Another long week at the boatyard. The Scuba Charters boat building team is outdoing itself again. The long hard hours will pay off in the long run. The old dive boat was nicknamed “The Panamanian Water Torture”… Hence the new boat under construction. The front boxes and anchor locker are installed, as are the seat bases.

The door on the side of the console is the entrance to the smallest head ever installed on a boat. A bit of a luxury, but needed for the ladies.

Here you can see some of the rear storage and the hole in the corner is for the awesome sound system. Hmmm… an ipod with 36 gigs of music drives all this. Wait a minute Skippy… how many songs is that??? Somewhere around 6300 songs or over 18 days of solid music.

The seats will be teak slats, like a park bench. This will definitely look and feel just like you’re in Panama… Not to mention, drain a waterlogged diver and provide a nice comfy cool ride.

The grueling hours will be worth it for the final product. A good custom dive boat is always a beautiful thing. Next week, the boatbuilding department will finish glassing everything in, then a light sanding, some putty, another light sanding and then some gel-coat. Then, the teak bench seats and accents will be built. Teak??? Isn’t that a bit over the top???… I would say yes, but… it grows natural here…
Capn Scott

Been a hard working week here at Scuba Charters Panama… The boat building department has been hard at work trying to keep up with the demand of the clients. Here are some new pics on the progress of the boat.

The new center console is in, and so is the floor.

The entire floor has been pumped underneath with foam. Which should aid in any problems with water between the hull and floor. Also, the center console is a bit large due to the fact that you can enter it and use the toilet. Bet ya didn’t expect that kind of luxury…

This next week, the cap rail and forward and stern boxes will be built and glassed. Also the Scuba Charters Panama welding department will get into the swing with a new 100 gallon fuel tank… Whew… what a hard working team… working together as though it were just one person…

Capn Scott

Been working many hours on the new dive boat. This is the progress so far. Found a great worker and he has really kicked this into high gear. Especially being he seems to enjoy the parts that I don’t and vice versa. We make a pretty good boatbuilding team. Though… I would never want to turn this 20+ year weekend hobby into a living. We finally finished the outside of the hull, gel-coated it and then turned it over. We then removed the mold frame and cut the transom out.

We put in the stringers for the floor.

She is the New England style lobster boat. I chose this hull due to it’s handling in the north sea. This area has that same type of ocean wave. Big, rolling smooth waves.

These are the stringers before they are glassed in. The longitudinal stringers get glassed in very heavy. They are what the motor pushes. That way the boat isn’t pushed along by it’s transom.

Worked until 7pm tonight. The stringers are totally glassed in. Tomorrow, I will install all the conduit for the electrical, controls, fuel lines and such. Then I will begin foaming the compartments that will be voids. The big spot in the center with the 5 gallon tank of resin will be the fuel tank. I believe 100 gallons will do the trick. After the foam sets tomorrow, I will begin placing in the floor. Then, I will drill holes in the floor and finish foaming it in, making sure to remove all voids.

Capn Scott

Was a good day for getting out into the ocean. A friend invited me along on his boat. We explored a new spot and visited some of our favorites. All in the Islotes Secas. This was one of those picture perfect days… Writing this while listening to some Jimmy Buffet…
The ride out was another picture postcard

This waterfall is over 200 feet tall… and is at a distance of over 10 miles… Oh, and that is an extinct volcano in the distance…

You can stay here for $100 per night, and the view is spectacular…

If someone has not named this, “hole in the wall”, something is wrong. I’m not sure why this rock so captivates me… Although, I love gadgets also…. hmmmm…. the black dot is a mistake in my handling of the graphics program…

So…. these dudes were hanging around… of course, so was I…

And then a school of these pacific spades surrounded us… Ever felt like a sardine???

Very colorful starfish…

Then, as I’m swimming around, this dudette looks up at me…

Then it’s time for her to take off… great stuff… had to be somewhere around 500 pounds…

And what dive would be complete without a visit from a great moray eel???

A great day out on the ocean… The new boat should be finished in a couple of weeks, then much more photos…. until the new video camera comes in… then more video…

Capn Scott