Almost new boat and new to the forum

[Sea Lion]

I picked up the Hewes 260 Pacific Explorer from the dealer north of Seattle in Aug. 2010 took it to Flat Head Lake for sea trials before trailering it to Alaska. The first image was taken at anchor at Wild Horse Island. The next image is in Prince William Sound in June 2011 on a shrimping trip. It shows several modifications I made the previous winter. The third picture shows the stern with the canopy, davit, kicker bracket and swim step box extension. The next two images show the canopy and davit extension for lifting the dingy on and off the roof along with the new antenna mount in better detail. The last image shows this winters project, or at least a conceptual picture of it. I'll also be adding rub rails a true reverse chine and lifting streaks. It won't say Hewes any longer as I'll have to remove the vinyl. Will probably leave it all alloy. The wider bottom, self bailing deck, transom door and rear helm along with price were deciding factors in going with this boat.

[goatram]

Sweet and welcome to AAB

[Napa Mike]

Nice job on the roof extension. It looks really great!

Mike

[3f8]

Welcome aboard AAB!

[spoiled one]

Nice setup. It will be interesting to see the difference in performance the addition of lifting strakes and reverse chines gives. Did you extend the bottom under the extended transom?

[Sea Lion]

stern3.JPG (31.84 KiB) Viewed 16452 times

Spoiled One
I did extend the box under the transom, hopefully this image shows it better.

[spoiled one]

I did the same thing to mine this past season. What an improvement! Have you run yours with the new mod yet?

[JETTYWOLF]

COOL........a fort with a sun porch

welcome.

[Sea Lion]

Spoiled One
I did run with these modifications to the boat all last summer. I also added a bunch more weight like a freezer, microwave, house battery, generator-shorepower-ac panel-wiring-galvanic isolator, downriggers, pots-line and a 56 gal second fuel tank,now I have 223 gals. Along with fishing gear, food and personal gear there is a lot of extra weight. I was slower getting up on step but once there it wasn't much difference, just used a couple gals more fuel per hour. The stern was still a little heavy but trimmed OK. Besides adding the reverse chines and lifting strakes, I'm adding two feet to the length of the back deck. This will allow me to move the new 56 gal fuel tank forward, the house battery, the generator and a spare anchor and 600' of chain and line. Along with 4 bladed props I do hope to see a difference in April.

[spoiled one]

Sea Lion,

That will be one decked out Hewes when you are finished. I have thought about adding a freezer to my setup as well. What did you end up putting in? Do you run it off your generator or is it running off your house bank? Hope to see you out on the shrimping grounds.

[Sea Lion]

Spoiled One
I put a WAECO 3.6 or 115 qt AC/DC refir/freezer in place of a jump seat, a microwave on top of that and then a removable alum sheet to extend the counter. I tried a 5 cu. ft. GE AC freezer before that. I didn't like the way it fit in the boat as well or the fact that I had to run the generator or be hooked to shore power for it to run. The WAECO runs off the house battery which is charged by the engines when running. I also have a three bank battery charger so the house battery is charged by the generator when running, a 2KW Honda works fine and I also have a 2.8 KW Kohler but not on board at the same time. When I'm hooked up to shore power the freezer as well as the AC/DC refir automatically switch to AC. It all works pretty well, the quart bags of shrimp froze quickly to "0". Twenty eight silvers in one day were a little more than it wanted to to do, but it did it, six to ten would have been fine I think for one day. I vacuum pac the fish on board. the shrimp are frozen in water. Fill this freezer three time a season and I'm good for the year.

[welder]

Pete, does that have the gears turning ?

[spoiled one]

Thanks for the pictures. You got the old wheels turning. They sure are proud of those marine freezers!

[dawgaholic]

Like ones' home away from home, getting her just right is a labor of love once the necessity part is taken care of.

[goatram]

Dave I assume he extended the transom out under the swim Step like I did, adds a few more lbs of buoyancy to handle the added weight.

The mods you did to your boat look good. I would like to see pictures of the reverse chine and lifting strakes you added

[JETTYWOLF]

The "pic" had the whole boat looking longer.

Hmmmmm, sounds like coin'age overload to me.

[AlloyToy]

Very nice

Reverse chine now there are two words that bring music to my ears

Good luck with her and keep the pics coming

[Sea Lion]

In Feb. we are cutting her in two pieces and adding 2' to the deck (there is an ideal place to cut the boat). Also adding rub rails and a reverse chine and probably some lifting strakes. These will hopefully add a little lift and I'm sure strength to the hull. I'd like to know what everyone thinks about this? The two lengths picture basically shows this modification. What about the bubbles and increased drag caused by the strakes at speeds under 30 MPH?

[Sea Lion]

I also changed the front seat for the dinette, to allow the seat to raise and face forward or drop and face to toward the table. I think otherwise you sit to low in a Hewes to see forward when underway. This is still a work in progress but my passengers are a lot happier. I used the jump seat and foot rest that came with the boat after I put in the freezer and added a grab rail to the dash.

[welder]

I would hold off on the strakes , with the reverse chine and the pod I would see how it handles first before adding more weld to the hull.
How are you planning to weld the hull back together ? full pin with back up plates ?

[ReelSong]

Awesome modifications, cutting her into and adding on? thats what I'm talking about, good stuff for sure. are you doing all the work yourself?

[Sea Lion]

I'll cut and form the pieces and help someone who welds aluminum everyday put her back together. We'll be using matching extrusions and back up plates for sure. The ribs etc. are all matching. I'd like to hear any ideas and suggestions.

[spoiled one]

Ben at silver streak, here in Anchorage, stretched a 26 hewes to 30 foot a few years ago. I have seen it on the trailer, but have never seen it on the water. That will be one heck of a dance floor. I wouldn't mind putting mine in the "boat stretcher" one of these days. Four more feet sure would be nice.

[goatram]

Dang it stop.
My boat has been modded enough.
Some one already photo shopped my boat for me Look past the moon to the boat.
Ideas, Ideas Just need the plan. Sealion please document it when you do do it.

TinLizzieExtendedCockpit.jpg (60.82 KiB) Viewed 14921 times

[Sea Lion]

Tin Lizzie looks pretty good extended...
I'll document my progress in Feb and Mar