1961 Larson All-American 14'

[stevewolverton]

This is the rebuild of my boat. I'm doing most of this from memory. I'll try to recollect the important details, as well as the mundane ones, in hope that it will be of value to some.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

This is the way the boat looked when I started. This is the second day of the rebuild. I've removed the motor (1961 60hp Mercury dockbuster) and rubrail.

I love my 1961 60hp Mercury dockbuster. It has no transmission - if that motor is running then that prop is turning! It's now doing a fantastic job of taking up space on my garage floor. It's a wonderful conversation starter.

"What's that?"

"Oh that?" Points to the floor. "That right there is a 1961 Mercury 60hp Dockbuster!"

"Wow! That thing is huge. That sure takes up a lot of space on the floor."

"Yes it does," as I scratch my head. "That it does."

"You gonna fix it and put it on your boat?"

"Nope. No I'm not. It's gonna sit on the garage floor and take up lots of space."

I've also removed all the hardware so that I can begin filling in screwholes from all those snaps. Grrrr!

Notice the port steering.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

When I first got the boat home I noticed the floors felt a bit spongy. I split the deck, but left the deck/splashwell attached at the rear. I figured I would glass the section back together after replacing the floor. I cut the deck at the smallest area I could find. A few people suggested I should remove the entire deck, but I thought this would be easier. I should have listened to those "few" people.

I figured I would need to replace the floor so I made a cut towards the stern of the boat using a circular saw. Yuck!

What a mess. The foam was saturated. It felt like pulling a watermelon apart.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Yay! This sucks.

The more I cut - the worse it got. The stringers were gone. They were just pieces of rotted wood carcass - mere shadows of what once was.

I used my circular saw set at a 1/2" depth and kept cutting more of the floor away. It was like a trainwreck, and I couldn't stop gazing at it. What the hell had I gotten myself into?

If there was a good time to stop, this would have been it. I could swallow my pride (and the chunk 'o change I used to buy this boat) and haul it to the dump and let her go to her end by being crushed - or I could spend a lot of time and money I don't have to bring her back to life and let her have another go at meadering the local lakes and rivers. Could there be a jewel in here?* I chose the latter of course. I never said I was a wise man.

* - there is a bilge pump back there!
** - never even plugged it in to see if it worked
*** - where did I put that thing?

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

...sitting on the floor - taking up space

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

If this picture doesn't warm your heart - nothing will. This is the mess I'm dealing with. You can see that I've pulled out most of the foam. The good thing about a boat hull being full of saturated foam is that it actually pulls out easily when the floor is removed. I would grab huge chunks of this stuff and pull it out while yelling obscenities towards the trashcan. It was unreal how heavy that stuff was. I also noticed the transom was in bad shape too. GREAT! I get to replace that too.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Unlike many people here, I would highly recommend avoiding gloves and long sleeves for protection while removing flooring and cutting fiberglass. I believe this operation should be performed in shorts (even boxers) and short sleeve t-shirts, or no shirt. You must experience being covered in fiberglass for a project like this to have full effect. Hours flopping around on the bed at night. Countless time spent scratching arms, legs, and private areas gives the boat restorer a closeness, or zen to boat construction. For those of you who would rather sleep at night, remain comfortable, and scratch free because you decided to wear protective gear - I pity you for not experiencing your projects to their full. I speak from experience.

Look at the mess that came out of my boat!

You are looking at 200+ pounds of bad news. Dead weight. I was shocked to see the amount of garbage I removed from my hull.

My arms are also itching from viewing this picture. *scratches*

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

This is the what the boat looked like after I've cut most of the floor out and removed the foam. Notice the water in the bow. How cool is that?

My Porter Cable circular saw came in handy for making the rough cuts to remove the floor. The big screwdriver was useful for prying under the foam and lifting the big chunks out from the stringers. I'm not sure what the can of lubricant was for. I think some of the horrific details of the floor removal have been blocked by my brain.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

The next job, after removing the foam, was to remove what was left of the stringers/frames. I took careful measurements of the stringers/frames, and even managed to save the majority of the front center stringer. I wrote these measurements down on a sheet of paper so that I could post them for anyone who needs those dimensions for their hull. I then promptly lost that sheet of paper about a week after installing the new stringers/frames.

I used a huge pair of adjustable pliers (channelocks?) to break the stringers/frames away from the hull.

It should be noted that it's not a good idea to do a lot of walking around in the hull w/o the stringers/frames as there is not much support. I didn't have any problems working inside the hull, but I was nervous about it. Notice the two drains in the transom. One is where the floor was, and the second one (lower) is under the sealed floor. What? Why would that be there? Did someone know the floor was leaking and add a second drain - but they couldn't have because they were the flared brass tubes. Odd.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

I used a grinder my father had given me a few years back to take down the edges where the floor met the sides of the boat. I'm not sure what that monster AEG grinder was used for, but I'm pretty sure it was a torture device at some time? That thing is a beast!

I used the grinder to clean up all the edges where the plywood floor was glassed to sides of the boat.

I know I mentioned it before - but I must reiterate - make sure you do all grinding in a short sleeve shirt. You haven't lived until you've experienced this.

 

[JimMachinery]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Steve:

I'm in awe at how beautiful your boat turned out! It gives me some tiny spark of hope that the last year (and fortune) I've spent so far on my "cheap boat" may have a positive outcome. My wife may not hate me for the time spent in the garage if it comes out even alf as well!

If you have more pics of the process, please post!

Regards,

Jim

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s177/jimmymac_naden/Boat 1/

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Sweeping up the remains of the floor. This is about all that's left of my original floor. As nasty, gross, dirty, stinky, smelly, offensive, disturbing, itchy, horrid, miserable, grotesque, insane, vile, ghastly, and tiring as this job was - I managed to finish it in one day. I'm glad I only spent one day on it because I probably would have taken a chainsaw to it if it had taken longer. This is by far the worst part of a boat rebuild. If you can make it past this, then you can rebuild a boat.

I hated this part of the job. Hated it. HATED IT!

It was one day of hell. Would I do it again? Yes, because it was only 1 day. Do I regret doing it? No. Am I going to keep asking myself questions? I sure hope not.

Here's the short of it - just get it done. You'll be tired and frustated. You'll have your doubts about the project. You'll second guess yourself for doing it, but at the end you'll be thankful you stuck through it.

After sweeping up the bits of floor, I put a large shop fan inside the hull to dry it. It only took a couple of days, and then I scraped the last tiny bits with a paint scraper to complete the removal.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Steve:
If you have more pics of the process, please post!

Thanks for the kind words Jim. I'm sure your build will come out wonderful if you're as passionate about your boat as I am mine.

I have a ton of pictures and I'm going to post them as I have the time.

 

[oops!]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

im looking foward to more...

love the humor...and share the pain...

cheers
oops

 

[fixb52s]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

That is one beautiful vessel! The paint job really fits the lines, and it is a huge difference from the boring "before" look. The racks fit too, and I love the fuzzy dice! (For some reason, I have them in all my cars.)

This gives me some motivation to get at my 60 Starcraft that is sitting in the back yard. I have to get the Chris Craft done first though......

Looking forward to more photos.​

 

[Jerico]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Man that is amazing looking! I bought a '59 All American in 1983 that hasn't been in the water in over 10 years. After rebuilding 2 other boats, it's next in line as a project for me and my step-son. I really appreciate the pics & detail. Gives me a much better idea what I/we are in for. I will be sure to mention to the kid the dress requirements you recommend for the project. lol

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Here is the deck sitting in the driveway. I managed to do 99% of the rebuild myself. This included removing the deck, as well as flipping the hull over by myself. That's because I'm full of awesomeness - or full of something.

To split the deck from the hull I used a jig saw. I actually burned up a jig saw while performing this job, and probably came close to burning up a second one. The deck/hull joint was oringally kept together with wire staples, and then it was glassed over from the inside. It took forever to cut the deck from the hull, and that's one of the main reasons I cut the deck at the rear of the boat rather than remove the entire deck...which I should have. *sigh*

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

One of the nicest things about having the hull separated from the deck is the ability to work on both of them. Much of my rebuild was spent waiting for epoxy to dry. I used epoxy and fillers for the bodywork. Fillers included wood flour for the strength, and glass bubbles for cosmetic work. Wood flour makes for a strong joint, and glass bubbles makes for easy sanding.

I used 60 grit paper to rough up and clean the boat. I then came back with 120 and finished with 220 to get the boat ready for paint. I decided not to spend time/money on the Mercury motor that came with the boat. I really wanted a motor with a transmission. I've only owned Johnson outboards, and I've been really happy with them so I kept my eyes open for one. I found a 50hp Johnson locally, but the deal fell through. I later found a 70hp on Ebay and made the trip from Houston to Dallas to pick it up. 70hp is at the upper power end for a 14' boat, and I was quite nervous about hanging that kind of weight on the end of my boat. I would have to beef the transom, but I should have plenty of pulling power as I plan to ski behind this boat more than cruising, or fishing.

Most of the time on the deck was spent on filling all the snap holes. Hehe. Snap holes. I like saying that. Snap holes.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

While adding filler to the holes in the deck, I began replacing the stringers/frames in the hull. I replaced the stringers/frames with the same thickness material (3/4") that I removed. I used a mixture of woodflour and epoxy to make fillets to epoxy the wood in place. I think used 4" fiberglass tape to glass the wood to the hull. This wasn't a difficult job, it was just messy.

I also removed the port shifter mount. I knew I would run a conventional right hand steering steering setup, so I didn't need that port mount.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

After removing the floor and seeing how bad the transom was, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and remove the rest of the deck so I could have easier access to the transom.

One of the biggest pains was cutting around the splashwell. I took my circular saw and cut as close to the splashwell as I could, and then finished the cuts with the jigsaw.

I then epoxied the deck back together so it was one solid piece again. It was a little extra work, but these are plastic boats and there isn't anything that can't be fixed.