1997 1700 Overhaul Project

[Andy]

Congrats on the finished product! Your work has been an inspiration. She looks awesome! That custom switch panel is a nice touch!
Therein lies the one thing I enjoy about all the doers on here... you all take pride in your work and it shows up in the finished product. Alot to be said for that.

Ditto's on Puck-n-fish's comment, and something to add/piggy-back on that thought...
You ClassicParker folks have an amazing amount of talent, knowledge and energy for building/re-building/ tearing boats apart (and putting them back together, better than new!)/modifying/ gear-adding/ electrical-mechanical... I have learned more from you all in the past few years than I could ever had imagined; And I'm thankful for that, and I'm also thankful that I had the good sense to get a Parker, or I likely would never had come across this ClassicParker site! ☺

 

[pelagic2530]

Thanks everyone! I've learned a ton researching, planning, and doing this project. Couldn't have even really comprehended taking this on a year ago; but the guidance I got on this site pointed me in the right direction to what I needed to learn, and kept me on the right track throughout the whole thing. Still have some more projects to catch up on posting, and a few left to do. But hopefully some things in here can help some other members out like they've helped me!

 

[pelagic2530]

Looks freakin awsome! How about some electric tabs with the JoyStick? I've mocked mine up and the 18x12's will fit with the OEM ladder, Just trying to justify the exspense. I had a Permatrim on my other 18', It helped but needed more. I cant decide if I want new holes in the lower unit or transom
.
Edit: Wait, I see you have the underwater light and transducer in the way for tabs.

Thanks TomC! I'm also debating tabs, although I'd have to go with some little baby ones so they'd fit around the obstructions you mentioned. I might be able to fit some 12x9s in there. The other issue is I don't have the battery boxes in the corners, so the wires would be exposed once they pass through the transom. I'm not sure it's worth it at this point, once I run it a bit more I'll make a decision on that.

The covers are custom made by Custom Tops Inc. in Virginia Beach. I got a full boat cover, a console cover, a motor cover, and a leaning post cover all fabricated at once. Total cost was about $1600. The fabric is super thick and really well made. The owner warrantees his work for 5 years, and I have absolutely no doubt that it'll last twice that. It's at least twice as thick and heavy duty as other covers I've bought online. The only thing I would have done differently is to have the motor cover integrated into the full boat cover, as the way it is now there's a cutout around the outboard, and water tends to drip inside the boat and into the scupper well. Not a big deal, since it drains right back out, but I'd like to avoid any water in there at all.

 

[pelagic2530]

What boat and engine cover is that?

A couple better pictures of the covers:


The boat cover will stretch tighter if you use the tie down loops along the bottom, but the drawstring is so effective at keeping it in place, I usually don't bother.

 

[DanLovingood]

Norva made a new windshield for my 1800 a couple years back. They absolutely do a great job on fabrication and are also a terrific source for all sorts of plastics for the boat. If you need a small piece of something (like Starboard), they will hunt around in their scrap bin and usually find what you need. I highly recommend them - GREAT people to deal with!

Cap'n Dan

 

[pelagic2530]

Part 12: VHF Install

So after the first initial sea trial, I went for another boat ride on a nicer day to test out some of the performance. It was later in the evening, and flat calm out, so I was only planning on running out to the CBBT. When I got there, I thought... well hey, it's so nice out that I could probably make it to the Chesapeake Light Tower! Wouldn't that be a fun ride! So I set out. Fast forward about a half hour, and another 15 miles offshore, and the "Bad Idea" alarm starts going off in my head. It's winter, the water is 40 degrees, it'll be dark here soon, nobody knows were you are... plus, I had no EPIRB, and no good way to call for help other than a handheld VHF with a dubiously charged battery in the emergency box. I pulled out my cell phone: 1 bar of service. I could see the tower a couple miles away, but I'm a fan of the old adage "just because you spent a lot of time making a bad choice, doesn't mean you should keep making it." I turned around and headed back in, and sure enough it was definitely dark by the time I got to the ramp. On the way in, it was calm, but this was the Atlantic, and there were a couple times that I launched the boat at 30kts off a big swell, and didn't particularly like feeling as though I could go overboard and get to watch the boat motor away with nobody on board. For the first time in awhile, I put on the corded kill switch, which made me feel better but was a true pain in the a$$ to work around.

This little unwise venture made me realize a few things: I don't like not having a solid means of communication; and I also need a better way of ensuring I stay with the boat should something happen.

In order to solve the first issue, I decided a fixed mount VHF was in order. I have an Unlimited TowBoat US membership, but that doesn't do me much good if I can't call them. And, as my almost entirely discharged (as it turned out) handheld VHF proves, I don't want to have to rely on just that one unit. Some pictures of the install are below:






I went with an ICOM M330G unit. It's one of the most compact fixed mount VHFs I could find, while still having all the features I wanted. It has an internal GPS receiver, so the DSC distress feature will work without needing to be connected to the network.

For the antenna, I installed a Shakespeare QuickConnect rail mount with the 4' fiberglass antenna. The QuickConnect antenna allows me to remove the antenna completely from the rail mount for storage, or if using the console cover. The cover fits with the antenna in the down position, but just barely. I ran the coax cable through a Scanstrut cable gland on the side of the console, to a Shakespeare antenna splitter in anticipation of adding a stereo at some point. The coax from the splitter and the power wires then go through another cable gland on top of the dash to the head unit.

The head unit comes with it's own GPS puck antenna for the internal receiver. Which is great, except that it has a 15' cable attached to it. I needed about 6"; and I wasn't a fan of having all that cable bundled up on my dash:

Instead, a quick web search led me to a stubby, right angle GPS antenna with the same SMA-male connector. $20 and a few days later, and I have a perfectly functioning VHF with GPS input, and a much cleaner installation:

So at least I now have communications, and a way to monitor weather alerts while fishing the bay.

 

[pelagic2530]

Part 13: MOB+ Electronic Kill Switch Install

Continuing with the thread of "lessons learned" from the trip to (almost) Ches Light, I wanted a more user-friendly option for an engine kill switch that would allow me to move around the boat and wouldn't get in my way, but would shut off the motor if I fell overboard. Researching a few systems, I came up with two finalists: the ACR OLAS system, and the Fell Marine MOB+ system. Both have their advantages; in the end I settled on the Fell Marine system. It's a simpler install, and I don't have the need for the greater sophistication that the ACR system provides.

The install was fairly straightforward. The wiring harness splices into the corded kill switch module. By wiring them in parallel, you can preserve the function of the corded switch, while adding the wireless ability of the MOB+ unit. The diagrams provided with the unit and available from the manufacturer were nearly perfect; in my case one of the wiring colors was slightly different so I pulled out the corded unit to verify. Other than that, it was an easy splice job and one 2 1/8" hole saw cut.

Pictures of the dash unit install:




In the last picture, you can see the inside portion of the dash unit. It needs about 4" of clearance inside, and in addition to the wiring harness plug there's a small flexible antenna that is used to detect the loss of the signal from the fob. The harness also needs a connection to 12v power.

The fob is small, with a single push button. Once the fob is paired with the dash unit, the engine can be started. If the fob gets far enough away, the engine will shut off and alarm. After 6 seconds, the engine can be restarted, in case a passenger on the boat needs to maneuver back to pick you up. Testing it in my driveway, the shutoff distance was about 50'. I imagine that with the fob submerged in water, it would lose the signal a lot faster. You can also manually shut off the motor by pressing the button on the fob. Pressing it again resets the system and allows the motor to be restarted. The fob is a little bigger than a bottle cap, and they offer wristbands, clips, or lanyards to make carrying it on you easier. Mine lives in the little pocket on my inflatable life jacket. The system also allows you to configure 3 additional fobs as "alarm" fobs for passengers or pets; if one of them gets far enough away the engine will not shut off, but the alarm will sound.

If you're just testing or rinsing the motor, the system can be put into override mode by pressing the dash unit button for 10 seconds, after which the motor can be started; the unit will blink and beep every 30 seconds while in override mode. Should the system fail entirely, there's an emergency cap on the wiring harness; installing the cap makes an electrical connection that will bypass the system entirely.

I'm very happy with this installation. It's nice to have the peace of mind that should I get bounced out of the boat, or fall overboard tripping over my own feet while trolling, I won't have too far to swim to get back aboard.

 

[Andy]

Part 12: VHF Install

So after the first initial sea trial, I went for another boat ride on a nicer day to test out some of the performance. It was later in the evening, and flat calm out, so I was only planning on running out to the CBBT. When I got there, I thought... well hey, it's so nice out that I could probably make it to the Chesapeake Light Tower! Wouldn't that be a fun ride! So I set out. Fast forward about a half hour, and another 15 miles offshore, and the "Bad Idea" alarm starts going off in my head. It's winter, the water is 40 degrees, it'll be dark here soon, nobody knows were you are... plus, I had no EPIRB, and no good way to call for help other than a handheld VHF with a dubiously charged battery in the emergency box. I pulled out my cell phone: 1 bar of service. I could see the tower a couple miles away, but I'm a fan of the old adage "just because you spent a lot of time making a bad choice, doesn't mean you should keep making it." I turned around and headed back in, and sure enough it was definitely dark by the time I got to the ramp. On the way in, it was calm, but this was the Atlantic, and there were a couple times that I launched the boat at 30kts off a big swell, and didn't particularly like feeling as though I could go overboard and get to watch the boat motor away with nobody on board. For the first time in awhile, I put on the corded kill switch, which made me feel better but was a true pain in the a$$ to work around.

This little unwise venture made me realize a few things: I don't like not having a solid means of communication; and I also need a better way of ensuring I stay with the boat should something happen.

In order to solve the first issue, I decided a fixed mount VHF was in order. I have an Unlimited TowBoat US membership, but that doesn't do me much good if I can't call them. And, as my almost entirely discharged (as it turned out) handheld VHF proves, I don't want to have to rely on just that one unit. Some pictures of the install are below:
View attachment 28215
View attachment 28216
View attachment 28217
View attachment 28218
View attachment 28219

I went with an ICOM M330G unit. It's one of the most compact fixed mount VHFs I could find, while still having all the features I wanted. It has an internal GPS receiver, so the DSC distress feature will work without needing to be connected to the network.

For the antenna, I installed a Shakespeare QuickConnect rail mount with the 4' fiberglass antenna. The QuickConnect antenna allows me to remove the antenna completely from the rail mount for storage, or if using the console cover. The cover fits with the antenna in the down position, but just barely. I ran the coax cable through a Scanstrut cable gland on the side of the console, to a Shakespeare antenna splitter in anticipation of adding a stereo at some point. The coax from the splitter and the power wires then go through another cable gland on top of the dash to the head unit.

The head unit comes with it's own GPS puck antenna for the internal receiver. Which is great, except that it has a 15' cable attached to it. I needed about 6"; and I wasn't a fan of having all that cable bundled up on my dash:
View attachment 28221
Instead, a quick web search led me to a stubby, right angle GPS antenna with the same SMA-male connector. $20 and a few days later, and I have a perfectly functioning VHF with GPS input, and a much cleaner installation:
View attachment 28222
So at least I now have communications, and a way to monitor weather alerts while fishing the bay.

Nice set-up! I like the feature with your ICOM VHF that has it's own GPS receiver, so lets the MMSI work without being connected to a separate GPS... Our ICOM IC-M-412 is connected to the Garmin 1040XS and gets it's GPS signal (for the MMSI) from the Garmin... Sooooo, if the Garmin 1040 XS has a problem, the VHF doesn't get the signal. (I don't know if the IC-M-412 has the ability to receive it's own GPS signal)...

 

[pelagic2530]

Nice set-up! I like the feature with your ICOM VHF that has it's own GPS receiver, so lets the MMSI work without being connected to a separate GPS... Our ICOM IC-M-412 is connected to the Garmin 1040XS and gets it's GPS signal (for the MMSI) from the Garmin... Sooooo, if the Garmin 1040 XS has a problem, the VHF doesn't get the signal. (I don't know if the IC-M-412 has the ability to receive it's own GPS signal)...

I liked the fact that I didn't need to mess around with a NMEA connection, and that it would continue to function even if the Simrad unit was down. But the long antenna was definitely going to be a issue for me, so I'm glad I found a workaround. Doesn't seem to be any loss in reception due to the different antenna.

 

[pelagic2530]

As a fix to the livewell filling itself while underway, I sourced and installed a 316SS 3/4" ball valve from Pro Flow Dynamics. Camlock Fittings -Tri-Clamp Fittings - Homebrew Hardware - Stainless Steel Ball Valves. As it turns out, the Johnson livewell pump I chose has input/output male 3/4" NPT threads, to which threaded hose barb adapters fit. So, a 3/4" FNPT/FNPT ball valve threads right on, and a MNPT hose barb fitting on the other side provides an attachment point for the hose. I had to shorten the handle a bit so that it would clear other obstructions in the bilge.


Now, the sea **** can be left open to use the washdown, without the livewell filling up.

 

[Seaway85]

After it was cured, I screwed the base onto the top of the threaded pickup stem, getting it as close to the correct orientation as possible. It turned out that the closest I could get it was about a 1/6 turn off from tight. I likewise bedded it with 5200, and fastened it down with the bolts. Once the 5200 cured, the slight gap was filled in and the whole assembly is rock solid.

Hey Pelagic, I'm curious about how everything fit together for you. I thought that NPS fittings needed to bottom-out in order to be water-tight. I'm guessing that's not the case and your fitting was water tight at 1/6th of a turn from bottoming out? I'm not trying to critique, I'm just curious because I'm about to tackle the same job on my boat, and I've been using your install to guide my plans (as well as a few others' here on CP).

 

[pelagic2530]

Hey Pelagic, I'm curious about how everything fit together for you. I thought that NPS fittings needed to bottom-out in order to be water-tight. I'm guessing that's not the case and your fitting was water tight at 1/6th of a turn from bottoming out? I'm not trying to critique, I'm just curious because I'm about to tackle the same job on my boat, and I've been using your install to guide my plans (as well as a few others' here on CP).

The NPS threads on the scoop fitting and the seacock are a bit misleading and add to a lot of confusion on the subject, IMO. The basic concept, supported by Groco's documentation, is that the threads between the seacock and the pickup aren't intended to produce the seal on their own. The seal is accomplished by the use of sealant around the scoop fitting on the exterior hull surface, and sealant around the base of the seacock on the interior hull surface. Hence, it's not necessary for the top of the scoop stem to fully engage with the seacock.

Attached is Groco documentation on seacock installation.

 

[Seaway85]

Agreed with the NPS threads and confusion...

To me, the sealant between the scoop and the outside hull stops water from entering the hole in the hull from the outside, while the sealant between the seacock flange and the inside hull stops water from leaking into the bilge from the hole in the hull, but what's stopping water from leaking into the hole in the hull from the non-leak-tight NPS fitting?!

Looking at the technical bulletin you sent, and taking a closer look at the seacock that arrived this week, I noticed the area around the female thread opening that's machined-out to hold sealant.


Now I feel a little better about everything being water tight... the caulking should form a seal around the threads, not just between the flange and the bilge. That wasn't clicking for me before. Thank you!

 

[tomc585]

Have you been out much since March? I was wondering if your opinion is the same with the new ball scuppers.

 

[pelagic2530]

Have you been out much since March? I was wondering if your opinion is the same with the new ball scuppers.

I've been underway for work since about mid-March, so I haven't had the chance to play with the boat. But I had her out 2-3 times with the new scuppers before I left, performance was flawless. I'd highly recommend the upgrade if you're going to be installing new ones anyway.

 

[pelagic2530]

Time for a revisit… I’ve been too busy out playing with the boat to keep this thread up to date! There’s a few new projects since this spring and a lot more hours on the boat. Some of this stuff has been posted on this site or on the Parker FB pages, but I’ll add it to this thread as well for the record.

Part 14: Cleat replacement

For some reason, traditional top-mounted cleats bother me. It always seems like things are getting hung up on them, they’re in the way, or I’m stubbing my toe on them getting on/off the boat or walking on the covering boards. Plus, they ruin the nice clean profile lines of the boat. With those admittedly weak justifications, I decided to upgrade mine to pull-up cleats. I also wanted to add an additional set of midships cleats while I was at it. I usually use the boat alone, and having a cleat right next to the console makes it easier to tie up the boat by myself.

I chose the Gemlux Sleek Cutting Edge cleats. I’ve used Gemlux products for almost all the stainless fittings in this project; I’ve never gotten a bad product from them. These were no different. I chose the 6” model for the stern and midshipcleats. On the bow, I decided to replace the two standard cleats with one single, larger cleat mounted in the middle of the bow. This gives me a beefier attachment point for an anchor or a towline. I chose an 8” model for the bow.

I’ve always been a proponent of strong cleats: Be it a tube, a towline, a hung up mooring line, or a JAWS buoy, you never know what they’re going to have to hold. In my mind, the cleat or the hardware should break before it pulls out of the gunnel. So instead on the normal thru-bolt and washer, I decided to have backing plates fabricated by a local metal shop, Metal Concepts in Norfolk VA. The aft/midship cleats are about 3” x 9”, and the bow ended up about 12” x 12” after trimming. The bow area on the 1700 isn’t cored, it’s just about 5/16” thick glass with a single stringer running across the middle, so I wanted to give the cleat as much support as possible, hence the large plate which backs up to the stringer for extra support. The plates are cut out of 3/8” 6061 aluminum.

I removed the old aft and forward cleats, sealed the holes with epoxy, and cut the new holes through the gunnels. The holes for the fasteners that actually hold the cleat into the gunnel were overdrilled, filled with epoxy, and then drilled to the proper diameter, leaving a plug of epoxy around the edges of the hole to add additional strength to the installation. The holes where the posts of the cleat “sink” down into the covering boards, since they do not actually carry any load, were drilled out oversize and sealed with a coat of epoxy. The midship cleats were placed just aft of where the “lip”, where the bow rail used to be mounted, begins and were placed the same distance inboard from the edge as the stern cleats for a uniform look.

The backing plates were bonded to the hull with (gasp!) 3M 5200. I know, I’m shocked too. This is one of the very few applications in which I will use that, and here’s why: in this case, I couldn’t care less about the sealant properties; I want an ADHESIVE, which is what 5200 primarily is, and a pretty good one at that. In this case the backing plates are thoroughly bedded to the underside of the covering boards and the bow cap; there’s about a whole tube of the stuff between the five of them and yes, I was picking it off my hands for days as is customary. For sealant purposes, the upper components of the cleats were sealed with LifeCalk. The cleats themselves could be unbolted and removed; the backing plates? Good luck ever getting those off.


The final result is five cleats that are about as rock-solid as a cleat can get. Overkill? Probably, but that’s a theme in this build. The ones at the stern are JUUUST about wide enough to conceal the holes from the old cleats; a little bit of extra sealant covers the tiny bit of exposed epoxy. I’m glad I went with the size that I did, as the 6” cleats are just big enough to accommodate the double braided 1/2” docklines that I use. Not the most necessary of upgrades, but the midships cleats make solo boating a lot easier and I think the bow area will look a lot cleaner with the single cleat and the pop-up light; at least whenever I get around to finishing the gelcoat repair over the many holes in the covering boards.

 

[pelagic2530]

Part 15: Gunnel rod holder upgrade

Like most Parkers, mine came stock with the normal, round rod holders under the gunnels, the ones with one solid ring and one cheap, spring loaded plastic ring. Nothing ever fits right in them, they’re somehow always facing the wrong way, for whatever you want to put in them, and they’re just generally pretty useless. You know the kind:

(Pardon the mess; it’s an old picture).

On one of the FB pages, there was a gentleman by the name of Michael Conley, now on here as user @megmac, who fabricated a set of under gunnel rod racks out of thick Starboard and heavy bungee cords. The material is thick enough that they can mount with a screw through the middle of the width of the plastic, rather than with a mounting block. After corresponding a bit, I ordered a set. They arrived promptly, and were just as heavy duty as promised. Even came with high-quality stainless fasteners.

After removing the old rod holders, I found that the new ones would not fit in the old holes, as I figured would be the case; that’s a bit too much luck to ask for. No big deal, I marked the new holes, drilled them out along with the old ones, and filled with epoxy. I then re-drilled for the new fasteners.

I did have to sand away some material from the back of the rod holders in order to make them fit correctly. This is no fault of Mike’s, my stringers are curved slightly so the straight back edge of the holder would make the ends stick out. No big deal, and now they fit like a glove.



These are a VAST improvement over the stock ones. Everything fits in them, and I can even double up rods in the same slot. The bungees hold the contents in securely with no movement. Install was easy. I’ll say that the forward ones do stick out a bit further, and I’ve knocked it with my foot a couple times. I may trim it back a bit so that it’s a bit more low profile. But the old ones did that as well and were nowhere near as useful.

Mike, if you’re reading this, thanks for the great product! I’m sorry it took so long to post this, and I didn’t take as many install pictures as I probably should have. But it’s a great upgrade that I’d highly recommend.

 

[pelagic2530]

Part 16: Permatrim installation

Everyone knows that the little Parkers are tanks for their size, and can handle some chop. However, the 17’ is still a 17’ and you can only ask so much of it. Fishing in the lower Chesapeake Bay, it’s not uncommon to have to run through some slop to get to the fishing grounds. In testing, the boat would only plane down to about 16kts; there are some days where that’s too fast in this size boat. Not having trim tabs, the only option I had to push the bow down and reduce the pounding was the motor, which is only so effective. Frequently, I was finding myself in the situation where I’d need to slow down to the point where I’d come off plane in order to avoid beating the crap out of the boat and the squishy pink human inside of it. On the flip side of the coin, on flat calm days at high speed, the boat had a tendency to porpoise. Obviously, there have been a lot of changes since this boat was new, so pinpointing that issue as far as weight distribution is difficult. Regardless, I wanted to be able to stop that as well.

Installing tabs wasn’t really in the cards, based on the lack of room on the transom and not having anywhere to run the wires or hydraulic lines for the actuators. Instead, after researching I decided to try out a Permatrim hydrofoil on the outboard. My thought process was, if it works, great. If not, I can pull it off, fill the holes, and figure out how I’m going to fit trim tabs on the hull. So no great loss.

The install was a bit different than I had anticipated. There are no holes or markings on the foil when you take it out of the box. They’re made to fit many different models of motor, so you have to fit it to your lower unit, measure to make sure it’s exactly straight, and drill your own holes through both foil and the lower unit. Also, it’s not fitted to the exact contour of your lower unit, and getting everything perfectly straight and lined up before drilling turned out to be a bit more challenging than anticipated. Lots of moving clamps around and tapping with a mallet to get it perfect. I HIGHLY recommend getting two holes drilled and bolts tightened down before drilling the rest, so you can be absolutely sure they all line up properly.

The bolts they provide with the kit are Phillips head truss screws, with nylock nuts for the upper side. The instructions call for a torque spec; I can’t remember exactly but I believe it’s 10ft-lb. Torqueing down a bolt with a Phillips head screwdriver holding the other end is fairly tricky. And just tightening them down “real tight-like” doesn’t work well either- the bit of bend in the plate will keep the nut tightening until it really shouldn’t anymore, and that “almost tight enough” nut gets to be a “really loose nut” all of a sudden. Replacement fasteners of that type are really hard to find; ask me how I know

The instructions also call for bedding the plate with a Polyurethane adhesive during the install. Not sure if this is to limit contact between the metal surfaces (both coated aluminum, so that shouldn’t be a problem) or to spread out the load on the plate, but regardless that’s how they say to do it. After reading some really promising reviews, I decided to try out Pettit’s Anchortech Fast Dry Adhesive Sealant. Long story short, I’m sold. The stuff cures within 24hrs (as opposed to 3M’s 3-7 days), and doesn’t cure in the tube so it can be reused. I put together a few sample pieces while I was at it, and having pulled, cut, and drilled the stuff after it cured it’s at least as good as 5200. I plan on using the rest of the products in their line for the next applicable projects.

Here’s the final product: Again, not a ton of install pictures on this one.


Results: I’m very happy with the performance. My planing speed is down to about 14kts, which makes a big difference. I have much more control over the bow, and can push the bow down into a head sea chop much more effectively, making the ride way better. Porpoising is lessened, although not eliminated; but stopping it once it starts needs a much smaller adjustment in engine trim. Overall, I think this is the solution to about 90% of my problems, without the hassle of installing tabs. I’m pleased.

 

[tomc585]

White on white....looks good!

 

[pelagic2530]

White on white....looks good!

Turns out, they sell them in all the common colors specifically matched to outboard manufacturers. Gotta get the style points!