Re: 1967 14' V-Hull Aluminum Sea Nymph - To restore or not to restore, if so, how far
Welcome to I-Boats. I love this site. It has been a while since I posted on my own thread, so I need to update that as well. I wouldn't close in the bow for storage...I was the youngest of 3 boys and my father had an old 14' Cadillac (there is a boat name you don't hear much anymore). I remember my favorite place to sit on the boat was in the front, the gunwhales were close enough for my little arms to reach and it felt GREAT! With the 4 of you in the boat, especially fishing it's nice to have roomy comfortable seating. Figure you will probably have the fuel and batter in the back, any electronics I would rig from the rear seat brace so you can see it easily while running the tiller, then your wife and one child in the middle seat, and the front open for the other.
I agree with the others, I would start out by sanding out the rough spots and see what you have, if you have any parts flaking or cracking, use ur finger and peal at it. If it doesn't come right off, pretty good chance it adhered to the aluminum like it was supposed to. If it comes off to the bare aluminum easily, I would go ahead and strip it.
The inside I would also clean up and redo. You won't need a lot of storage space, because everything you will be using will be out. PFD's will be on, the paddle can fit under the braces, your poles will be used or in the pole holders, and your tackle you will want close as well. I would consider making little boxes under the seats for your anchors, lines, etc.
I think you are fine with the trailer, if you aren't in salt water it should be fine. Just remember you can't neglect the hubs, keep them greased and check them routinely (depending how much you drive them, my father in Michigan, checks them at beginning of the season, and squirts added grease before winter). The trailer he had for the cadillace was 40 years old, before my brother sold it after he got the boat.
Check out a lot of the other threads on here.....there a millions of ideas. Have you checked out what Jasoutside did with his jet star? Amazing! The most important thing to remember is....It is YOUR boat, nothing is wrong as long as it's what you want. If you want to deck it, look for different ways to deck it, if you want to build a livewell for it, there is a thread for that too. Best thing is, if you have a question on how to do something or ideas on how to wire something, JUST ASK....we read each other's threads and pass on knowledge....Jas (sorry for picking on you) also showed us a very "out of the box" way of adding floatation to our boats to keep costs low.
I look forward to seeing what you do with it.
