Nice work, good looking boat too.

"Angle the front downward" and adding the plexiglass door are both really great ideas. I had a e-box on one of my boats. The plexiglass was dark tinted and served double duty as a rear view mirror. It wound up being a catch all only housing a VHF. I attempted speakers but even the best shielded ones I could find made the compass dance. The compass on the Whaler was somewhat of a centerpiece of the custom fiberglass molded dashboard. To change that would have been ooodles and oodles of additional work. I decided to put 6x9's elsewhere.

How do you like the honeycomb for project making/glassing? I have used Coosa (foam reinforced with glass fiber), but have no experience with the honeycomb stuff because I was scared of the voids. Can water get in there? I see it being used in high dollar, high end go-fast boats and the like, so I don't doubt it is quality stuff. I am Just curious..I was scared I couldn't make the edges look right trying to lay wet glass across the voids..

It is looking better. I replaced the seat bottom and back, which helped a lot. I also put a piece of black plexy on top of the console which covered 16 holes.

I am a but worried about the compass too. We shall see how it works out. I'll need to decide soon. I'll place them up there and see what happens.

I have not used Coosa. I've used balsa when I recored the deck on one of my boats. I also re-cored one of my hatches on this boat, but I built it up too heavy. It is nice and solid now, but it came out too heavy. I suppose it is only one hatch and doesn't matter much.

I like Nida Core. I suppose it would be more difficult to work with if you had just the "core" to work with. I'd be scared too.

Mine came in panels with a layer of glass on each side. And gelcoat. I ground off all the gelcoat and wish I'd taken more time to find some Nida-Core without gelcoat. It was not hard but tedious. If you add thickness tabbing the corners, then some fairing is required to make it flat.

For the hard top, I'm debating adding a few layers of glass on the top for thickness and to give it some camber.

How much do I like it? The E-Box weighs 9 lbs. I can pick up the hardtop with one hand.

I've already got plans in my head for more projects using the stuff.

I am toying with the idea of making a three sided hard enclosure. I wrapped up the console in plastic and tabbed the hardtop together in-place. All that work and I didn't spill a drop when I tabbed it together. All that plastic showed me what a solid enclosure would look like. My first thought was to make a canvas enclosure, and hiring the work out because I've never done and don't have a sewing machine. Those canvas covers always seem to shrink and then you fight a battle to zip them up. Then I though, hmm, why not make a hard enclosure? And then, why not make it removable? Why, not angle the top glass so there is no glare? Perhaps someday I'll do that. A full enclosure, hard on three sides and a canvas back would be very nice on cold days particularly with wind chill.

BTW, I am replacing the interior of a 46' sloop this summer. One of my projects is replacing the engine cover as the new engine has a smaller profile. Nida Core would be perfect for that. I also want to box off the engine as much as possible for sound deadening. I plan to tab in Nida Core every place I can to deaden sound. There are a few spots under the deck where that would help. I also have some lead sheeting. Nida, foam sound insulation, and lead sheets in combination could make that motor very quiet. I'd like that.

For the Center Console, I want to build a spash well. There is an indent and latches for one. My boat didn't have one when I bought it, probably because it interfered with the 20" shaft motor after they cut the transom down 5". I feel better with the plates raising the transom 5", but not completely safe. Remind me to tell you how my friend Saul sank two boats in one day.

I can build something that won't interfer with the motor. If I use Nida Core, it will weigh almost nothing. My also plan is to add two strips of stainless on either side to make the L channel into a U-channel so I can just drop a board in place, and use the existing latches to hold it down.

One 4x8 sheet of Nida Core would be enough to do the engine box on the sailboat, and the splash well on the CC.

Perhaps at some point I'll try just using the core. There must be a good method of bonding it to a fiberglass surface? Perhaps thickened epoxy, like West Systems 403 would work. Someone must know how to work with it.

I can't seem to find my glasses.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...pss1arndxf.png

Damn shame about the glasses, what is your name again? Lilly? is that you? I thought I told you to avoid the lines you got to take them all the way off... :zip:

Good advice Ridge....

Unfortunately, I lost of few of the hard top images I took. I've tabbed together the major pieces. The four corners are complex curves I scrapped my first attempt as it didn't fit well with the hardtop frame. I had some balsa core and decided to use that on two of the corners to see how it looked before doing the other side.

Using a variety of supports I glassed in the bottom side. Today I pulled out the grinder and smoothed out boat sides. The follow pictures show the top side ready for some filler and then fiberglass.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psdhbcnkej.jpg

The corners will be rounded off, so I have to cut away some of the excess material. It's raining now, so I can't test fit it. Perhaps I'll make a template and cut from that, as I'd like to glass both these corners today.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psoqbzdwqt.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ps2mem6saf.jpg

In the mean time, my new chartplotter/fishfinder came in. I have one of the first of these RayMarine eS78's. I have a piece of 1/2" mahogany marine plywood that I'll use to flush mount this. I'm gluing the backing and cutting the plywood next.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...pswgnqn3ou.png

Soon, I'll be painting. Nothing but paint in the following picture.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psyulgb0pd.png

Still working on the hardtop Two corners to go. I'm starting to wish I took the trouble to make a form. Oh well, I'm on the home stretch. I used balsa core on the last back two corners and since I ran out I switched to pieces of Nida-Core cut small to conform to the curves.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psstgopxzi.jpg

On another front, 12 hours of sanding has yielded on dead sander and about 1/2 of the bottom sanded clear. At least four layers of bottom paint have to be sanded and it is difficult around the strakes.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psucjkjqzj.jpg

I plan to move it to my brothers house, where my excavator is located to lift it off the trailer, or perhaps slide it back for better access.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...pselz4uajj.jpg

Meanwhile I've been working on the flush mount panel on the E-Box. After cutting the lawn I may go work on that some more. It's cooler in the shop. Outside temps have been high lately and will continue over the weekend.

Somewhere I have a picture of the E-Box...that's not it. Wonder what happened to it.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psyikfar3m.png