1955 larson classic

[bassboy1]

What do you guys know about a 15' 1955 Larson classic? I might have the chance to buy one to restore. Seems to have a good hull and will need just interior work. By the way it is an aluminum model. If anyone has any pics of one from when it was new or newer they would be greatly appreciated. My main question here would be how hard would it be to find peices to restore it to its original condition.

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

hey I have one restored my Grandpa gave me.
It had all the wooden seats rotted out and the wood trim rotted and holes in it.
we cut long it took me a year 1/2 to restore it but it runs great.
1st off I sanded and cleaned off the old paint
2nd I stripped off any old wood
3rd I filled in any holes with apoxi from lowes it comes in a tube and made for swimming pools I don't know what it is called but can be drilled after drys
4th I made new seats and cut a 2x4 in half and my grandpa put a angle in it. we used carriage bolts with rubber backed washers with a nut
I sealed them over again with apoxi above.
put it around edge of hull and trim this will take 3 people on to drill holes and two to bend around hull. start at transom and work toward bow.
then my grandpa re did the work on the transom for me
then I wanted a front with storage to store life jackets
I will send pics
Sereinty

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

[attachment=img=boat inside before.Jpg I hope this is it? can you or anyone tell me how to send pics?
serenity

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

The one I'm considering has just a stripped hull and stringers. What am i going to need to restore it to original condition? And how hard is it to get them? I would like to get it to almost showroom condition. I know I would need a same year engine and a steering wheel from that time period. (someone installed a stupid aftermarket racing wheel) Of that kind of stuff what would I need?

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

mine is not show room cond. but mine has no stringers inless the metal running accross the botom is them?
I put in a metal paint in bottom then threw in sand for stability It was too rough so I carpeted the whole inside.
lets see if this works on pics?
It is easier to say with pics do you have pics?

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

sorry I'm highjacking your thread. I'm pulling my hair out trying to upload photos of before and after.
Ist for metal stringer mine looks like allumium tubes along the bottom of boat is this what you would have had? or was yours wood? mine also has the metal box under seat for floatation in case of boat getting swamped. Dad filled them with starfoam for me from his work. may I ask what are stringers? I think boats with wooden platforms have them? for the paint I used a drill and metal brush to scrape off the paint roughs it up for coat to stick. then used a paintable metal primer 2 coats.
on top of that used two coats of metal paint. and 2 coats of clear auto spray paint the only spray paint I used the other is paintable by brush. I trailer my boat and two years on lake every weekend the only thing I have had to touch up is where we hit the metal bracket for the tie down winch oops my fault. so then I got some of that truck bed liner and sprayed my keel with that along with the metal bracket for tiedown winch. on my boat the dash board was gone and stering wheel was just laying in the bottom. I have a 1956 evinrude tiller steer so I made the front seats a storage box kind of looks like a ski boat front. if you don't mind I would like to try to down load the pics again . pics say 1000000 words
Serenity

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

Lets make sure this works

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

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[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

Sorry about the size. Still getting used to the picture posting. These are just the pics from the website. As for all the damaged wood My dad is an excellent woodworker (ranges from large houses to intricate peices of furniture) so that will be a peice of cake. I can also deal with a trailer since I would buy that w/o that one. I could bargain him down to about 100 -150 bucks on just the hull. What else would I need to make it original. Did they have a separate deck or just the aluminum floor? I don't see a capacity plate in the pix so whats the engine and weight capacity? I would want to make it original if I could. I really like the bow light. I know they are valuable. Basically how hard would it be to find original parts. And some I could fabricate using either wood steel or aluminum. I want pics.

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

serentiy, Your pix did not work. Keep trying, It took me a month to figure it out. Sorry about the stringers. This boat does not have them. Strngers are peices of wood or metal in a boat that the deck screws to. Kinda like floor joists in a house. BTW you are not hijacking my thread but actually helping me.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: 1955 larson classic

serenitiy, find a place on the WWW to host your pictures.
My fishing pictures.com
tinypic.com
Then you can post them here.

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

What i've found is the best pic hosting site is www.picturehosting.org They seem to work even where others don't. I tried 5 sites and that one was the only one that worked.

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

I just took the boating class and asked the lake officer and he said for weight capacity is
Lenght x width of( widest part of boat) divide by 15 and this is the max number of persons of 150 pounds.
I did know how figure horse power but i will need to look it up again.
for original boat parts. I would call around old salaveges.
use teak wood for any wood or marine plywood a little more expensive but holds up to water conditions. my top bow looks like yours only wood. the side top wood that goes around hull is what we took an 2x4 treated teak wood and split it in two them put one piece on inside one on outside of boat and carriage bolted them together for rail around hull top edge I see this is what you need to do for your boat. i did reuse the larson back transom plate then bolted this along with the top rail
serenity

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

pay attention to the bottom of the keel on the bow in one of the photos it looks like they may leak
I will go to lows and see if I can find the marine putty I used.it comes in a tube when you need it together it can be apliled even under water I thought about getting some to keep on boat.JUSt in case.
I'm going to try to download agian
serenity

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

pay attention to the bottom of the keel on the bow in one of the photos it looks like it may leak.
I will go to lows and see if I can find the marine putty I used.it comes in a tube and you need it together.it can be apliled even under water. I thought about getting some to keep on boat.JUSt in case.
I'm going to try to download agian
serenity

Lets see if this works.. Cross your fingers everyone

 

[Serentiy]

Re: 1955 larson classic

yeah you all can see the project around my pool was put on hold for boat.
now I have a lattace fence around deck of pool
wow I thought stay at home moms did't have to work
now I work part time along with other projects.
take care and I hope I could be of help
Serenity

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

As for the wood I know to use teak. I think Gluv-it would fix the leaky keel if it indeed did leak. Yall are telling me how to find the old parts but I need to know what parts to find.

 

[bassboy1]

Re: 1955 larson classic

Hey mod, could you move this to boat restoration forum please? It seems we have only one person who checks the larson forum daily. Other people have similar boats of that vintage and may be able to give me a wider variety of information.