Well I bought a 1981 F233 roughly a year ago with intentions of fixing it up enough to take fishing a few times out in the Gulf outside of Mexico Beach, FL. We bought a small home down there a few years ago and I have always wanted a boat of my own to be able to cruise the beautiful waters there, go fishing and just chill on the cape. I found this "project" on Craigslist somewhat local to me so I went and looked at it. I'm pretty handy and have had a few boats over the years but nothing that needed this much work. I knew it needed a floor and a restoration when I bought it so I wasnt scared of what was ahead of me and looked forward to getting it water ready so I jumped in with both feet. Here is a pic of when I brought it home, my wife gave me the, "are you serious?" look... I knew it had potential....
but it was hard for her to see the "potential". The previous owner had a short 20" shaft old school Evinrude on it that would barely touch the water. Thats the first thing I sold. It ran so I sold it on Craigslist for half of what I had invested in the "project" so far. Then I found a great deal on an aluminum trailer (again on Craigslist) and sold the POS painted galvanized roller trailer that came with the boat for the same amount of money the the new aluminum trailer cost. (I like Craigslist, you'll see a pattern...) So now in my mind I'm starting to see where this project is going. (my wife, still not so much...)
The twin 150's you see hanging on the back of the boat came from THT (not CL this time). They were on a submerged boat and locked up but dont worry, I sold them on Craigslist... and bought what I really wanted, a great running, well taken care of 2000 Yamaha 250 OX66 for roughly the same money. I thought twins on this boat might be too much even though I like the way they look.
Now on the to boat. It had been converted and had a nice flotation bracket on it when I bought it, thats really what caught my eye. But, the floor was soft in some spots and I knew I had to rip it up so the demo began...
I hate wet foam... there was lots of it and took a while to dig it all out. Luckily the gas tank had been replaced at some point in the boats life and it was in good shape. They had coated it in fiberglass resin before they foamed it in so all I had to do was sand and chip away resin to get down to bare aluminum. I pressure tested the tank and all was good so I coal tar'd it, got a new sender and set it aside...
I got right to work on the deck and unfortunately had to take up the cabin floor as well. I wasnt going to half ass it at this at this point. It had a few soft spots so out it came. I re-cored it and re-foamed the cavities with new foam.
There were a couple stringers the needed some attention so I repaired those and then then got ready to pour some new foam under the deck. I deleted the factory in deck storage/fish boxes because all they seem to do was hold water and did away with the gas tank hatch as it weighed more than I did as it was water logged... I wanted as much of a waterproof deck as possible and figured the fewer the screw holes and hatches the better.
I foamed the tank in, ran some drain lines for my port cooler seat, livewell, etc. and painted the bilge and got ready to deck the boat. I glassed the underside of the floor with a layer of 1708 and then bedded them to the stringers and foam with thickened epoxy and secured with a few stainless screw to ensure a good bond. I used Raka's non blushing epoxy for the entire build and couldnt be happier with their product.
Those pics were right before I epoxied 1708 tape for where the floor meets the hull sides. The armstrong hatch you see is to access the fuel hoses and sender. The entire deck got a layer of 1708 and 6 oz cloth. The bilge housed my two Rule 2000 GPH bilge pumps, freshwater holding tank and pump, raw water washdown pump, high water alarm, transducer, seacock, livewell pump, Racor fuel filter, etc...
I installed all that to make my life easier before the deck went down. All new fuel fill line, vent lines, feed lines were used. I didnt want to have any "what-ifs" the first time offshore with this girl and would feel most comfortable if everything was new. Now I had to turn my attention to the helm and cabin area. I found a great deal on Ebay for a blem cabin door from Albemarle. Bought that and made it work with my Formula...
Now I had a deadline approaching as I promised my "crew" (aka drinking buddies) I'd have this boat ready for the Mexico Beach Kingfish Tournament on August 28th... I still had a bunch of work to do...but when I make a promise I keep it. Here's the kicker... I had planned to use the radar arch that came on the boat until I found this F233 (on Craigslist)with a hardtop on it that I thought would look right at home on my boat. Here we are two weeks prior to the tournament and I decide I have to have this hardtop. (my wife thinks I'm crazy at this point and I blame it on THT) I live north of Atlanta and this boat is in Pensacola... Luckily I have the tow vehicle...
and decide, I got this.... I strike up the deal, borrow my buddies empty trailer to put my "project" on, put my boat in storage, hook up my empty trailer and head to P'Cola on a Saturday night around 8pm less than two weeks prior to the tournament I promised my buddies we would be fishing in...spent the night in the back seat of my F250 in a Lowes parking lot, met the seller the next morning at 8am, put the "new project boat" on my trailer, hand him the money, shake hands and head back to Atlanta...how my wife is still with me baffles me... Arrive at my home in Woodstock around 6pm and proceed to unbolt and rip the hardtop off the "new" boat and install it on mine the next day....
Now that I have a kickass hardtop with a crows nest the reality sets in that I have less than two weeks before we're supposed to be fishing and my boat is no where near ready to splash. I call in the troops and for a solid week and a half of late nights and long weekends and a few cases of Miller Lite, we got it ready to make the trip for the Tourney.
It's by no means finished and will take many more hours of fairing and sanding but I got it ready enough to feel comfortable enough to make the trip south so we could make the tourney. We had a great time shaking the "new" boat down and made some great memories. Caught plenty of Kings, sharks and a damn Trigger fish that hit a ribbonfish trolling! We didnt place but that didnt matter. It ran perfect and everything performed as it should and everything you guys said about these hulls is true. I ran 20-25 knots in 3-5 footers on the way in an passed many a bigger boat and all 4 guys on board my boat commented on how smooth our ride was. I have to download some pics from the trip and will add them to this thread but I am truly impressed with this hull and cant wait to finish it up and take my wife on a nice relaxing cruise to prove to her that her husband isn't really nuts... well maybe just a little... Is it bad that I really want to make a pilot house F233 out of the P'cola boat??? Maybe after the divorce.... J/K My wife has put up with my chit for 12 years and she is the best thing that has ever happened to me, aside from our beautiful 18 month old daughter. (note to self...send this link to wife...) Love you Honey!
Let me know what you think guys!
Yup, another Formula 233 resto/build PAINT!!! with pics... 
