Cherokee Boats by Mckenzie Boat Manufacturing Company

[jhendery]

Thanks to the mods for creating this new space for Cherokee boats.

We know the following Cherokee models were manufactured by McKenzie Boat Manufacturing Company.

Look forward to hearing about your Cherokee

1900 Catalina
1800 Catalina
1600 Catalina
1600 Avalon
1500 Sea Lark - Catalina
1500 Sea Lark - Avalon
1500 Bolero
1450 Playboy

 

[ssdale]

Finally had time to post a few re-shots of a Cherokee project I finished a couple of years ago. My original photos will not load onto the forum ( i tried re-sizing and still error message), so the photos are screen shots of the originals. The pics quality is good enough to help someone identify their Cherokee and get an insight into the resto- Hope the moderator agrees:usa2: It is a 1965 Cherokee Playboy outfitted with a 1965 Mercury 500. Bought off c-list for $100 without trailer. The owners said it had been laying in their backyard since 1993 and they were thinking of making a goldfish pond out of it since it held water so well:help:. It is equipped with all the original Tom Faul Nautalloy hardware and steering wheel. More to come!

 

[ssdale]

These next pics show the take apart, repair and prep of the Cherokee

 

[ssdale]

The first pic is of the Nautalloy Aquabird hardware that I mentioned in the earlier post. I splurged and sent it to the chrome shop about and hour away. luckily the original spotlight and transom handles were in nearly perfect shape! I know that there are a lot off shots of the boats masked off for paint, but it was a big job:joyous:
Used zinc chromate primer in rattle cans from the local outboard store. They were a little more expensive than at the autozone, but i believe superior quality-and you don't want to do this twice. Paint next post!!
Dale

 

[ssdale]

Now for the best part IMHO of any project- PAINT and CHROME. I shot the paint over the course of a few days and I am very proud of the results with a $40 gun. Not show quality but really gets a lot of looks. The chrome came back great and the original pieces shined up great. Added plenty of flotation foam before reviting down the plywood floor.
Dale

 

[ssdale]

Used steel wool and Mothers on all the aluminum bump rail and trim. Pics of the re-assembly including new windshield gasket. Amazing how well the windshield itself held up to all those decades of exposure!

 

[ssdale]

Biggest expense, other than the motor, was the lounge seats off of ebay. I had to cut the plastic mounting boxes way down and reinforce to get them low enough to look right. Here are a few pics of her out on the Missouri River- a little bit daunting for me as a newbie and all 1965 equipment. We,ve been back many times since. A few befores and afters also. Remember, these are screenshots of my original pics. so again my apologies on the quality, but could not get them to upload any other way. A McKenzie Mfg/Cherokee Playboy saved from being a fishpond:facepalm::laugh: Dale

 

[jhendery]

Great work Dale! Your restoration of the Cherokee Playboy to original is very good work. Nicely done!

 

[ssdale]

Thanks Jeff!,
Wish I could have gotten the original pics to load, but these should help someone identify their boat. It was a really fun project and I still enjoy the rig a couple times each summer. Spring is finally here!

 

[gemrose]

1965 McKenzie Cherokee Commander 19 foot cabin boat.

 

[gemrose]

[No message]

 

[gemrose]

I found this boat about 80 miles north east of McKenzie TN. Had a few leaky rivets, lol about 70 of them. Now waiting for the weather to warm up so we can get back to work on it.

 

[achris]

gemrose Please read the forum rules regarding posting to old threads, this thread is 4 years old, a little more than the 90 days we request. (forum rules link at the bottom of my signature.)

chris.
iboats mod team.