Hello,
I am a proud new owner of a Yellow 2006 Defender 25, purchased from Sea Machines in Boston. It was a test boat for their autonomous navigation systems. I picked it up from Boston in December and drove it home. You will mostly see it going between Anacortes and Henry Island, where we have a cabin on Open Bay.
Some of the features include:
2019 Honda BF225s
SM300 autonomous system
Furon Radar
SeaStar Optimus EPS steering and throttles
Optimus 360 Joystick
Airmar weather station
Work needed includes:
paint collars
Paint bottom
Replace heater dosing pump Works but extremely rusty. Any recommendations on this part?
replace anti skid
Cleanup aluminum - Any recommendations on making it look new?
Where in Anacortes are you planning on keeping it? We are at Cap Sante and use ours to commute to orcas.
For the collar most folks have used a two part urethane you can get from most auto paint shops. I went with Raptor Liner which is also urethane but sprays on a bit thicker, I’m about 8 months into the paint job and looking good.
For bottom paint interlux makes great stuff, the surface prep is the most important especially with the age of our boats. I had mine done at CSR in Seattle as I didn’t want to mess with the prep myself.
When you say the dosing pump for the heater do you mean the one in the rear locker?
As far as pot puller and down riggers I will try and find a pict of my puller, I’m happy with how it worked out. I just got two Scotty 2106b downriggers I need to figure out how to mount, likely a bracket off the rear hand rails but haven’t built anything yet.
I am super curious about your 250s as I’m planning to upgrade very shortly. One thing that bugs me about the 225s is I can’t get on step on a single engine, wouldn’t be used under normal conditions but kinda defeats some of the purpose of twins if you can’t go any faster than a kicker would take you should you loose one. Would be very interested to know if the newer 250s have the power to get up with one out of the water?
Have you thought about adding controls to the back deck for fishing? That’s the other thing I’m trying to work out but likely after I move to electronic controls.
Hey Arthur,
Thanks for all of the info.
I don’t know what I was thinking when typing that, but my motors are 225s, not 250s. So, I have no new info for you about putting 250s on the boat.
I am planning to store the boat on the trailer at a storage place close to the casino. This is what I have been doing for years with a 25’ Seawolf pilot house.
For the dosing pump, I am talking about the pump in the rear locker. It is so rusty that I can’t get any part info off of it.
I have thought about rear steering. I always wanted to get it on my old boat. With the autonomous navigational system that I have now, I have a belt pack that allows me to steer the boat from anywhere. I don’t even have to be on the boat. Not something that I want to wear while fishing or pulling pots, so may just add something to strap it in the back somewhere.
With painting the collars, is it much better to spray the paint? I was thinking about using rollers to paint it.
We have an ‘04 SAFE Boat that was USCG orange and recently painted it to a light blue. You’ll see ours on a mooring ball on Obstruction Island, just past Lieberhaven.
For the painting, we used George Kirby Paint Co Marine Paint, “topside hull and deck.” I cleaned with alcohol and sanded a little by hand and then just rolled it on. Took me a few hours for a single coat, and it’s more or less holding up.
I also think in talking to Micah at Lifeproof that a single engine isn’t going to get one of these on plane- probably just too heavy.
See you on the water and please say hi if cruising by!
Ahh I must have misread on the 225 v 250s, all my other twins I’ve owned have been able to get up on step on a single but it could be the deep vee and heavy weight may not make that possible.
Do your engines have the electronic trolling controls or how are you thinking about that for fishing? (I’m still trying to figure mine out)
I can look at the pump number when I get back up to Anacortes in a few days. If you are up there you are also welcome to just swing by my boat at cap sante and look.
As far as painting I like spraying but it takes a space to do it and the right equipment, I believe most people are brush/roller painting theirs, I have some minor cracks where people step onto the boat but hoping the raptor will last several years without touch up. Only time will tell…
Welcome Pat! Sweet rig - I remember an article on that a while ago.
For the dosing pump - call Sure Marine in Seattle - they are a great resource (original supplier) for the Webasto setup in the Safeboats. https://www.suremarineservice.com/
I’ve cleaned my aluminum with decent luck using Starbrite Aluminum Restorer - it’s nasty so wear a respirator. I spray it on and wipe with a red 3m scotch pad to loosen dirt then let it sit for a minute or two and hose off.
Doing the 3m pads is miserable. 3m adhesive remover (both spray and liquid form are useful) and a heat gun help a lot.
DM me for info on lock if you need it - there is a supplier in Oregon and I have the parts list for all the Trioving locks so you can figure out what you need.
For collar paint - I’ve been using 2-part valspar auto paint. Holds up really well and easy to get (Usually grab it from Napa in Everett). I scuff collar with 3d red pads first to break the surface bond, clean with alcohol then roll it on. It cures fast - so mix enough for one side at a time and work quickly. I repaint it fully about every 2 years and sometimes touch up in between if I’ve scraped back to orange paint on a dock somewhere. I bring bottom paint up onto the collar also, as a good amount of the port side (3-4"?) is always under water and the crevice between fin and collar is a fave hangout for barnacles.
Curious how ‘autonomous’ the system is. Can I be like “Hey Alexa - take the Safeboat over to Cap Sante, pickup the kids on the fuel dock at noon and bring them back to the buoy.” ?
Does it have an ability to do station holding? I imagine the SM300 can, but not sure on that. I know I can have it hold its location with the SeaStar Optimus 360 joystick or have it drift and always have the boat facing in one direction.
But is it the electro-hydraulic which leverages a pump to drive a hydraulic steering setup or the full electric version where the ram is an electric actuator?
I’m interested in moving to the latter when I put new engines on.
