Wiring 90% Complete

I just got back from Cape Carteret, NC and the home of Joe Ward. Joe has been really into fishing for his whole life too, and just learned how to work on boats (including wiring) out of necessity over the years. He had the wiring all run and ready for everything to be connected when I got there. He was nice enough to let me work with him so that I could learn a little about wiring. It was really exciting to see the various components come alive. The trim tabs are hooked up and moving, the hydraulic jack plate is moving that 70 Yamaha, and speakers and stereo system are live, and the depthfinder is on. To Joe's credit, everything worked just like it should the first time, so today was a pretty efficient day. Joe knew how much time I've got in the boat, so he waited for me to come up and cut the holes where the components needed to go. We decided to put the speakers up front on the bulkhead instead of on the center console, which was a good call. It's almost there. Hoping to get wiring complete and get the outboard fired up on Tuesday of next week.

Here's a picture of the tunnel hull.

Joe Ward making sense of the chaos

Stereo, speakers, and depthfinder all hooked up.

About Set

The boat is just about ready. I got the topside painted. Then I taped off all the areas that needed to be non-skidded. I sanded the non-skid areas, and then rolled on more paint mixed with non-skid particles. I ran the cables for the controls, steering, trim tabs, and jack plate. Right now, Joe Ward (former owner of Joe's Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Beach) is helping me out with the wiring. I got the Yamaha mounted on the jack plate, so it is almost ready to hit the water for the first time--just in time for speckled trout fishing time!

Topside getting painted

Transom with trim tabs and jack plate. Blue tape is for non-skid.

Here's a picture of the front deck with non-skid

Here's the console.

Final product

Ready for wiring.