My turn....

[yupitsme]

Doin' some work on my '95 209TE. Seats, carpet, and.... making my own windshields.

Ordered 20oz. from bassboatseats.com. Basscat and virtually nobody else carries Burgundy/Garnet carpet.

Upholstery shop in the business park I'm in is doing the seats bench/pedestal.

The windshields... as everyone knows no place to buy'em. I did some experimenting with some scrap Lexan and it seems doable. Reckon I'll find out. I can tell you the left and right are not the same. They're not far off but if I had sent my one good windshield and they reversed the mould. It wouldn'ta worked!

[low slung cruiser]

wow....
thats alotta work but looks like you got it!

[flubyu]

Gonna be nice when its all done!

[yupitsme]

I got the seat back out using a standard length 1/4" drive ratchet w/deep well socket. The entire time, about 30 mins., I was wishing I had a longer 1/4" ratchet. Looked at Lowe's - Nada. Checked out Home Depot - Zip. Then went to Harbor Freight knowing they have all kinds of kinky stuff.

I may never... ever... use this again but it is going to be worth the $30.00 it cost me. And... if you're contemplating pulling the seats out of your 209 or intimidator or whatever... You'd be wise to consider getting you one too! It has a 1/4" drive flex head on one end and a 3/8" drive flex head on the other. As stated I already have the seat back out now but the re-install should go rather quickly!

[yupitsme]

Some work got accomplished today....

[stasiuk1000]

Nice! Keep them photos coming YUP! I know you will do a killer job.....I want to do my Intimidator seats/carpet at some point too, but I dont have a heated shop and only 5 months at best fishing season. Our seats are the same colour pattern....but looks like I may have a few more years till mine look like yours. LOL! Good luck with the resto - I'm sure you will be quite happy with the result!

[sabby]

Keep up the good work, looks like this will turn out awesome.

[yupitsme]

Nice! Keep them photos coming YUP! I know you will do a killer job.....I want to do my Intimidator seats/carpet at some point too, but I dont have a heated shop and only 5 months at best fishing season. Our seats are the same colour pattern....but looks like I may have a few more years till mine look like yours. LOL! Good luck with the resto - I'm sure you will be quite happy with the result!

Do you mean a heated shop like this?



If you can't read the temp. It's 111 degrees. That was before I turned on the exhaust fan and floor fan which knocked the temp down to a bone chillin' 104 degrees - where it stayed the remainder of the day.

[yupitsme]

Soooo.... got the front deck carpet removed. Unfortunately it's probably the easiest section and it's all up hill from here.

Crappy pic.... but I ain't going to take another'n...



PLOP!!!



Different tools that come in handy doing this...

1/8" drift pin - good for knocking out the rivets after drilling the heads off of them



You can get this little jewel at WalMart or any place that sells cooking utensils. I filled it with lacquer thinner then dispensed it in a thin line around the edges where the metal carpet trim was riveted down. That area is stuck pretty good and difficult to get a tool in there. This makes getting that out a breeze. Also where the carpet is laid over the edges around the compartment lids, especially behind the hinges. That too is stuck pretty good. But once you put a li'l lacquer thinner on it you can remove it with your fingers.



Inspection sticker scraper and a window glazing tool make it pretty easy to remove the carpet and most of the adhesive...



To get up most of the adhesive from the flat areas I put lacquer thinner in a standard spray bottle like window cleaner comes in. Mist the surface to be cleaned and the adhesive comes up pretty easy. I'll still go back on it with scotch brite and lacquer thinner to get the rest of it before going over every surface with 80g sanding disk.

[yupitsme]

I reckon a little history lesson on this particular boat wouldn't hurt... It used to belong to my best friend when I lived back in Georgia.

He bought it in '97 when it was a mere pup of 2 years old. '95-'97 is was stored indoors. From '97 - '08 it was stored outside under the Gambler cover. It took a toll.

Rain and freezing weather damaged the gel coat, significantly, where the cover came in contact with the top cap. It's still damaged. It will always be damaged.

In '09 the original 200 Xri died a brutal death! LOL... Crank case pressure line that keeps the remote tank pressurized came off. Back then there were no alarms - that were beneficial. It was a 70mph boat with the 200 on it. That day... after fishing a bit on Conroe I was going to change locations. The engine was hard to crank - but did. Hammer down, WOT, but.... it won't run but 50 mph. Which I thought was bad... until it reached the point it wouldn't run at all. Then I knew what bad was. Got on the trolling motor... After a while I tried cranking it again.... Magic! It started. Running a bit rough - but running! Stow the trolling motor... Hammer down trying to get back to the ramp. WOT - 35mph. Then it died again... Trolling motor - fishing my way back to the ramp. After 30 or so minutes. Tried to crank... well the engine wasn't "happy" but it cranked. Stow tolling motor - hammer down - 7mph. and not long at that speed. But at least I could see the ramp. And that is the short story on the death of a 200 Xri. Enter, stage left, a 2009 225 ProXS.

Bolted it on. Place that did the install questioned if the transom would hold it.... I didn't know... figured it would. Broke it in on Toledo Bend down by the damn. First time ever that boat hit 80mph that it wasn't on the trailer behind a tow vehicle! Why would the installing dealer question the transom?





Those pictures are after I got it back from S&S Marine in Welaka, FL - the second time. In the end I did the repairs myself removing/replacing inner liner, foam, stringers and knees. As you can see by the date stamp on the photos that was in 2011. Been running since I fixed it back then.

[yupitsme]

Now I'm working on the fun part..... Console area.

Carpet was installed before top cap was set on. Carpet goes up under top cap a fair amount. Especially on the sides it goes back a ways. With the lacquer thinner syringe it makes removal without cutting/tearing possible....



I ended up just pulling it out - once I got it in a position where I could. That's good and bad. The good is it doesn't take long. The bad is it leaves the adhesive to be removed in stage 2.



Under the passenger side console...






Yeah buddie.... that looks like all kinna fun! NOT!






Mmmmm hummmm..... Looking forward to R&R'n all'a that too!



Would'a finished removing the carpet but.... forgot to remove the ignition switch thingee ka'bob




This is so much fun I recommend everyone do it. Even if you boat doesn't need carpet!

[stasiuk1000]

Do you mean a heated shop like this?



If you can't read the temp. It's 111 degrees. That was before I turned on the exhaust fan and floor fan which knocked the temp down to a bone chillin' 104 degrees - where it stayed the remainder of the day.

Umm...I meant heated shop in my off season so I didn't have to work at 10 degrees f. I don't know if 104 would be much more fun for me northern guy! Looks like you are making great progress in that heat! It will look awesome for sure!

[Babe Winkleworm]

Looks exactly like it did about 7 months ago for me! We have the same color scheme but mine is maroon on black. I went with black carpet and padding. Under the consoles I went with kiwigrip. It's a roll-on Bedliner type product instead of carpet. I can wash out the bottom of my boat when I get home. Works great! The thing I learned is I needed to order 8.5 wide carpet and not 6' wide carpet.

[yupitsme]

Looks exactly like it did about 7 months ago for me! We have the same color scheme but mine is maroon on black. I went with black carpet and padding. Under the consoles I went with kiwigrip. It's a roll-on Bedliner type product instead of carpet. I can wash out the bottom of my boat when I get home. Works great! The thing I learned is I needed to order 8.5 wide carpet and not 6' wide carpet.

Yup... I did order the 8'6" carpet. I'm not padding my deck but I am carpeting the console area. Wasn't a lot of fun getting it out in one piece and I thinkin' it ain't gonna be much fun putting it back in.

Front deck ain't been this clean in 25 years! LOL...



Took some time to get the carpet to this point. I figure I've got about 3 hours invested in just getting the console area carpet removed.

[Babe Winkleworm]

A drill and wire wheel is by far the fastest

[yupitsme]

I dunno... rotary wire brush sounds a whole lot like work...

Below are the only things I used to remove the carpet and remove the adhesive. Gotta go back now and 80g everything but that ain't no big o'l deal...



Kinna shows how the removal process goes... A little here.... a little there... WaLa.... done.



And then..... After removing the adhesive I pulled it out of the shop and kinna give it a bath of sorts... At this point it looks like this...















The following pics were taken in the shop before the bath... But they seem so show up better...

[NoZero]

wow.

[white gambler]

That's a lotta elbow grease

[Charles Prestridge]

Great work. Thanks for sharing.

[yupitsme]

DISCLAIMER: This is not a “How you do it!” thread. This is a “How I did it” thread. The methods and techniques depicted/described by me in this thread could actually get’cha’ hurt or dead. Should you choose to employ one, or more, of the techniques described herein you openly, without duress or coercion, agree that it was your decision and that you had been warned. You further admit that if I were to jump off a cliff – you would too! By accepting the preceding statements and conditions you are thereby accepting the universal truth in front of God n’ ever’body elses that you’re dumb as I am. And “Stupid” is not a valid condition that would warrant serious consideration in a court of law.

Let me know what hospital room you’re in and I’ll come visit’ya’!