Before we get to the boat, a bit about me would be a good way to start.
Hi fellow forum members, my name is Clayton Moore but my nickname is "Ranger" (more on that here ) I live in a small town in the Houston TX area. I'm 18 years old, just graduated from high school and now going to a community college to get my basics out of the way before I transfer to A&M for mechanical engineering. Me and my dad restore cars as a hobby and I work on whatever I can get my hands on (minibikes, go carts, jeeps, boats etc.). Not wanting to toot my own horn but I do have a lot of experience for being as young as I am, I have grown up around cars, boats, and anything that moves so I know a thing or two.
Anyways the boat...
The story: The guy that been working on the interior for my dads '63 Impala had an old boat that my dad started looking at. The guy had bought it a few years ago and hadn't done anything with it. The boat sat for years under a tree gathering dirt, leaves, and just general trash. The hull is in good shape for being 34 years old, just the usual nicks, scratches, and minor gel coat cracking on the cap. The floor was rotted out and we didn't know how bad the damage (stringers, transom) was due to all the trash It has a 1978 Johnson 115 outboard on the back that we were told runs but won't idle. The trailer was in decent shape, the rollers and bunks were replaced, only thing it needs is a new winch on the front. He wanted $700 for the whole thing. After thinking about it me and my dad went to go buy the boat, we offered $450 for the whole thing and he said alright (pretty good deal if you ask me). He had the boat blocked in by about a thousand different thing, old van, other old cars, junk, and the tongue on the trailer was pointed towards a tree. After wrestling the boat out of the yard and out onto the road we had to make the small trip, about 3 miles back to our house. Got about a mile away, went over a bump and Pssssss, tire blew out. The tire was good but the rim had rusted so badly that it fell apart. Luckily I knew a friend that had a spare so we went and got it and made it home. Not a good way to start off IMHO.
Got the boat home and started tearing it apart, floor was definitely rotted out and had to be replaced, stringers were also shot, however the transom was good and solid (thank god). So far we have got the deck and stringers out, haven't started replacing parts yet.
The motor: I rigged up a fuel system for it, checked that it had spark, hooked up the muffs, turned on the water and tried to start it. Started after a while but like we were told it wouldn't idle, it would run about 2000 rpm and anything lower than that it would just sputter and die. After rebuilding the carbs and replacing one bad ignition coil it runs like a champ. While cleaning out the boat we found a for sale sign that said the motor had been rebuilt with new pistons, rings, and bearings, has less than 50 hrs running time. We could tell from looking at the bolts on the motor that it had been taken apart so I'm inclined to believe the rebuild story, it also has 135 psi on all cylinders.
Pics of the boat, motor, and trailer.
The day we got it
a few days after cleaning, and ripping out deck
Stringers gone
Shot of the motor and back of boat
Motor running and me doing something
Still got a ton of work to do on this boat. More restoration pics and general work on this boat to come as it gets done.
Hi fellow forum members, my name is Clayton Moore but my nickname is "Ranger" (more on that here ) I live in a small town in the Houston TX area. I'm 18 years old, just graduated from high school and now going to a community college to get my basics out of the way before I transfer to A&M for mechanical engineering. Me and my dad restore cars as a hobby and I work on whatever I can get my hands on (minibikes, go carts, jeeps, boats etc.). Not wanting to toot my own horn but I do have a lot of experience for being as young as I am, I have grown up around cars, boats, and anything that moves so I know a thing or two.
Anyways the boat...
The story: The guy that been working on the interior for my dads '63 Impala had an old boat that my dad started looking at. The guy had bought it a few years ago and hadn't done anything with it. The boat sat for years under a tree gathering dirt, leaves, and just general trash. The hull is in good shape for being 34 years old, just the usual nicks, scratches, and minor gel coat cracking on the cap. The floor was rotted out and we didn't know how bad the damage (stringers, transom) was due to all the trash It has a 1978 Johnson 115 outboard on the back that we were told runs but won't idle. The trailer was in decent shape, the rollers and bunks were replaced, only thing it needs is a new winch on the front. He wanted $700 for the whole thing. After thinking about it me and my dad went to go buy the boat, we offered $450 for the whole thing and he said alright (pretty good deal if you ask me). He had the boat blocked in by about a thousand different thing, old van, other old cars, junk, and the tongue on the trailer was pointed towards a tree. After wrestling the boat out of the yard and out onto the road we had to make the small trip, about 3 miles back to our house. Got about a mile away, went over a bump and Pssssss, tire blew out. The tire was good but the rim had rusted so badly that it fell apart. Luckily I knew a friend that had a spare so we went and got it and made it home. Not a good way to start off IMHO.
Got the boat home and started tearing it apart, floor was definitely rotted out and had to be replaced, stringers were also shot, however the transom was good and solid (thank god). So far we have got the deck and stringers out, haven't started replacing parts yet.
The motor: I rigged up a fuel system for it, checked that it had spark, hooked up the muffs, turned on the water and tried to start it. Started after a while but like we were told it wouldn't idle, it would run about 2000 rpm and anything lower than that it would just sputter and die. After rebuilding the carbs and replacing one bad ignition coil it runs like a champ. While cleaning out the boat we found a for sale sign that said the motor had been rebuilt with new pistons, rings, and bearings, has less than 50 hrs running time. We could tell from looking at the bolts on the motor that it had been taken apart so I'm inclined to believe the rebuild story, it also has 135 psi on all cylinders.
Pics of the boat, motor, and trailer.
The day we got it
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a few days after cleaning, and ripping out deck
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Stringers gone
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Shot of the motor and back of boat
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Motor running and me doing something
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Still got a ton of work to do on this boat. More restoration pics and general work on this boat to come as it gets done.