I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Well it?s time to introduce myself. Hi I?m Rick Butler and I live in Yelm Washington. I?m a disabled Veteran with more time than money. I was searching Craigslist and found this ad ?FREE BOAT!? it was about one mile from my house so I went a got it. I brought it home even though it was covered with black mold and mildew I mean dirty! After one day of scrubbing and cleaning I then could see what I had and what I had to work with. Here is a link to my online photos instead of posing all of them here.
http://sports.webshots.com/album/568497146cJBuEm I am documenting the restore.

http://sports.webshots.com/album/568497146cJBuEm?vhost=sports

I found this website while looking for the make and model of my new boat. And I found this link http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=245035 with photos of my boat! It was being restored! Great! After a little more searching I found out my boat is a 1969 Chrysler Cadet (correct me if you know I?m wrong.) Near the bottom of this link is a photo of my boat when it was new. http://www.allpar.com/old/boats-1969.php Well one like it the one in the photo is green.



One day after I got the boat I posted on Craigslist that I was looking for a motor to go on it and another disabled vet traded me a 25 pound thrust electric motor for a 1960?s 18 HP Evinrude long shaft. Working! He said he wanted to help another Vet to get out and go fishing, THANKS Kevin!

Funny thing, I was just going to do minimum to the boat to get it in the water BUT then when I found out the make and model of it I sort of made an instant connection. I know it sounds stupid but I bonded with this boat and now I?m going to do the best I can afford to make it nice again.

I always see things as they ?Will be? and not as they are right now. I see many years of good times for me in this boat.

Day one I spend cleaning the boat and several hours on this web site reading. I have done one other boat before but it was a old 20 foot aluminum Grumman flat bottom boat while I lived in Alaska.

By the way these are Trout I caught after rebuilding that boat.


After reading I cut into the bottom to see how bad it was I already knew the transom needed replacing. So does everything below.





If you looked at my photos on line and can answer these questions I would really appreciate it.
Remember I have more time than money.

Question one. For the stingers on the bottom
I could use green wood 2x6 and cut them to size and shape (I have my equipment from when I own a cabinet shop) so that would be easy. Or I could use White Maple for the stringers and water proof them.
What would you suggest?

Question 2. Should I add more stringer? I am very good at engineering things and know pretty well about strength and excellent with joinery in wood. What would you suggest to add if so?

Question 3. When I put the floor back in I could use Green ? inch or 5/8?s ply or ? inch x?s 2 layers of Fiberglass board from home depot. Either way I have to find money to buy them.

Question 4. Do you think I?m correct on the make, model and year of this boat. If you look at this link and go about ??s of the way down the page on the left side you will see a turquoise boat that I think is the same as my boat. http://www.allpar.com/old/boats-1969.php
I think that is all for now. I will be updating my photos on line as I go.

Thanks for all of the help!

Rick Butler

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Dude you work quick, great job on the gut, looks like your ready for some grinding already. It took me a month before I got to grind. I can't answer your questions regarding the wood but I'm sure one of the experts will respond soon.

BTW you'll probably get faster answers if you post your pic's here also instead of providing a link.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Hey Rick, welcome to Aye! Boats...ahem, er....Iboats!

We welcome anyone with open arms, whether you got a boat or you don't, but projects are the most welcomed.

As you've perused the forums a while, you should be aware of the great resource of help and experience here, and the willingness to share. It's what makes good forums great....members who are friendly and courteous and fair, not to mention honest. You may not like what you hear, but it's an honest opinion, which is better than saying something to make someone feel good.

With that said, you got yourself a decent little boat there, and you seem to have a good grip on a plan of action.

As far as the stringers go, you can make them out of whatever material you want if you are going to encapsulate them in Fiberglass.

Most older boats simply tabbed the wood stringers in and bonded them to the hull, leaving exposed wood to rot. You've obviously found this out. My Step Dad owns a cabinet shop, so if you have access to those kinds of tools, you won't have any problems recreating and over engineering what Chrysler did, and probably did half way.

Judging by the pictures, you don't need to add stringers. You could add cross sections if you feel the need for more floor bracing, but what is there should suffice to hold the floor well. You have a relatively shallow hull design under the floor, which will probably give you more flexibility in what you do as far as the stringers.

What is your expected project time frame to get this boat where you want it, and what are you seeing as stumbling blocks to get you there, besides monetary issues ( don't we all have them! ). I wish I had more time than money, but I don't have much money either! I just don't have the time!

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Here is a link to a restro that I have used as a guide for mine. Although the boat is not the same brand or model as mine nor yours, it gives some good info & visuals to go by. 1961 Larson All-American 14' http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=243848

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

keepNitreel said:

Dude you work quick, great job on the gut, looks like your ready for some grinding already. It took me a month before I got to grind. I can't answer your questions regarding the wood but I'm sure one of the experts will respond soon.

BTW you'll probably get faster answers if you post your pic's here also instead of providing a link.

Click to expand...

I got the photos fixed.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Thanks guys!

I would expect to have it back together in about two to three months with the way that I work. I end up working about 6 to 10 hours a day 7 days a week. But in those hours I have to take many breaks to sit down and rest my back.

I just got done re-doing a camper I got off of Craigslist for $50 in about three weeks and a truck (1990 Ford F150) I got there for 40 hours of carpentry work in about three weeks also.

After I get the boat done then I need to go through the motor and give it a tune up and set up the controls for the steering and fuel.

I got the photos fixed.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

keepNitreel said:

Here is a link to a restro that I have used as a guide for mine. Although the boat is not the same brand or model as mine nor yours, it gives some good info & visuals to go by. 1961 Larson All-American 14' http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=243848

Click to expand...

Thanks, your's was the 2nd post I read for rebuilding boats on this site. It was your post that got me excited enough to tear into my floor and get going.

Rick

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

jcsftwre said:

Thanks, your's was the 2nd post I read for rebuilding boats on this site. It was your post that got me excited enough to tear into my floor and get going.

Rick

Click to expand...

The 1961 Larson All-American 14' thread I gave you the link to was the one that got me going. After seeing how good his paint job looked with just a brush and roller(no expensive spray gun) and that big 70hp hanging off the back really put some fire up under my butt.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Hi there jcsftwre and welcome !!!!!!!

You got your self a nice little ride there !!! red is right you can us whatever you want , most of the guys use plywood, seeing its stronger!!!

she looking good so far !! keep up the good work , and keep the pics comming !! if you run into poblems just post them here and some one will get back to you asap !!!!!! John

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

I just set up some fans to dry it out over night, that way tomorrow I can start out dry when I take out the stringers.

I have not done a search on this yet but Red was asking about some of my stumbling blocks.

The haul looks nice right now but I will want to give it another coat of white. The top look pretty good but I know I want to put another coat of blue on that again also. I just don?t know what to use on either. I need to do a search and find out what people are using and how it?s done.

I really don?t know what the inside is supposed to look like as far as the seating goes. it did not have anything inside when I got it. I would like to make it look as original as I can at least in layout. I have only found three photos of this type of boat on the net but none show the inside of the boat.

Also I need to make another windshield. I found a very good thread on how to do that on this site and I have it saved. The man shows how to make a template and heat the plexi to bend it. I have done that with wood many times so I know I?ll be able to do that when I get there.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

Welcome to iboats! Keep up the good work and keep us posted

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

this is another one that is in progress, this is a 16 year old doing this job. great work. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=249713

i recommend either using marine grade plywood, or exterior grade plywood, then encapsulating in glass.

yes i believe you have a Chrysler, which was a LoneStar, before Chrysler venture into the boat business.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

tashasdaddy said:

this is another one that is in progress, this is a 16 year old doing this job. great work. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=249713

i recommend either using marine grade plywood, or exterior grade plywood, then encapsulating in glass.

yes i believe you have a Chrysler, which was a LoneStar, before Chrysler venture into the boat business.

Click to expand...

Great TD, give the guy the pressure of making his restoration flawless because a 16 year old is doing is doing a fabulous job & making it look easy

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

he sure is and did his homework first. very talented young man.

May I vent?

May I vent?

Does anyone else have the same problems as I do with neighbors?

I have one that has a very bad habit of saying ? I done this all my life!? and you know he didn?t, and tells untrue tails?

He came over to see what I was doing, looked at my boat for two minutes and said ?All you need to do is cut the transom out (shell and all) ?because you don?t need all of that fiberglass in there anyway, just screw a board on there and you?ll be fishing in a day! I?ve done that all my life!?


The boat dried out pretty well last night so now I can remove the rest of the rotted wood.


Now that I have taken out the rotted wood (everything was rotted)

I found one small hole and one large hole in the bottom of the boat. Notice the nail sticking through on the left side of the photo.

Hey! That might be where the 50 gallons of water came from.

So far I have removed about 150 to 200 pounds of wet wood.

I also got tired of banging my leg on the trailer

so I took care of that also.


Anyway I'm glad this web site is here to get real help from.

Re: May I vent?

Re: May I vent?

jcsftwre said:

Does anyone else have the same problems as I do with neighbors?

I have one that has a very bad habit of saying ? I done this all my life!? and you know he didn?t, and tells untrue tails?

He came over to see what I was doing, looked at my boat for two minutes and said ?All you need to do is cut the transom out (shell and all) ?because you don?t need all of that fiberglass in there anyway, just screw a board on there and you?ll be fishing in a day! I?ve done that all my life!?







I also got tired of banging my leg on the trailer

so I took care of that also.

Anyway I'm glad this web site is here to get real help from.

Click to expand...

Ha! Don't we all! I think the first thing you should do when you decide to build a boat is to build a small staircase so you can get in and out of the boat instead of literally having to "climb in and out". Much nicer on the knees too!

As far as the neighbor goes, yeah...everyone has one in one form or another. They might as well just come over to your house and vomit on the garage floor and then leave. I personally like to argue with them...I get some kind of strange kick from it I think . Of course, if what they are saying makes sense, then I'll take what they said under advisement, but rarely does that happen....most people are just too lazy to do things right the first time.

Re: I would like to introduce myself, and talk about my rebuild.

sooooo.......hes been doin it all his life eh?

cut the transom off.....screw a peice of plywood in there and go fishin eh?

i got a better idea for ya.......get a peice of plywood....paint the words NO FLIPPIN IDIOTS on it....and attach it to your garage door.....i mean... i been doin that all my life.

plywood is stronger than dimentional lumber. you have a lot of choices....search plywood.....

we can walk you right thru this.......

welcome to i boats

Re: May I vent?

Re: May I vent?

jcsftwre said:

Does anyone else have the same problems as I do with neighbors?

Click to expand...

Funny you should ask, my neighbor did a total restoration of the boat he sold me and I had to gut the whole thing

Re: May I vent?

Re: May I vent?

keepNitreel said:

Funny you should ask, my neighbor did a total restoration of the boat he sold me and I had to gut the whole thing

Click to expand...

To Funny! I seen/read your thread about the stringers and what you said about them.

Every boat Trailer this guys has he always says I?m going to make the suspension correct! They didn?t do it right when it was built. So after he got done the second time out. I see him come home with one wheel at a 45 degree angle and the fender on the other side missing. (he welded that on also).

THEN to beat all he has a 20 foot jet boat he uses for salmon netting. He did not like the big under the floor gas tank and wanted to cut the fuel line and run a 5 gallon can for a 125 HP motor. Well he cut ?ALL? of the controls instead! Then promptly took it to the shop and paid the man to replace all of the controls he just cut.

End of day three I have questions, Please.

End of day three I have questions, Please.

I have got almost all of the grinding done up to the point of my question that I have. (And I have dust in places the Lord did not intend it to be.)





Question one. I left the lip where the plywood started and I?m thinking of cutting it 90 degrees to the deck (leaving it up and down). Then I?ll be able to run my ply up to it and have it held in place with that lip (it?s good and solid) until I get the glass done. Should I do this or is it better to grind it all away and start fresh?



I decided to use ? ply 2 layers thick encapsulated with FG for my transom. ? inch ply on the floor like stock was. With the extra ? ply I?m going to make seats like fuzzeywiggler is going to do, I?ll use the ply for the frame and foam the seats in then cover them.

Question 2. I have "a lot" of aluminum stock that I?m thinking of using for stingers. One type is 2? x 4? that could be used for the main stringer. The other is u shaped I could use for the others.



I was thinking if I drilled ? inch holes ever 6 inches in the u shaped legs, then when it was FG?ed in that would hold it very steady to the boat.

The rectangular 2 x 4 stock down the middle could have drain holes drilled in like a French drain so after I foam the inevitable water that got in could go someplace to drain. I was thinking on installing a bilge pump to that aluminum stock to suck the water out.

Would there be a reaction between the aluminum and the FG? And is this a good idea?

I already had two holes that I found in my boat and because I don?t like even numbers I went ahead and ground another hole in the bottom of the boat so I would have three holes (oops).