Larson Thunderhawk Jr. Restore thread.

[myhrdly]

Hey everyone, I was on here around 2011 when I owned a Bayliner. Well, it was sold a couple years ago and the only boat I have had since is a kayak. Till now. We just inherited this (I believe) 57 Larson Thunderhawk JR. I plan on restoring it, slowly but surely. Right now I am currently just trying to clean it up. It has sat for who knows how long. It belonged to a friend of ours. He got it from one of those donation places and it sat at his place for several years. He passed away and the boat was left to our other friend. He had it for a few years but unfortunately he passed away too. He also didn't do anything to it and it just sat. That is who we inherited it from. His wife knew how much the boat meant to us and she let us have it. She is the one that told me what it is. I'm not positive on it's year, but that is what she thinks it is. She is currently looking for the paperwork to it.

I brought it home the other day and have started to clean it out. While I'm doing that hubby is going to contact another friend of his that works on props, he will see if he also works on the engines. If not I'm sure he will know someone that does. Hopefully we can get it running. Would like to keep the original engine on it.

Here are some pics.

 

[myhrdly]

Yesterday I worked on the engine cover.



Much better,



Also worked on cleaning up what seat parts I have.



Someone used what ever they could find to try to recover the original upholstery.



It took all that off, although when I do have them done right, I am leaning toward doing something like it.



I need to find or make the center back piece and also the bottom cushions for both front and back.

 

[myhrdly]

Today I worked on getting some of the oxidation off. I used a cleaner wax but I think I will need to break down and buy a good boat rubbing compound.














This is why I think I need rubbing compound. You can still see water marks and stuff, this is after rubbing the cleaning wax in 3 or 4 times.





She also got her first boat cover.

 

[myhrdly]

The biggest delimma that I have right now is these nasty cracks. How does on go about fixing them??

 

[Bayou Dave]

That is a sweet looking boat!! Congrats! Reading your first post (" It belonged to a friend of ours. He got it from one of those donation places and it sat at his place for several years. He passed away and the boat was left to our other friend. He had it for a few years but unfortunately he passed away too. He also didn't do anything to it and it just sat" ) it tells me that if you let the boat sit and don't work on it you will die! lol

 

[myhrdly]

LOL Exactly, that is why I am working on it so hard! I want to live to be able to enjoy it.

 

[myhrdly]

So I was tired of doing the rubbing compound on the outside, so I decided to switch to cleaning the inside. Spent the last 2 days scrubbing from front to back. I can tell you, I am not in the best shape to be climbing in the bow of that thing. LOL My fat butt even broke the board that is used for the floor. LOL I was trying to stay dry and put to much weight on one area and 'snap', in half it went and I was swimming. LOL

I forgot to take a before pic of the front, but I did take one of the back. So here are some before and after pics.







In some spots you can see the read from the outside coming through.





I don't think seeing the red in the top is as bad as seeing it in the bottom. ?




This is the back/side of the inside. I thought that there was a fiberglass type stuff covering the inside, but it appears to be just paint.



I really thought there was more to it then just the main fiberglass body. I was thinking there was some sort of fiberglass coating on the inside too, but it appears that there isn't. Hubby is planning on putting some more fiberglass down on the floor just for good measure.

While I was under there I wanted to see if I could see light coming from the top of the bow. I see no cracks or light so the cracks in the top don't appear to be going all the way through. Must just be in the gel coat??




Here is what the top looks like.



I asked already but haven't got an answer, so here it goes again. How does one fix those cracks? Are we going to have to sand it down and re gel coat it? Or do you use fiberglass? Sure hope there is a way to fix it and still have it come out white! I really don't what to paint it, I'm guessing gel coat comes in white? Lots to learn, that is for sure.

 

[Bayou Dave]

I am not that knowleldgable about glass. Hopefully, Woodonglass will stop by and give you some advice.

 

[Woodonglass]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but.. IMHO the cracks are not repairable You're going to need to sand em down and either re-gel coat or paint her

 

[myhrdly]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but.. IMHO the cracks are not repairable You're going to need to sand em down and either re-gel coat or paint her

That is what I thought. Another newbie question, but does gel coat come in colors? If we sand it down and re gel coat it in white, I could save from having to paint, right?

Guess I need to go learn about gel coating things.

 

[chevymaher]

My favorite teacher for boats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxzCZ-5lMxY

 

[MILKWEED]

That boat is a beauty, very cool classic!

 

[myhrdly]

My favorite teacher for boats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxzCZ-5lMxY

Awesome, thanks for the link. That will help and I feel much better about doing it.

 

[Woodonglass]

Gelcoat is a lot different than paint when the time comes please ask about all the how to info