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The Bulldog

CrayfishMates

By CrayfishMates
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goldnugget Newbie

goldnugget

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Nice. Hope you like a challenge. I myself have a little f/glass 5m half cabin with bimini. It needs a bit of a tidy up, but at least I own it, its got 70 running horses, and I can use it while I fix up little bits and pieces on it, and on top of that I'll get my money back if and when I decide to sell it. Yours looks a little bigger than mine, and mines just under weight in relation to braking requirements. How's the motor and everything else...give us more pix. Are you going to use it as is or are you going to give it the bow to stern 'pimp my craft' treatment....if so start a thread on it so we can follow how its going. Well done.....

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Well your are dead right about a mission but it is all coming together. Been using it while we pimp it up.

The 120 Tohatsu is strong as an ox. They really did not make it big in the recreational craft though they are big in the UK. Primarily a commercial use motor because it is very difficult to kill them. Had a full service and overhaul, found one carbie a little gummed up from fuel sitting in there for months but nothing a little carbie cleaner and a blast did not fix.

We only re-carpeted the floor at this point as the old one was thread bare. Added the usual, sterio, fishfinder, gps, 27meg and safety gear. Build a full electronics harness aside from the motor gear.

New bimini on it that cantilevers the length of the boat. About to put it in for a paint, but that will wait until after xmas because fishing is more important than looking good lol.

The unit was taking on masses of water and I removed the motor and replace the bolts with 316 stainless and put a sheet of 3mm rubber between the motor and the transom. Now not a drop.

Discovered the float switch on the main bilge pump was cactus and what a mission getting a new one in there but it is done and working great (but no water).

Replacing most of the nuts, bolt and screws with stainless as some one was add hocking with gal... even the engine bolts were gal?.

Oh added a bait board and a live tank/esky. It did have a little stainless one to the port side but threw that out and put in a fibreglass 150litre.

She carries a total of 350 litres of juice which will make for good range, but I am still working out the numbers for the liters per hour use so I can get the worst case senario.

Licensed for 6 but that would only be calm water and four gets crowded fishing. Ideally it works well with 2 fishing but can manage three. Good for the island family bbqs with the kids and tows a tube well at 40 knots.

The trailer really needs to be scraped as it is rusted and the rollers are struggling, not to mention it is borderline on one axle and tows like a bean bag...I will all come together and on budget.

The hull is great and handles really well, if not a little heavy but that is good if hit with stand ups. Cost was really only the current market value of the motor so the hull and trailer were as good as free. [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/boatboat_028sm.jpg

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goldnugget Newbie

goldnugget

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350LT of fuel....bugger me, thats just about a weeks pay (and would just about last that long non stop trolling). I've been having a good look over mine and have a heap of chips and scratches etc that I'll have to work on over time....what are you're plans with the respray, yourself or a pro? Would be interested in the cost of that part of the project. Look forward to more pix.Cheers.

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Yeah nugget it has a 250liter tank in the floor mid to aft and another 100litre in the middle of the seat (normally for feet) in the bow.

We have had a quote for paint by pro from the top of the cabin to deck and bottom of the free board $1300 straight up white. We then need to do the numbers and name and some flashing/stripes to pimp it up a bit from there. Only requirement is we remove the windows, canopy, bow rail and gear. This thing has quite a few battle scares which will feather out just fine.

In the shot below I need to find a fibre glasser that can remove those fixed seats in a straight line across and will be putting in a live tank to one side and esky to the other with padded tops for seating.

Further, the batteries were shot and we bought two new ones and I am still to connect a solinoid switch to manage the on and off automatically. Not a fan of the manual isolator switches. Then whack a 10watt solar system on it and that side of it will be good to go. [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/boatboat_034sm.jpg

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goldnugget Newbie

goldnugget

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I noticed your in my neck of the woods. In the industrial estate towards the new\recent ..oh bugger mental blank..tender centre..Belar street Churchill, theres a couple of sheds there that do fibreglass stuff..they may be able to help you out. Park at the top of the hill and follow the epoxy smell. Theres two groups of sheds on the right at the top of the hill on the right, I think they're in the first lot at the front.

And on other boating matter I've found the guy out at Tivoli good to talk to as well.

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Thanks guys. The name comes from the mother in law. The rest of the family are bulldogs fans and well with the new color scheme (blue/goldish grey and white) and of course the snub bow on the unit, the name sort of fits.

...The work continues...

Well after the outing on the bay on Saturday just gone, we found ourselves a bit of a fuel leak, which is not good with a boat full of smokers lol.

So today we pull out all the fuel lines (one was had it) and both tanks. The main tank (250liters) has one of the welds in the corner give way. So all in all after filling it saturday we will have lost close to 150 liters of fuel @ $1.34/L...

Anyways the bilge was fully coated with fuel and so we dose it will 10 liters of degreaser and flood the entire boat. Then the pair of us are lifting the bow and dropping the bow to slush it about some. Gave what we could reach a good scrub and drained the bilge. Left the unit tipped right up to drain and air out for a day or 2 while the tank is in getting welded with a few bolt down modifications.

Needless to say the fuel has stuffed the main bilge pump seals and the outlet hose.... I only fitted it a week ago. Ho hum.

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Righto, no fishing for me this week no doubt.

The tank has been welded and I had some modification done to its fixing, actually put some on it lol.

So it goes back in this week end.

Fun part is the unit is being put on the ground as well, so I can make some mods to the trailer. The axle needs to be moved back a bit as the towing gets real wabbly at 90km/h. A few more drive on mods and a full lube and grease.

Oh forgot to mention the 27mhz arial is rooted, snapped the fixing bracket.. So purchased a full stiff GME 6foot and will whack that in as well.

Oh yeah need to do all the fuel lines as well. Have removed the bow fuel tank and it will stay out, unless we need it for a long trip...

Will put up some progress photos after the week end events....

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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75 bucks at Ipswich Marine chubbstar.

The fuel tank repair for two welds and two strap bracket in alum was 140 bills.

The boat is off the tailer and on tyres on the ground. Took four blokes an hour to do this safely.

The trailer is in bad shape so lots of welding and grinding on Saturday. Making quite a few mods to make it easier to drive on. EG adjusting the tilt up higher and moving the rear rollers forward so the whole boat sits a further 2-3 inches forward over the axle to stop some of the bounce and sway at 90km/h...

Photos to follow on saturday.

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Here is the unit on the ground - We had the new canopy made up. it is 7 foot tall ( I am 6 foot 9 ). The sides, windscreen and the cantilevered last foot detaches. 1500 bucks. The bow curtain is just a rough I made up to test out before getting one made up. It works a treat but I want to extend the bow rail further back to the cabin. Just need to find someone who can make it up in stainless...

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Fisher_90 wrote:

6ft 9!

By the time you get your boots and hat on you'll still conk the roof!

Looking pretty serious about the refit. Good to see the old girl is getting looked after right!

The axle looks pretty far forward, might be worth making it adjustable in the trailer rebuild. Then if she still sways, you can move it back 6 inches or so, should make it tow better, and will make it easier to get the tow bar down weight right.

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Now the trailer work. 150 bucks in total for the steel, bolts and paint. Two blokes two days to pull apart and put back together again, without Rumbos.....

Here she is before startin.

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Here is part of the reason for the work

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Here is the other reason. The first bar moved last time I drove on the trailer

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The crap on the ground is what was left of either side braces from someone else previous modifications. This was at some point a non drive on trailer and someone hacked the back bar off and braced the sides making it impossible to adjust the subframe to suit the weight distribution of the boat. Talk about the wobbles when you hit 85km/h...

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Main frame, sub frame and axle removed

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The new first bar replaced. Slightly thicker material and a little heavier.

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Back together again and painted.

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Rollers back on. New rollers as we can afford them to follow.

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And finally back together and operational. Just a few roller adjustments to do when the unit is back on board the trailer. All rollers greased up good.

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Did have an electric winch on it but it was no good, so threw on a cheapy 900kg one from BCF. Trust me they are useless as the ratchet bends really easily. Lucky we only use it to tighten.

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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And the unit back on.

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Mountains of work to do yet. We were going to get it painted this week but going to be using it for xmas so gave it a miss until news years.

Still have to re-fit the fuel tank. Have removed the forward tank for now, don't really need it. And the new GME 27mH areal to go before the next fish.

Oh forgot to mention the guards will be gone as well and replaced with some pre-made check plate ones.

Hope you blokes caught some fish for me on the week end...

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CrayfishMates Newbie

CrayfishMates

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Now for one of the fuel tanks.

This is it before the leak. Notice it is fixed with just blocks of pine timber screwed to the floor of the well. The screws were more than likely zinc and definitely rusted out. Ended up fixing one leak and one potential leak so is good to go now.

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The well with a scrub and clean out.

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The bow tank was fitted in here and the fuel lines to it were cracked. I don't really need it right now so I am leaving it out. Good tank though.

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This is the tank ready to go in. The new fixing brackets to hold it in (alum), 4 stainless coach screws and rubber under it will do the trick.

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Sidebar: You know I cant right click on this site at all. Makes it difficult when posting images and definitely can not fix spelling mistakes lol..

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rumrunner Newbie

rumrunner

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good work mate !!!B)

really enjoying the thread and pics!

keep em coming;)

here's a good idea for ya ? those seat poles put huge ammounts of stress on the floor in rough conditions and tend to rip the screws through or soften the floor!

i used the originall poles but shortend them and put them on a 400x400 seat box, and lowerd it 10mm at the front! gives me allot better veiw for docking and is so much more comfy(no more sore back) and no more holding on in rough chop! here is a pic

Ian [img size=480]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/100_3052__Custom_-6bc64021fc6e7923d67baef89e026a64.jpg

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rumrunner Newbie

rumrunner

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CrayfishMates wrote:

Yeah top idea mate. Planning the boxes for storage under the seats. Found an interesting site called www.boatbox.com.au which has some really good ideas...

yes i seen those at the boat show and decided to make mine myself!

i didnt like the way it mounts on the outside as it will take up room! and looks funny?:blush:

i made mine screw in from the inside and it holds down great and looks neater aswell!

they cost me approx $100 to build

Ian

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