Finally after almost 2 years of work my buddy and I made a trip to a local lake to “shake down” my 2008 tiller Caimen that I finished refurbishing for the last year and a half.
Work completed, I’m sure I’ll miss something:
- removed everything from hull including fuel tank, motor, grab rail, platform
- Hull.
- refinishing bottom including sanding, fairing, patching gel coat voids, prime and paint with Alexseal.
- 4 coats of epoxy with graphite for keel protection
- Deck
- fix hole in deck from speedo
- fix holes from tarpon cage
- fix crushed deck under poling platform legs with new core and glass… best I could figure previous owner tied off to the poling platform when towing something
- prime, paint and non-skid
- Floor
- remove fiberglass skin to expose false floor core and drain tunnel under rear deck to dry out a section of it was saturated with water. Correct any possible causes of water intrusion. Clean up the drain tunnel so water from cockpit would drain with less restriction to the bilge.
- fill holes in bilge floor from pump mounting
- painted compartment under rear deck and bottom of bilge up 3" with epoxy bilge paint
- primed, painted and applied non-skid on floor and under front deck with alexseal
- replaced lower unit after bending the prop shaft the last time I used her on the same lake I took it to shake down.
- replaced poling platform pads and added black .75" tall cnc’d starboard spacers under the pads. Added tubes for a removable lean bar to assist me getting down.
- added Seadek to poling platform, on gunnels for reel protection and on battery platform to keep battery case from sliding around.
- Assembled everything back after allowing the paint to cure for several months
- Just finished rehabbing my Ramlin trailer (thanks to Alonzo at Ramlin!) with new rear cross member,SS fenders, wheels, tires and hubs. New coat of KBS rust stop and final coat where ever needed. New cypress bunks carpet.
I’m sure I’m missing something other than brain cells from all the chemicals. I did not keep track of my spending, but I’m sure to complete the work I did, plus the cost of the paint and other materials I saved thousands.
Here she is:
Finally, thank you to many members here that helped answer questions and provided direction on the old defunct site, thank you to Alonzo at Ramlin, Kevin at ECB, my son and buddy Cullen! And to my wife for putting up with me spending long hours late at night in the garage and stinkin up the whole joint.
Shake down went well, no issues other than a grumpy 2-stroke for first start up.
-BDR
