'59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Well, I got her soda blasted yesterday! It took longer than I expected, but after watching the guy take off three layers of paint and primer, I have one thing to say ... completely worth it! What took him 5 hours would've taken me about five months and I'n not sure I could've ever gotten all the paint from around the rivets and seams.

sodablast1.jpgsodablast2.jpgsodablast3.jpgsodablast4.jpgsodablast5.jpg

Now she's ready to seal, paint and polish. It might be a while before I actually get her painted, but I plan on polishing the sides pretty soon.
 
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Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Here are the 'after' photos ...

sodablast6.jpgsodablast7.jpgsodablast8.jpgsodablast9.jpgsodablast10.jpg
 
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Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Last two ...
 

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Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Trapper, the only wood is in the transom and a piece of redwood the PO put over the dash when he installed the new helm. I had planned on taking it off and filling the original holes with guages, but after taking the paint off, I think it looks pretty good. Plus, now I don't have to fill all the holes. I can just put in the guages I want.

JTB
 

Rickairmedic

Commander
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
2,576
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

She looks good johnny . I took 2 dys just to sand the bottom of my 16'er and still had to sandblast all the rivets.


Rick
 

Trapper55

Cadet
Joined
Jul 20, 2009
Messages
21
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

I wish I could find a Texas Maid but my wife would kill me if I brought home another old boat. Maybe next year.;)
 

tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
4,005
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Nice progress...if you don't mind my asking, what did the soda blasting cost? Reason I ask is I'm thinking of options for painting the hull on my TM. I did the topsides and inside, but still considering a two-tone hull...with bottom plate one color and another similar shade from the waterline to the gunwhales. That's aways off just yet, but I'm squirreling away quarters and other plunder to pay for it one day. I can do the painting myself, but not the prep...one repaired shoulder, one original equipment shoulder and I'm babying it.

I'm tempted to bring another TM home, but that would mean building on to the garage...can't interfere with the better half's parking space and I like to work inside. A buddy of mine keeps telling me they soften up after boat No. 2 appears and that you have to mutter/complain/hint about buying a motorcycle for several months before bringing home the next boat...haven't tried that one yet. I had to give up on bikes after I lost my natural bounce.
 

Rickairmedic

Commander
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
2,576
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

LOL TM my SWMBO was fine up to boat 4 infact she went with me for numbers one and 3 but by 4 her patience was wearing then :D. I did manage to sell number one though so I am testing the waters for another number 4 :D:D.


Rick
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I had a very hard time explaining to my wife why I was still trolling Craigslist every day looking for another boat when I just got one two weeks ago. I don't know what I would do with it, I wouldn't have anywhere to put another one. Besides, the soda blasting ate up a good portion of my budget.

I promised her I would only use the proceeds from the sale of my other boat, trailer and two outboards to finance this project. The problem is I haven't sold my other boat yet, I kept the trailer to use on the TM, and I really don't want to get rid of my 1964 9.5 hp Johnson. It's been such a great little motor. Regardless, I may have to wait a little while to rebuild the bankroll before I can paint.

As for the soda, I paid $385 for 5 hours of blasting. I wanted to keep it to $200, but I just bit the bullet and let him do the inside while I was there. I know some people think blasting (sand, walnut, soda or whatever) is 'cheating', and that all paint should be stripped by hand, but when I figured the cost of materials (sander, paper, stripper), the amount of work and the time it would have taken, I just couldn't picture doing it myself.
 

Rickairmedic

Commander
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
2,576
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

LOL I have 3 in the driveway and cruise craigslist and a few other places several times a day plus I have my 63 Ford F100 out behind the garage waiting to get in the garage and my buddies dont help between sending me Truck and boat listings I need about 50 acres :D.


Rick
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Okay, a couple of quick updates.

First off, I heard back from the folks who own the beautifully restored yellow TM that I linked to a few days ago. If you didn't see it, I would suggest scrolling down and checking it out. It's a great little boat. Anyway, they informed me that theirs is, indeed, a 1959 Texas Maid Osprey. I feel pretty strongly that it is the same boat I have. So, until Fiberglassics is fully operational, or I come across someone who can definitively ID it, I'm going with that. They also kindly offered to answer other questions I might have, so hopefully I will be able to speak to them soon and pick up a little more info.

Second, I finished fabricating the steering hardware necessary to convert my old '59 Rude to rack steering. What would have cost more than $125 from Teleflex ended up costing be about $1.87 to make myself. Not too shabby. Especially considering how much I went over budget on the soda blasting.

Anyway, I should have the motor installed, with steering and controls, by Wednesday and ready for splash test on Thursday. Fingers crossed.
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Well, much has happened since I posted a week ago. I took the '59 Maid on her maiden voyage last Thursday. End result ... huge success! Although, there were a few minor hiccups along the way.

Last Wednesday, my dad came over and helped me install the '59 Evinrude Lark 35hp and controls. The throttle and forward/reverse controls went in pretty easily, as did the electric start and electric choke. The steering controls, on the other hand, took about half a day to get installed. The retro-fitted block clamp for the steering support tube worked perfectly, there just wasn't enough room when we mounted it in the splash well to tilt the motor up without violating the partial cover that is over said splash well. Long story short, I turned the block clamp bracket upside down and even with a pretty extreme angle from the support tube to the motor bracket, the steering seemed to work fine, even if we did lose some range on full right or left turns. My concern was it wouldn't allow me to turn sharp enough when I was trying to maneuver around the boat ramp. I will post pics to give a better idea about what I'm talking about in case I didn't explain it well enough.

In any case, we finished getting everything installed and took her for the splash test on Thursday afternoon. Right on schedule, which is an unbelievable feat in its own right.

I was so excited to test her out, we got to the boat ramp and were about to put her in when I realized that we hadn't stopped to get gas. :redface: How embarrassing ... We made a u-turn, went to the nearest gas station and we were back in business. We dumped her in the water, pumped the primer bulb and she fired right up. The electric ignition and electric choke worked like a charm. After letting her warm up for about five minutes, she died and wouldn't start back up. We pulled the cowling and started looking for problems.

splash test 1.JPGsplash test 2.JPG

My dad thought she might have gotten hot, and wanted to take her home and pull the lower unit to look at the impeller. I told him it was new, and that it seemed more like a fuel issue. For the first time in my memory, I was right. I pumped the primer bulb one time to see if there might have been some air in the line, and much to the chagrin of the two 'ladies' putting their electric powered canoe in next to us, a stream of gas squirted right out the port side of the motor into the lake. There was one piece of fuel line that I hadn't replaced. And, of course, it busted when we put a little pressure to it. It looked good/new and was soft when I squeezed it, but as it turned out, was so bad it snapped in two with almost no effort when I took it off and tried to bend it. Fortunately, I had some extra fuel hose and we got it replaced and about five minutes later, she was purring like a kitten. Side note: when replacing hoses, do yourself a favor and replace all of them, no matter how new they look. It will save you time and frustration later.

splash test 4.JPGsplash test 5.JPG

We eased her away from the ramp and idled around for a few minutes. The low speed idle was perfect, but when I opened her up, she died. After a few adjustments to the high speed, she was running like a champ. The old 35 hp planed her off with three adults and a child in less than four seconds. Altogether, about 575 lbs. I was a little worried that I didn't have enough motor and that the pitch on my prop was too extreme for the altitude here in Denver, but those fears proved to be unfounded. :)

We had to cut the test short because I saw the local Gestapo ... errr, coast guard inspecting every boat they passed. I had forgotten to grab the fire extinguisher from my other boat and left my whistle in my tackle box, which I didn't bring since we weren't going to be fishing. We ran for about 20 minutes, and I was thrilled with the way the motor ran and the steering was great. She turns plenty sharp. As a matter of fact, I don't think I would need her to turn any sharper, especially running WOT.

She ran so good, I took her up to the mountains and camped all weekend. I'll post more on that with some pictures of a few of the 'upgrades' I did to her while we were up there.

Here's a picture from my cell phone yesterday morning at Twin Lakes up in the high country (between Leadville and Buena Vista).

IMG00078 00000.jpg
 
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tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
4,005
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Sweet! Photo request: Your little first mate with first fish caught in the boat, and a shot over the transom when that Lark is at WOT.
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

First mate and I are going fishing this Saturday, so I'd love to be able to accomodate the first request. <<fingers crossed>>

The better half was operating the camera during splash test and was having so much fun she forgot to take pictures. I will definitely get a shot running WOT this weekend :D

JTB
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Well, after putting more than 10 hours on the Maid over the weekend, I had a couple of issues surface, as expected. The first was that I was a little too stern heavy with both fuel tanks, the battery, a 135lb 1959 Evinrude Lark 35hp motor, and a 225lb adult (my dad) in the back seat. So, I moved one of the 6 gallon fuel tanks up under the bow storage. The problem was how to run the fuel to the motor, as it would be a huge PIA to try and manually carry the whole tank to the back of the boat when the other tank ran out. Solution: run fuel lines from both the bow and the stern tanks to a three way valve installed in the dash and run another line from the valve to the motor. Install a primer bulb on the return line under dash and problem solved. 20' of fuel hose, a few fittings and a sore neck from working upside down under the dash, and I now have the ability to switch tanks without leaving the helm.

The other problem was a little more serious. After a couple of days and many cranks on the motor as we adjusted the carbs (and as I got used to the old- style two-lever controls), she suddenly stopped cranking. I took the cover off the electric start junction box and jumped her over across the solenoid. Okay, so it was either a faulty key switch, or a broken wire somewhere from the key switch to the junction box. I hoped it was the key switch, as it would be much easier to change out. Of course, it wasn't.

I peeled back the protective covering from the wiring harness and to my dismay, the wires were in really bad shape. As I tested each one, it became apparent that I would need to swap the entire wiring harness. Fortunately, I had an extra one that came with the parts motor I bought, and it was in much better shape than the one I was using. In hindsight, I guess I should have used the better one when I was initially installing the controls. I was in a bit of a hurry when I was installing the controls, and was told by the PO that the motor and controls all worked fine. Also, the newer harness had additional wires and some of the wires were different colors, so that?s why I went with the same setup.

So, while I was replacing the wiring harness, I decided to replace the 50-year old key switch and the electric choke switch. Now I?m hoping my battery will hold up the rest of the season. It?s showing 11.9 volts, so hopefully we can get through August ?

JTB
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

We took the Maid out fishing this morning at Jackson Reservoir and it was, shall we say, a bit of an adventure.

The old 59 rude fired right up and we were off. Unfortunately, I forgot to vent the tank, and before we were half way across the lake, she started to sputter. By the time I realized why, she died. I vented the tank and tried to crank her up. Unfortunately, the battery had other ideas. I knew it was getting low, but it picked a pretty inopportune moment to die on me. I paddled to shore and walked about a mile back to the car. I stole the battery out of the Jeep swapped it out and we were on our way. Of course by the time I got all this done, the lake got a little choppy and some storm clouds were forming to the west.

Well, we were able to fish for about 45 minutes before I decided to call it a day due to inclement weather. We may try again tomorrow. I need to make a few adjustments to the trailer, so more than likely I will wait until next weekend to take her out again.

jackson1.JPGjackson2.JPG

I was able to get a couple of pics and about a minute of video. Here's the video link on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3Eud_QAO8&feature=channel_page

It starts out in a left turn, and I open her up to WOT for a few seconds before I shut her down at the end due to a couple of jet skiers cutting right in front of me.
 
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tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
4,005
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Sounds like a good overall splash run. I need to charge my battery too. If you need to restart it on the lake and the pull-start/recoil mech doesn't like you, or vice-versa, remember that you can pull the recoil off and rope start it with the notch on the outside of the flywheel. Makes pull starting much easier IMO.
 

Johnny Too Bad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
107
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

Thanks for the advice, TM. I never thought of pulling the recoil off and rope starting using the notch on the flywheel. I'll definitely give that a shot next time I'm out, because trying to pull start the Lark was extremely difficult. I wondered how those without electric start pull started every time. My last outboard was a 15hp Yamaha, and I could pull start with one hand with no problems.
 

tmcalavy

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 29, 2001
Messages
4,005
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

The flywheel notch gives you more leverage than the hub of the flywheel and recoil mech. But you need a knotted rope, and keep others well clear when you're pulling it over.
 

dade61782

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
79
Re: '59 Texas Maid 14' Resto Project

I am so mad at my self a 1952 14' maid came up on CL Sunday I spent yesterday hemming and hawing whether to buy it or not. last night at midnight I decided to go buy it after reading this tread. I got up this am and the ad was gone I cant believe how stupid I am.
 
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