SPLASH! TT35 Hull #1

[Miz Trom]

FINALLY!

Below are the photos of our 43-ft boat Mariso traveling to our neighborhood boat ramp for her launch, followed by photos of her docked behind our house.

Words cannot express how grateful we are to these very talented companies (best $$ we ever spent):

American Boat Works - Tarpon Springs, FL

JTB Marine - St. Petersburg, FL

ADR Power Systems - Tampa, Fl

Island Nautical - St. Petersburg, FL

Pea & Dan
St. Petersburg, FL
boat dogs Lucy & Birdie

[HiDHo]

Congratulations to you both, she looks great. I like the way the outboard motor are mounted wide apart for docking.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Very nice!! No leaks??? LOL

[IRENE]

Nice shots. GREAT looking boat. The difference between the drawings of the non-FB model, and photos of yours, appears like a different boat.

Will/do you have some blog or social media where we can follow along to learn more, please? I am particularly interested in performance.

Congratulations!

[Comodave]

Congrats on your new baby.

[cardude01]

Congrats! Glad the build is finally over and now you can enjoy your beautiful boat.

[healhustler]

Great looking vessel. Must be an impressive sight being trailered as well. Best of cruising success to the entire Mariso Crew!

[Benthic2]

Fair winds and following seas !!

[Bkay]

That should be a very handy boat! Congratulations.

Some smart guy once said a boat should either be small enough to put on a trailer in your driveway or large enough to live on. Looks like you have both!

[Donsan]

Best TT35 ever, thanks to a little help from your friends in Tampa/St. Pete. Too bad the manufacturer couldn't get it right.

Is the Great Loop tour eminent?

[Russell Clifton]

There should be a law about showing off your new boat while wearing shorts and squinting in the sunshine.. But have fun.

[Miz Trom]

Best TT35 ever, thanks to a little help from your friends in Tampa/St. Pete. Too bad the manufacturer couldn't get it right.

Indeed, Don. She is now 100 x better than when we got her a year ago.

We are so glad we decided to just get her repaired and rebuilt up to ABYC standards instead of taking the builder to court. Much less expensive, much less time-consuming, and now we have an awesome boat and many new friends in the marine industry.

Concerning the Loop, we will be doing two short shakedown cruises as soon as our legendary electrician, Charlie Johnson, finishes up the last two projects. As you know, Don, we had planned to start the Loop back in March 2017, shortly after our boat was supposed to be finished. Our old big dogs are now 11 and 13, so we will figure out during shakedown if we think their aging hips can handle such a long trip. If we decide they cannot, we might just trailer her up north to a lake near my mom for the summer.

We also still need to get ADR Power (Andrew - another amazing technician!) back out to help us adjust the Glendinning throttles. They are too sensitive. Fortunately I did several tests in reverse before attempting to dock, so I knew to barely touch the throttles when I backed her in to our slip.

As far as leaks go, we had a few topside leaks when we received the "new" boat from GH. Re-bedding deck hardware (chamfering and utilizing butyl tape) became easy for us after the first few times. Now there are no more leaks.

And as far as blogs go, I don't know if I will start one. After our first cruise I will try to post some numbers here on TF for the gas mileage, etc.

I forgot to mention above the wonderful job done by Monopoli Marine in Tarpon Springs. Pete and his son Peter built the flybridge railings. It was not a simple job because of the pitch of the upper deck, and yet just like all of our other local craftsmen they were an absolute joy to work with.

Cheers,
Pea

[Plane Nauti]

Congrats Pea and Don! Glad you're finally on the water!


Keith

[LaBomba]

Congratulations, love the concept and now the boat. Enjoy

[Shrew]

Congratulations!!!! Now starts the slow, inevitable corrosion and degradation of every single part.

[BandB]

We're both so happy for you, to finally have what you dreamed of and thought you were getting. It looks beautiful and I'm sure you'll find it most enjoyable. You have far more patience than I do and it did you well.

[Nomad Willy]

Is this boat aluminum?

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Nomad Willy

Is this boat aluminum?

No.

[danderer]

Congrats on getting to the light at the end of the tunnel. Now you've got something you can be proud of and enjoy.

If you'd be comfortable with it, I'd be curious to know what work done by the various contractors. What needed to be modified to create the boat you're happy with?

[Miz Trom]

If you'd be comfortable with it, I'd be curious to know what work done by the various contractors. What needed to be modified to create the boat you're happy with?

Okay, and I will try to be concise!


What needed to be modified. Well, we had six main issues. I will break this up into six separate posts to describe each one.


Our marine surveyor spent two days surveying the boat before we made our final payment. During our surveyor's first day, both he and Dan noted that the latest hull under construction, either hull #5 or #6, had a cockpit floor that was 3 inches higher than our boat's. This was a hint that something was off.


Two days later during our lake trial of the boat, we observed that the cockpit sole and fold-down gate on the stern were slightly below the water line, meaning the cockpit was permanently awash, even when underway. (See photos 1-2 below from the lake trial.)


The fold-down gate had 1/3-inch openings on all three sides and when the outboards were in reverse, water poured into the cockpit from all three sides.


After some counterproductive discussions, we brought the boat home from Gainesville to St. Petersburg. We still loved her unique design and shallow draft, but we were exhausted and frustrated after waiting two long years for the build to be finished.


We decided that rather than hassle further with the extremely slow & quixotic builder that we would get her fixed up ourselves.


We consulted with a naval architect and took the boat to American Boat Works (ABW), the marvelous fiberglass shop that I referenced in my first post. ABW cut out the existing cockpit floor, built a new cockpit floor, and fiberglassed it in 3 inches higher than the original floor, as we had noted in hull #5 or 6. (See photos 3-8 below from the ABW shop.)


Paul and Kevin of ABW then built us the new closed stern with a swim platform instead of the original fold-down gate. They installed two nifty brass scuppers in the cockpit deck so rainwater can drain. (See photos 9-10 below, which are BEFORE and AFTER photos of the stern.)


These new scuppers work quite well. I did not take a photo of the scuppers prior to installation; I wish I had because they work beautifully.


Incidentally, I have just learned from another new TT35 owner that GH has now decided to eliminate the fold-down gate on future TT35’s and instead build a closed stern with swim platform very similar to ours. We think this is sensible because, in our opinion, the original fold-down gate design with the cockpit sole raised 3 inches was still susceptible to water intrusion with the outboards in reverse gear.


Up next when I have an hour or so to find more photos, will be the issues with the gas tanks…