'59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

[Johnny Too Bad]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Thanks, Bonz. Yeah, this little project should've been finished a couple of years ago, but life sometimes has a habit of getting in the way.

Still a ton of stuff to do, but it's nice to finally have a little color on the old girl. I'm hoping to have the seats done over the winter and maybe even have the '59 Tee Nee trailer I picked up last year finished by next spring as well.

BTW, not sure if the pic with the first coat was showing up before, but I think I have the attachments working properly now.

 

[Johnny Too Bad]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Wet sanded and applied second coat. Pulled the tape. Not too bad. Need a few touch ups, but I think it turned out okay.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

I know what you mean because I've missed out on my last 2 vacations because of detours to the hospital.

Time and patience will get it done. I really like what you've done with it.

 

[Johnny Too Bad]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

You gotta stay out of those hospitals, man. They're not much fun and they definitely cut into your boat budget. Anyway, I hope you're doing okay now.

Thanks again for the kind words about my old tinny. She's getting there. Here's one more I took this morning after I put some of her hardware back on. Can't wait to take her up to the mountains this weekend.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Lookin' good Johnny! Some how boats and mountains don't together where I'm from, but sounds like fun Keep on skankin'.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Nice work. Hope the payoff is worth the wait! Certainly looks like it! Should draw tons of attention at the ramp..

1/2 polished hull looks great following that riveted seam!

 

[bonz_d]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Johnny Too Bad, thanks for the kind words. Doin the best I can.

Really looking sharp. But then I'm partial to red anyways. Now go get'er wet!

BTW, what color and paint brand is that Red.

 

[Johnny Too Bad]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Well, I took the Maid out this past weekend after doing a little motor work and the results were, shall we say, mixed at best.

I replaced the old diaphram in the fuel pump tht was cracked and was definitely not pulling fuel to the carb like it should. I figured it would be a good time to clean the carb, so I pulled it apart and cleaned it out real good. There was a little debris in there, but overall it looked pretty clean. I put it all back together and took her to the lake to fire her up. It took a little while to get her tuned, but eventually I got her running pretty good. I took her out to open her up and I had no throttle. I got her back in and saw the brass set screw housing on the throttle arm had broken. I had my dad manually push the throttle and she planed off nicely. I had to make a trip back to the house to steal the set screw off my parts motor and got that fixed. Took her out and she ran across the lake for about five minutes before she backfired and died. Fired her back up, but was missing bad. I checked the plugs and found one was hanging by the plug wire. Tried to put the plug back in, but the threads were completely gone. So, I took her back home and pulled the heads off the parts motor. Saw that the threads weren'tn much better shape, but would at least hold a spark plug.



Got everything cleaned up. The cylnders looked to be in good shape and the new heads were decent.
Buttoned her up and fired her up in a test barrel. Sounded good, throttled up nicely. Can't wait to take her back out this weekend.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Gald you got her fixed. I just went through the same thing. I ended up using a little helicoil insert on one of my stripped spark plug threads and it has worked well so far. Good luck on the next wet test. Keep us posted.

 

[satx78247]

Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Johnny Too Bad,

NIFTY BOAT and a NICE restoration thread!!!

I just bought a 1961 (I think) Osprey on a 1961 trailer & a 1961 BigTwin & am looking forward to getting her out on a lake.

How expensive is soda blasting?

yours, satx