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04-01-2020, 12:29 AM #165000 RPM
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Inspiration Pictures
The Checkmate forum has a great gallery full of old Checkmates, many with Merc inline 6’s. Here are just a few of the ones that I really like. Between these pictures, and all the short shaft and racing Mercs on this forum, I was really hooked on the look. I included some pictures of the original brochure from 1971 as well.
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04-01-2020, 12:55 AM #175000 RPM
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July 6, 2014 – July 9, 2014
The deck came off next, after a lot of rivet drilling and glue breaking. It was a completely new experience for me, splitting a boat in half.
There appeared to be some seacast perhaps, between the splashwell and the transom. I was surprised to see that the bow deck stringers were wider than they were tall, as structurally that doesn’t seem logical at all. The fiberglass wasn't tabbed well either, as there seemed to be large air gaps underneath. In a restoration thread on a 15ft Checkmate, I noticed that it had tall stingers, likely made of ¾” plywood. When I walked across the deck on my hands and knees, I could feel the deck bend more than I was comfortable with. My plan is to mimic the design of the 15ft Checkmate.
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04-01-2020, 07:30 AM #18
Here's a few pics that I have on my computer at work. I have some regular Photos at home but they are not scanned on the computer.
2005 APR FORMULA 2 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
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04-02-2020, 07:51 AM #195000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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04-02-2020, 09:21 AM #205000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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August 3, 2014 – August 31, 2014
Transom removal occurred next. I was really shocked at how deceivingly strong that transom appeared, as clearly it was totally rotten. Although at $100, I really couldn’t complain. As I mentioned earlier, I likely could have sold the gauges and shades for a small profit, or at the very least broken even. If for nothing else, this offered a great lesson in boat purchasing for me, as I’ll know what to look for on the next one.
Last edited by starviper10; 04-02-2020 at 09:58 AM. Reason: add more pictures
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04-04-2020, 12:40 AM #215000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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September 6, 2014 – October 5, 2014
The next engine part purchases consisted of a freshly rebuilt 1500XS 6 hole lower unit and a 950 short shaft mid section. The 1500XS came from MN, and the mid section from VA, both from members on here. I was quick to do a mock up on the boat with an empty cowl, even though there was no deck or transom. I was absolutely thrilled with the short shaft look.
The 1500XS lower unit was not really planned. I was on the hunt to upgrade to a newer inline 6 lower unit. They have stainless steel shafts, so no worry of the pitting around the water pump seal like the older steal shafts. They are also slightly longer, allowing the leading edge to be less blunt. Some of the later model ones also have a swept back skeg.
I saw this 1500XS lower unit pop up for sale, and I was able to buy it for much less than our local, inline 6 experienced could rebuild one for. This one came from a very experienced prior Mercury employee, and he had already pulled it apart to inspect and reseal. This has that stainless steel shaft and that longer housing design. The 1500XS lower units never had the swept skeg, but I honestly prefer the straight skeg because it’s more period correct.
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04-04-2020, 11:24 AM #225000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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April 11, 2015 – April 19, 2015
Next up was the bulkhead removal. I’m not sure if this was stock, as there wasn’t any foam inside the bulkhead. I found an old plastic rope bag instead. I also cut out the remainder of the transom, at the very bottom.
I did come across some creative uses of sheet metal. At the stern, there were some sheet metal pieces spanning gaps between the floor and the transom, underneath fiberglass. On the opposite end of the floor, there was also some sheet metal hidden underneath fiberglass. It was at that point that I realized that the floor was likely replaced at some point, and replaced poorly.
Also pictured are some spider cracks on the deck that I didn’t really take notice of yet. I believe I found the cause though, as the dashboard piece had a crack in the tabbing to the deck directly underneath the spider cracks. I’m hopeful that after repairing that tabbing, the spider cracks won’t reappear.
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04-08-2020, 10:10 PM #235000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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May 26, 2015 – March 22, 2016
I started on the paint stripping of the mid section next. I also discovered that someone cut big square holes in the splashwell. I’m guessing that the same genius that made the cut out in the top of the transom realized after the fact that the thumb screws on the clamp brackets would require holes in the splashwell such that they could drop through at the lower engine install height. There were old rigging holes that were filled in as well. All the holes were poorly repaired, as it didn’t take much to pound them out. There was a lot of filler in general in the splashwell to make it smooth.
The next part purchase was a small ear 24p chopper. The plan was to jack the engine 3.5” off the 19” transom and run small ear chopper props. Naturally, I wanted to get an idea what it would like, so I made another mock up.
Last edited by starviper10; 04-09-2020 at 07:59 AM.
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04-08-2020, 11:01 PM #245000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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May 16, 2016 – September 25, 2016
I was on the hunt for a complete power trim system when I came across this late model long shaft mid section, lower unit, and power trim system package for sale. The seller wouldn’t separate just the trim system, and the asking price was a great deal, even if it was just for the trim system, so I bought the whole package. Two of the hydraulic lines looked almost brand new, and the other two were actually SS braided.
My goal for the steering system was a dual, opposed ride guide rack & pinion system, if I could find the parts, as some components have become hard to find. One part that is particularly rare is the secondary steering cable tube that bolts to the tilt tube. The MN guy that sold the 1500xs lower unit to me had one for sale that I bought.
I came across a great deal on a short mid with a power trim system on craigslist and bought it. I wanted to have a backup trim system, as I heard that certain replacement parts are not available for them. That was when I first learned of the two different diameter trim cylinders that were made.
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04-08-2020, 11:43 PM #255000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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November 15, 2016 – November 22, 2016
I finally completed the structural demolition of this hull with the removal of the floor and stringer. While the floor wasn’t totally rotten, it was delaminating, and lacked fiberglass in the middle. The tabbing to the hull was not adhered well at all, as it was surprisingly easy to remove (tabbing came out in large sections). I had the angle grinder with the cutting disc all ready to go, but I ended up only needing a crowbar to remove everything. There was a lot of 5200 used to fill in the gaps between the floor edges and the hull.
When I pulled the floor out, I was shocked to see that I had also pulled the stinger up with it, as it was still attached to the floor. Just when I thought all the hidden poor work had been discovered, I come to find that the floor and the stringer were constructed of 2 pieces, screwed together with sheet metal strips. Even worse, there were gaps between the bottom of the stringer and the hull, evident by the fiberglass/resin that leaked under the stringer. I still don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t replace the floor and stringer with one piece of lumber. It’s such a short stringer, so it’s not like you can use length as an excuse (less than 8 ft long).
I suppose I should give some credit, as at least the two piece floor overlapped the two piece stringer…
I was also slowly working on creating a CAD model of the boat. I wanted to play around with different rebuild ideas for the stringer, floor, transom, and transom crossmember/knees.
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04-10-2020, 01:41 AM #265000 RPM
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- May 2014
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November 3, 2016 – December 31, 2016
Here is the first Super BP component I got my hands on. I was not actively looking for any BP parts, but I came across an eBay ad for a lower unit out of CA, and I noticed that the mid section was not a typical stock mid. I confirmed with some inline 6 experts that it was in fact a studs up 15” 1000/1250 Super BP mid (https://www.screamandfly.com/showthr...ercury-1000-BP). The first two pictures are from the ad, with the powerhead and lower unit mounted. The mid didn’t have a serial number plate, so even if the powerhead was a 1000BP powerhead, it wouldn’t be worth any more than a typical 100hp powerhead. For it to be a 1000 Super BP, it would have 115/135 transfer port covers and a cast in starter bracket. Note that this mid has the adapter to be able to run any SSM or stock lower unit, in contrast to the unique bolt pattern of the BP lower units. These adapters (and BP mids in general) are actually rather hard to find.
The seller didn’t seem to know much about this, and wasn’t against parting it out. So I put an offer out on just the mid and he took it. I really liked the look of the BP mid (yet another mock up shown below), so my plan at the time was just to run the 100hp powerhead on it with the 1500XS lower unit. Little did I know I’d find other BP parts later down the road…
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04-15-2020, 05:02 PM #275000 RPM
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- Mar 2016
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- cincinnati, ohio
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[QUOTE=starviper10;3197127]Nope
Do you have a title to the MX15???
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04-21-2020, 11:12 PM #285000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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2016/17 Winter Break
Hopefully I haven’t bored anyone yet with the relatively little amount of progress that occurred over the first 3 years of this project. Other than cutting out the old rotten structure, I really only bought parts. However, I had an excellent opportunity over my 2016 winter break as a sophomore in college to make a lot of progress on the structural rebuild of the hull. During that 4 week winter break, I returned to a local marina that I had worked at the summer before. My boss knew about my project, and offered to let me bring the boat in and to help me with the fiberglass work, but only if I could help him finish up some customer boat projects first. So for the first 2 weeks I worked there on customer boats, and then I brought the Checkmate in for the last 2 weeks. That 2 week period was the most amount of time (~90 hours), and the most amount of progress I had achieved in such a short timeframe on this boat. I was able to complete the transom, stringer, floor, and transom knees.
This was a real turning point for this project. I had such little fiberglass experience before this, so I really needed some guidance and help. My boss went above and beyond, offering up a bay and his guidance & assistance. The best part was that I did pretty much all the work myself, with the exception of the occasional example work he’d perform for me to follow. However, glassing in the transom was definitely a two person job, and a job I did not want to mess up.
Looking back, there are definitely some things I would have done differently. Given that this project started in high school and continued through college, I didn’t have the biggest budget, so there was likely some better, more expensive material selection options I could have gone with. My boss was not familiar with coosa, so we went with marine grade plywood. Having seen how many of you are experienced with coosa and willing to share your methods, I think I’d definitely like to use coosa on the next boat project, if budget allows of course.
All in all, I think this boat has provided a great first experience for me with fiberglass work. I know it’s not perfect, but I also know that it’s likely wrong to expect perfection on my first attempt. That would be rather arrogant of me and disrespectful to fiberglass professionals to think that I could learn how to master fiberglass work in such a short time with such little experience. Given that this is a small boat, and I paid all of $100 for it, I think it makes a great first time project, as it’s not a rare or large or expensive boat if I totally screw it up.
That being said, please feel free to point out anything I overlooked or did incorrectly. I’m splitting the deck and hull again to replace the deck structure, so there’s opportunity to go back and make some modifications if need be, but within reason of course.
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04-22-2020, 12:03 AM #295000 RPM
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- May 2014
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- WI
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Transom Install: Jan 4, 2017 – Jan 7, 2017
Structure wise, I rebuilt the stringer, floor, transom, and transom crossmember identical to how it came from the factory. However, I added transom knees inspired by the MX-15. The MX-14’s were rated for 100hp, while the MX-15 (15ft) went up to 150hp. Other than being wider, the only structural transom difference between the MX-15 & the MX-14 is the presence of transom knees on the MX-15. With my plan to raise the engine off the transom, I wanted to make sure the transom was well built.
The first install was the transom, comprised of 2 sheets of ¾” marine plywood with CSM between & on both faces, and resin around the edges to seal (all wood was completely sealed before bonding to hull). Screws sandwich the middle CSM layer. The crossmember is constructed the same way to essentially create a 2x4. The crossmember is screwed to the transom on edge with a layer of CSM between, followed with CSM tabbing above and below. I used some resin jelly to fill the gap between the transom & the hull before the final install. The transom went in for the final time with 2 layers of CSM between it and the transom skin. Clamps & screws through some lumber compressed the transom while curing. I later tabbed it to the hull.
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04-23-2020, 12:18 AM #305000 RPM
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- May 2014
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Stringer + Floor Install: January 9, 2017 – January 13, 2017
The stringer construction is identical to the transom & crossmember (screws sandwiching a CSM layer between two ¾” marine plywood sections with CSM on both outer faces). It was installed with 2 wet layers of CSM between it and the hull. I overlapped 2 tabbing layers of CSM on each side to the hull.
Two wet CSM layers went between the stringer and the floor, with screws as well. I found that having a marina full of stored customer batteries was rather convenient to weigh both the stringer and the floor down.
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