Ocean 6.25 rebuild

[Nasher]

Looking at your images with the deck taken out I'd say my fuel tank is a lot further back than yours.

It sits under the bench seats going from around a foot behind the Console to about a foot in front of the false transom in front of the well which in front of the real transom. Which yours also has.

[Nasher]

Using your image, my 120L tank starts where I've added the red line and goes forward from there.

The boat is a bit tail heavy, but that's mostly down to the 200Kg 200HP Suzuki that was on the back.

I may have made it a bit worse with the @240kg 225 Optimax I've now put on it, I'll find out when it's fully ready to test.

[Takson]

Thats interesting. As you can see from mine it has the filler at the back of the jockey attached to the console, and goes forward from there. I wonder if that is what the deck work done before was about. I'll probably never know.

Do you think my front weight bias means I should put a much bigger engine than my 150 Etec on the back at some point ;-)

[Takson]

Time is going on, it is almost a year to the day I said I would have it on the water in a week[emoji23]🤣

There is now a hard and fast deadline as the boat and I are event safety officer for the Cadet dinghy fleet for two weeks, in Torquay at the end of July. Ideally I am on the water for shakedown tests early July.


The new deck is in (photo to follow). I Ended up getting some professional help with this, partly due to time and partly to make sure it was properly done.

I got it back last weekend, and since then I have de antifouled and sanded the hull.

When I started to look at cleaning up the existing anti foul and the white paint and trying to top it up, the finish would have been terrible. The white was brushed on and the anti foul had been partly removed, so it is back on plan A and a hull respray.

So it was out with the owatrol remover, jetwash and a scraper, and the sanding to get rid of what wasn’t touched by the chemicals.

I started with a Milwaukee battery sander, but soon gave up and bought a Sealey 6” plug in sander. Even with three batteries, I kept running out of charge. The sealey machine has run pretty much non stop for two days now, so for £88 I think it was worth it.

I removed the metal bow/keel protector and found why it had been put on, so it was out with the fibreglass to patch a few bits, the onto the hill to fibreglass filler a few imperfections.

The patches you can see in the picture are some of the fibreglass filler for some of the deeper scratches and I took the pictures while I waited for it to cure enough to sand.



Tomorrow is the transom and beginning to set up the console and electric if it rains and I have to move inside.

[Takson]

For anyone with concern about my boat props, the timber is not holding the boat up, it is also strapped down the other side. The timber is to put some pressure on it so the boat doesn’t wobble when applying any pressure with sander etc.

[Takson]

[willk]

Originally Posted by Takson

Edit: I’m not sure where the random boat/bloke in the harbour picture came from!

That's the ghost:

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by willk

That's the ghost:

Looks like we need another exorcism. Break out the holy water & the nuns.

[Takson]

I had hoped to throw down some Hi babe. how are you guys doing? loltad primer today, but as I am painting outside I think I would have missed the hill and just hit every car and patio but fold door in the village instead🤣

Instead of that, I decided to start fitting out the console and get started on the electrics.

Not a bad afternoons progress, although I think I may have to move the steering boss in and inch. I put it as far out as I could go after seeing another one done and how the wheel was offset from the helm, but I have gone too far and have the lip of the boss over the curve of the edge of the console.

I’m really happy with the rest of the set up so far, and will do the vhf, battery figment and wiring tomorrow if it is still windy.

[Takson]

I had hoped to throw down some Hi babe. how are you guys doing? loltad primer today, but as I am painting outside I think I would have missed the hill and just hit every car and patio but fold door in the village instead��....

Don't you just love apple Autotext. It should read HB primer, but it doesn't.....

[diver 1]

How did you 'lift' your rib up off the trailer like that to prop it / strap it in the first place? Would like to do something similar so interested in how you managed it. Thanks

[Takson]

Originally Posted by diver 1

How did you 'lift' your rib up off the trailer like that to prop it / strap it in the first place? Would like to do something similar so interested in how you managed it. Thanks

I have a 2ton hydraulic bottle Jack and a number of different size blocks of wood, mainly from offcuts from fence and gate posts.

It was a process of jacking up, placing a block and the moving the Jack and repeating until it was in the right place.

It was a slow and steady process. If it was on a nice level concrete type surface, I think it would be easier with a large size trolley Jack and the various bits of wood, rather than a small bottle Jack.

[Takson]

I fitted the VHF today and did some internal wiring. (Photos to follow)

I connected the house battery to the power distribution rail and am vary happy to report the vhf came to life and I now have a really nice bank of blue lights when I put any of the switches on. They are not yet connected to anything, but they do glow blue[emoji23]🤣

I decided to wire the VHF directly to the distribution rail on its own fuse rather than through an additional switch to remove one potential point of failure in case of emergency.

[Takson]

Above the vhf and below the switch panel will be a handle for the passenger.

With the boat being used for safety mainly, I am thinking of putting a stainless hand hold around the front of the console but also need to consider the cup holders!

[Nasher]

Interesting you've changed the Console.

Windsor Brothers appear to have fitted two different types to the 6.25, the one you had which because of it's wrap around design isn't particularly good on space, and the slightly larger one fitted to my boat, which does come with a grabrail fitted around the front.

Where did you get your replacement?

[Nasher]

As you can see the 'other one' as fitted to my boat has a lot more room to mount stuff.

I've also made a new front handrail to replace the original which now protects the screen.

It's being laid out again at the moment as I'm changing it to take the Optimax gauges to go with the 225 Opti I'm fitting.

[Takson]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Interesting you've changed the Console.

Windsor Brothers appear to have fitted two different types to the 6.25, the one you had which because of it's wrap around design isn't particularly good on space, and the slightly larger one fitted to my boat, which does come with a grabrail fitted around the front.

Where did you get your replacement?

The replacement came from Ian at Ribs4u. I think like a good few of us here, I was very happy with both the product and the service too. Ian was very helpful before, during and after the transaction.

I chose to change mine for the reason you say, and also mine was a jockey console. Given what we will mainly use the boat for, safety cover and family cruising, I wanted a side by side arrangement.

I picked up a NOS side by side unit on eBay (possibly a Brig unit I believe). It looks quite big so I may end up swapping that out for a couple of single jockey seats. We will see once the unit is in and if it leaves me enough space for a folding bench seat at the back.

[Takson]

Originally Posted by Nasher

As you can see the 'other one' as fitted to my boat has a lot more room to mount stuff.

I've also made a new front handrail to replace the original which now protects the screen.

It's being laid out again at the moment as I'm changing it to take the Optimax gauges to go with the 225 Opti I'm fitting.

Thank you for the pictures. I think the rail over the screen is a better design than I was originally intending to do so I will amend. I am also tempted to add a couple of clips onto it to hold a handheld or two. A number of the events we do use Motorola T92 radios (Or similar) which aren't compatible with standard VHF comms.

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Takson

I am also tempted to add a couple of clips onto it to hold a handheld or two.

I wanted to keep it as smooth as possible so my cover can lay on it without any protection and not have anything chafe through it as it moves about in the wind or on the road.

As you can see I do use an old collapsible tent pole over it to give the cover a ridge and ensure rain runs off rather than pool over the jockey seats.

[Takson]

Today started a bit frustratingly but ended up with progress anyway.

I wanted to be spraying, having adapted a vehicle rotisserie to accept the boat, I was keen to be getting on with it.

I am working outside and unfortunately the wind had other ideas…..

However, I did manage to paint the floor and transom with their first coats of Jotun XP with a roller.

For the floor, I added some kiln dried sand as grip. It went down really well, although it accelerated the curing process and shortened pot life. It took exactly 1l of paint to cover the inside. There will be a second coat, without the sand.

The transom was just plain paint. I was looking to see what finish I could get roll and tip in case the timeline and weather don’t work out. It’s ok, but I would much rather spray it if I can.

More praying to the weather gods required, or possibly a child sacrifice or two.

Overall I am happy with the progress in the end, and can’t wait to get on with the hull itself. Attachment 1