Grady White Sailfish 25 Restoration Blog

I heard the knock at the door earlier today and when I opened the door the person was gone but the box containing my custom cut SeaDek coaming bolsters was staring me in the face. I haven't been this excited to open a box since Christmas...

The old gauges were functional but the engines electronics provide much more information than the old gauges show. The new SC1000 gauges (one for each engine) show the RPMs while the digital display below shows a multitude of other important readings. The gauges take...

The original bait tank on this vessel was not really designed to work with the more fragile fin baits that are used on the West Coast (i.e. anchovies). The new bait tank should handle these 'fragile' fin baits much better. The capacity is 75 gallons and up to 5 scoops...

The pulpit was pretty beat up from years of use. It looked like the anchor had been dropped on it a couple of times as the fiberglass was shattered in several places and the existing gel coat was beat up. The pulpit was repaired with fiberglass and gel coat and looks...

The new rub rail is installed and gives the boat an instant facelift. The old rub rail served it's purpose but it was definitely time to replace it. Getting to the corroded fuel sending unit is simple enough but the deck plate will need to be lifted in order to...

The new seats arrived with the new pedestals. The install was pretty simple but a little time consuming because I had to head out to West Marine and buy the correct size stainless steel bolts, nuts and washers. The new chairs give the cockpit a much better look.

I had to pull a few strings and call in some favors but I finally got my meeting with Poseidon and Neptune. They were kind enough to go through the process of properly renaming the vessel. After several hours of discussion, we were able to negotiate a compromise on a...

All of the old Grady White decals have been removed and all of the new Grady White decals have been applied. Lots of lessons learned in this phase but overall I think the results were pretty good.

The existing chairs were pretty well shot. The controls didn't work ... the seat cushions were thrashed ... a real eye sore. Time to take action!

This last week, I got a couple of hours in each day before the sun went down. Time really flies when you have a lot of things that you want to accomplish! This weekend, the bottom paint is being applied.