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Hi Everyone,
I am back for another season. Took a break during the winter while my 2001 248V was covered in shrink wrap and two feet of snow. I like to do at least two major projects each season while the boat is on land. I don't have a trailer so she stays in the water all season and some things are just a pain in the ass while floating.
Anyway, this place is amazing for advice so I wanted to bounce a few ideas off you guys.
Project One: Secondary Bilge Pump... I almost LOST my entire boat TWICE last year. During a heavy rainstorm, I went out to check on the Vista, Walked in the cabin and SPLASH! WTF!!! There was one inch of water in my cabin, coming through the shower bilge panel. I pulled the engine cover and HOLY SHIT, two feet of water! Luckily I had a high flow portable pump in my garage and drained it immediately. I doubt the Vista would sink completely from a flooded bilge, but I don't want to find out and I don't want my engine EVER getting any more wet than it did. The water was nearly reaching the battery shelf. Anyway, I almost died trying to reach the bilge, got pissed and took a quick boat cruise (with no bilge pump) to the closest Marina. Somehow the plastic mounting bracket the pump sits on cracked so the pump was just blowing water right back into the bilge. It was like a jacuzzi in there. Anyway, 3 month later, the same thing happens, but this was two days before the boat was getting pulled for the season so I pumped it out and it has been on land ever since. This time, the bilge pump is simply dead. It is getting power, but the motor is seized. So... I am going to replace it, and add a secondary bilge pump but I have no idea where I am going to put it, or how to mount it to the bottom of the bilge properly. Also, getting under there is a complete nightmare. Has anyone added a secondary bilge pump to a 248V?
Project Two: Convert grey water tank system to overboard discharge. Why the hell am I carrying my shower and sink water around with me. I use bio-safe soap on the boat, and don't even use the shower, but I do use the sinks to wash my hands, wash glasses, things like that. My Vista is in the Ocean, or in saltwater rivers depending on my mood. I want to... one) somehow reroute the shower sump to go right through the hull and two) remove the entire greywater tank so I can use that huge compartment for storage. I hope someone has done this project, because I don't want to guess at this one. Maybe someone without a greywater tank can tell me where their sump hose is specifically routed and where the thruhull is. I have a thru-hull on the port side connected to the main deck drain, maybe I could tap into that with a check valve if I could get the sump output over there, under the stairs maybe?
Project Three: Replace my PoS Standard Horizon GPS screen with something a bit more modern. I am sure the OEM Standard Horizon was cutting edge in 2001, but it is pretty lame compared to some of the new models I have seen. It would be a miracle if I could reuse my existing GPS antenna. Has anyone upgraded?
Project Four: Last year I started the process of installing air conditioning. Four Hours and 5000 F-bombs later, that project was abandoned, forever! That is the most frustrating project anyone could ever attempt. So this year, I am going LOW tech. I have been looking for an extremely small portable air conditioner. You know those stand alone units? I bought one for my house and it works pretty well. What I need is a tiny one. The idea is to put it on top of a rubber coated panel on top of the captains bed. I will only use it when docked. I just can't find one small enough. I can't believe no one makes a 2000-3000BTU portable air conditioner. I don't even care about the BTU rating, I just want the smallest physical footprint. Web surfers unite! Any ideas?
Project Five: I just bought an awesome Honda eu2000 Generator, recommended on these forums. The project is to simply screw around with this thing. It is amazing. I was playing with it a couple nights ago in my back yard. What a great piece of hardware. My plan is to run it on the swim platform with a safety bungee to the rail handle so it won't fall in the water. I bought a nice 15' white shore power cable that will run nicely around the side and into the port shore power socket. I can't wait to use it.
In case anyone needs advice on my current mods, feel free to ping me...
Current Mods:
-Under Swim Platform Green LEDs (amazing)
Found the idea on these forums somewhere. Get tons of comments on those.
-New Remote Control Guest Spotlight (huge pain to remap wires)
The old spotlight was just ugly and started to yellow. The new one is all sleek and modern looking, brighter and seems to tilt/pan faster than the OEM. Looks like a bright while ET head.
-Lewmar ProSeries Horizontal Windlass (best thing ever)
-New Boot Stripes! Haha, I will never do that again. Getting those things straight was a nightmare.
-20" Samsung HDTV
Widescreen LCD Panel with OTA HDTV Antenna, TV mounted in place of oval mirror, all wiring invisible behind bow panel, through the port side and back to a surge protector mounted under port shelf.
-Apple MacMini Computer integrated to TV with wifi, bluetooth keyboard mouse, serves as iTunes music player, DVD player and anything else you can use a computer for (aka. porn). Haha just kidding, but hadn't thought of it until now.
-Dual Under Shelf Mount DC powered swivel fans to circulate air in the dinette area
-New Sony Stereo Head Unit, Plays MP3 CDs, also added 40GB iPOD
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