Reply With QuoteLookin Good! Keep Em Comin.
Well, at the request of some of the folks and since I enjoy everyone elseÂ’s project threads, IÂ’d start my own.
We picked up this 78 18Â’ Brendella in Oregon about 5 years ago as a bit of a basket case. It had a stock big block Chev and a Panther pump. ItÂ’s a full stringer boat that looks to be splashed from a Southwind (isnÂ’t everything?) and seemed to be very solid. The motor ran but that was about it, Paint looked good from a distance but was pitiful up close. Interior was really nice except for some cheapo black Astroturf for carpet which I replaced right away.
I put together a nice rumpity 468, threw some Bassetts on there along with a ton of SS lines and ran it in this configuration for a number of years. This thing was as turn key as they get. I know many have struggled with MSD setups but my complete MSD setup worked like a champ. One thing I found out talking to folks is that grounds and a pain on these systems so I ran separate grounds to the box, alternator and starter. Never had a problem.
Here is what it looked like for a number of years.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...IMG_2022-1.jpg
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Unfortunately, like many Panthers, excessive rpms were an issue. Cavatation was a killer for me. No matter what I did I couldnÂ’t get over 67 mph @ 5900 rpm.
I had been following the Panther Energizer concept from the initial mockup through the design and into the production and thought I might give it a try as an alternative to a complete swap of the Panther. I talked Tom at Jet Boat Performance and we came up with a plan.
One of the things that many have told me are an issue with Panthers is a limit of around 500hp. With this new Energizer that is no longer an issue so I have started to gather up parts for a new blower motor.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...IMG_7194-1.jpg
Since the belt is going to intrude into the seating, IÂ’m gonna have to fab up some new seating but am going to really try to keep the same style as what it has.
cont......
Lookin Good! Keep Em Comin.
Continued..
With a new pump, new interior and a new shiny interior, the paint was gonna be an issue for me. I was bitching about it when my wife walked into the shop and said “if it’s gonna bother you, why don’t you paint it?”. That did it, that was noon on Sunday and by 4pm it was off the trailer and on a dolly I had just built.
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I picked up some 4” razor blades and proceeded to take the paint off. It was pretty easy since there were a number of different paint jobs stacked on top of each other.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_6897.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_6937.jpg
When I was peeling back the paint I found shadows of license numbers from Nevada and Montana so this boat has been bounced around a bit. Wish this thing could talk and tell me of the fun it had back in the day.
I carefully pulled the rubrail off only to find that this boat was seamed so nice that you couldn’t even see a seam at first. The damn thing looked so sexy that I made the decision it wasn’t going back on.
Here's a closeup picture of the seam where the deck meets the hull. It was this way almost everywhere on the boat.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_6935.jpg
Through the advice of a number of folks on this board and others, I came up with a plan on how to cap it for good. I used West System epoxy for the entire project and though spendy, it’s really nice stuff.
I took my 4” grinder with a 80 grit flapper wheel and ground into the seam and out approx 2” to 3”. Then I took my little air angle grinder and fine tuned it a bit with a 40 grit speed lock and then finished it with 40”grit on my DA. Right about now is when my wife had to hide the guns cause I just took a cool looking boat and ground the shit out of it……..
Wiped everything down real good with acetone and then wetted the seam out. I followed that with some narrow fiberglass tape and laid that into the seam. They suggest all kinds of tricks to work the bubbles out but I found my finger did the best. I followed that with multiple layers of epoxy mixed with some Colloidal Silica and wider runs of tape till I had only a slight groove left. I filled this in with some epoxy mixed with microballons and smoothed that out. Hot Damn! That looks good.
Ignore my hands in the picture. I put them there so get some contrast so you could see the shape. As far as the ripples, thats just water. This thing is smooooooth.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_7333.jpg
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I also filled the thru the transom exhaust holes, decked the boat of the stern and bow light, fixed some slight cracking on the deck , filled a notch in the gunnel that they had cut to clear the old exhaust and a bunch of miscellaneous holes on the dash..
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_7339.jpg
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Cont.....
Been messing around with some ideas of what to do paint wise. After seeing what the original gelcoat was, I was thinking along these lines.
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Punk kid of mine thought this was funny......
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I wiped the boat down real well and shot some MP170 epoxy primer to seal up everything real well and then laid some Evercoat Rage Gold on a few areas to get some of the roughness out. Blocked that out and then shot MP282 2K High Build primer reduced 10% and blocked that down with some 180 grit.
IÂ’ve since followed that up with some wet sanding using 400 grit
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_0147.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_0154.jpg
By the way, my wife is a gem. That's her trimming the hedge in the back ground while I get to play boat. I havent had to mow the lawn or nuthin since I started this project..... wonder what it's gonna cost me?
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/IMG_0156.jpg
Other than some pin holes in the bottom that IÂ’m currently addressing with some UCS Icing, the bottom is ready to shoot and the sides are damn close and will only need a slight touch up when I get ready to shoot them and the top.
IÂ’ve talked to many folks and pretty much everyone universally recommends a single stage urethane for the bottom. The rest of the boat will be Base Coat / Clear Coat.
Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the pics......John
were did you get the injector hat for the blown motor???????????
Man That looks like alot of work, Nice Job.
You might as well do a setback Berkley Style pump.
were did you get the injector hat for the blown motor???????????
It's actually not an injector hat but just a scoop. It's called a Shotgun and is patterned like the actual Shotgun Injector hats you're probably thinking of. I picked it up at Speedway Motors.
Man That looks like alot of work, Nice Job.
You might as well do a setback Berkley Style pump.
Thanks, lots of work but tons of fun too.
The Berk style setup may be in the future but for now I really want to see if this Energizer will work for me.
The quality parts used and the ability to change impellers cuts, add a number of the conventional performance accessories and a very nice quality shaft that removes the HP restriction along with the ease of installation makes me really want to try this setup out.
Here's the pump minus the PD diverter I picked up at Jet Boat Performance
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...k/DSC05971.jpg
Hey Jrork,
Your seam looks as tight as the one on my Miller. There are a couple of spots that may be 1/8th" or less and I was thinking about pulling the rub rail off as well. I have that small 1/2" aluminum crap pop riveted on there and it looks cheap. I'd rather have the raw glass edge and get some fenders to save the hull. I'm going to be painting my boat some time in the near future and was wondering, what are all those products you used?
Looks good so far. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.
Thanks. The stuff I used is from this outfit. Great website and fantastic product. The Colodoial Silica is pretty hard to sand but hell for stout. The microballons stuff is for that actual shaping and sands like butter.
Here's the website and good luck with your project.......John
http://www.westsystem.com
Thanks. The stuff I used is from this outfit. Great website and fantastic product. The Colodoial Silica is pretty hard to sand but hell for stout. The microballons stuff is for that actual shaping and sands like butter.
Here's the website and good luck with your project.......John
http://www.westsystem.com
Thanks John!! Keep us informed as to how you are doing. When I get into mine, I'll start a thread for it as well. I was told the seems are a bugger but as you have found on your boat some builders do nice work, so did Miller when it came to matching the deck and hull. Are you using all West System's products?
My wife hates the original orange on our boat so it's going to be redone in blue. That means the trailer gets painted as well. I hope to get the engine back this week, rebuilt, ready to drop in and maybe run it next week-end or the first part of the next week.
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