14' Lone Star Repairs

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

WOW the transom on your Lone star is out of control, I hope I can steal this from you that is freaking sweet. I dont believe I have seen a wire brush that I could accomplish that with on my 58. what does that brush go on, a buffer, grinder or a drill? Is it a brass wheel or steel? I also love the aluminum tube idea for my 58 the nose was removed and the mounting edge is there so I now know how it will be dressed up.

Jeff - Thanks for looking in, 1 1/2" steel cup brush mounted in a very old 3/4hp drill. The drill is low rpm, I'd guess about 1000. Royalties can be forwarded to ........ Good luck on the tube fix.

The old Lone Star and especially the Johnson look great, 64. Slowly sinking is a lot better than going down in minutes. Does that qualify as a successful leak test since you found some?

GA - Woo-Ho - Lots of work still to do, but at least I know whats next. It was a little eerie watching the water seep in. Successful, Yea I guess you could call it that. I now know where to put the Gluvit, EVERYWHERE.

 

[jshbuckeye]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Is the Gluvit a thick epoxy applied with a putty knife? and what is anybodies thoughts on a new product called G Flex that stays flexible an applied from a syringe.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Gluvit is applied with a brush and flows like honey to fill and seal leaks in seams and rivets. The G Flex looks interesting, video shows it works great on plastic.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Finally made time and applied Gluvit the boat yesterday.

Ran errands getting supplies, prepped (wire wheel) the seams, vacuumed several times and cleaned with lacquer thinner.

On the successful leak test there was tons of seeping through the seams.

My goal was to try and get lot of Gluvit up into the seams. I decided to tilt the boat and do 3 separate applications, starboard, port and stern.

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It was slathered on very thick. This stuff has a working time of about 90 minutes, maybe more depending on conditions. The starboard side went on first, about 2pm. The temp was about 75 when I started. During the next two hours, I would pull excess Gluvit to points that needed more to fill wider seam gaps, some places were up to 1/8" wide.

At about 5pm the boat was tipped to port and the second application was done. Again a very think coat was put on. The temps were about 88 at this time.

The Starboard side had a few areas that had not completely cured and they bulged where it was really thick, due to the boat being tipped the opposite way, I was able to flatten these by pushing on them.

The port side seemed to go on better and cured faster, higher temps and the boat was in the shade now.

During the cure time I was able to rework the bunks on the trailer; removed the old bunks one at a time. Cut a 40 year old douglas fir 2x10 in half and covered with outdoor carpet. The old were 3.5 feet long, the new are 6’.

Old

New

Took the kids to the lake and grilled out. Adjusted the rollers while grilling. At 9:30pm the stern of the boat was started. This was the easiest to apply because the boat was back on the trailer and just tilted back.

I discovered a big problem after the Gluvit was applied. Epoxy, nighttime, work lights, and bugs don’t mix well. I ended up with a Jurassic Park effect.

When I checked this morning there were several bugs with their wings stuck to the boat, they were still alive. The big dark thing in the picture is a June bug, still alive. Lots of legs, wings, moths, mosquitoes, gnats and... (100 or more) are now a part of my boat.

Cleaned up, tucked the boat away and covered it this morning. It says cure time is 48 hours, it was 92 degrees in the shade at 1pm, so it might cure faster, but might be longer due to how thick it was applied. I used about ? of the 2lb package.

Next will be another leak test and then prime and paint the interior if all is dry.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

A Non-Leak Test was performed today, and it was successful. (That's for you GA). No leaks, at least not water, I did have a big dump of gas after I tilted the motor up after it was all over.

I used the '57 Evinrude 18hp and we got up to 22mph on the gps.

Click on Pic to view video

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On to prime and paint of the inside of the boat.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

64 - Now that's a successful leak , or rather non-leak test. The old Lone Star and Evinrude were churnin' the water. Looking good.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

GA - Yea she was pushing very nice with that 18 on it. It also help it wasn't filling with water.

Been a little lazy on posting, but not working. Last week I zinced, primed and painted the interior.

Rattled canned it, 2 zinc, 2 primer and 8 paint. I used Valspar, IH tractor paint and primer

A little glossy and it shows all the faults, dings, scratches, and Gluvit blobs and runs. Thankfully it's just a fishing boat.

Overall I'm very happy to have a dry and clean boat.

Added some trailer guides from a FG donor trailer, should help with loading.

Now I get to add some fun stuff.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Added a salvaged anchor light.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Added a horn, mounts in a slide track on the inside of the transom

Went to the scrap yard and I picked up some aluminum tubes, 3 tubes for $5. 2 and 1/3 of those tubes were used on this. I had some old aluminum bleacher back material and all the misc hardware. Made up some all aluminum cup holders and rod holders for the fishing boat. I did add a small sleeve of schedule 40 pvc on the rod holders to protect the rods.

One of the nice things about these are one nut holds each in place with a pressure fitting, loosen the nut and slide the rod or the cup holder out. There are two more mounted on the other side of the boat.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

You're getting the little tinny all gussied up, 64. She must be about ready to head back to the lake. Looks nice an clean inside. And you're giving that AL tubing a work out. Nice rod and cup holders.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Thanks GA, The inside is looking pretty spiffy Huh. Have a few more fun things to install. The exterior still looks terrible, but that will change with time. It's very usable as is and will keep adding to it as I can.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

My Lone Star has kind of been the forgotten son for too long. I have been working on it a little at a time. 15 minutes while have morning coffee and a little time in the evening, at least until the mosquitoes eat me alive.

This seat was an reject from a lecture room project a while back. Adapted a plate between the seat base and the swivel, $10.00 at the local Meijer's store. Made the frame out of scraps of alum I had around. It's held in place by the lower rod. Pull one cotter pin and the whole unit pulls off. I also added some rubber door gasket material to keep it from scratching the bench. Very snug and solid.

Need to make one or two more for the other benches.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

I had installed an anchor light, now the Nav light is installed. Both were salvaged off the Old Hurricane I had. Bought some LED lights on line, 36 count 360 bulbs for an 1157 fixture.

Also installed the cleat behind the light, found 3 of those and the rear corners for $6 at a local junk yard.

Here is the LED Anchor light.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Some interior lights were added. These are LED's, think they are trailer lights. Picked up 12 of these for $12 at a local auction, brand new.

Here is the rear seat.

Here is the middle seat.

They look clear but are amber when lit. I have had one hooked up by my grill for over a year. I have never charged the battery and it still works great. The other cool thing is the amber light doesn't attract bugs.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Nice lighting, osby. Never thought about amber not attracting bugs but sure had a lot of the yellow porch lights when I was a kid. When people sat on the front porch on summer evenings ans listened to the ball game on radio. Days gone by.

She's getting there, even only spending 15 minutes at a time. Looks like the old LS is ready for a night fishing trip.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

I spent a long time looking and thinking and staring at the boat trying to figure out where to put the battery. I didn't want it behind the 3rd seat. With the the V hull it wouldn't sit on the floor very well. It finally ended up here on the middle seat.

Had to wait 2 weeks to get the right size battery box from Wallyworld, group 27 for less than $10. It was a little long to fit between the seat brackets so a slot was cut on one side. The battery fits perfectly and allowed the power cable to slip in nice and clean.

The battery was another bonus that came out of the Hurricane, it was new in 2010.

The part that took the longest was how to control everything. I came up with this.

The switch panel came off the Hurricane and was trimmed down to fit an unused tool box. The fish finder was bought at an auction for $18. It works, have to see how good on the next water test.

All of this is wired with some SO Water resistant cable that was left over from bleacher installs, the LED's and the horn are fed with 16GA, the main cable is a 14/4 and 2 circuits are used to power everything.

Still need to finish tying up some wires but it all works.

So far anchor and nav lights, 2 interior lights, horn, fish finder and a 12 accessory plug are hooked up. I have an open switch for a bilge pump and a spare pump but holding off on that. The push button for the horn was trash so a toggle was used to replace it.

Total out of pocket for all the electrics was $10 for the battery box, $14 for the nav and anchor bulbs, $2 for interior lights, $18 for the fish finder, had to buy some connectors for the battery, $3.49 + tax. So for under $48 and a bit of salvaged materials the Lone * Star Big Fisherman is powered up and ready to go fishing.

Tomorrow the ID numbers go on and it will be legal to go out. The rest of the exterior still needs some work but that will come, maybe 15 minutes at a time.

Thanks for looking.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Man, that's some serious thinking outside the box right there, nice bro! Great solution for a little utility boat

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Nice lighting, osby. Never thought about amber not attracting bugs but sure had a lot of the yellow porch lights when I was a kid. When people sat on the front porch on summer evenings ans listened to the ball game on radio. Days gone by.

She's getting there, even only spending 15 minutes at a time. Looks like the old LS is ready for a night fishing trip.

Thanks GA - The lights came out better than expected, they angle down a little, otherwise they are blinding. A little radio might be nice for this boat. I haven't listened to a ballgame in years, great suggestion for night fishing.

Man, that's some serious thinking outside the box right there, nice bro! Great solution for a little utility boat

Jas, That kind of thinking got me back in the box, a Plano Tool box. Kinda gives a dual purpose, the kids can go play in it, with the box tucked away and then you can be fishing with it in a minute or two.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

I spent some time tying up the wires and making them look good, all tucked away.

There was another member that wondered how to mount a transducer on a smaller boat without more holes in the transom. This was my solution, an old piece of drawer slide material cut to fit. Mounts with one bolt at the top of the transom. Very sturdy and will not move, I tried.

Added a tray for the fuel tank, it's made from a sheet of 1/2" plastic that I had for many years. I'd love to find more of that stuff. This can be moved to either side of the boat and it has guides underneath that rest against the last stringer. Keeps the tank from scratching the new paint and holds it in place.

Installed an old anchor helper that came off the boat, has a side pulley but no crank in back, just an old cleat.

Spent a little time doing some machine turning stuff on the exterior so it could be made legal. Numbers ordered online from 1060 graphics, under $5 per set. Great service, good quality and very fast ship. Tags courtesy of the State of Michigan, with a small donation.

After making it legal, my son and I tried to get out on the water. We eked in a short ride as thunderstorms were skirting just south and east of us.

The 10hp Johnson wasn't running so great and the wind picked up on the lake so the mission was scrubbed and we went back to the launch.

 

[64osby]

Re: 14' Lone Star Repairs

Took the Lone*Star out today for another run. Figured out the packing nut on the high speed needle was loose on yesterdays run. The motor ran great and the boat is looking good, at least from where we sit it is.

Much nicer day out today, it was about 85 degrees at noon and no rain in site.

Here's a vid of today's run. ( click on pic )

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Thanks for looking and have a great day.