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Calabria rebuild

Fabhouse

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I have been working on this Calabria ProV for the last month and it has been going well. Craigslist find-Original owner left it out to rot, last tags were 2009 (boat is a 2001). The guy I bought it from took it apart and decided it was too much for him to handle. The boat had been left out uncovered, with the plug in. The bilge filled, and ruined LOTS of things. The gel coat and trailer were badly oxidized, and pretty much everything was in bad shape. Amazingly, the engine, trans and drive were only affected on the surface, not internally. All parts were opened and inspected, and mostly got cosmetic refreshing. Components were the bulk of the drivetrain expense, including- flywheel, drive adapter, starter, alternator, water pump, pulleys, fuel pump, regulator, injectors, circuit breakers, etc. I also replaced most of the hoses and anything that I thought a 20 year old boat would need any way. The steering cable was seized, and replaced with new. As mentioned above, the short time owner was in over his head, and decided to take it apart. Completely. This boat came home in kit form, with equal parts on the trailer and in the bed of my truck. Sorting, cleaning and figuring out how things go added hours to an already large project.
Pictures from when I picked it up-
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Fabhouse

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Started by pressure washing everything, sorting parts, and an initial cut on the gel coat. I dislike working on dirty boats or cars, so getting a little shine to start with is always encouraging. The engine was in great shape, with cross hatching in all cylinders- I started to wonder how much use this boat had- The keel had zero scratches, the prop was near new, and the spare prop was unused. More on that later. Parts were ordered, and then more...and where are the F'ing push rods? Previous owner lost a few things, mostly hardware fortunately. New SS hdwe for the exhaust and wet parts, new Gr8 for everything else. Trans and V-drive had clean fluid in them, and were inspected with a borescope. Took the assembled drivetrain as a unit, with the boat, to my warehouse for forklift installation- engine hoist wasn't going to handle the height in the garage. An hour later, I had a complete boat, well, a boat with an engine in it.
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Fabhouse

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It runs! after a day of hooking everything up, rebuilding the Cool-Fuel system, including modifiying the replacement pump to fit the existing o-ring seal vs. the 1/8npt it shipped with, getting the water system complete minus the hot water shower (for now), and finding that I had punctured the oil filter during engine installation (via 2 quarts of bilge oil), we were running and the first major hurdle was crossed! So when I finally got the engine hooked up, and therefore, the gauges, I could finally read the digital hour meter. 39.9. THIRTY NINE HOURS!
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I then moved back to cleaning-lots of it. About 25 hours of compound/polish/finish and countless times cleaning gel out of the buffing pad. I had to color sand the gunnel above the trim line to remove some etching from hard water. It is far from perfect, but I am not a professional, and its shiny enough for my kids to scratch. After that, the interior was removed for recovering, and I was able to clean all the interior liner, repaint the chipped windshield frame, and touch up some detail areas.
 

King295

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Looks like you are off to the races with a boat that was never even broken in. Sure looked like an undertaking from the initial pics but this looks like its right up your alley. Great thread, keep us in the loop of the progress.
 

Fabhouse

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Great score! Any wood in that hull or all fiberglass?
Honestly not positive, but everything I have checked has been solid, and no signs of major damage.
I believe the transom is all glass, and the floors are. If the stringers are wood, they are very well sealed. None of the normal signs of any delam or rot. Hoping for the best!
 

mash on it

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Like every boat I've owned-
Some assembly required.
Batteries not included.

Nice job on that float.

L31 (assuming) runs nice with 1.6 rockers.

Dan'l
 

Fabhouse

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Like every boat I've owned-
Some assembly required.
Batteries not included.

Nice job on that float.

L31 (assuming) runs nice with 1.6 rockers.

Dan'l
Runs well on the trailer, but haven't had it in the water yet. I dropped it off yesterday at SoCal Marine Interiors for a complete new interior. I have not used them previously, but the quality of work looks excellent, and Dave has been great to deal with so far. It might be ready by the years end, very excited to see how it turns out. I will be sure to share photos as it progresses.
The swim step was missing, so building a replacement will be the next step when it returns.
 

HydroSkreamin

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Good on you for bringing it back to life.
It always amazes me to see boats sitting out uncovered just wasting away.

You’ve got more hours redoing it than the boat has on it!
I’m sure your family will enjoy your creation just as much as you.
 

Fabhouse

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Went to the interior shop today to drop off new hatch latches and was surprised to see the boat had a good amount of the interior installed! workmanship is excellent so far. The pictures make the interior look brighter that it is in person, the colors look very good, and (as I asked for) the stitching and patterns are exactly as delivered new.
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Fabhouse

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Just got the boat back from So Cal Boat Interiors-very happy with the results. Dave matched the factory patterns and stitching perfectly and the material quality is excellent. Dropped the boat off December 2nd, picked it up today, the 16th- 2 weeks! I was told 6-8 weeks, and I was fine with that, but it sure is nice to have it done. ***a note on a few things: I know the tower is terrible, it will be replaced as budget allows. Bimini and swim step soon, both before summer. I understand the "love" RDP has for this type of boat, and couldn't agree more-they are dock destroying asshole piloted slow moving river chicanes. Hopefully you can all rest easy knowing this will be used south of Blythe, where very few boaters are, and there are no docks or property to damage. Its a great family boat with lots of room, and importantly, storage. We considered a pontoon for the same reasons, but my wife likes to ski and wakeboard, and the kids will want to as well. It fits our needs, and the price was right. With the boat purchase, parts, materials, interior, registration, etc. I am currently into it around 15,000.00. I figure another few thousand for the step, bimini and stereo, which I will build and install, aside from the bimini cover. Excited to get it in the water soon.
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HydroSkreamin

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Nice clean, low hour boat for under $20K with upgrades; what’s not to like about that?!? Plus it’s nice enough that you’re not embarrassed to be in it but won’t have a bird with kids being kids in it.

Any stereo upgrades in the future?
 

Fabhouse

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Nice clean, low hour boat for under $20K with upgrades; what’s not to like about that?!? Plus it’s nice enough that you’re not embarrassed to be in it but won’t have a bird with kids being kids in it.

Any stereo upgrades in the future?

Thank you! The stereo for now will be fairly simple, I plan to add a second battery and a switch to isolate the engine battery when the key is off, a sub and high amp, 4 6.5" speakers to fill the existing holes on the dash and seat bases, and build a small sub box in the front storage area. I have 2 pods for the tower that I may reinstall. Still looking at options to replace the existing oversized head unit. Any recommendations for a bluetooth head unit on a budget?
 

PilotRyan

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Fabhouse

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I was able to get the boat wet on Sunday, but things went, not great.
After refreshing all the systems, the boat ran great on the trailer. Myself and a friend went to Puddingstone to do a quick test and we were not able to run the boat. I left the boat hooked to the bow, and the floating part went fine-that I was happy about. Started right up, revved, all good. Clicked it into reverse before unhooking just to check. Engine dies.
One hour later, thinking its just bad fuel, we tow it back home and start checking things-
12 PSI fuel pressure.
More system checks, all good. Filter, lines etc..
Fuel pump part number, not good. Fit the Cool Fuel case, seemed to work, I received the carb pump, not the FI pump.
Replacement arrived today, going to try to lake test Saturday. Wish us luck!
 

Fabhouse

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Good luck!!


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Spent an hour on the lake today! Much better than the last run, still a few quirks to work out, but nothing major. Started, ran, floated, idled, etc..it was a good day. The prop I had on it initially was too large, and would only pull 4000 rpm (13.5 x 17.5-huge). Switched to the other prop that came with the boat, and it ran up to the limiter pretty quick (13 x 13-small). Both 4 blade. I think the smaller prop will be fine with a loaded boat, I was running a pretty much empty boat, full fuel tank and 2 guys. If speed was a goal I'd buy a different boat, but its nice to have a balance between cruise speed and towing power. I'm going to try to make a few changes and run it again next week. (I will remember pictures next time).
 

Fabhouse

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Had a nice day (hour) on the lake last week to test a few repairs. The TPS sensor was showing an odd ohm range, and the new one seems to have solved the lean condition at WOT. My wife did all the driving and I enjoyed the perfect weather.
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Fabhouse

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Its a rainy day, so I got back to the swim step build. I purchased some aluminum a few weeks ago to fit over the existing quick disconnect bosses mounted to the boat. I found the correct mounts originally used on this boat and also some Malibu ski boats, but at 400.00 each, so making my own was the best option. The welds are far from my best, but my 250 amp machine decided that it was done working. I swapped everything over to my 180 amp welder, and hoped for the best. 1/4" aluminum, cold weather, and a heat sink welding bench were not helping the little machine at all. I was able to pre-heat the material just enough to make it work, but having the pedal floored, no modulation, and barely enough amperage does not equal pretty. In the end its all fine, and you can't see the brackets when it's in the water. Time to find some wood. Anyone know where to find reasonably priced teak?
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Shrub Lurker

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also have a couple glass swim steps that may fit those fancy brackets
 
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