At it again!
 

Long winded..................

Well after a wonderful summer on the water I decided (well Mother Nature did) to totally go through my Z302 and freshen things up a bit. I had the freshly rebuilt 502 sent off to have it cleaned up and new bearings/gaskets installed. It is still at the engine shop and am toying around with increasing displacement to 509 and add cam/roller rockers.

The story is my Z302 sank in it's slip about two months ago (in fresh water) after I put her back in the water for the start of the 2010 season. The weekend I put her in was absolutely beautiful but that next weekend we had 40-45 mph winds in the S-SW direction that gives the boat no protection whatsoever in it's slip. I found out the automatic Rule 1100 gph float was stuck and did not allow the pump to come on to keep up with the rain and river water that was being splashed into the cockpit. Both batteries still had close to 12 volts as inspected by myself and my friendly Progressive insurance agent once it was floating again. I took the next couple days off and personally raised the boat off the bottom which was only 4-5' deep at the time and had her on the trailer the next day. The motor was pickled and removed over the next couple of weeks and is sitting at the machine shop waiting on me to decide what I want to do next. I removed the gauge panel (fun) and gauges and have ordered new Livorsi Red bezel/Chrome ring ones that should be a nice touch. I removed ALL the interior pieces and have purchased many sheets of 1/2", 3/4" and 1" expanded PVC board and will replace all the wood in the boat. I have approximately 25 yards of new really soft tan/beige marine vinyl and 1" and 2" quick dry foam to recover some of the panels that have been modified.

When I removed the rear U-shaped seating area I noticed allot of wood rot around where Mariah used carpet on the lower section of the seat bases. When I removed the vinyl and the carpet all the pieces just fell apart due to the fact that they used steel staples to hold everything together. I also noticed that the sunpad/hatch was extremely heavy and decided to redo this in the lightweight PVC board but am going to modify it to have just one elevated foam section where your head would rest instead of the the four separate headrests. In doing so I have also raised the side bolsters up 3 1/2" to sit flush with the bottom of the hatch and this should be more comfortable and be more aesthetic then the original design. The lower left and right seat bases I have redone in PVC and designed it around the same sort of shape but built it to hold 2 48 qt marine igloo coolers. The top of the cooler will be attached to the bottom of the seat cushion and lift off as one piece to allow easy access to the cooler. The center section is going to house 3 12" Wet Sounds subwoofers that will be flushed in and a red powder-coated grill placed over them to protect them. The entire section is attached to the engine firewall and rear seat cushions and then mounted on a large hinge which will allow me to fully pivot it forward to get better access to the engine and engine compartment.

Since I have gone through all this work already I have decided to take off the pitted Taylor windshield frame and am having it sandblasted and then powder-coated Black. I also have quite a few of the engine pieces and other accessories at his shop to get the same thing done. Should be really nice when completed and am watching what I spend to not exceed 5K. One lesson learned out of all this is I will never leave the boat in the water again for any length of time unless it is on a lift or totally protected from mother nature.

I will keep everyone updated and if anyone needs certain pictures of the Z302 in different stages of disassemble I probably have them or can get them as my boat is pretty much all apart.

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Your kidding.....right????? :eek_animated:

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Nope, not kidding.

I did not eat for a couple of days after seeing my boat under water. I have a bunch of work to do but am happy with what I have to work with. I love a challenge as well.

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WOW! Gut wrenching to see that beautiful vessel swamped for sure! What you said about not eating for two days reminds me of myself, I would have been the exact same way and probably awake searching for parts most of that time. On the other hand, the red and black accents, the built in coolers, the new sound system... it all sounds and looks very impressive and it seems like you're still going to be boating this year too. I'm sure everyone that reads this will applaud you for taking on the job and keeping your Mariah alive. I'll be looking forward to seeing the progress.

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Yeah it was kind of a bad time until I called my insurance company and she told me that she would take care of me because she knew how much time and money I had already put into my vessel.

I hope to be getting my engine back before the end of May and am trying to wrap up all the loose ends so I can be boating again sometime in the beginning of June (fingers crossed).

I have alot of people wanting me to be back on the water as well so I have the support of all my friends.

Pictures are of one of the many awesome days I had in my Mariah that is my drive to get it back in the water.

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A few of the worst of the worst.

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Boating pics look like fun. Come on warm weather! Looks like a cool place to boat and man, I do not get tired of looking at pics of that big red LE.

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What a disaster! I'm both very sorry to see the damage done to your beautiful boat and in awe of your restoration project. She'll come back better, stronger and faster, especially if you do the extra engine work. I'll look forward to more photos as you progress.

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Hey b-crazy can you get your block bored .030 over, cam, lifter kit, pistons and rings and stay under your 5K budget? You must have a relative in the business.

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I cut the top of the seat base today for the 48 qt cooler. The seat cushion will be attached to the top of the cooler lid so it will be easy to get into the cooler and will be easy to put it back on. I still have to redo the back bolster section but am using it to get dimensions and fit for when it goes back into the boat.

The center section where the subwoofers are going to mount is constructed of a 3/4" PVC. There is three separate chambers which will be approximately 14" square and totally air tight. The front of the seat base consists of a 3/4" piece and attached to that I have a 1" piece as well where I am going to flush mount the billet speaker grill from behind so all you will see is the front of the red subwoofer grill flush with the seat base. Should look pretty sharp if all goes as planned.

As you can see in the photos I have enlarged the back seating area by quite a bit. I am going to use 2 1/2" foam for the sunpad and 3" for all the base cushions. I am going to wrap everything else in 1/2" higher density foam so it will still have a soft feel to it but should be more durable.

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Jgreen,

My shop is allowing me to purchase all the parts myself and supply them for the rebuild.

So far my bill with the engine shop is a little over 1K.
Disassemble block
Dip, clean and paint block
Magna-flux block
Line hone
Bore all cylinders to .030 over
Resurface block
Polish crank
Install all bearings
Assemble long block
Complete redo of 088 heads

Parts from KE
509 pistons and rings $800
Cam and lifter kit $1000
Roller rockers $300
Complete gasket set $300
Reprogram ECM $400

PVC, Vinyl and foam approximately $1000

=$4800.00

Under 5K but I guess the powder coated and gauges will take me over that mark but oh well its a B.O.A.T. (break out another thousand).

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Coming together nice. How much weight do you think you'll save with the PVC?

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I weighed the wood pieces and will weigh the new ones and let you know.

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Great job on the boat. Truely amazing job. I'm not sure what I would do with my boat if I ever saw it like that. (Thank god I have a lift!) But after seeing how truely great looking your boat is, even under water, I would have done the same thing (after I made my own river, of tears!!) Truely amazing job.

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Progress this weekend.

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Back seat looks good. I sometimes wish I had room for speakers like that, but I have the engine box and two jumpseat/coolers. looking forward to more pics later.

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What type of store did you buy the PVC boards from? I have been looking for those, but nobody seems to know what I am talking about.
I do hope you are planning a whole lot more screws in that speaker box or it its going to rattle apart. Looks great!

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One other sugestion: I would buy a few extra ice chests. My luck would be after custom fitting them in like that, one would get a crack and I would find out that they don't make them that same shape and size anymore. Maybe that is just my luck, but a couple extra would be good insurance.

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Hyperryd,

I purchased my PVC board from Farco Plastics out of Jacksonville Florida.
1" $134
3/4" $88
1/2" $67

In regards to my subwoofer enclosure I plan on gluing it all together with PVC glue and add a SS deck screw every inch. It will be built totally airtight and solid with three separate chambers for each of the 12" Wetsounds subs. I also just purchased off a Craigslist 8 JL Audio 7.7 marine separates for $250 bucks for all of them. Sweet deal and will put them to good use.

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Put the rear section into the boat today to check fitment. Looks like I need to make a few adjustments and then will start disassembling to glue and permanently screw together. I am picking up the foam tomorrow and will hopefully start upholstering this weekend.

Livorsi gauges should be here next week as well as the rest of the 502 engine parts so the builder can start assembly.

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Started to think about the bow section and want to soften the edges and combine the different sections to just a couple pieces. I really like what Challenger did to the 302FPS after they acquired the Z302 molds. I have posted pictures here of the Challenger FPS 302 and really am going to design the bow with that model in mind.

Let me know what you all think and if you have any ideas.

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Even the big one's can drown when the auto-bilge pump fails.:crying:

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Lookin good. I bet it's going to sound great.
Good idea looking at Challenger for ideas. That bow design is slick.

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Challenger bow seating looks a lot like Baja's from the mid 90's. I've always liked the look. Can't wait to see your take on it.

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I will say I'm impressed. Unreal. Can't wait for more photos. Thanks for the posts. Kitto

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I have been pretty busy with work and trying to go boating on the weekends on friends boats so I have not had much extra time to work on my Z302 since the last time I posted. I have however wet sanded the entire boat with 1500 and am in the process of buffing that out with 3M's Perfect-It II polish. It is coming out better than I expected with a shine that looks as good as it did when it left the factory.

I hope to have the newly rebuilt 509 engine back before the end of this month and by then I should be ready to drop it back into place. I am dropping off the entire disassembled outdrive to be media blasted this week as well as the windshield and both are going to be painted glossy black.

I went with Livorsi Mega rim gauges (red rim/silver carbon face) and should be getting them sometime next week. I have painted the dash panel as well as the ignition panel black and should look really sharp when the new gauges are installed.

I have a Standard Horizon CP180i GPS Color Chatrtplotter and have decided to mount it upright where the factory VHF radio was. I am in the process of forming a black starboard mount that will allow me to easily remove the GPS unit and not have a hole left behind where the old VHF was. I moved the radio down in the cabin just to have it aboard in case I ever venture offshore but also carry a handheld as a backup.


I will keep ya'll posted.

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WOW! That looks like a mega$$$ repaint, nice job. I checked the Livorsi web site. Those gauges will look great. Are you using their controls too?

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Parts are finally starting to arrive.

Complete 509 Engine kit at the machine shop and just waiting on the Isky cam kit with Scorpion roller rockers.

20 Yards of Baja Tan Mellohide marine vinyl being dropped off at the upholsterer Saturday along with the entire rear seat section. Wow that was allot of work to get it to all fit properly. I built the new engine hatch/sunpad out of 1" PVC board and 3" foam.

I bought a used Isotta Aria (new $500) for 65 bucks off of ebay and will go perfect with the powder coated red rim gauges and cup holders.

Mounted the new Standard Horizon CP180i on a piece of black starboard where the old VHF was. Looks great.

Flush mounted the Blue Sea Add-a-Battery switch in the rear seat bench which will allow easy access to turning them on/off.

I have ordered Red powder coated bezels for the Zero Effort throttle, steering hub, ignition switch, kill switch, trim tab bezel, and 12 cup holders.

Outdrive has been sandblasted and should get painted this weekend.

Lightning headers have been blasted then ceramic coated silver and then buffed to resemble stainless steel.

I found Dupli-Color Metalicast paint that when sprayed properly looks exactly like the powder coated red pieces and plan on painting the 28 JL Audio speaker grills (Mid's and Hi's).

Lot's of hours spent so far and kind of getting things in line to hopefully see the finish line way off in the distance.

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Isky performance cam kit and Scorpion roller rockers came in today. Hip Hip hooray! Now the engine builder can wrap up the engine and hopefully get it back to me next week.

Livorsi gauges came in today, well most of them as I am missing the oil psi, hour meter and the GPS recall switch panel that they are going to powder coat red to match the rest of the rims. I am using a Nordskog GPS that will get it's rim painted to match the other gauges. I also am using the factory depth gauge but am going to insert a piece of silver carbon fiber vinyl I got from a buddy of mine that owns a vinyl decal business and it's outer rim is going to be painted red as well.

All the cockpit interior pieces and 12 yards of Mellohide Baja Tan marine vinyl are at the upholsterer right now and was told that I should get them back towards the end of next week.

Windshield frame has been sand blasted and powder coated glossy black and will pick up tomorrow as well as the entire Gimbal assembly that was powder coated black.

I have been waiting for quite a while for the powder coated red Isotta steering wheel hub/adapter and a few other red bezels I ordered from Dana Marine and will get pics as soon as I install.

Lot's of work completed but still lot's to do.

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It has been awhile since I posted any updates and even though the rebuild of my Z302 did not get completed for this season I am very happy how things are turning out.

Here are pictures on where I am now. It has been alot more difficult than I expected trying to find time to work on her between my job, family and just plain life.

I have lot's of pictures so let me know what you think. Everything is not 100% in place yet as I am waiting for everything to be finished before I start to bolt, tighten and align it all together.

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More...........

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and more........................

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guess.............

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and this is what I will be working on today!

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I forgot about the picture of the new Rule 1100GPH bilge pump they sent me after I called them to let them know that their pump had failed and my boat sank because of it.

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Looks like your going all out with this project. Can you tell us, the percentage your insurance is paying for this restoration?

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Progressive paid off the note completely and the positive money left over I was able to purchase the boat back for peanuts as they did not want to have to sell it in that condition and the triple axle trailer was worth more than what I had to pay for the entire package. I was also paid some money for the raising of the boat and getting her back on a trailer. I had originally borrowed more than I had paid for the boat in order to reimburse myself for the (old) new engine and to recoup some of the money that I had put into from when I first bought the boat. I am very happy (my wife is not) in the amount of money I have had to put into this project considering what I will have when it is all said and done.

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The boat is looking great! I don't envy you the work it is taking, but you are going to have a great boat when you are finished, plus it is going to be done your way. I would be willing to guess you have exceeded your original budget, but that is the way big projects go.

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The other power that will be propelling the boat through the water.

Clarion CDM5
Clarion CD changer
2 Clarion SS remote stations at passenger and transom locations
Sirius sat radio
Wet Sound WS-420 para EQ / 2nd zone volume control for bow seating area for wife, kids & guests
Fusion iPod docking station (customized to work with the clarion)
Rockford Fosgate Power amplifiers
1000BD Mono channel
8004 4 channel
5004 2 channel

16 JL Audio 7.7 marine component speakers
3 Wet Sounds 12" subwoofers
2 JL Audio 10" Subwoofer for cabin 5.1 sound system.

2 Optima class 31 car audio batteries.

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I too just purchased a Fusion product. I went with their all in one head unit. Except I found on ebay a brand new I500 (last years model) that has 4 RCA zones (1 of which is Subs) rather than going with their newer I600 (2 RCA zones & 2 deck powered 70w zones)

I love the idea of fully docking the iPod, rather then a tether.