Rugger

Awesome!  Nice work @Catman   Totally agree on mandrels --- I bought premade when I did mine as well!  Larry at FAE will do them custom, but his challenges are relying on customers for perfect measurements and requires some pretty tight turns, etc.  And I think it's easier for him not to deal with it.

Man those blended welds and polish turned out great.  You'll be glad you took the time... looks amazing.

That looks amazing.  Thanks for sharing!!!    Mine is plastic.... would love it to be hot rod red too (match my boat) but won't look as cool as yours.

22 hours ago, Shadetreefab said:

Me to, tell I got to the lake with the boat sitting on the fenders and spare tire.

oh, that's right...  bad day. 

Nicely done.  I'm in store for new bunks soon I think.  I'm the guy lucky enough to have my wife back the boat into water... so I never see the bunks with the boat off.  I forget to check them.  But ...2007 trailer... probably should do that!

Thanks for the great write-up!

Nice job.   So much cleaner inside without that muffler.  Curious what you think of the noise, if any different w/out muffler, etc. once you get it on the water.   It is definitely gonna be more quiet if you have't had FAE before.   So nice.

On 11/24/2019 at 4:49 AM, jonthefireman said:

I keep coming back to this project, just truly amazing work.  I'm dying to add gates to my 2008 247 LSV, I love these and keep contemplating going for it but I'm fearful mine will come out like crap!

Thanks.  They'll never happen unless you jump in and give it a try.  I documented my mistakes... made plenty until I got it right.

13 minutes ago, jtryon said:

thanks.  a lot of recommendations on the makita 9227C as well.  guess i should pony up and buy a nice one off the rip.

As I get older I start buying the right tool the first time, knowing I'll use it over and over.   Bought a lot of dumb stuff over the years haha....  that being said, I've overspent over the years too.

I love the one I have, but I'm sure many brands will work great.   But I would make sure it has a change of speed.  Don't skimp on that feature.  I first tried a one-speed Milwaukee rotary but took it back for a refund.  

Below is the one I've used over 10 years.   Bought it on recommendation through the forums from a professional detailer.    Love it.   Get a wool pad too for gel coat.... that, + speed control = throw anything at it.  If you use for your cars, you need to drop that speed down and lighten the pad or you'll get swirls / paint burns.   Gel coat can take much more.   And you'll need to throw something heavy to remove some of the wet sanding marks.  I used this for the projects above, and also polished up my old excursion and the paint looks amazing for a 2001.

If you want to save bucks for a single project, a Harbor Freight rotary will be a lot cheaper.   But I can vouch for this one which has been bullet proof for a decade for me.  I polished my cars, boats and even metal.   

https://amzn.to/32niY80

Hope that helps.

"Total cost ~100 + roughly 2 hours of my time. "   <---     Hey no bragging!   haha

Not surprised you whipped up a surf exhaust quicker than watching a movie.  Nice.    Looks clean.

I made mine last summer? Or one before?  I forget.   But I used an oval exhaust shape for the drop to the water portion... so I didn't vice it.   But then wondered if I should have squeezed it thinner... so weeks later I squeezed it into more of a teardrop shape after I'd already been using it.  Didn't notice a difference but it really didn't spray anyway.

That looks great!   Excellent write up too.   Man, that glue is gonna be the challenge.  I have an 07... no gel underneath either.   Nicely done!

Wow that’s incredible work   That jimmy board is legit!  Thanks for posting it.  Nothing beats handcrafted.  

This is awesome.  Wish I had your skillz

1 hour ago, Armandaleg said:

 I’m way more proud of the boards I’ve made than the super fragile board that cost lots of $.  Display that board with pride- you’ve earned it!!

Let’s see it!! Haha

Beautiful board!

Looks awesome...  damn it, I still have carpet.   Love these projects but hate the reminders!  haha

That’ll do it.  Simple!   

That's pretty cool @Gbracer.   Thanks for sharing it.   I've seen lots of mud flap mods on the tow vehicle side to help protect the boat, but this one definitely provides the most protection I've ever seen.  Now just make sure you don't ram the dock once you're on the water.   That's what would happen to me.  lol

Man that looks great.   I'd really like to hear (personally) how you like that stuff after using it a bit.    I'm tempted to go that route, or similar.   Looks great, feels nice.  Plus I'm afraid we'd beat up EVA foam too much the way we use our boat (pack it full of camping gear for shore camping).   I just haven't made up my mind.

Nice project!  I'm an electronics dummy so I went straight for the wake logic system,  but I am so impressed with the DIY controllers you guys are coming up with.   I didn't know what a esp32 is... is that  essentially a different flavor of a Arduino / raspberry, etc.?    I love how you made the ring light up around the side that's on.    That's something I'd like to do to mine, since I have not found a good spot to put my wake logic LCD display, I want to make small LED indicator lights but will have to come up with a way since it uses a momentary (on) off (on) switch to control.  

That e-paper display looks cool too!   Well done all around. 

6 hours ago, 89BU said:

Rugger, where did you get the rebuild kit from?

Honestly I don't remember.  But I think it was discount inboard marine.  Pretty common kit though even if overpriced.

That looks incredible @Armandaleg!  Strong work!   Great use of space... you have me wondering if there's something I could do better with that space in mine.   Thankfully the previous owner paid for a sub box already... that's not my forte.

Simple solution... sometimes we forget how easy it is to simply wrap wood in vinyl for a more stock look.

Ok thanks.  Yeah mine are basically suitable to hold the removable soft coolers, which we’ve used quite a bit, but we tend to boat and camp for 4-5 days at a time and burn through lots of ice for sure.  I’ll come up with something.  Thanks 

@DnHWake  so your boat didn’t have a built in cooler at all, right?  Just a removable igloo?  I’m tearing into mine a bit and was gonna ask if you removed the built in first, but I think I have a different setup.  Mine (07 247) has two plastic “ice chests” (tubs) built in, but is paper thin with maybe 1/4-1/2” foam layer behind the shell and walls.  Thinking I might just use these tubs as the outside base and build inward... I would really only gain 1/2” at most by starting over.  

Funny thing too, I never knew my boat had lights inside the ice chest but I found an led strip in there.  It doesn’t work so I never noticed the trigger.  Don’t know if it was stock or previous owner added.  

how do the seams look after?    The video is great, but only shows the bottom side, where he does the work.   Can you see seam when you flip it back over?  Is it undetectable or barely noticeable?  Or is it obvious?  Thanks.