1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Judge,

Just wanted to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you eat WAY to much and Take a Big Long Nap to recover!!!

Thanks wood and right back at you, and all the Iboaters, I will strive to eat more than my fair share, he who eats the fastest gets the mostest as my grandpa always said

 

[marapoint]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Thanks Judge for a most informative thread. You are a work addict - meant as a compliment - Excellent workmanship on your rig.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving,

bobby

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

appreciate the compliments, but while my thread is full of pictures and Info, id say its info on how to do things the hard way! there are some excellent threads and people on this site that know what they are doing...I am a rookie, trying my had at this the first time for me....So far all I have proven is my ability to tear things down. The next part...building back up scares me to death and we will have to see what happens.

Thank you all who have shown interest in my thread and commented, it all helps me get this project just that much farther along

 

[rothellkc]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Hi Judge. Kirk here from Brenham, Tx. My son-in-law and I have just begun the restoration of 1985 SS-1 Fisherman (stripped down version of your boat). In our research we learned that Coleman bought Skeeter in 1983 so I'm not really sure what changes they may have made to the boat structurally. Our stringers are rotten in places so we plan to do a total strip out as you have done. We have already run into a small glitch. The previous owner replaced the floor and glassed the cap to the deck. Going to have to go around the outside edges cutting the glass to get the cap off. Ours has a 1985 40 Hp Mariner (last year Yamaha built them for Merc) so we had no problem simply lifting the engine off. We'll keep following your project for ideas and inspiration. Will post some pics later. Happy Thanksgiving all....Kirk

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Hi Judge. Kirk here from Brenham, Tx. My son-in-law and I have just begun the restoration of 1985 SS-1 Fisherman (stripped down version of your boat). In our research we learned that Coleman bought Skeeter in 1983 so I'm not really sure what changes they may have made to the boat structurally. Our stringers are rotten in places so we plan to do a total strip out as you have done. We have already run into a small glitch. The previous owner replaced the floor and glassed the cap to the deck. Going to have to go around the outside edges cutting the glass to get the cap off. Ours has a 1985 40 Hp Mariner (last year Yamaha built them for Merc) so we had no problem simply lifting the engine off. We'll keep following your project for ideas and inspiration. Will post some pics later. Happy Thanksgiving all....Kirk

Nice to have ya on board, be sure to start a restoration thread of your boat so we can follow and comment on specific things you run into. This is a great place to get the knowledge and advice you need from some very skilled and helpful people. the SS-1 Fisherman isn't a stripped down version, it is just set up more for fishing, the sport is a Fish/Ski model. It has a lot less storage space, but more seats. The overall boat is the same, just the cap layout is a little different. Please do not hesitate to ask, and I will keep an eye out for your thread and follow along with ya.

 

[rothellkc]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Well, day two of our project went well. Got the cap cut free and off. What a mess we found below. What have you decided to do about foam? I am asking because we are going to have to replace all of ours. It appears the stringers are all 1/2" plywood. Is that the same as yours? Did you decide to to with composite or plywood? I think I am going to order three 12foot sheets of Marine plywood. Will try to start my own thread on our restoration if I can figure out how to post the pics I took.

 

[rothellkc]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

I just made the first post on our thread but sans pictures. Will hopefully get the posted in the next couple of days.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

rotelikc,
you need to post a link in your signature to make it easier to check out your thread.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

rothellkc's link http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=524689

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Well, day two of our project went well. Got the cap cut free and off. What a mess we found below. What have you decided to do about foam? I am asking because we are going to have to replace all of ours. It appears the stringers are all 1/2" plywood. Is that the same as yours? Did you decide to to with composite or plywood? I think I am going to order three 12foot sheets of Marine plywood. Will try to start my own thread on our restoration if I can figure out how to post the pics I took.

Glad to hear ya got her started...after careful calculations I figured I could do the deck and transom with 2 sheets of 4X8 and 1 more sheet for stringers with some left over. so you should be able to do it all with 2 sheets of 4X12 if that's what you go with. Would be a lot cheaper to go with 4X8 though, and the center stringers which are 9' long can be lap jointed to get your length. As far as material for stringers I am still in the air with some ideas, will let ya know when I decide for sure.

Today I got nothing dine because wife worked Thanksgiving so we have our dinner tomorrow. Spent the day washing china and setting the table...getting food prepped for cooking.

and to stick with my tradition of photographing everything I do lol heres my table...before anyone messes it up

So will see ya all Sunday!


edit: shhhh, dont tell the wife but while I was setting the table, for the ONLY day each year we use the China...I was thinking how much money was sitting there, I could use on the boat....EBay anyone? LOL Dunno how much I could get for it, but I wanted a larger turkey platter after my mom gave us this and went looking for one and cheapest I could find was 1200 bucks...needless to say I dont have that platter!

 

[Monterey Dreams]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Hey JDA just went though your thread, your boat looks great. I wish I could have gotten my hull paint half as smooth as yours.
take care
Dave

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Just ran out to town and met the guy with the fuel tank, was good luck to find it for 50 bucks...even better luck to find out he was driving through so delivered it to me. He was wrong on the capacity...on the plate it shows it is 24 gallons, which will be nice So I wont have to keep refueling every day! I understand it will weigh more than my old tank, but I plan to move batteries closer to the bough instead of in the bilge to offset the weight. He did have all the fittings and sending unit, fill cap, vent etc. and it passed pressure test

 

[elrod101]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Just saw your post on here and the boat looks good. Trailer look great look like you are all over this. I,m looking at doing the same thing to my Skeeter Starfire 175. I've been looking at all my cost and how long its going to take. I'm only going to have the weekends to work on it but looking at your thread you have been working on your almost every day (when its not rain or ring time).
I'm going to be checking this one out to see your finally result.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Just stopping in to tell you to hurry up and finish your boat Judge! After driving from one corner of the state to the next on Wednesday (up the Pocahontas way) and again today (from the Memphis way), I pretty well figured out that the entire state of Arkansas is flooded!!! If you had your boat done, I'm sure you could drive 10 miles in any direction and launch your boat quite easily.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

Just stopping in to tell you to hurry up and finish your boat Judge! After driving from one corner of the state to the next on Wednesday (up the Pocahontas way) and again today (from the Memphis way), I pretty well figured out that the entire state of Arkansas is flooded!!! If you had your boat done, I'm sure you could drive 10 miles in any direction and launch your boat quite easily.

even without the flood i have 7 lakes and several river accesses within 3 miles of the house lol, the benefit of living in a retirement community....course i pay yearly taxes for 2 golf courses every year too, and I don't golf

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

getting colder here, looks like glass work will be on standby until warmer temperatures return, so beginning the cap work, planning to rewire everything, then flip her over and start with all the prep work for refinishing it. The livewell has a crack in it, It is plastic that is tabbed in, do you all think it would be fruitful to just attempt to seal it, or should I remove it and glass a new one in?.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration....Hull question

Depending on what type of plastic it is...plastic can be repaired as good as new.

Just need to do some tests with a woodworkers type soldering iron, the kind with a large flat head instead of a thin tip used for wire soldering...you can also use a micro torch and a flat piece of steel, like an old flat blade screwdriver

Let me know if you are interested and I will try to help...

I do a lot of plastic car bumper repairs at work.

 

[fmjnax]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

I'm in the same boat Judge. By the time I'm finally finished with the paint, it will be too cold to do the 'glassing. I did buy a heater to put in the garage, but we'll see how it does. I was planning on doing the same thing, though (working on the cap), so it looks like I will still be just behind you with my progress!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

If your live well is cracked I would remove it carefully and clean it up and use it as the negative mold to build a new one. Wax the outside well, PVA it, Gel coat and lay glass over it. it will come out just slightly larger then the original.
Thats my two cents.
Bob

 

[JDA1975]

Re: 1982 Skeeter SS-1 Sport Fisherman Restoration...In Progress

I'm in the same boat Judge. By the time I'm finally finished with the paint, it will be too cold to do the 'glassing. I did buy a heater to put in the garage, but we'll see how it does. I was planning on doing the same thing, though (working on the cap), so it looks like I will still be just behind you with my progress!

If i had a garage, it would be on...but since I am stuck working in the open air, its another story. I had considered lining the carport with 2" foam boards and heating it, but as I was surprised I got away with wrapping it in plastic to finish grinding, I didn't want to push my luck (did an unpermitted dig to level a spot for my pool and don't feel like drawing the HOA attention)

Depending on what type of plastic it is...plastic can be repaired as good as new.

Just need to do some tests with a woodworkers type soldering iron, the kind with a large flat head instead of a thin tip used for wire soldering...you can also use a micro torch and a flat piece of steel, like an old flat blade screwdriver

Let me know if you are interested and I will try to help...

I do a lot of plastic car bumper repairs at work.

would be interested to know more about this process, if nothing else for future knowledge, but i think I will more likely go with Bobs recommendation and build it out of glass...stronger, faster, we have the technology lol

If your live well is cracked I would remove it carefully and clean it up and use it as the negative mold to build a new one. Wax the outside well, PVA it, Gel coat and lay glass over it. it will come out just slightly larger then the original.
Thats my two cents.
Bob

Think your probably on the right track, I will go with this route thanks...since I have the option again, why go with shortcuts and do it right...the plastic is old, brittle, and whats to say if I fix this one, it wont crack somewhere else soon.