Next Order of Business

The most obvious area of neglect on our "new to us" old boat was the teak handrails, transom, and eyebrow trim.  We got lots of advice on the merits of various finishes and systems.  Ultimately, we made the decision to use CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer) as a base with many coats of the Epiphanes High Gloss varnish on top.  Before we could get to that "fun" part of applying the coatings, we had to prepare the teak.  It was badly weathered in the places where the old varnish was completely gone.  The remaining blistered, peeling finish had to be removed with a heat gun and a scraper followed by some aggressive sanding.  We were very pleased with the result of our many hours of hard work.  The teak trim looks like new money, and we will be adding more coats every year to maintain it and to never have to go through the pain and agony of stripping it all the way back again. 

Windshield wipers

The 46 CL has three large front windows at the lower helm.  Normally we operate the boat from the upper helm station on the fly bridge.  In heavy weather, the lower helm would be more desirable.  The three wipers on the helm windows were toast. We think they were the originals from 1990.  Pantograph arms broken, springs broken, parts/nuts totally rusted.  No amount of penetrate or persuasion with various tools was going to remove these arms.  So, we break out the Dremel tool with a rotary cut off blade, and basically cut all these nuts and wiper arms off. The factory recommended OEM replacements were a small fortune.  I found some pantograph arms from Ryder truck parts online, ordered some heavy duty NAPA truck blades to fit, and we spent one afternoon putting new arms and blades on.  Saved hundreds of dollars over the OEM parts.  So....if any of you trawler owners need the part numbers, just let me know and we will provide that info since we have done the research and the install.

Out with the old---In with new! Part 1

Electronics:
Our boat came with very few working electronics.  For our ICW trip from Florida to NC, we rigged up a new Garmin GPS receiver and connected to our Garmin 3210 from our fishing boat, and took our handheld VHF radio.  This worked great for the trip from Florida to Atlantic Beach.
However, we wanted newer and permanent systems, and realized that most every existing piece on the boat would have to be scrapped.  Many hours of research as to what brand, and what functions to buy.  The old chart plotters, GPS, Lorans, radar, stereo system, and all but one VHF radio have been removed.  A lot of wires and control units/displays have been removed that were non-operable.  What may have been state of the art 20 years ago had become a nest of wires and control boxes taking up space.
A new Fusion marine stereo unit has been our project for the last two weekends.  The old Sony system was not going to make it.  The new Fusion stereo unit was installed in the main salon, with three zones.  Zone 1 would be the Master stateroom, Zone 2 would be the main salon and forward stateroom, and Zone 3 would be the fly bridge speakers.  Fusion requires an amp for the zone 3, so another piece to wire and find a spot for.  A full function remote control was installed on the upper helm station, and a new XM radio antenna with receiver was added.  The Fusion has the capacity to play XM sat radio, regular AM/FM, I-Pod/I-touch/MP-3-4, and one aux input such as a CD player.  Very well designed system for a boat.  Of course all these functions required pulling many more wires that we want to mention.  Basically it took two weekends to route and pull all the wiring for this new system.   Most all wiring had to go thru and across the engine room, up the valances in the salon, and into the upper helm station, and to the various antennae, speakers, and controls.  This part is about finished, and we checked it out on Saturday, worked great!

Florida to NC on the ICW in 6 days: A Pictorial

              Sunset from the pier at Fernandina Beach, Florida