25 Center Console

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blfuller123

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Joined
Apr 16, 2016
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Location
Lake Jackson, TX
I acquired a Parker 25ft center console a couple of months back and plan on completely restoring it over the next couple of years. It currently has twin mercury 225 EFIs on it, plan to eventually repower with 4 strokes. Here she is the day I brought her home.

 
Welcome, any pics of the console? It looks interesting.
 
To this point, we have redone the floor, replaced the seals on the boxes, refinished the swim platform and got the gel coat buffed out. I had to do some work to the wiring, engine trim wasn't working on either engine and got the perko switches wired properly. Next week I will be replacing the rub rail. I have about a month and a half to fish this summer before I have to start working again. Once we are done fishing for the summer, I have plans to make new panels on the console. I plan on adding the can harnesses from the engines so I can get rid of the analog gauges. In there place I will be flush mounting a Simrad NSS EXO12 in the center panel. The left panel will have a Simrad NSS EXO9 and I am replacing the VHF and moving it to the right panel. I added a cushion on top of the bait well and leaning post. Here are a couple of pictures so far.







We went from a 22ft bay boat to this boat to do more offshore fishing and the extra room with family. We fished the other day with 7 people on board and it was very comfortable.
 
Been doing some work to the boat lately. I got the rub rail changed and that made a world of difference. I got the electronics updated with the Simrad, added a thru-hull transducer, and 3d structure scan. I replaced the broken vhf antenna, replaced the trim tabs (the planes were in bad shape and the actuators were a little iffy). I traded my old electronics to a buddy for a yeti 250 and put that on the front deck. Been out twice and realized how inefficient these engines are. I'm hoping to repower to 4 strokes in the near future. Here are a couple of photos.







 
Wow, you certainly are making this boat your own. It's looking real good.

If the engines are running ok I would use them for a while longer, unless of course money is no issue :lol: by the way, what year is the boat, I didn't see it in the thread. No that the 4 strokes will be quite heavier.

Great job and good luck with more improvements.
Kevin
 
The hull is a '95. I will probably try new props before I repower to see if that makes any difference. I have Mirage 17s now, I will probably change to Rev4 19s or Enertia Eco 21s.
 
We got to run the boat for several awesome trips this fall before I got busy at work. The last trip of the season I broke a leaf spring on the trailer on the way to Freeport. I got the boat back home and got that swapped out.

About a month ago I brought her back home to replace all the leaf springs on the trailer and to do some updating. I started with redoing the battery wiring. I hated how the battery switches were mounted (switches were mounted under different panels). I decided to add voltage sensing relays and new battery switches. Now, all three battery banks are always isolated. The voltage sensing relays are tied to the engine batteries. Once the engine batteries reach 13.2 volts, the charge swaps over to the house batteries. There is also an emergency parallel switch in the event that a cranking battery goes dead. I replaced the batteries, all of the battery cables and I made a box out of starboard to mount the switches to that fits behind one of the transom panels. I also added voltage gauges that light up when the switches are turned on. I am really happy how they turned out.





The counter lower unit on had some kind of epoxy repair. It looked bad but seemed to do the job. I went to change the fluid in the lowers and the counter unit was full of water. I guess the epoxy repair didn't work so well. I ordered another lower and got it swapped out.





The Seastar steering helm pump was leaking when I first got the boat. I rebuilt the pump but by the end of the summer it was leaking again. I decided to replace it with a Uflex helm pump.





I gathered up all the pieces to remove the analog gauges and put the engine data on the Simrad. I got all of the wiring installed, and I could not get the gateway to power up on the Can bus or the NMEA side. Long story short, the Can power connectors on both engines had pins in the plugs that were corroded to the point the pin would not protrude into the female connector. I replaced those pins and solved that problem.


 
The next issue that I ran into was both engine computers were programed to “Port” locations. I had to take the boat to the dealer to have them programed to their correct location. Finally got all the engine data displaying properly.





I made new panels out of black starboard for the dash, got the VHF moved to the right panel, and got the Simrad 12 flush mounted into the center panel. I replaced the switches in the right panel. I added some starboard strips so when something is sitting on the dash, it doesn’t slide off. I waited to order the Simrad 9 just in case I couldn’t figure out the gauges. I am hoping it gets here today or tomorrow and I will be installing it into the left panel. The Simrad 9 will be dedicated for the gauges but it will also be a backup GPS. It does everything the 12 does and they will share all data. I also added a couple of cup holders in the console, an engine kill switch and Sirius XM radio and Weather. I repainted the blue on the dash back white. I spent the better part of the last two days getting all the wiring under the console cleaned up. Here is the dash now.





Repowering the boat isn’t going to happen for another year or two. I got performance numbers with the analog gauges and the prop slip was very good. I don’t know that re-proping will make a significant difference. I just re-calibrated the fuel scanners and will get performance numbers with the digital gauges and see if there are any difference. When I do repower, it will more than likely be with new 2 strokes. Until then, I got all the filters replaced, put in new thermostats, plugs and new primer bulbs in ready for this season. I also found some 2003 engine decals.





We are about ready to start fishing again.
 
Congrats, you've been busy. It's a great feeling to get things updated and add those additional touches that makes her yours. Good luck.
 
This boat is definitely one of a kind.

I got the 9 installed and it even has Vessel View software installed. I am hoping to get her out in the water this week to try everything out.
 

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I'm pretty excited, got all the vinyl recovered/replaced so it actually matches.
 

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Here she is one year after getting her.

2laftiq.jpg
 
blfuller123":21d0244g said:
We got to run the boat for several awesome trips this fall before I got busy at work. The last trip of the season I broke a leaf spring on the trailer on the way to Freeport. I got the boat back home and got that swapped out.

About a month ago I brought her back home to replace all the leaf springs on the trailer and to do some updating. I started with redoing the battery wiring. I hated how the battery switches were mounted (switches were mounted under different panels). I decided to add voltage sensing relays and new battery switches. Now, all three battery banks are always isolated. The voltage sensing relays are tied to the engine batteries. Once the engine batteries reach 13.2 volts, the charge swaps over to the house batteries. There is also an emergency parallel switch in the event that a cranking battery goes dead. I replaced the batteries, all of the battery cables and I made a box out of starboard to mount the switches to that fits behind one of the transom panels. I also added voltage gauges that light up when the switches are turned on. I am really happy how they turned out.





The counter lower unit on had some kind of epoxy repair. It looked bad but seemed to do the job. I went to change the fluid in the lowers and the counter unit was full of water. I guess the epoxy repair didn't work so well. I ordered another lower and got it swapped out.





The Seastar steering helm pump was leaking when I first got the boat. I rebuilt the pump but by the end of the summer it was leaking again. I decided to replace it with a Uflex helm pump.





I gathered up all the pieces to remove the analog gauges and put the engine data on the Simrad. I got all of the wiring installed, and I could not get the gateway to power up on the Can bus or the NMEA side. Long story short, the Can power connectors on both engines had pins in the plugs that were corroded to the point the pin would not protrude into the female connector. I replaced those pins and solved that problem.



Do you have any more pictures of your BEP install? I'm wanting to add this same cluster but my fuel tank selector valves are right under where you have it installed.
 
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