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Low buck projects- Let's see 'em!

858K views 2K replies 341 participants last post by  pdqaltair 
#1 ·
In this forum, we've seen big projects on small boats and small projects on big boats- let's see the cheap projects! Show us what you have done on your boat on a budget.
Here's the rules:

1) Gotta be under $100 US, or equivalent currency.

2) You must have done it yourself. Although, if you found someone to work on your boat for less than $100, feel free to post contact info.

3) bonus points will be given for elegance and ingenuity.

Here's one of mine:

I needed a cockpit table. Well, I, personally, didn't need a cockpit table, but the admiral did, and I need a warm place to sleep, so you can see how the stars aligned on this one. I sussed out commercially available, marine priced cockpit tables and promptly gagged. So, I thought to myself, "self, you could make it yourself for a lot less." One problem. Well, four actually. I have limited woodworking skills, limited woodworking tools, and limited time. oh yeah, and I am cheap.
So, I went to plan "c".

I spent some time eyeballing the cockpit in question:


Then I moseyed into action. I bought one of these for $29.99


A frenzy of measuring, remeasuring, cutting, screwing, drinking, varnishing, etc. later, and this is how it finished up:



Let's see yours.
 
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#449 · (Edited)
I really didn't need the drop leaf table in my saloon. We prefer to eat in the cockpit, we can eat hold our plates if it's raining out and taking the table out really opened up the interior. Plus w/ numerous sails that I'm still sorting out...

Anyway taking out the table left four bolts sticking out of the sole. Even w/ the acorn nuts on they still posed a threat to bare toes and to klutzes that aren't observant of things.

I decided to put blocks of wood over the bolts to protect them and our feet.
Some years ago I scored some huge cutoffs of hardwood at the landfill in a dumpster! Mahogany and oak, 18x20x2" :eek:

I cut blocks of mahogany to match the footprint of the table, drilled holes for the bolts and then used a forstner bit to drill a hole for the washers and to recess the acorn nuts.

As an added feature I decided to cut a slot in the bottom between the holes to take a strap so I can tie stuff down in between the blocks; sail bags, plastic bins, etc. Just need to get a soft rug to lay on the sole so it doesn't scratch.

Of course you have to stain and varnish appropriately!

Total cost. $0. I had the wood, stain and varnish on hand.



 
#451 ·
I'll add one. Don't know the total cost, but way under $100.

We like to use the 2 1/2 gallon drinking water containers for drinking and cooking with. We were just putting it on the countertops and that would work fine while sitting up on stands in the boatyard but not very practical underway.

So where to put it and how to hold it in place? There was some room on one side of the sink next to the companionway, so that is where it went.



... where the larger right arrow is. It also had to not interfere with the propane solenoid switch.



The above picture is when it was about finished.



The platform will lift out of there, but it is in very secure and at this point I don't see any need for any pins, but that would be easy to do.

The water container....



...is also a very snug fit and there is a lip on the front of the platform that keeps it from sliding forward.

It is in a convenient place to use and still out of the way. Once in place we were quite happy with it.

You can find more pictures and the whole build here....

Interior Mods page 16

Sum

--------------------------------------------------

Our 26 MacGregor and Our 37 Endeavour and Our Trips
 
#453 ·
I built this wind vane a few years ago with my old man, I don't have any pictures of the building process but here is a video of "windy" doing what she does, steering =D

At this point it wasn't quite finished yet, there is no tiller on the auxiliary rudder. Notice the counter weight, a plastic bottle full of rocks screwed and epoxied in place as per the KISS system :)



At one point for the counter weight we had a boot tied on :)

Pierre
 
#454 ·
How Many of You Hate Making up the V-Berth???

Since there hasn't been much new activity since Pierre's neat post I thought I'd throw out another one.

I'm the one that gets the job of making up the V-berth bed in both boats and I've never liked it. First we started with full size sheets and blankets and they were a pain to get tucked under the mattress and you had all of that extra material.

Then we cut the sheets and blankets to better match the V-Berths shape and that helped but I still had to climb up in there and try and do the job.

Well that is a thing of the past now I can make the bed in the Endeavour standing up at the head of the bed and in the MacGregor pretty much the same way. I'm sure someone else must of done this so I'm not saying that it is original, but it sure is handy.

The 3 pages of pictures and info starts here...

Canvas Mods page 15

...but I'll summarize below.

The key to this working is cutting the mattress into 3 sections...



... and making covers for them. We have been sleeping in both boats on a mattress configuration like this for the past couple years and it feels like one continuous mattress under you.

Next step is to ...



...cut big hunks out of the fitted bottom sheet then...



sew it back together.



Next cut the top sheet and hem it so ...



...that it is wide enough to go over you but get rid of all of the access material. Then attach a slip cover to the ....



...end of it like above (sorry for the color change, but the sheet was cut & sewed the same).



To put the sheets on you start like above and you can bring the foot mattress back to you where you are standing at the berth. Put the cover on the mattress like above and leave the top sheet off to the right.



Next pull the bottom sheet over the foot mattress and let the elastic band pull some of the top sheet back under the mattress section like above. Notice that the top sheet is still off to the right.



Here is how things look at this point. You don't need it all laying out like above. I did that so that it is easier to see what is going on.



Next you just fold the top sheet back over the bottom sheet and the mattress. At this point you can take the mattress section with attached sheets and slide it forward on the V-Berth platform. Slide it in a ways and then take the second mattress section and lay it on the platform and pull the fitted sheet around the sides and under it. Then slide it and the foot section forward some more into the V-berth. Finish by doing the same with the last mattress section.

Now you just made the bed without getting into it. We also cut top blankets like the top sheet (with no sleeve at the bottom). If it is cold put how many blankets on the top of the sheets/mattresses as you slide them forward



This is one of the most practical things we have done to the boat. No extra bedding down at the foot. The top sheet doesn't pull out down there and you can make the bed standing up in the cabin. You can make the bed in less time than it takes to read the above. We love it or should I say that I really love it as making the bed is my job.

Again more pictures and info starting here....

Canvas Mods page 15

Sum

Our 37 Endeavour --- Our 26 MacGregor --- Trips With Both

 
#457 ·
Re: How Many of You Hate Making up the V-Berth???

Since there hasn't been much new activity since Pierre's neat post I thought I'd throw out another one.

I'm the one that gets the job of making up the V-berth bed in both boats and I've never liked it. First we started with full size sheets and blankets and they were a pain to get tucked under the mattress and you had all of that extra material.
Pretty slick but I find sleeping under a down duvet makes it even simpler and easier. :D
 
#458 ·
When I carried the dingy on the foredeck I had a problem...the rails are 7 feet off the water and the dingy is 8 feet...when the stern hit the water it would tend to go under the water..not good...

The bumper was a 2 dollar garage sale special the clips came from a dead bungy cord and the rope was laying around...

Problem solved...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w079ttxr950j1ji/25kKw7SGiQ
 
#461 ·
West marine fender holder in ss. Exactly the right size to mount a lite cylinder propane tank and keep it off my new teak. Beats milk crate any day, spacing allows easy building of a panel for the two stage regulator, solenoid and running hoses vertical to proper fittings in the deck. Cost me 55$ for the fender basket, and 30$ for the pair of proper thru deck fittings. Much better than typical cable ones or clamshell types imo.





Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk
 

Attachments

#462 ·
I am restoring a Nor'sea 27 that sank. The engine and engine controls and all the associated electrics were ruined. I installed a reconditioned Yanmar 2QM15 that I bought a few years ago and new engine controls.

Finding a Type B engine control and instrument panel (key switch; push to start button; high temp and low lube oil pressure lamps; buzzer) for the cockpit was problematic because they are no longer made (and have a list price of over $1000 if one were available).

I checked the wiring diagram in the engine manual and decided to build my own. I had an old ignition switch in my toolkit (free). I bought two dashboard indicating lamps (about 2.50 each) and a push to start switch (about 7.00) from an online hot rod supply warehouse and a couple of 12V buzzers from Amazon (about 3.00 each).

I finished a piece of half inch okume plywood that was a cutoff from another project with Interlux Brightside; drilled holes and installed the push switch and indicators; and installed the plywood panel in the cockpit. I mounted the ignition switch and the buzzers inboard. After wiring the system it worked perfectly - provides engine start controls and visual and audible instrumentation for high temp and low oil pressure- and cost me less than twenty bucks.

I used a little dolfinite to seal the indicators in their holes and a little BoatLife caulk to seal the panel against the cockpit well bulkhead.
 

Attachments

#463 ·
I am restoring a Nor'sea 27 that sank. The engine and engine controls and all the associated electrics were ruined. I installed a reconditioned Yanmar 2QM15 that I bought a few years ago and new engine controls.

Finding a Type B engine control and instrument panel (key switch; push to start button; high temp and low lube oil pressure lamps; buzzer) for the cockpit was problematic because they are no longer made (and have a list price of over $1000 if one were available).

I checked the wiring diagram in the engine manual and decided to build my own. I had an old ignition switch in my toolkit (free). I bought two dashboard indicating lamps (about 2.50 each) and a push to start switch (about 7.00) from an online hot rod supply warehouse and a couple of 12V buzzers from Amazon (about 3.00 each).

I finished a piece of half inch okume plywood that was a cutoff from another project with Interlux Brightside; drilled holes and installed the push switch and indicators; and installed the plywood panel in the cockpit. I mounted the ignition switch and the buzzers inboard. After wiring the system it worked perfectly - provides engine start controls and visual and audible instrumentation for high temp and low oil pressure- and cost me less than twenty bucks.

I used a little dolfinite to seal the indicators in their holes and a little BoatLife caulk to seal the panel against the cockpit well bulkhead.
Nicely done. What did you do for an engine kill switch?
 
#464 ·
SJB:
Interrogative "kill switch"?

I put the engine stop cable control just below and to starboard inside the main companionway adjacent to the main battery and engine ignition switches. There is no electrical "kill switch."
 
#465 ·
Good spot for it. Mine is (was) a push button, like a start button, that activated a solenoid "cable puller".
 
#466 ·
Before I get jumped on by the people that say how important quality is in LED's ...I will be happy if my cheap ones last for half of the 100,000 hours of the quality ones...

I bought 3 lights for 1.25 each at the dollar store...I broke them down...daisy chained them together...3 batteries are 4.5 volts each so they seem to handle the 12volt system well and aren't bothered by the charging load while running...I now have LED cabin lights for a total cost of $3.75 each...
https://www.dropbox.com/home#!/home/sailnet 1
 
#481 · (Edited)
My understanding is that the "old" Weems and Plath lanterns work well, but the new ones are really for decoration and do not work as well, and frequently leak.

I had a couple of the cheap red lanterns from Big Lots that lasted a few years, paid 4.99 for them. Worked for my purposes, but would not want to try to read by the light. They were nice on the porch, and did not attract insects.

Don't worry I think we have already "judged" you! :laugher:laugher
 
#483 ·
Sorry Sumner10 long delay...

I can't help with the name or manufacturer of the lights ... They came with the boat so I think 1972 ... All they have is the voltage and made in Japan...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob142
Sumner 10

Try this link instead...got to find a better way to post pics...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8zuketlwx6tjc4f/sQnpDk5fZp?m

That worked great. I really like the looks of the light....

...What are the fixtures you are using? Thanks,

Sum
 
#484 · (Edited)
My boat came with a heavy-duty Garelick Eez-in outboard motor bracket that was mounted to a custom-made wooden base on the transom. Unfortunately, the Garelick bracket didn't put any of the long-shaft outboards I tried low enough in the water, and couldn't be adjusted further. I sold the Garelick and devised this mount from two aluminum L-shaped pieces and two square sheets, a surplus wooden bracket, and some stainless bolts and screws. I had to cut the inner edge of the square aluminum pieces at an angle so that the motor sat lower in the water.





 
#485 ·
Emergency tiller!

I prefer a tiller. My I-28 has a wheel. It also has (had and still has) its original tiller. Mr. Perry designed a very well balanced boat. I replaced the wooden tiller with a short section of aluminum pipe and now have a tiller, too! It stands vertical over the rudder post and spins out of the way when not in use. After I have cleared the lobster pot danger zone I can relax and steer with one finger. It will allow me to add a Raymarine ST2000. I want to play with John Letcher's Self-Steering for Sailing Craft ideas, too.







Free! It was a piece of scrap I scrounged.

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