2014 thru 2016 was a dynamic time for the Blackfin 29 "Aquarius" story, many upgrades along with the normal maintenance ongoing. There was more focus on scuba diving put into the use of Aquarius. Foldable dive ladder, tank holders, and stern handrails were added along with a need for much more storage. By now we were really wanting a permanent anchor person as walking to the foredeck was hard with installed windshield and bow rail. We tried everything to make access to foredeck/anchoring from the backend of the boat easier. Lighter anchor rode, trimmed bow pulpit, remove cleats and installed bullhorn. Everything helped but anchoring and pulling anchor manually was getting old, so a windlass plan was inevible. Each time we used the stock boat, we came up with an idea for updating Aquarius with fishing, diving, and cruising a 29' sportfishing platform in mind. However time was always in our way though. Then in August 2015, a transmission overheated and broke a main gear requiring a 3rd haulout.
A long list was made of the things the Aquarius did NOT do well and this was the time frame when Aquarius turned into a newly designed and completely upgraded Split Decision,
a 29' sportfishing machine :
- Aquarius has outdated unneeded heavy gear. Many examples told so far but No Kidding, one bulkhead below had a piece of 8'x 3" trim, that had a piece of 1/4 round molding trim, that had another piece of shoe molding trim installed on it, (trim, on trim, on trim,) Teak molding was cheap back then, but this 80's and early 90's thing had to go. So we started to get agressive removing antiquated gear!
- Though Aquarius was extremely stiff, a higher center of gravity gave her more pitch and sway than needed. Updating materials and moving needed gear down closer/lower to waterline improved these features. We trimmed weight from tower, removed cockpit aluminum headliner, lowered deck lights,etc.
- Though powerful, Aquarius was a heavy boat that used more fuel than needed, and didn't have the cruising speed or range in the current stock configuration that we wanted. The original survey with speed chart is included in link below for reference. So we mapped a plan to get this boat tinto a 29-30 knt WOT range
- Prop clearance was an issue, so new struts would be needed for any prop changes we made moving forward. We built new Carbon fiber struts as described below. Aquarius was begging for a 4 blade prop, this would allow for that upgraded change.
- Blackfin 29's underwater design was solid, however high drag flat backed straking, externally mounted thruhulls, open box shaft exits, and protruding strut flanges lead to unneeded drag especially as our speed was increasing with other updates. Prop shafts were made of 1.5" stainless steel, so we opted for a thinner tapered 1.375" upgraded shaft design made from aquamet 22 to decrease drag. 1/8" decrease in dia. x 3' long x 2 shafts ( 9.5 sq.in decrease of frontal area) was a single huge speed gain. Prop Shaft Calcs Survey Speeds PrePurchase
- Metal gear underwater makes for more cleaning maintenance. Stainless trim tabs/ hinges were scrapped for custom FRP trim tabs w hybrid carbon hinges that were painted which decreased underwater maintenance (barnacle growth and slime). Stock bronze bolted flange prop struts were removed and replaced by custom Carbon Vacuum bagged foil shape upgrades which allowed us to get hull/prop clearance, less drag and painted for lower maintenance and ease of cleaning. Carbon Strut1 Carbon Strut2 Carbon Strut3
Boat was accruing laydays at a local DIY repair facility and the upgrades were taking longer than expected. So we moved the boat to my repair facility inland. We completed the move early in 2016 using an adjustable 14,000 GVW trailer. This helped with the efficiecy of completing work, less drive time, and lowered our storage outlays. Things were moving along slowly, but we were making headway when 2017 brought a big surprise. Next Webpage (2017-2019).
