Restoring my cold molded 30 foot Gamefisherman in Costa Rica!

  • We spent 7 days a week, 14 hours a day, getting her back to new. Had to bring it all the way down to the hull and do a couple of patches, put in new hull and motor supports (the wood beams the motor sits on) and then built a small cabin up front with the bathroom and a ton of rod holders! It was a blast, except for being so tired, it was definitely worth it, I wish I had taken more pictures, here are some before and after and a couple of during pictures.


    Here's what we started out with, classic "Palm Beach" Costa Rica Gamefisherman with a but ugly cabin:



    Then this is what we did with the cabin and floor and pretty much everything except the hull. We were going to burn it, but I think there was soo much oil and diesel in the wood, it might have exploded and taken out the ship yard here... so we took it to the dump :)



    Here is what the front part of the boat looked like when we took out the floor and the hull. We left a little part of the cabin up front as you can see in the picture that became the visor. In the picture it shows pine boards going across, but before we put those in, we coated them with West Epoxy and surf board cloth so they are waterproof and we don't have to redo any of that. Here is the empty hull:



    We then had to patch the hull. There was a rotten spot under where the motor support beam was. The rotten spot was only about 6 inches across, but since the boat has three layers of wood, we opened the first layer up really big, then made like a pyramid, opening the second layer up only half the size and then the hole that went side to side was only about 9 inches big. I called West and they sent me a book on how to do it, this little patch took over a week to redo. We did it with the same weightless Laurel Wood the boat was made with, and each layer we lined up the grains with the existing grains of the surrounding wood layer. Here is the patch when we finish, before putting the board on the outside:



    We then had some good rot on the transom and back rail so we rebuilt those as well:




    Then I got too tired to take any more pictures, but here is the floor and cabin after we put it back together a bit!




    Here is a picture of the visor we turned the front part of the cabin into. That was a lot of work as we built it a couple of times until I got it looking right. We also built those two fiberglass boxes you see on the tower that is next to the boat so I can put all the gauges in one side and the GPS / Sounder / Radio in the other. I hate those ugly black cummins things, so I made the gauge holder out of glass and hole sawed it. I replaced the original gauges with the sea cruz gauges that have built in alarms, but I had to buy two temp gauges because the first one they send me didn't work, so I don't know if I would recommend them.



    The bottom we treated with the Interconnect sealing epoxy and Micron 66 from Interlux. I really like the look of the blue color, and hopefully after 3 coats of their best paint, I won't see any buildup for the next year or so.


    2 and a half months later, we got her down in the water. This is from about 5 minutes after I got it in the water. The boat on the right is the panga we built a couple of months ago. We didn't get to start it until a couple days later because I was waiting on a new Racor.



    Here's the first run last weeek:

    First trip out was yesterday, she beat my other two boats releasing 6 nice sailfish and a couple of 30 pound Mahi. It was a fun build, I need to take some more pictures...


    Here's a before and after just to see the difference, I really thought it came out better than I expected, what do you guys think?


    Before:



    After:


  • Ahoy Cpt. John,


    so much love and appreciation to detail. You have given
    her 15 more years to haunt the Pacific Bill´s. Precious Lady!


    A couple of questions, with your permission. The Lady
    in her former shape rode almost ballance in the sea.
    Now that the extra weight of the cabin is gone, how
    do you trim her bow down in the afternoon chop?
    Did She have trim-tabs in her previous state? Is She
    performing well in following seas and upon backing down
    upwind/upswell?


    Many thanks, again, for sharing your experience with
    your Europen fans!
    :hutab:

    PARGO


    ================================
    si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses

  • My upmost respect Guys!
    .
    .
    I was involved in rebuilding a Bertram in similar size a few years back in Ghana. A close friend bought it in Florida (after the hurricane season) - it also had to be stripped to its bones.
    .
    If I may ask, what is the difference in weight compared to its old setup?
    Pargo already asked about its balancing:
    ''Now that the extra weight of the cabin is gone, how
    do you trim her bow down in the afternoon chop?
    Did She have trim-tabs in her previous state? Is She
    performing well in following seas and upon backing down
    upwind/upswell?"
    by Pargo
    .
    Thank you for sharing!
    Do you have any more pictures showing the steps of constriction in more detail?
    .
    Michael


    'fishing is life, the rest just details...'

    =======================================
    driftline fishing

  • Wow, that really is a transformation John. Well done! With its express configuration it really looks ideal for conditions off that part of the coast.


    Um ... now for Jan and Michael, and this is where I have to admit to being no naval architect or having specific knowledge of the characteristics of gamefisherman hulls. But I understand, if I'm right, the company - http://marcamyachtscr.com/index.htm - that renovated the boat, certainly on their own designed custom boats don't use trim tabs. It's I'm fairly certain the same company who built one of our members private boat - Agwe - based at Los Suenos - Pacific coast of Costa Rica - Herradura, March/April 2008 (also pictures of cold molded boat) .

    Dave
    Honorary Life President
    Sportfishing Club of the British Isles

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