boats on a budget

[Mr.Stuart]

putting together a boating package on a budget.

I've been wanting a little 12 foot aluminum boat for the longest time, I wanted something old, but even as cheap as they are, it's not always that easy to do on a budget.

I like to do things, well, as cheap as possible, I'm your classic scrounge, I tend to find the things I need for boating, camping, and what not, at flea markets and garage sales.

I don't know if you people do build Threads here or not, but I thought this might be interesting to follow, plus it gives me a record of what I've done if I take pictures and document my progress here in the forum.

this project started with a set of oars, a few years ago, I picked up a really nice set of antique oars at a garage sale for next to nothing, if I remember correctly, I think I paid 5 or 10 dollars for them, then as time went on, I picked up some life jackets here and there, a fish finder, an anchor, rope, and miscellaneous "boating stuff" then about mid summer, I found a good deal on an 18 foot starcraft, and it came with a nice little 10 horse trolling motor, so now my little 12 foot boat package was starting to look promising, or at least possible.

a couple of months ago, I found a really old nasty looking old 12 foot boat trailer for 50 bucks, it was so ugly, I got a lot of, "ugly trailer" comments from friends and family.

not having space to really work on stuff, I hauled it over to my brothers house and began my project.

these first pictures aren't that great, as time progresses, I'll get my camera and take better pictures.

I completely stripped, cleaned welds, sand blasted, and repainted the trailer, I replaced all the suspension bushings, new tongue, new tires and wheels, new bearings and seals plus bearing buddies, new lights and wiring, I burried the wiring inside the trailer frame so nothing is exposed, all wire to wire connections were soldered, sealed and heat shrunk, so far, total cost in the trailer is about 150 dollars.

just a side note, that Datsun 240Z you see in the first picture is my brothers V8 conversion, he's just about got it done, it's got a 325 horse Chevy 350 in it. the web page for the car is at www(dot)v8-240z(dot)com, wasn't sure if I was suposed to put a link in here or not, so I did it that way.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

Next came the boat, I found this one off craigslist, it had been sitting in an old barn for years and was a family hand me down, it's a 1970 Trailorboat Klamath 12 footer, and for it's age, it's pretty clean and damage free, my plan so far, is to polish the aluminum to a near mirror shine, I want to strip the inside and paint it, I'll get better pictures as this project progresses.

I want to replace all the woodwork, and do some sort of natural stain on it, so I'm sure as I work through this, I'll have plenty of questions, I'll start on the boat as soon as I finish the trailer, and I should have the trailer done this weekend.

here's some pictures of the boat as it looks now, I wish I had taken some "before" pictures of the trailer, but I wasn't thinking "documentation" at the time, I brought it over to my brothers house and started tearing it apart.

I'll keep posting as I progress with this little project

 

[Windykid]

Re: boats on a budget

You might want to water test the boat for leaks before you do anything else to it.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

You might want to water test the boat for leaks before you do anything else to it.

that's a good idea, I can fill it full of water, and see where it leaks, for it's age, I do expect some leakage, find the problem area, (if there is one) and fix it. so I don't get ahead of myself, I'm going to finish the trailer and get the boat fitted to it before I start work on the boat itself.

it's going to become pretty clear why I chose to do this at my brothers house, he's got all the tools.

the following pictures are of the hubs, I knocked out the studs, walnut shell blasted them in his bead blaster, and now it's off to the back yard for a little paint.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I did the first coat of primer, this is the same paint I used on the trailer, I found it at GI Joes, or now just plain ol' "Joes" for 1.99 a can, I don't know how durable it's going to be, but from what I've seen so far, it's holding up pretty well, ...well as long as I get the paint on it thick enough, I have been doing a couple coats of primer, and 4 or 5 coats of paint.

this is a first for me, so I'm definitely open for suggestions, another reason I decided to post my progress, if you see me messing up, say something

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

when you get boat on trailer, only fill to the red line, if you fill more it will stress the boat, or worse. made for water outside, not inside. will make a nice package.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

when you get boat on trailer, only fill to the red line, if you fill more it will stress the boat, or worse. made for water outside, not inside. will make a nice package.

that's exactly what my plan was, I'll fit the boat to the trailer, haul it out to the street, and fill it to the red line you have marked in the picture, and thanks for sharing that, knowing me, I would have filled that thing to the top like a bath tub.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

don't know if you have seen this. i did this one several years ago. 1960 14' Lonestar. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=178983

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

don't know if you have seen this. i did this one several years ago. 1960 14' Lonestar. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=178983

you showed me that one when I was asking questions about stick steering, that's a really nice boat, that stick steering is something else I want to get into as I work my way through this project, the boat is 60 inches wide, and pretty deep, so I think it's going to be a good candidate for something other then tiller steering, the transom is 18 inches from top to bottom, and that 10 horse Evinrude I have is a long shaft, so I'm not sure if I should raise the transom a little bit, or still convert the motor to a short shaft, I'm still looking for a short drive shaft for it and haven't been able to locate one yet. I need to hang the motor on the back of it and see how far below the bottom of the boat the cavatation plate hangs and go from there.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

what year is the 10hp the old short shaft boats had 15 inch transoms. the long shaft were 18-20 so you may be fine like it is.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

it's an 89 Evinrude 9.9, it's going to be close either way, but if it is to long, it's only going to be 2 or 3 inches is my guess, when I replace the transom woodwork, I can build that extra 2 or 3 inches into it and make it look like it belongs I think.

Im going to get that trailer done this weekend, and start in on the boat, I'll get the outboard tomorrow and size things up, but I do think it's going to be close. but me being a bit of a profectionest, I'm not going to be happy until it's dead on.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

The boat also used to have a deck in it, but it's long gone, I have no idea what it was supposed to look like, but all the brackets for it are still there and intact, so I'm going to want to put another floor in it, and I'm thinking by Sunday, I should be able to put it on the trailer and get some water in it to see if it leaks, there's also a dented crack in the runner under the boat at the center, the dent/crack is towards the front, I'll get some closer pictures of it, I figured on pulling the dent out, getting the runner straight again, and then welding/soldering it up with some of that alumaweld rod, I don't think it's in a critical spot, and I'm sure it would be fine to just leave it the way it is, I just don't like looking at it, but then again, it would be under the boat where no one would see it anyway, I'll get some pictures of it and you can tell me what you think I should do with it.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I just checked my e-mail, that short drive shaft I ordered for the 9.9 Evinrude to do the short shaft conversion, apparently got shipped, and here I was told that it was an NLA part, from the FedEx tracking number, it looks like it should be here tomorrow, so it now looks like I can go long shaft or short shaft with the same outboard, from the way this little project is looking right now, it looks like that long shaft might be a little to long, and the short shaft, a little to short, or maybe I'm just being a little to picky? I'll take pictures and we can talk about this little "maybe" problem? not to sure how I'm going to approach this one yet.

 

[Solittle]

Re: boats on a budget

For what it is worth I run a long shaft 9.9 on a short shaft transom of a 12'r & it works just fine.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I got the short shaft and shift rod today for the short shaft conversion, I am completely surprised that I was able to get the drive shaft, brand new in the box, it was supposed to be an NLA part, I'll convert mine over to short shaft, and pass on the long shaft stuff to someone else that might have a short shaft and needs a long shaft, not sure what years they fit, but mine is an 89' 9.9 Evinrude with very low hours, there's not even any paint chips on the lower unit or prop, the thing looks brand new, so I'm glad I was able to get the parts.

I worked all day on the trailer, everything is painted and ready to re-assemble as soon as the paint dries, I figured if this is a forum for boat restoration, I'll leave the trailer out of it, but as soon as it's done, I'll start in on the boat.

I'm not real sure about polishing the hull up to a mirror shine, the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking that it might look a little odd to be so shiny for an old aluminum boat, I definitely don't want to paint it, and if I did a mirror shine on it, I don't think I'd be able to clear coat it, maybe wax to hold the luster? I'm not sure about that one yet, so I'm still thinking on what I'm going to do, I'll have to come up with some sort of plan in the next day or two though, what's your thoughts?

Stuart

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

the first thing I'm going to do is get some water in the boat and look for leaky rivets, I'm sure I'll have some, I'll fix that problem first, then go from there, I did see where someone had put some goop/gick stuff around some of the rivets on the floor near the transom, so I'm sure it's leaked at some point, it almost looks like it might have had to much motor on it at some point as the repairs are near the transom, like the motor might have been over stressing the hull? just a guess.

this boat looks like a cheaply made boat to me, it's definitely not as stout as the Starcraft, and the aluminum looks thin to me, but then again, maybe that's they way most of them were back then? or maybe I was just expecting more then I got? the transom looks kinda wimpy to me, seems like something could be done to beef it up a little more, maybe ad some bracing between the floor and transom? I'll get some pictures and show you what I'm talking about.

Stuart

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I got the trailer done, now to fit the boat to it, I'm not sure how I want to do it yet, when I start asking questions about fitting the boat to the trailer, should I take that over to the trailer forum? or can I do it here?

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I got the boat on the trailer, I still need to install the winch post, also, the boat doesn't have a bow eye, need to figure out something for that, it looks like it's a good fit. I also need to come up with a better, or at least a nicer looking set of bunks, I'll look through the wood pile and see if I can scrounge something up. here's a couple of pictures

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I filled the boat up to the water line as Tashasdaddy suggested and found a couple of small leaks, I took a couple of pictures of the leaky spots, but it's nothing major at all, maybe a drip of water every 45 seconds or so, I figured when I re-finish the inside, I'll be able to seal them up, so I really don't see any rivets that need fixing at this point,

here's a couple of pictures of the leaky spots, one at the bow, and one on the corner floor near the transom.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

and here comes the next question, the outboard, it's a long shaft, the bottom of the transom is about mid center with the long shaft extension, I'm thinking I need to shorten it up, make it a short shaft, I have all the parts, so no problem doing the conversion, what do you think?