1957 Ski Champ - project 5 Cent Deposit

[Joe L. Bachs]

Hey guys, Just joined up but have checked the forums here for quite awhile. I have been watching the local classifieds and craig's list for quite awhile waiting for the right runabout to come along for a rebuild project. This followed me home last weekend, little to no rot, mostly complete, trailer included, as well as that sweet yellow and purple house paint... a 57 ski champ.

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: to the Starmada and the iboats Tin Division Joe!

You've come to the right place and started it off with a heaping helping of pics too

I bet you couldn't hook up to that trailer quick enough to get your sweet little prize on it's way home! :eagerness:

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Well I wanted to make a good first impression, and I know everyone likes pictures. haha. Yea I knew as soon as I saw it in person that I had to take it home.

 

[gm280]

Nice lines. What are your plans for it? And :welcome: aboard as well...

 

[GA_Boater]

She looks like a good one. Joe. I would swap the yellow and purple. Or get some hippie flower power stickers and leave the colors alone.

I think a re-paint with some civilized colors would do wonders. It looks like wood in the seats is still good, just needing refinishing.

Welcome to the Tin Nut Society.

 

[laurentide]

That thing is SWEEEET!!

 

[Watermann]

Hey Joe when you get the chance how about a close up of that piece in the center of the dash below the RV mirror?

 

[g0nef1sshn]

thats a sexy little craft you picked up. Id rock the purple too, but maybe a newer candy purple. No shame here. Keep us updated!

 

[jbcurt00]

Hey Joe when you get the chance how about a close up of that piece in the center of the dash below the RV mirror?

Its the Evinrude/Johnson dash plate, has Choke, keyed switch and the E/J logo medallion.

Re: 56 Evinrude bigtwin 30 starter and choke switch plate

Also found a beautiful 59 Johnson plate. Any Evinrudes out there?View attachment 191241

 

[Decker83]

That is a real nice rig you picked up.. I kinda like the purple and yellow look..
It is for sure different..
:welcome: to i-boats..

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Thanks guys! My plans right now are to soda blast it, give it a semi polished finish on all the aluminum. Sand and re-varnish the wood, remove the "custom" flag holder in between the front seats. A pretty modern 40-50hp 4 stroke engine and maybe a real basic bimini top (sorry in advance to any purists out there). Keep as much of the original gear as I can though.

watermann- jbcurt hit the nail on the head, that is the exact bezel that I have, the center is glass and back lit on mine.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Sweet Ride! Talk about cool factor. Even though I'm not a big fan of purple it still looks cool. I can see why it jumped on your hitch and followed you home. Looking forward to seeing her reborn. Oh and :welcome: to the tinsanity.:tinfoil3:

 

[dozerII]

Welcome to the Starmada, very cool S/C, love the lines.

 

[hayko1971]

I have to echo what everyone else here has already said. That's a sexy boat, the lines are so sweet!

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Now that I'm starting to work on the boat I'm noticing most of the trim and such is held on with nails. I'm planning on switching the majority of them out for s.s. screws. I wanted to see what other modifications or upgrades are common among you guys when re-doing one of these old aluminum starcrafts. Also any common problems I should be on the look out for? I just found wrfalpaca's rebuild thread for his ski champ although I'm only a page or 2 into reading through it. Thanks in advance!

 

[classiccat]

Welcome to the Starmada Joe L.! :welcome: (sorry I'm late to the party)

That's a really cool rig and it appears to be in super condition! :thumb:

Trim pieces are often held-on with pop-rivets. We recommend either solids or aluminum blind (pop) rivets. Avoid blinds with a steel mandrel.

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Worked on the boat a bit this weekend. Removed most of the "customizations" done by the PO, cleaned out the hull, chipped out the drain plug and started sanding out the wood. The PO must have really fancied himself a carpenter haha, I did find a patch I didn't realize were there.

The patch that was hiding behind the old control mount. Doh!

Enjoyed a couple beers while I was working on it.


Everything I ended up removing

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

The drain plug was something else, chipped away a bunch of bondo, fiberglass epoxy and silicone caulk.

 

[jdupree]

Nice!!!

 

[hayko1971]

Nice to see progress, I replaced all the nails on my 16ss with stainless #6 screws