New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft

[jbcurt00]

Re: New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft

Battery tray is what 'tore' the edge trim on the starboard gunwale, also rusty bolts. It was tucked up high on the starboard rear seat back w/ 2 more rusty bolts thru the seat back, but a 3rd was to the gunwale trim. Oops... batteries are heavy? Who'd have thunk it?

Since I'll be using a bow tank, not much room for the battery up front, so the bilge pump & battery are tentatively going to be located at the stern to port. Pump closer to centerline of the keel, the battery further to port.

I'll be sure to put in a call to our resident battery placement expert when it's time.... :watermelon:

Here's another similar (same? IDK maybe?) Duracraft, no splashwell remnants either:

And I've got access to pix of 2 other very similar Duracrafts on another forum, neither had a splashwell. The giveaway is no thru hole for it to drain out thru the transom.

Actually, sitting here, thinking (scary, ain't it) if I build a splashwell of any kind, it's going to have to be removeable, possibly very quickly removeable while under way... With the fixed bench rear seat, there's only a skinny little slit (ok 3" +/-) between the seat back & the bench seat. Not sure how I'd access the stuff in the bilge area or build a quick in &/or out splashwell..

That will have to be something I'll ponder on for a bit... hmmmm..

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft

A splashwell will be tricky with the '59 Chevy-ish fins back there. Maybe a 8-10" (and still might be too wide) wide S/W to catch some water if it comes over the back and still give quick access underneath.

Some advice - Don't call "our resident battery placement expert". The DC will be finished and still waiting for final advice. :facepalm: :lol:

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft

So I skipped lunch today, waited til about 130p & ran over to the secret boat building lair:
Started here:

Step 1:
Drill out transom knee brace rivets:

Step 2:
Use a drift pin & hammer to drive the drilled rivet out of the hull:

Step 3:
Remove transom knee from the bilge:

Well, seeing as how I skipped lunch, I decided to take an extra long late lunch &

Sha-BAM...!

We got transom:

Had to do a little trimming off the 'ears' of the bat-wing, along the bottom (the new transom ply is still @ 2.5" longer then the previous) and a fuzz off the bottom of both radius corners:

Really good fit, IMHO

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft

At this point, I must admit that this is now 'officially' a rebuild thread & I should start a new thread in the resto section.

Please stop by the dry dock thread:
[h=1]1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom[/h]
For the continuation of the rebuild. I will try to update this thread as well w/ milestones, but the posts will be less frequent....

 

[m casey stock]

Re: New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft

Lots of great pictures and details on your progress. All I can say is "What's not to LOVE when it comes to an old DuraCraft!" Thanks for the PM and the link. Now I'm heading over to your rebuild thread to check things out. Thanks again for keeping me in touch.