Das Blue Fin Boat

The first thing on our list in making preparations for the trip was the boat. It wasn't clear what style of boat would be best and I knew I didn't want a big monstrous boat. Some folks take their big boat south and then sell it when they get there rather than make a return trip back north. It’s very expensive to make a two-way trip both in terms of time and money. To transport a large boat over the road will many times cost more than the boat is worth. I decided a boat that’s small enough to get back home but big enough to get me to my destination is what interests me. To a large extent the success of the trip depends on this choice and that in turn inter-plays with most of the other decisions I'll need to make. So with a bit of seriousness, I knew the choice of a boat to be crucial and it determines a lot of how this adventure will, or will not, work out.

My first idea was to go cheap and get a small tiller drive fishing boat and just go for it. For those unfamiliar, a tiller drive is a style of fishing boat where the driver sits in the back seat holding the handle that extends from the motor. Most people would think a plan to use this type of boat as nuts-o but I know others before me have already done it. If you don’t believe me just do some searching. On the other end of the spectrum would be a nice cruiser or trawler. That’s not for me. A big boat is too expensive, too slow, too cumbersome, and the difficulty in returning home adds more to the list of negatives. It’s ironic too that I just don’t like boats that much. (But I do like boat trips) If I want a big mode of transportation with all the comforts of home then I prefer my MoHo. It has all the features of a nice boat but, because it has wheels, it can go many more places. It’s not limited to lakes and rivers. 

After much thought I became convinced the tiller drive was a bad idea. Much has been reported about this style of boat causing nasty backaches and a sore arm after many hours of riding, especially in rough waters. That then is definitely not a good choice for me and meant a cushioned seat and steering wheel we’re probably in order; but I didn’t want to give up the simplicity of a small basic boat. While a nice seat certainly seems appealing, a regular boat with a windshield and a standard 4-passenger seating arrangement seemed too boring. What fun is it to go out and buy a boat ready to go? Anybody can do that and I’ve already owned one of these for 20 years. It’s nice but just not special enough for this trip. After a few weeks I kept coming back to the concept of a boat that can handle two people, some equipment, and has the character of a big jet ski instead of a boat. I wasn’t afraid of being seated in the open breeze while underway because the trip will take me into the Deep South in the summer so I’ll really need a cool breeze. I just wasn’t able to piece together in my mind what would be an optimal boat design to achieve my dream. With some continued thought I focused on what I knew instead of what was noise. A 16-17 foot deep V aluminum boat with a very good motor was about all I knew I wanted for sure. Whether is was a fishing boat or runabout style was not important. I figured if the boat wasn’t perfect then I’d just make minor modifications here and there to make it so.


After looking at a few used boats, one evening Matt reported he had found a 1980 Blue Fin fishing boat on Craig’s list and, with it being close to his house, we went and had a look. At first glance it seemed OK so we took the next step and contacted the owner and eventually went for a test ride a few days later. With an eye toward finding a reason to NOT buy it, we ended up failing. I closed the deal in June 2012 and spent $4300 for the boat, motor and trailer. We pulled it on its trailer to Matt’s house, parked it in his driveway, and started discussing the possibilities. 

Just Arrived at its New Home

I Only Loved it for its Motor

 Although it’s 32 years old, I was strongly attracted to the very nice 2003 Mercury EFI four stoke engine that had been put on the boat by the previous owner. The boat itself is a deep and a rather narrow 16ft aluminum V hull that was typical of the era. Another plus was the boat came with a lot of fishing accessories that I didn’t want so they got sold off. A trolling motor with battery, two outriggers, and an extra gas tank were all sold for a total of $400. I liked how this was going and wondered what else I’d find to sell. There was a Humminbird 788 fish finder that I hadn’t appreciated for the fine device it is. After being repeatedly reminded by Matt that it was worth a lot of money I started to take more interest. It’s apparently worth about $700 on the used market and it has the MN Lake Master data card too. I was wrongly focused on its value in terms of what it could do for my wallet but I finally wised up and realized that this thing is a very useful and important tool for my trip. All I needed to do was update it with the latest Navioncs data card and I’d have all the navigation e-charts needed to cover the entire trip. That settled that and I decided to keep it.

As I mentioned, the real prize in my purchase was the motor. This puppy should get 8-10 MPG cruising at 20-25MPH which is a fantastic figure for any boat. We had already checked top speed in a test run with two of us aboard and we hit about 30MPH. Not real fast but more than I need for this trip. It’s not a Jet Ski in the speed category but it’s much better than one in terms of economy.

At first we were a bit timid about tearing too far into the boat. It wasn’t clear exactly how we wanted to configure it so we just piddled around with the little things first. Then, after a week or two, the idea finally came. We had been looking at a lot of boat pics on the Internet and there it was.

The center console utility boat.

That was the answer. We could get two big comfy seats and set them side by side behind the center console. The front bow area would be open for whatever stuff we need to haul. We'd sit up high and have a good view around us. I wasn’t worried about wind protection because, as I said before, it’s going to be mega-hot on this journey. And I didn’t care about making an unusual design because this boat was for one purpose, to get Mary and me from MN to the Gulf of Mexico. I really don’t care if it is un-sellable after I’m finished with it. Besides, as I joked with Matt, “I can always sell it to someone else with the damn fool idea of traveling over 1700 miles”.

Matt put together the concept drawing you see here. The picture tells you a lot. See the two comfy seats, a cooler up front, and most importantly the Bimini top over our heads.

The Design Concept

 Doesn’t this picture just make you want to go for a boat ride? Here’s a boat that has no other purpose except to sit and ride. It wouldn’t make a good fishing boat, a party boat, or any other kind of boat that comes to mind. It’s like a big jet ski and that’s what I had originally dreamt about.

The goal now was to actually build it, and like any father, I wanted to make this a learning experience for my son Matt. (He actually knows more about I than I do) To achieve this I turned him loose with his plan, told him to use my credit card, and to start right in with the reconfiguration. I took off on a vacation and left him on his own to do the work.

The inside of the boat needed to be completely reworked. The colors were ugly, and it was setup for a fisherman. See the before and after in the two side-by-side pictures. We weren’t sure if the floor was rotten or what skuzz might be lurking under it. It wasn’t real clear where to start so Matt started to peel away the layers. The seats, steering and control cables, all the accessories I wanted to sell, the floor vinyl, and side panels, were all pulled out and set aside. We wanted to wipe the slate clean and to assure that no serious defect was hidden from our observation. The unsold parts were stored away for consideration of future use.

Original Fisherman
Floor Plan



Interior Gutted Out

Once everything was out it was time to take a closer look at the basics. We found after some poking and probing that the floor was in surprisingly good shape. No rot or weak spots were apparent. The hull rivets seemed tight and there was only a minor amount of water down in the bilge. The foam flotation slates were wedged underneath the wooden floor and lying on the metal hull. I was glad they were there and in pretty good shape too. We didn’t want to alter the built in safety floatation for obvious reasons.


Flotation Slats under the Floor. 
That Makes me Happy

The tear down was easy and now the hard part would commence. Putting things back together will be slow and I’ll have to start spending more money, a very painful process indeed. It is I believe one of the paradoxes of the universe, that is, to tear something apart is much easier than to put something together. I've always been bugged by this whenever I take something apart to fix it and then struggle to put it back together. They say it’s explained in thermodynamics if you understand that entropy only acts in one direction. I suppose it's best understood in layman’s terms. I can drop my laptop on the floor and turn it into a bunch of junk parts. I’ve never dropped a bunch of junk parts on the floor and got a laptop though. If you endeavor to experiment in this area I suggest you start with a plate or glass or something similar.

An important item for consideration was to locate the center console and seats in an optimal position. Too far fore (forward) and the boat will nosedive and handle poorly and if too far aft (back) it will plane off slowly and porpoise. But we also knew we wanted to put the seats toward the rear as far as possible because this provides the smoothest ride for the passenger. The challenge was to counter balance the passenger weight with something up front.


19 Gallon Gas Tank in
the Bow for Extra Range

The decision was made to put the battery and a newly purchased built-in gas tank in the front. These items, along with the normal fill of cargo up front should do the trick to correct the balance, or at least it’s a step in the right direction.  We picked a 19 gallon aluminum tank which was about as big as we could fit into our rather small boat. The gas tank was a special design made to fit into the V shaped bow. Remember what I said about the gas mileage above being 8-10MPG. This tank should provide at least 152 miles of range and maybe as high as 190.


Critical Seat and Console Position.
Very Comfy Seats

The seats were chosen for comfort. They are a style that allows the seat base to drop down and then you lean backward against it while standing. This way you can confidently stand while underway. 

Adjustable Seat Pedestals

The two pedestal bases shown here allow the seats to move every which way. On mode of use we discovered is to reverse the seats completely around and face rearward. This is nice for parking on a beach and just sit and stare back out into the water. It allows the passenger to sit backward while underway too.

 

Fine Welding of the Stainless Steel
Handlebar Around the Windshield


The center console is taking shape. Notice the welded stainless steel bar surrounding the plastic windshield. It protects the otherwise flimsy clear plastic and makes a sturdy hand hold.

Bimini Top in an Unconventional
 Shipping Container 

One of the most important items is the Bimini top. I strongly believe the trip would not be possible without it. Mary and I would be burned to a crisp in the intense summer sun so this is a lifesaver. Yes, that is the Bimini top in the back of the pickup truck and, no I didn't order an elephant head. Thank you Great Lakes Skipper for the unique packaging. It’s unconventional but it worked and the price was pleasing.











 

Trial Fit of the Bimini Top

The Bimini top went on smoothly and looks good. Our choice of blue helped established our color scheme. In addition to the blue we had the off white vinyl color your see covering the center console. Compare that to the ugly yellowish-white paint job on the hull. That's got to go. It probably looked good in the 80’s but I can’t imagine why. Maybe it will come back into style? Yeah, maybe in 2080.


 


It seemed about time for another test ride. The console was in, the top was on, and the weather was nice. We took it out on the Mississippi just upstream of Minneapolis near the Soo Line railroad bridge, where the official navigation channel of the river begins. We traveled a few miles further north of the bridge where the river is still wild in that you can easily hit the boulders lying on the bottom. We gently thumped one but it caused no problem. Everything so far had been checking out well so we continued on up stream and hung out at an island near the Interstate 694 Bridge. It gave us a good chance to turn the seats backward and watch the cars and trucks on the bridge and other boaters on a nice summer afternoon.


Test Ride on the Mississippi in August

The boat was coming along nicely but the season was wearing on and we wanted to erase the last of its ugliness and get it painted. We needed good weather for this since we had to do it outside. I needed to get the old decals off, sand and fill the old surface, and clean it all up. Then it had to be masked and painted. If you’ve ever done something like this you realize that you don’t have complete control of events. You have to have the boat ready for painting but not too long before. If you wait too long you’ll have to do it all over because things will get dirty and contaminated. The same holds for the masking process. The tape is only good for a week or two to be optimum. If it’s on too long it will be a son-of-gun to get off. The air temp has to be between 60 and 80 degrees and you don’t want any nasty weather like rain for maybe 24 hours. The best time of day is between 10AM and 4PM otherwise the early bugs or late dew forming can wreck everything. You've got to be in the shade and it better not be windy or the spray might cover something you didn't want painted, like your car or maybe the neighbor’s car.

I got busy preparing the surface and took off the old decals. If you ever have to do this use one of those rubber eraser wheels. 3M makes the good ones and I learned they’re the only way to go. I took two weeks to get the surface ready for painting and it was good work out for me. The warm summer evenings in the garage with hours of arm motion would work up a nice sweat. Here’s the boat almost ready for the primer coat. Some of the masking has been started and I surprised Matt when I yelled out to him I was shooting this picture.

Dents Patched and Sanded and almost Ready for Paint

We made our plans to do the paint on Saturday Sep 15 based on the weather forecast. I picked up the paint from Paint Master’s ($150 for two quarts) and I already had some epoxy primer left over from the Hot Rod project. I chose the final color from the paint code of my motorhome. I didn’t want to take a chance guessing at a color and the motorhome provides a giant size color chip to look at. It’s an off white color that closely mimics a fiberglass boat. We got up early on the “paint day” and still had a lot of masking to do.

Around 11AM we were putting on the epoxy primer and figured we’d need about 1-2 hours for it to cure and then we’d proceed to paint on the color. The paint went on quickly. As they always say about painting. It’s all preparation and then you spray on the paint and in a few hours it's all done.  We only had a few runs that shrunk down nicely after some cure time. The epoxy primers and paint are really nasty. I was wearing shorts and even felt nervous about my legs being exposed, but the spray mist drifted away quickly. Nonetheless the Tyvek jackets and our good respirators seemed to work OK. No after -taste or any sense that anything got into our lungs. We did this once before when we painted the Hot Rod. I wouldn't want to do it for a living unless I had the very best protection equipment.
 

Painting on a Nice Day


Here we are happily removing the masking. The motor was the hardest part to mask so that ended up being my job. We didn’t care much about the trailer. It needs a lot of work, which is the subject of another story. That’s Mary helping to remove the masking tape. Four hours to put it on and about half an hour to take it off. 

Mary helping me remove the masking tape

After the paint job we felt like we were on the downhill run in wrapping things up. The next weekend seemed like another good chance to see how she looked in the water. We left the Bimini top at home because it was an overcast evening.

1980 Blue Fin    Fall 2012

At the end of the season the boat looked as you see it in this picture. There are some things we need to take care of next year in the spring. We noted the need to make improvements to the armrests and perhaps an adjustment of the footrest under the console. Here’s a quick run down of the hard facts of the boat:

50HP Mercury 4 stroke EFI.
1980 Blue Fin made in New Paris, IN
16.0FT length
78IN beam width
Draft on Plane 15”
19 gallon built in gas tank
6 gallon portable gas tank
Humminbird 788ci DI navigation/depth finder
VHF marine radio
Cruise speed 24MPH
Top speed 32MPH