Project Activator Episode 16: Rigging, Hardware and the Evinrude G2 250 HO
After some delay, Project Activator has made some progress. Now we are getting into the fun part. The final clear coat was done last week, and now we can start rigging. Plus, we have the interior getting ready for upholstery. The height of the front buckets is going to be finalized, but we know the color of upholstery and the other details that Daryll Zeiser from Unique Upholstery needs. The 22’ Activator will have a rear bench with three flush seat sections, and custom front buckets. Since the paint is a subdued silver color, we want the interior to pop, so the color will be pretty wild and really standout.
The final clear coats were done in Awlcraft 200 clear, giving us an ultra durable finish. Under that is DC 92 Diamont Clear.
Project Activator Episode 16
Final clear coat, yet to be polished, but the finish turned out great.
On the Activator, the cap seam is really narrow, so one option is to use a stainless rub rail mounted straight to the paint, which is what many builders do. The problem with that is any impact and the nature of the metal pressing on the paint is bad for the finish, causing cracking and chipping. After looking around, we found the perfect solution. We are using a really narrow stainless steel rail, with a super slim vinyl backing. Integrity Marine Corporation (Barbour Plastics) has a massive selection, so you can really get a custom fit with an off the shelf product. For example, we needed 1” maximum backing, which really limits us. Integrity has a rigid 1” vinyl backing for a 3/4” stainless steel insert, it works perfect. The white vinyl is a really nice look, where you barely see it at the edges, yet provides protection.
The cap is narrow on the 22’ Activator, luckily Integrity Marine Group has tons of options for rigid rubrails. We went with a 3/4” SS rail, backed by a sleek white rigid vinyl.
For the gauges, I originally was going to go with standard size Livorsi black dials, with black rims, and have the tachometer mismatched red. I still love that idea, however, we wanted to go oversize, and switched it up to oversize platinum dials with the black mega rim. The Livorsi Vantage View gauges look sharp, maybe I should have kept the original color idea in the oversize dials, but I’m a little indecisive when it comes to stuff like that so I’ll just stick to this. Overall, I love it. The silver and black color of the boat lends itself to either one. I do prefer a simple clean look overall, so I think we achieved that. Since dash space is limited, we kept the gauges simple, and we have an Evinrude 3.5” screen that houses all the data we need on top of the NMEA 2000 compatible Livorsi Vantage View master tachometer. We have GPS speedometer, tach, water pressure, trim, jack plate. Everything else is off the digital display in the Livorsi Vantage View, or the Evinrude Icon screen.
The oversize Livorsi Marine platinum dials, with mega rims look very clean. The dash is all business. The Evinrude Icon screen fits nicely on the starboard side of the helm. The wheel is from Livorsi Marine as well. The seat pictured is just for test fitting, not the actual seat.
Since the boat has no windshield, we went to Finny’s in Lake Havasu, AZ to get their sleek wind flaps. They have some standard measurements, but you can customize them any way you want. Ours have a slight curve added, and we had them cut down to maintain a super low profile. All hardware is top notch, and they fit a variety of boats. This way you maintain the look, but get great wind protection. Amazingly, you don’t need a massive sized one to deflect enough wind to make a huge difference in comfort.
Just enough protection to keep you hair looking perfect.
Next, we will shoot the video of all this, and get into the details of the rigging and upholstery. Then, the engine can be looked at, along with the jack plate, and other accessories. I don’t want to get to far ahead, but I’m thinking of a few props I want to try. Plus, I want to look closer at our custom AmeraTrail tandem axle trailer.
The rubrail is simple and clean. The vinyl backing protects the paint nicely.
The widow maker.
