Riviera M430 Sports Cruiser Restoration Project

Over the holiday break I spent some time enjoying using this boat with my family. I also found time to make some much needed repairs and improvements. This 2nd restoration article covers some interesting problem-solving issues.

The bow thruster was not working and after a couple of marine electricians investigated this issue, it was not clear what the actual problem was. After replacing the three 12V batteries with Delkor M31 maintenance free, deep cycle Marine batteries, the bow thruster started working. The old batteries couldn’t hold enough charge to run the bow thruster.

Half of the instrument cluster gauge light globes were not working so I upgraded all of the original globes to LED globes which operate at a much lower temperature. I did the same to the instrument cluster on the 1978 Camaro that I recently finished restoring.

Richard (Flano) at Blue Steel Welding and Fabrication did a great job custom fabricating and fitting a pair of 316 Marine Grade Stainless Steel Stern Rails that he set up to hold a cookout BBQ to this boat.

The ‘before & after’ photos of new seat trim & floor covering, dinghy davits and more will be included in our Q2 2023 edition boat restoration article. Kindly contact me at len.fretwell@diggingdrilling.com with any queries or suggestions.

Article and Images: Len Fretwell