Cowhune's 1979 16SS Resto

Cowhune

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
37
Ok here we go......

I picked up this old rig around March 2014 down in Buffalo, NY and hauled it back to Canada to become my first real fishing rig.

Here are some pictures of when I first got it.

Here she is still down in Buffalo:



At this point, I dragged the boat home, and gave it a good cleaning out. I knew the floors were soft right away when I went to see the boat. I inspected the transom and everything looked pretty solid still surprisingly so I decided to just do some temporary things for last summer and enjoy the boat to get a better idea of how I wanted to rebuild it. I quickly pulled apart the front bench and replaced it with a carpeted casting deck and mounted a shiny new Motorguide Xi5 trolling motor on the front (who said you can't put lipstick on a pig?). I also put down some 1/2" plywood over the soft floors.

Here she is arriving at the cottage:



First splash, along with my first fishing rig. (12' tinner that I put a floor and the basics in haha)



And this is what I use it for:

 

hayko1971

Starmada Splash of the Year 2015
Joined
May 24, 2013
Messages
448
Sweet boat! I'm currently doing up its twin!
 

dozerII

Admiral
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
6,527
Great SS, and an Awesome Musky, What are your plans for the SS now that you have run it for a season?
 

g0nef1sshn

Lieutenant
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
1,291
And its started! That musky pic gives me the itch to go fish now! Welcom to the club!
 

classiccat

"Captain" + Starmada Splash Of The Year 2020
Joined
Dec 20, 2010
Messages
3,405
Welcome to the mob Cowhune! :welcome:

You're off to a good start...SC & Musky pics!!!

You have MBS & the rare fourfootitus...You may as well start the thread for your 20 footer :lol:
 

Cowhune

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
37
Thanks for the warm welcome fellas. My plans for the boat are to convert it to be geared towards fishing. I'm going to build decks at the back and front. I'm still working out the details on the back deck so I can retain any structural integrity that the splash well offered. I've got it figured out in my head, but I'm sure it won't be as smooth when I go to build it.

I keep flip flopping between going all out and keeping it a budget minded build because of all the awesome resto's on here. You guys do some nice work. But at the end of the day, I'm not looking to keep this boat for another 30+ years so I'm making some budget minded decisions with it. My main concern with the boat was to fix the leaks and make it safe and functional.

Ok, now onto the progress so far. I've gotta have this boat ready before June at the latest.....that's when musky season kicks off although I'd like to have it in the water earlier than that...so I've been going at it every weekend.

Floors were in tough shape:









The transom however, was in decent shape. The splashwell had no cracks or signs of stress. Same goes for the knee brace.






My buddy has a crazy power washer at his shop with a diesel burner in it and the thing worked amazing for cleaning out the hull.

I used the 3/4" Arauco plywood for the floor and transom.









I had some help cutting the foam:





Just finished applying the Gluvit yesterday, I'm going to pull the foam back out and do a leak test today to see if I missed anything and then keep moving forward.
I have been using Cabot Spar Varnish on all the wood pieces throughout the week. I've got a few coats on the floor and console pieces so far. I'm waiting to drill out the transom holes before I start coating that.
 
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g0nef1sshn

Lieutenant
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
1,291
Wow, that update came in like a Ninja! Looking like youll be all wrapped up well before June at this pace! Maybe I should set a deadline too.
 

dozerII

Admiral
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
6,527
Holy cow from into and pre-resto splash picture with caught fish to floors cut fit ,sealed and foam going in in 10 hours, this must be a record guys.;):whoo:
 

Furrylittleotter

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
167
Welcome! My uncle (in Buffalo) built out a boat that side with a side console for fishing up your way and I always that it was a sweet little runner. Yours looks like a real Muskie slayer!

Neil
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
Holy cow from into and pre-resto splash picture with caught fish to floors cut fit ,sealed and foam going in in 10 hours, this must be a record guys.;):whoo:

Man's Best Friend always helps! :D

Welcome to the Tin Drydock, Cowhune. It looks like your won't be on land very long.

If I read correctly, you don't plan on re-using the splashwell? The splashwell adds tremendously to the structure and safety factor in case water comes over the stern. Think hard about eliminating it completely.
 

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
13,747
Hey Cowhune she looks to be a nice little SS you have there and she's going to become a SF (Superfisherman) by the sounds of it :thumb:

I see you have the venerable 55 HP Rude, I have a 55 Johnny on my SeaNymph and they are awesome little poppin smoker for smaller 16'rs.

You fellas slogging away at paint stripping, wire wheeling, pit filling, primering and painting notice a step missing here? The original paint does look pretty darn good in the pics and I really like the swoosh not to mention the blue on white. Or you just subscribe to the I can't see the outside when I'm inside it fishing :lol:
 

Cowhune

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
37
Man's Best Friend always helps! :D

Welcome to the Tin Drydock, Cowhune. It looks like your won't be on land very long.

If I read correctly, you don't plan on re-using the splashwell? The splashwell adds tremendously to the structure and safety factor in case water comes over the stern. Think hard about eliminating it completely.


Thanks GA, yessir you read correct. That's not to say there wont be a splashwell at all though. I plan to have a smaller one like the modern boats which will use the existing drain holes. Then I plan to run 2 bilge pumps which satisfies my safety concerns for swamping. I don't typically boat on large waters anyways.

As far as the structural part of it goes, I've worked that out in a way that I feel will be stronger than the original splashwell. The main, and really only structural part IMO, is the cross brace. The sheet aluminum of the original splashwell shouldn't see any real loads unless the transom wood is shot, at which point it seems like that's when it cracks and pulls apart. It does tie everything together though, and thats what the casting deck will do, as well as provide the cross bracing of the original splashwell.

Hey Cowhune she looks to be a nice little SS you have there and she's going to become a SF (Superfisherman) by the sounds of it :thumb:

I see you have the venerable 55 HP Rude, I have a 55 Johnny on my SeaNymph and they are awesome little poppin smoker for smaller 16'rs.

You fellas slogging away at paint stripping, wire wheeling, pit filling, primering and painting notice a step missing here? The original paint does look pretty darn good in the pics and I really like the swoosh not to mention the blue on white. Or you just subscribe to the I can't see the outside when I'm inside it fishing :lol:

Thanks Watermann. Yeah I love the size and fuel economy of the 55. It cruises along fast enough too. Mines been a bit of a PITA for me though. She has let me down once but I put her back together. I'm going to take one last stab at getting it running right this summer or else its time to shop for a 70 hp. :D

:laugh: Yeah I think I'm sticking to the "I can't see the outside when I'm fishing" for this season. I just won't have time to deal with that too. I may tackle a paint job next winter though as the outside is looking a little tired after all these years. I know it will be harder to do that way but hey, I'd rather be fishing.
 

Cowhune

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
37
Ok time for an update.

Leak test went well. No more drips :D !!! So I didn't waste any time and kept on moving forward.









I decided to go the time and cost effective route and used screws to put the floor down. They worked awesome and fast. I used SS screws at the back of the boat where it tends to see more moisture and then deck screws for the rest. With a quick pilot hole the screws sucked the floor boards down nice and tight.

I was thinking of maybe skimming each screw with a glob of 5200 to cover them up before I do carpet. Or would that be a waste?

Thats it for now.....I havn't come up with a game plan for the next step. Probably sorting out the transom and consoles. Oh and carpet. I was going to try and save that old vinyl that is on the hull but I decided to scrap it after reading that I can just use new contact cement over the old glue. :joyous:
 

wheeldriver

Seaman
Joined
May 29, 2012
Messages
50
Excellent progress on the SS! Glad to see you did a leak test while everything was out.

I have some concerns about the use of deck screws to hold the flooring down. I assume these are steel (carbon) screws as you said you had used stainless screws in the back area. When you do put vinyl or carpet down the protruding screws out the bottom will be exposed to a very high humidity environment. Even if they are zinc coated the moment they went into your pilot hole on the ribs the zinc coating likely got stripped off. It wont take long for the screws to rust, starting first with the threads that are the thinnest. They will then come loose and likely many will break off falling onto your foam. With time and vibration they will find a nice home to rust on your aluminum hull causing corrosion and pitting.

When I removed the foam on my 74 SS I found 5 or 6 steel mandrels from pop rivets that had completely rusted and was creating some very ugly pitting into my aluminum hull, with more time they would have certainly caused some holes in my hull. I used a small stainless steel wire wheel brush on a dremel tool to remove all the corrosion, then coat it with gluvit. BTW never use a steel carbon wire brush on aluminum boats, it will leave carbon deposits in the soft aluminum which will cause corrosion issues down the road.

Just my two cents on that part. Great job on the photos! Thanks for letting us tag along during the process.
 
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Tnstratofam

Commander
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Messages
2,679
Wow you are flying on your resto. I would use some 5200 or 4200 on the deck screws to help eliminate water intrusion into your nice new deck. Skimming the top of the screws may be sufficient, but walking back and forth across the deck combined with temperature changes could cause them to flex and break the skim coat. It may be extra work, but I would pull them out and then coat them and re install. By the way I know I'm a day late in saying so but :welcome:.
 

Watermann

Starmada Splash of the Year 2014
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
13,747
Excellent progress on the SS! Glad to see you did a leak test while everything was out.

I have some concerns about the use of deck screws to hold the flooring down. I assume these are steel (carbon) screws as you said you had used stainless screws in the back area. When you do put vinyl or carpet down the protruding screws out the bottom will be exposed to a very high humidity environment. Even if they are zinc coated the moment they went into your pilot hole on the ribs the zinc coating likely got stripped off. It wont take long for the screws to rust, starting first with the threads that are the thinnest. They will then come loose and likely many will break off falling onto your foam. With time and vibration they will find a nice home to rust on your aluminum hull causing corrosion and pitting.

When I removed the foam on my 74 SS I found 5 or 6 steel mandrels from pop rivets that had completely rusted and was creating some very ugly pitting into my aluminum hull, with more time they would have certainly caused some holes in my hull. I used a small stainless steel wire wheel brush on a dremel tool to remove all the corrosion, then coat it with gluvit. BTW never use a steel carbon wire brush on aluminum boats, it will leave carbon deposits in the soft aluminum which will cause corrosion issues down the road.

Just my two cents on that part. Great job on the photos! Thanks for letting us tag along during the process.


I wrote this same sort of post and deleted it before hitting post because you've already fastened the decking down so I didn't think it would be received as anything but negative feedback which most people don't care for. In the spirit of the iboats forum we are all here of our own free will offering help through out own expierences. Although some just regurgitate something they read and haven't been there or done that.

Anyway I agree with Wheeldriver and the way I see it, the best way to secure the decking on a SC is to the ribs is with large flange blind rivets. I guess I just don't want the next guy to come along down the road and read about using steel deck screws being a good choice to use because really they aren't the best choice for fastening decks, rather the cheapest.

If it were me and I made a mistake I would welcome input and expect the guys around here to set me straight. I hope you understand our motivation for wanting guys rebuilding these boats to know what works best. A thin strip of AL is all that's between us and an element that is not our own and can kill us.
 

Cowhune

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
37
Points taken guys, and I do appreciate it. I remember reading ezmobee's builds and seeing him use deck screws with good results which kind of helped me justify the decision. I'll certainly think this one over good through the week before I get back to slugging away on Friday. I'll price out some rivets tomorrow and see what its looking like.

Cheers !
 
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g0nef1sshn

Lieutenant
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
1,291
Jealous on the progress, just saying, not hating. Looking good cowhune. One question though. I was planning on wrapping my deck with carpet then laying it in (after sealing ofcourse). So its wrapped and tight. any reason you put the deck down first then gonna cover it? Maybe its something Im missing in a step I need to consider.
 
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