Marinette Boat Forum

Thanks Bill!

Outstanding work!

Y'all deserve a hearty congratulation!

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!

My plans for next season if time and funds allow. Redesign the original small swim platform to one that is at least twice the size. Possibly reconfigure the helm/cabin, ( move the helm up to the windshield like it is on the sedan models, move kitchen and bathroom forward to accomplish this ). Add 100 gallon fuel tank under new cockpit floor where bathroom/kitchen were. Move fresh water tank from under the dinette seat to under the v birth. Redo the cockpit flooring to accommodate the longer length if helm is moved forward. Repaint hull sides from rub rail down to cover up sub par paint job to cover welds and new transom. Change from cable steering to hydraulic. Quite a few other small odds and ends that I am forgetting about at the moment. I realize that this will list will not get completed before next season, but its a starting point.

Joel had asked why I wanted to move around my water tank on another thread. My reason being, the express and sedan have different interior layouts, on the express the bathroom is on the port side as you enter the cabin, as opposed to it being up by the v berth on the sedan. Currently there is nothing under the v berth, besides hard to get to storage, with the bathroom in the rear of the cabin on my boat, it would be hard to plumb the waste tank up under the front v berth without having a vaccu flush system I believe. Moving the water tank forward, would give me storage under the dinette seat and more more weight forward, which would help offset the added weight in the stern with the new configuration.

Also, on the express model, there is no "wine cellar " under the step into the cabin.

With all this weight relocation plans, I assume the boat runs stern low?

Jeff

Jeff, not particularly, on plane the whole boat comes more out of the water than before. It always ran a bit bow high, and is about the same as before. My problem with it is, on the express model, you sit back from the windshield about 3 ft. farther than on the sedan model. This makes it harder to see over the bow while traveling on plane. In its current form, at rest the stern sits about 2 to 3 inches lower than before with full fuel tanks. Moving weight forward will help balance it out a bit, IMO.

Found another pic of the first launch.

As we all know, fuel prices had been ridiculous this past year. One of the main reasons I want to add more fuel to the boat is that when we go on our Isle Royale trip, we travel around 200 miles round trip. Only carrying 150 gallons makes me have to refuel at the National Park, this past summer it was $8.68 a gallon over there, OUCH. That added up real quick and the wallet still hasn't fully recovered. If I can add 100 more gallons, I should be able to make the round trip with extra capacity in case of foul weather.