1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

[eball429]

Two years ago I brought home an 18' Texas Maid Tahiti project. The Tahiti didn't have a motor or any hardware so I went shopping for a donor boat on C-list. I found and brought home a 1963 Lone Star Biscayne. I was amazed by the floor and transom condition of the Biscayne. I had assumed the boat would be absolute junk because of it's age and being fiberglass. Shortly after I posted this thread (pics of the original Biscayned and Texas Maid project are included):

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...iscayne-texas-maid-tahiti-project-474701.html

I decided to leave the Texas Maid alone for a while and started on the Biscayne last summer. I've done a terrible job sharing the process, but thought I'd start a thread documenting the completion of this project. I want to have the boat on the water with bugs worked out by July 4th. Here's what has been done so far:

1. The boat was completely stripped of all hardware and interior.

2. I welded all holes from snaps on the windshield frame closed and sanded / polished the windshield frame and re-assembled. (I know; kind of an odd order of priority, but I like to weld and just bought some new polishing equipment)

3. Boat was flipped and the bottom was painted. I do body work on fiberglass boats just like cars and use 2k urethane base / clear coat paint for cars (paint is also one of my hobbies and goes well with boat projects).





Lone Star Biscayne bottom paint - YouTube

4. Boat was flipped back over with the help of several family members and a cherry picker and then sat over the winter. I finally got motivated about a month ago and started on the topside body work. Paint is now complete on the top side.







Lone Star Biscayne Paint Complete - YouTube

5. I've completely dis-assembled the original little dude trailer and I'm currently prepping it for paint.



Here's what I have left to do on the project:

1. Paint and make repairs on the trailer.

2. Load boat on trailer.

3. Clean and paint interior of boat.

4. Pant Evinrude Starflite.

5. Mount Evinrude on boat.

6. Fit out boat with all original hardware.

7. Fabricate front bench seat.

8. Install carb kit, lube and tune up Evinrude.

9. Test Evinrude.

10. Test Boat!!!

I'll keep you posted as I make progress on the project.

 

[ilovevintage81]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Looks like your not skipping anything good job i bet it will look great

 

[sphelps]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Wow ! Glad you decided to keep the Lonestar ! Your painting skills look top notch ! Looking forward to seeing her all decked out !

 

[eball429]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Thanks for the kind words!

I had a really busy day yesterday after a full day of work at my 8 to 5 job. I tore down and sanded / prepped most of the trailer over the weekend and I finished the rest of prep work last night and decided to go ahead and paint it. I didn't get to bed until 1:00 a.m. this morning and I'm tired today, but feel good that I'm moving ahead on the project. I'll flip the parts over this evening and paint the other side.





I'm using tractor / implement enamel from TSC and synthetic enamel hardener and reducer from O'reilly's. I was happy with how the paint went on the trailer. I'm thinking about painting some red stripes on the trailer fenders to match the boat. Once the trailer is assembled I've decided to paint the interior of the boat before it goes on the trailer.

 

[eball429]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Maiden voyage this weekend! I'll update with pictures and video if all goes well. I've taken quite a few pictures along the way and will try to get everything up to date next week and share some of my "experiences". I spent the entire day today building a new motor harness because the old one was so rotten that it almost caught on fire when I first ran the motor. I spent $30 on wire from Lowes, re-used all factory connectors and contacts and 8 hours of cleaning and soldering later the new harness worked perfect and the motor runs great.

 

[eball429]

Photobucket has been updated

Photobucket has been updated

Here are some teaser pictures. I haven't had this boat on the water the two years I've owned it. I'm ready!!!!

 

[eball429]

Wiring Disaster

Wiring Disaster

After running the Evinrude starflite for the first time I couldn't get it to shift into reverse. I knew the motor wiring harness was in sad shape, but thought I could patch it up. I started tracing down the problem and found a hot spot in the wiring with the ignition on. I opened up the jacket to the motor harness and found several wires severely deteriorated without jacketing and wiring was getting hot and a fire was just around the corner.

I went to Lowes and bought 10 ft. of 3C / 12 awg cable and 20 ft. of 3C 16 awg cable and made a new harness. All original connectors and connector contacts were refurbished and re-used. I could no longer crimp to the contacts so soldering was the only option.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Boat looks Fantastic!!! Nice job on the wiring, as well.

 

[sphelps]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Absolutely Beautiful !!! You can,t miss her coming up the river that's for sure !
Congratulations on a job well done ! Splash vid would be great !

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

What a beauty! I love all the bow jewelry and the motor is fantastic. I second a vote for a splash vid.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Glad I swung through to check this out.. She is b-you-tee-ful! Great job so far. Can't wait to see her splashed.

 

[eball429]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

All went well and the motor ran great. I'm VERY happy with how the boat handles and the old evinrude has lots of grunt. I'll post videos and water pictures tonight or tomorrow.

 

[eball429]

Pictures and Video

Pictures and Video

Below are pictures and a video from the Biscayne's first trip out. This is on a private lake in the middle of Kansas where my in-laws have a house. It's a great place to test and tinker on boats!! My 8 year old son deleted the first splash / off the trailer video and is going to be grounded for a long time.







Here's a startup and run video.

 

[eball429]

Before Pictures

Before Pictures

Here are some "before" pictures of the boat.

 

[sphelps]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Nice start up and run video ! Looks like she ran out very nice . Jumped right up on plane . Sounds like the kids are ready for a boat ride ! :joyous:
Btw , what a great place to test her out with all that slick water .. I have yet to get mine out on some glass ..Nothing but some chop and a bunch of other boats .
Nice job and thanks for sharing it with us !

 

[Decker83]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

What a great looking boat.. You really have a gift for restoring old boats,,

Love the way she leaped out of the hole shot..

Congratts on a job very well done..:first:

 

[zool]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Perfect water cut line on the bottom paint.....nice....you test floated and market it?

 

[eball429]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

No, I wasn't able to test float. This was actually one of the hardest things for me to do on the boat and I had no idea if it would look right until I put it on the water. I used the photos of the original gel coat and could find waterline witness marks in the original gel coat from where the boat was probably stored in the water for a long time. I used AutoCAD software to dimension where I thought the original waterline would be and verified it by checking the dimension of waterlines in old brochure pictures. In other words; I guessed. I used a laser level to layout the tape for painting the waterline. Thanks for the compliment!

 

[greenbush future]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

Your boat has very similar style to my 60's Fleetwood Lone Star, only a few have the small hatch up front, but mine does too. I had the same seats with the star on it when I snagged mine a couple years ago. You have done a very nice job, bringing this boat back to it's glory. I would bet it looks even better than new, paint sure does make her shine, and the outboard really responds. I have a pair of 57's powering my boat, so I hope have my boat looking and running close to what you have achieved. You have some really good skills on making that boat shine.

 

[eball429]

Re: 1963 Lone Star Biscayne Project

I love the twins! Could you post a link to pictures? I really would like to have a boat with twins someday. I've got an a 1958 14' aluminum blue star surf rider and a 1958 10hp johnson. I'd like to find another 58 johnson and set it up with twins. Thanks for the compliments! I've still got a long list of stuff I want to do on the boat before I'm "done". The devil is in the details!