1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Hello all- I have been lurking on here for a couple of years now but last May I purchased a 1973 Bramco (Seaswirl) 18' runabout. I like to fish and crab and had been looking for a cheap boat that was decent size to go out and do these things. I had a 14' Sea King that worked okay on the lakes but I took it out on the bay once and it was pretty scary beings that the sides were so short and the boat was so narrow, so I sold it. I found this on CL in Bend so I drove over after work on a Friday night and $800 later was driving home with this:




I was told that the old guy who owned it kept it in his barn for alot of its life. The guy I bought it from had bought it after the owner had passed away. I figured for $800 it was worth the risk of not putting it in the water first, we hooked it up to the hose and ran the engine first so I knew at least that ran and the outdrive worked so worst case scenario I could part it out and get my money back. It has the ol' Iron Duke 4cyl and a 120 OMC outdrive (I know, I know the dreaded OMC) but it works perfectly so it's what I have for now. I've been working/using this boat for a year now so I have already done alot of work to it so forgive me for posting alot of pictures all at once.
 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

I had some outdoor carpet that I thought "hey I'll just re-cover the doghouse with this.......... my wife said it was ugly so she got me some outdoor carpet from her dad that she liked better so I began re-covering the side panels and doghouse:


Since the seats were trashed, I purchased some vinyl folding/swivel seats for it and decided to build boxes for them to sit on that would double as storage for tackle boxes etc.

I covered them with the same carpet as the side panels and installed hinges and locking hasps on them


 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

I then turned my attention to the outside appearance.... mind you I still had not even put her in the water to at least make sure she floats............dumb but oh well:
I used Dupli-Color's Truck Bed Coating on the bow, I am really happy with this product! (the texture is really uniform) and it seems to be holding up really well, even with crab traps being thrown up there and the wire mesh sliding around on it.


 

Rebel01

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Sep 15, 2012
Messages
44
Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

Dig the boat. Love the tri-tone old interior!

Progress looks solid, you'll have this on the water in no time....
 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

I decided to just paint the top half of the hull white to quasi-match the bottom:


I used Pettit topside epoxy paint in gloss white. It says you can brush or roll it on, I tried to roll it on first and it just didn't lay down like I wanted and I was getting bubbles up from the bottom through it so I just went ahead, reduced it and sprayed it with my HVLP gun.


 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
Messages
10
Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

Dig the boat. Love the tri-tone old interior!

Progress looks solid, you'll have this on the water in no time....

Thanks! The best part was the old guy used the vinyl patches on the engine cover and held it down with speaker wire stapled to it :lol:
 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

The paint turned out pretty good, layed down pretty good. I just kept telling myself "its just a fishing boat, its 39 years old, it doesnt have to be perfect"



I pulled her out of the shop for the first time with the new paint/new wheels and tires on the trailer/new interior

I took it to my in-laws house to put it in their lake and give her the big test. (The other boat is my father-in-law's 1956 Crestliner Voyager Hardtop)
 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

I sprayed the dash with the same truck bed coating that I did the bow with:

I had a new top made for it. He went 5'4" standing height inside which is nice, I still have to stoop a little bit but its not too tall to become a wind sail.


I had an aluminum crab davit made to keep the crab traps away from the side of the boat..... it kinda worked. Ended up scratching my paint up pretty good with people dragging the pots over the gunwale so I used a moving pad and some snaps to make a guard of sorts to drape over the side to hopefully cut down on the damage.

 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
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Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

So it has been awhile since I have done anything to really post about..... I bought a 1991 15hp Johnson long shaft for a trolling motor. I wanted something with enough HP to power out of something if I need. It trolls down really nice and definitely has enough power to push the boat so I'm pretty happy with it.

I put a stationary kicker mount on (which I should have bought an adjustible one). I cut a couple of pieces of angle iron and Dupli-Color "Plasti-Coat"ed them just to give something a little stronger to hold onto.
 

Woodonglass

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Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

Hopefully to predrilled all the holes and then coated the holes and the hardware with 3M 4200 or some other good Marine sealant to protect the Transom. I see evidence of spray in Foam and that stuff is pretty much worthless for protecting the wood from water penetration.;):faint2:
 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
Messages
10
Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

Hopefully to predrilled all the holes and then coated the holes and the hardware with 3M 4200 or some other good Marine sealant to protect the Transom. I see evidence of spray in Foam and that stuff is pretty much worthless for protecting the wood from water penetration.;):faint2:

I did where I mounted the kicker bracket but did not where you see the spray foam. That hole had been done by the previous owner for a depth finder/ Fish Liar. I just put gel-coat repair on the exterior of that hole but good point about the foam, maybe I'll carve it all out and seal it up with something better.
 

sand_rider1

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Jun 5, 2012
Messages
10
Re: 1973 Seaswirl (Light Restoration/Update)

Since pretty much non of my guages and only some of my switches on the dash worked I decided to re-wire and install new (to me) guages. When I bought the boat, I got a whole extra dash with guages which was the first clue that there was a problem with the current set. First I took the faces off the guages, painted the bezels, cleaned/polished the glass and re-painted the pointer (Chevrolet Orange...... is there any other color???) Before and After:


Then built a new panel out of ABS, put the guages in and got them all re-wired. I also bought a new switch panel with 6 switches in it with breakers and put it in the new panel. I had to enlarge the hole in the dash but thats ok. I'm just happy that everything works now as it should. This will really put my mind at ease being able to monitor the engine vitals.
Dash before:


New wiring behind the new dash (believe it or not this is cleaned up ALOT compared to the old stuff)


and After:
 
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