Sea King project complete
Sea King project complete
At this point the hard stuff was done. The rest was interior work which I did over the winter. I added marine carpet and a steering wheel. The steering system was upgraded at some point from the old pulley type. I found an old looking steering wheel at a salvage place that fit the new style. It was blasted and painted:
The windshield was polished using a three stage plastic polish and a buffing wheel mounted to a drill. I added new gasket from Taylor Made and hidden post mounts also from Taylor Made. The chrome trim is that automotive stuff they use for doors:
The original cleats and other chrome fittings were polished and replaced. The screws and bolts throughout the boat were replaced with stainless along the way. The rub rail was made for a Boston Whaler. It was affixed with marine adhesive:
The seats were found used, but never used. I had to cut four inches off of the bottom to make them sit low enough in the boat. The interior panels were cut from plywood and epoxied. Foam cushion was added and marine vinyl was placed over it:
The controls, junction box, starter/choke dash panel and engine were an interesting find. All of these components from the original boat proved to be in very poor shape, but I was determined to make them work with the exception of the 1960 40hp Evinrude (the cowling was incorrect ? 1959). This old engine was abused and beyond repair. My wife found an add on craigslist simply listing an outboard for sale, but the picture attached caught her attention. It looked just like our outboard. She contacted the seller and they settled on a price of $30 for the outboard and anything else attached to the boat. Turned out the engine (1959 35hp Evinrude) was in great shape and the controls/cables, junction box and starter/choke panel were in great shape too. I ended up using all of the new components for the restoration.
I cleaned up the control box, repainted it and added a new custom made sticker: