1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

[jbcurt00]

It's been a little under a week since I started this thread:
New project jumping to the front of the line: 1957 (?) Duracraft
over in the Duracraft forum. Please stop by there to catch up w/ a few details & a bunch of pix. I'll recap a bit here:

Well, the dreaded MBS has struck again, and despite other projects in my boathouse, this one has jumped to the front of the line. I truly love this boat. A few things condition wise concerned me, but we'll get to that, and I'm now over most of those concerns anyway.....

Towing it home:

Bow handle:

Duracraft plate:

Details:

The motivator:

Overhead shot:

The bow seems really deep, and when sitting at the helm (NO MOTORBOAT noises were uttered) the boat feels much larger then it's 14' 9"+/- size.

There is some speculation that it's not a 1957, as serial #'s were consecutive across all lines of production, regardless of model. When boat model A rolled off the line it got the next # in the series. When boat B was finished next, it got the next available #. I think it's a 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom, so that's what I registered it as.

M Casey Stock is doing tons of research into Duracrafts & may have more details about serial #'s & year of manufacturer, if anyone wants them. His thread:
1952 Duracraft Sportsman

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Finally, I also started some actual boat work. I love MDO:

Thanks to our northern neighbors for sending me some nice wood to work w/:

Laid out the centerline of the transom, and spaced down 4" to allow for the 'bat wing' stick ups on the transom to all be fab'd from a continuous piece of plywood:

Added a helping hand to give me a way to clamp it to the stern of the boat so I could mark out the profile:

Then clamped it to the back of the boat:

And traced the top half of the transom.

Then quickly removed it, moved my helping hand down 1/4" to allow me to trace the lower half of the hull's layout:

Moving the helping hand down, raised the bottom of the transom 1/4" and should be a fairly good fit 1st time out. But I have yet to figure out a way to avoid removing the knee brace from the bottom of the hull & get the transom installed. We'll come back to this.....

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

So I skipped lunch today, waited til about 130p & ran over to the secret boat building lair:
Started here:

Step 1:
Drill out transom knee brace rivets:

Step 2:
Use a drift pin & hammer to drive the drilled rivet out of the hull:

Step 3:
Remove transom knee from the bilge:

Well, seeing as how I skipped lunch, I decided to take an extra long late lunch &

Sha-BAM...!

We got transom:

Had to do a little trimming off the 'ears' of the bat-wing, along the bottom (the new transom ply is still @ 2.5" longer then the previous) and a fuzz off the bottom of both radius corners:

Really good fit, IMHO

 

[zool]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Ohh nice!..I love the old Super Sea Horse....ill have to mosey over and check it all out.

Ive had MBS since i cant remember when

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

I love these 135* Split point bits for drilling out rivets:

There is a few other details in the original thread, ESP about the nasty hiding under the rear bench seat:

I choose to laminate the 1/2" MDO to 3/4" transom plywood w/ Gorilla Glue:

Final transom thickness is 1.25" as was the original:

^^^ A pretty good fit...........

That's about all I got, check out the Duracraft forum thread if you want to look over how we got here.

Next up, getting the new transom ply edges rounded over & getting several coats of epoxy on it! Perhaps this weekend. We'll have to wait & see.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Ha! I knew that transom brace was going to have to leave, you did good getting it out of there!

 

[glnbnz]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Signing on to watch the rebuild on this beauty!!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Thanks Jig & welcome aboard Glenn. Going to be an interesting journey.

I need to update my sig line.......

 

[Trooper82]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Welcome to dry dock! Now I can find your thread!!

Going to be fun watching you work (on a boat) for a change


Just ribbing ya JB..

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Careful Troop, you'll go out 1 morning & the CarAqua will be MIA :watermelon:

I may be full up on tin, but there are still lots of interesting glass boats out there........

 

[Trooper82]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

lol, I could use the help

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Great find, jbc...glad you moved the thread up here. I really do love this boat

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

I keep telling the Admiral how much great feedback HER boat is getting.......

Thanks PMC, I do too.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Oh wow that new girl of yours has a very nice looking bum on her! Hope you don't mind me saying so, I've always loved that rounded stern shape on the older boats.

Your already into the rebuild stage and making me feel like a slacker here. I agree with you on the transom wood glue job, I used the Titebond poly glue version of the gorilla glue and can say it's good stuff alright.

Not sure I've ever seen a bilge drain in the very bottom before, very unique indeed! I will be looking forward to the updates and transformation down the road. A very worthy or restoration tin boat you have there.

Edit: An idea for the slashwell quick access, put in a water tight hatch door or pry out.

 

[64osby]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Nice work on an Awesome boat.:thumb:

Good luck and have fun!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Thanks Watermann & 64 happy to have ya aboard too.

I can't seem to find a pix, but I know I've seen a tonneau cover type snap in cover on a Feathercraft or other vintage tin boat that didn't have a splashwell either.....

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

For clarity, there is a bigger gap then I remembered between the top of the bench & the seat back in both directions:
A good 5" vertically:

And a good 4" horizontally:

A plan will form, it just may take a bit to rise to the surface........

Til then, soldier on I shall.............. :watermelon:

 

[64osby]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

jb - Those Duracrafts are stout boats. I flipped one earlier this year. Just a simple utility and not a stylish as yours.

If a great deal popped up around here I'd definitely try and snag it. Here was mine.

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-topics-questions-not-engine-topics/14-duracraft-utility-maybe-50s-599590.html

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

For clarity, there is a bigger gap then I remembered between the top of the bench & the seat back in both directions:
A good 5" vertically:

And a good 4" horizontally:

A plan will form, it just may take a bit to rise to the surface........

Til then, soldier on I shall.............. :watermelon:

Not sure I understand what you're getting at???

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1957 Duracraft Duraflite Custom

Your sig needs updated to flip between threads. Cuz I'm getting lost with the other one. :joyous: