

 

[luckydude]

Do you have a schedule for your glass?

Crate is in the boat.

 

[luckydude]

Windows are in! Pics at the url below, including some that show that I should have left more space for screws for the windows behind the box, and how close the cable run came to making the window not fit.

Custom Pilot house by Charlie Hicks and Miguel's boat repair

Still todo:
clean up the wiring,
outriggers,
steps to the top,
faceplate on the radio box with doors,
mount the 942xv in the faceplate.

I'll get what I can done but I'm fishing this bad boy Friday.

 

[PointedRose]

Looks great, nice work

 

[luckydude]

A picture, more at

http://mcvoy.com/lm/228-pilot/index.html

The whole point was to get better visibility and, I think, mission accomplished.

 

[glacierbaze]

That was a nice day's work! On the sliders, does the front half slide back, or the back half forward?

 

[luckydude]

That was a nice day's work! On the sliders, does the front half slide back, or the back half forward?

Back slides forward.