1958 Alumacraft restoration

[Trackbolt]

If anybody is interested I'd like to share my project of the restoration of "Andy's (my father) Boat". It is a 1958 Alumacraft Model "Open C". It was garage kept from the day Dad bought it new in October of 1957 until 1985 when it became the responsibility of a boat cover and tarp to keep the weather at bay. In January of 1989 a pine tree fell during a gale fell and damaged the starboard side of the boat. I continued to use the boat until 1996 when I put the motor in storage and the boat sat unused. Weather and salt has taken it's toll. While I had the motor, a '58 Evinrude Bigtwin 35 properly winterized and stored in a warm basement, the boat had languished in an open field (a story in itself). I now have boat back and am in the process of restoring it to its former glory.
This is truly a labor of love that I would like to share. My goal was to have it completed by Labor day but things at work have been a full tilt boogie and I have had to push that back to Columbus day. Reality says the US Marine Corps birthday,on November 10.(Vetrans Day Weekend)
I have tried to upload some pictures but I keep getting an error message the file exceeds limits. Can someone give me a hand?


Tony Mig.

 

[new_boater]

Re: 1958 Alumacraft restoration

are they .bmp files if so resave as .jpg there are alot of free software out there to help with this. also upload files here http://photobucket.com/
or a similar site and paste link

hth

 

[Trackbolt]

Re: 1958 Alumacraft restoration

Now with the help of my daughter I will try again to post some pictures of the Alumacraft's homecoming. I hope this works.....

 

[chuck_050382]

Re: 1958 Alumacraft restoration

Good Looking old boat. Good luck with the restore.

 

[Trackbolt]

Re: 1958 Alumacraft restoration

I got some time to work on the Alumacraft today. I polished out one half of the hull. I am glad I decided not to paint the hull. I got the bare aluminum almost to a mirror finish. I was astonished. The salt water of the Chesapeake Bay had lightly pitted the sides above the spray rails but suprisingly the bottom was corrosion free. I spent a lot of time with the orbital sander with 320 grit pads above the spray rails and really put the kabosh on the light pitting. The right angle polisher with heavy brown rouge really smoothed it out and produced that nice finish. Now you can see every nick and blemish aquired over the last fifty years. But that is ok. Every one has a story. Can someone give me some advice on a good wax or for bare aluminum. Like rust, oxidation never sleeps. It has probably already begun on the work I did just a while ago. I'll post some picutres tomorrow.

Thanks
Tony Mig