About the Thread
This thread is to track my progress on the repair and restoration of my recent purchase of a 1969 (or 1968) Orlando Clipper fiberglass 15' (or 16') boat. [From stern to bow not including motor it is 15.5' which is interesting since the person I purchased it from thought it was a 14'.]
Related Threads
I do have a related thread that I started just on the deck repair but will be moving all future posts under this thread. The first thread is located here.
Motor Information
65853 1968 Model Evinrude 65 HP Sportfour (found a thread on here). A picked a nice manual up for the motor off ebay at the suggestion of GT1M. We took the boat for a test drive on the lake where we purchased the boat and it ran great. I'm awaiting my title from SC DNR before I can take it out myself on a lake. In the mean time I've been looking into maintenance on the motor from the manual.
Story of Getting the Boat
I found this boat on Craigslist outside Atlanta GA on a lake. It looked great from the pictures and after talking with the owner we decided to drive down. We are about 150miles away. The owner did mention the boat trailer was on the ramp and they had to remove a good bit of wood from in front of it to get the trailer out for me. They said part of it had been in the water but that they'd repack the bearings on the trailer for me and get some lights. When we got there the first thing I saw was the trailer. It was rough. The lady's boyfriend was working on it and still had to put the lights on. They'd replaced several bolts on it as well. I was a bit worried about it but decided to go on down to the dock and check the boat out. The boat looked really good and so we took it on a test drive. The boat ran well on the lake. We noticed a piece of plywood at the bow and the lady said someone had jumped there and made a small crack. I'll admit I didn't know anything about how boat decks were constructed so I thought the paint was just chipped. I actually thought the whole bottom of a fiberglass boat was solid and what I was looking at was just the top painted part of a thick bottom. We decided to get the boat and got them to drop off the price by $100 to $1100. It was late when we got the boat on the trailer. They gave me two brand new 8" tires and two used ones and mentioned the axle had a bit of a bend in it and that it would probably wear down the tires by the time we got home. We headed out and I stopped by Walmart and purchased some tow straps to help hold the boat on the trailer since it was really on sitting on the rollers and not the wood parts on the sides. We headed out and unfortunately got to Athens GA (60miles away) and the tires were bald and hot. My wife's brother lives in Athens so it was a blessing to be able to stay at his home since it was now 2am. I was out at 8am checking things out and saw the tires were definitely cockeyed inward. I called Northern Tool and headed back an hour to near Atlanta to purchase a new axle and leaf spring kit. I learned a lot about measuring for axles that day-- especially when I got back with the new one to find it wouldn't fit. I spent another 2 hours working with the old axle and was able, with the help of a come along, to get it straight enough to hopefully get home. Nearing completion my brother-in-law's neighbor backed out of their driveway and into the driver side bed of my F-150. Awesome. It was about 9 when we left my brother-in-laws and headed home. I drove about 40mph all the way home and dropped the boat at my parents house at 2am that Monday morning so I could get home and get some sleep before work. The next day I started looking at registering the boat. The lady in GA had never registered it since she was on a private lake. There was a GA sticker on it that expired in May 2011. I called GA Department of Wildlife and they told me it mapped back to another person. I called the lady I purchased from and found out the person it mapped to was who she'd purchased the boat from. He send a bill of sale to her which I was able to send in with my paperwork.
This thread is to track my progress on the repair and restoration of my recent purchase of a 1969 (or 1968) Orlando Clipper fiberglass 15' (or 16') boat. [From stern to bow not including motor it is 15.5' which is interesting since the person I purchased it from thought it was a 14'.]
Related Threads
I do have a related thread that I started just on the deck repair but will be moving all future posts under this thread. The first thread is located here.
Motor Information
65853 1968 Model Evinrude 65 HP Sportfour (found a thread on here). A picked a nice manual up for the motor off ebay at the suggestion of GT1M. We took the boat for a test drive on the lake where we purchased the boat and it ran great. I'm awaiting my title from SC DNR before I can take it out myself on a lake. In the mean time I've been looking into maintenance on the motor from the manual.
Story of Getting the Boat
I found this boat on Craigslist outside Atlanta GA on a lake. It looked great from the pictures and after talking with the owner we decided to drive down. We are about 150miles away. The owner did mention the boat trailer was on the ramp and they had to remove a good bit of wood from in front of it to get the trailer out for me. They said part of it had been in the water but that they'd repack the bearings on the trailer for me and get some lights. When we got there the first thing I saw was the trailer. It was rough. The lady's boyfriend was working on it and still had to put the lights on. They'd replaced several bolts on it as well. I was a bit worried about it but decided to go on down to the dock and check the boat out. The boat looked really good and so we took it on a test drive. The boat ran well on the lake. We noticed a piece of plywood at the bow and the lady said someone had jumped there and made a small crack. I'll admit I didn't know anything about how boat decks were constructed so I thought the paint was just chipped. I actually thought the whole bottom of a fiberglass boat was solid and what I was looking at was just the top painted part of a thick bottom. We decided to get the boat and got them to drop off the price by $100 to $1100. It was late when we got the boat on the trailer. They gave me two brand new 8" tires and two used ones and mentioned the axle had a bit of a bend in it and that it would probably wear down the tires by the time we got home. We headed out and I stopped by Walmart and purchased some tow straps to help hold the boat on the trailer since it was really on sitting on the rollers and not the wood parts on the sides. We headed out and unfortunately got to Athens GA (60miles away) and the tires were bald and hot. My wife's brother lives in Athens so it was a blessing to be able to stay at his home since it was now 2am. I was out at 8am checking things out and saw the tires were definitely cockeyed inward. I called Northern Tool and headed back an hour to near Atlanta to purchase a new axle and leaf spring kit. I learned a lot about measuring for axles that day-- especially when I got back with the new one to find it wouldn't fit. I spent another 2 hours working with the old axle and was able, with the help of a come along, to get it straight enough to hopefully get home. Nearing completion my brother-in-law's neighbor backed out of their driveway and into the driver side bed of my F-150. Awesome. It was about 9 when we left my brother-in-laws and headed home. I drove about 40mph all the way home and dropped the boat at my parents house at 2am that Monday morning so I could get home and get some sleep before work. The next day I started looking at registering the boat. The lady in GA had never registered it since she was on a private lake. There was a GA sticker on it that expired in May 2011. I called GA Department of Wildlife and they told me it mapped back to another person. I called the lady I purchased from and found out the person it mapped to was who she'd purchased the boat from. He send a bill of sale to her which I was able to send in with my paperwork.
