New Member & My CM23

[nolaboater99]

A resto-mod is exactly what I think it is.

Thunder that is what is planned. I ordered my vinyl from Sailrite and one color was back-ordered. It will all ship next Tuesday. I have a Sailrite sewing machine and my wife and I did a lot of the new upholstery in our last boat. It was a 52' Cockpit Motor Yacht, but we wanted a pro to do the seats for the Cobalt. We will be doing the Cuddy cabin cushions and the carpet. The seamstress is just making the skins and I will put them back over the foam.

I've been working on this so long that I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself when it's done. Oh....my wife just reminded I have a new kitchen and 3 bathrooms to do this year, plus paint the pool house, paint the guest room, new tile in the entry....

[Ytmsn]

I'm diggin your project. I have a boat restoration project of my own going on so I can relate every time I see something like this. I wonder why the CM model never took off with Cobalt?

And I'm glad you came over here with all the "cool kids!"
There's some good folks here

[cmattj]

Wonderful write up Shawn. That is a special Boat with a wonderful lay out for social sitting at anchor. It has a 343 layout in the back.. See Cobalt kept some theme!

[thunder550]

I've been working on this so long that I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself when it's done. Oh....my wife just reminded I have a new kitchen and 3 bathrooms to do this year, plus paint the pool house, paint the guest room, new tile in the entry....

Oh, that's all?

[nolaboater99]

Since my last post I have been working on tidying up little things as I move forward. Tuesday I am taking the boat to a local shop to have the upper deck wet sanded, polished and waxed. when it comes back I can begin installing all the new LED running lights, the teak walk-arounds and the deck hardware. I found another picture of it taken 3 years ago from a different angle.

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I mentioned that I rewired the boat using some of the original harness but I made a mistake using some of the old connectors so I have been going back and cutting them out and installing all new using either heat-shrink connectors or heat-shrink tubing. I should have done it right the first time but I was reminded of my favorite saying...."Never time, and money, to do it right but always time, and money, to do it over."

I'm getting to the point where I am getting ready to put the fuel tank back in. The tank sits here across the stern

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That picture was taken 2 years ago when I was taking stuff out. When I took the tank out I discovered a bit of corrosion in several places on the bottom. I had some repair work done and then had the aluminum tank partially coated in a baked-on material kind of like truck bed liner which is supposed to eliminate future corrosion issues. Once the tank is in, the access to the rear drive shaft u-joints, lower transom plate, Exhaust connections and the aft-most bilge pump and switch are inaccessible so I am really taking extra time and caution here so everything is ready. During all of this I discovered the aft bilge pump float switch died. I don't like float switches and tomorrow I will be installing a Water Witch pump switch.

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These switches work using the conductivity of water between two contacts. I installed 4 of these in my last boat, a 52' Cockpit Motor Yacht. That type of switch technology has been around for many years and I never had an issue with one in my boats. And since I will have restricted access to the switch once the fuel tank is in this is the best route to go.

Shawn

[nolaboater99]

Wonderful write up Shawn. That is a special Boat with a wonderful lay out for social sitting at anchor. It has a 343 layout in the back.. See Cobalt kept some theme!

Thanks Matt. I always loved the layout of this boat. People ask what type of boat it is and my answer has been the same for 30 years.... It's a Cocktail Cruiser. It's made for going to lunch or dinner or just out cruising looking at the sights. It has a built-in wet bar that will be going back in shortly. When the boat was in Long Beach it made the 26 mile trip to Catalina easily some 400 times.

I wanted to mention that my wife and I moved here to the New Orleans area 18 months ago. Prior to that we were 10 years in Elk Grove, CA. We owned 3 different boats while there, not counting the Cobalt. We had a 26' 4Winns, a 1989 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer and a Taiwanese 52' Cockpit Motor Yacht (CPMY). We did most of our boating in the Delta with at least one trip a year to SF Bay. The last 12 months we were there I was a manager for a commercial uniform rental company down near the Stockton airport and my wife was the GM of a company in Stockton. We kept our boats at Oxbow Marina in Isleton and for a while we were members of Stockton Yacht Club as well as Marina West Yacht Club when it was in Tower Park. My son still lives in Roseville and is a 19-year veteran of the Sac County Sheriff's Dept.

Lots of great memories cruising around the Delta and coming down to the annual Asperagus Festival by boat. Seems like we should have run into each other....
Shawn

[cmattj]

Wonderful write up Shawn. That is a special Boat with a wonderful lay out for social sitting at anchor. It has a 343 layout in the back.. See Cobalt kept some theme!

Thanks Matt. I always loved the layout of this boat. People ask what type of boat it is and my answer has been the same for 30 years.... It's a Cocktail Cruiser. It's made for going to lunch or dinner or just out cruising looking at the sights. It has a built-in wet bar that will be going back in shortly. When the boat was in Long Beach it made the 26 mile trip to Catalina easily some 400 times.

I wanted to mention that my wife and I moved here to the New Orleans area 18 months ago. Prior to that we were 10 years in Elk Grove, CA.

Lots of great memories cruising around the Delta and coming down to the annual Asperagus Festival by boat. Seems like we should have run into each other....
Shawn

Small world Shawn...and nice to hear your families history and new ventures.

As I'm sure we have shared a dock at the downtown waterfront.. or Garlic Brothers.

I remember years ago going to tower park with our 230 sea ray and it was a Huuuuughe Sea ray Yacht run.... remember Rosas inside parking current??
10 people ran out to tie our little boat off and invite us in.. fun people.. they party well!! That's was you probably!!

My career will keep my here awhile longer and my eastern roots may put me in Georgia or Texas someday!. On one of their Great Lakes with the Delta amenities of course!!

I envy your uprooting ability and look forward to hearing more about your journey and the progress on your Cobalt.

I'll give you Delta reports.. the good ... the bad and the unusual!!

[AsLan7]

People ask what type of boat it is and my answer has been the same for 30 years.... It's a Cocktail Cruiser.

.
Love it!

[hoghead54]

Excellent work,Shawn. Restoring classic's is a lot of work but well worth the effort when they are done and they always turn heads when they are out and about.

[nolaboater99]

I have been disappointed with my progress the past couple of weeks. I have out-of-state guests coming this week and the winter weather beat the crap out of my yard so I had to take some time and get it back in shape.

However, while I was doing the dreaded yard work I took the boat to a local detailer to have the beige top deck refinished. I had planned to do this myself but just ran out of time. The detailer specializes in boats and gelcoat finishes. The finish was pretty badly oxidized and he told me he was going to have to wet sand it to remove the oxidation. I got it back last Thursday and just today had some time to re-install 2 of the teak walk-around pieces I refinished and get a couple of pictures. I am very pleased with the results.

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The work really came out nice. The color has come back with a lot of depth. The detailer even admitted he was blown away at how nice it came out.

This past weekend I attended the New Orleans Boat Show and in the Cobalt display I had the opportunity to meet Clark Boone, the Central Region Sales Manager for Cobalt. Really a nice guy. He has been with Cobalt for 30 years and when I told him the boat I had he became very interested and asked me to send him pictures. When I mentioned how good the gelcoat came back he was not surprised as he said Cobalt has always applied a thick gelcoat in their molds even going back to the early '80s.

I can now continue adding the rest of the deck teak and the deck hardware. The new upholstery is coming along and I will start getting pieces next week. More pictures to come.
Shawn

[nolaboater99]

I hate this photo insertion process on this site. Grrrr....
I'll try one more....

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[AsLan7]

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Hey it worked for ya! Lookin’ good tucked away there.
...site upgrade in the spring/summer time frame will help with photo uploads.
.

[Big Block Power]

Very nice job. Not sure what issues you are having with your pictures? I had issues years ago was frustrated then John did some size changes and I turn my phone in my hand like a land scape picture then no more issues. I also turn down the pixels on my phone to. What are you using to take the pictures? And if you click the attachment tab and the the add button you can do that three times per post. It's really only two clicks and your done. Other than the other night when it loaded two pictures Ast the same time it's been pretty good for myself.

[AsLan7]

Curious if you are going to add the Cobalt moniker to the stern on the port and starboard sides, Shawn?

[Ytmsn]

Man I love it! That's going to be such an awesome ride...