Dave's rebuild

[dhatcher]

I saw someone else do this so i think i will start my own rebuild thread.

So i picked up this Boat for $150 bucks.

Well let me start over and explain a bit about me first so you can understand that i am totaly new to rebuilding boats, but all i can think of right now is this boat.

I moved to Oklahoma about a year and a half ago. My brother in law is big into Drag boats, fishing boats, and well, boats in general. So he started taking me to this Place on Lake Ft. Gibson called fun island were the alot of the jet boat crew goes. Man let me tell you i am Hooked.

I started looking for a boat last month, wanting to get one i like. I went around to all these dealers and boat shows, finding nothing. My brother in law comes over one day is and drags me out to this Farm house with a couple of old cars and boats. Were looking around and there is the little Tri-hull boat that a one seater, you stick a 50cc on the back and just lay some smoke on the water, well thats what my Bro said anyway lol. So as he is Looking around i see this white thing sticking out the top of some weeds, i go over and Bam, this is what is there

Man i had to have it, it was what i was looking for. I run back to this old farmer and ask him about it, and bam, buy it on the spot, and drag it home. Needless to say my wife wasnt to happy lol.

Anyway i am making plans for it now, been trying to figure out what kind of boat it is, there is another post about that on here. All the title tells me is its a 65 rustic, but when i try to google it, i cant find anything about a rustic lol. Anyway, i will post some more when i start going over it with a fine tooth comb

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

ok custom, this is what i have so far.

Its 16 foot long, underside of the hull looks in gret condition. as it was sitting outside the interior is a little shot but i havent found a soft spot on the floor yet at all

I plan on paiting it Candy apple red with some black on it.

the transom doesnt have any numbers on it so i think it has been replaced. There are no crack in it and hell i cant even find any seems so i think it was done pro.

There was looks like to be railing on the fron that i will try to replace also, and a hatch thing (lol hell i dont know what to call it) that doesnt have its door anymore, but i think i can replace that also. Custom said i needed to put more pics up, but what should i take pics off, what do you boat guys want to see? My wife is a Am photo girl so she is willing to shot the boat from any angle you like lol

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

here my wife found another one

all in all i am pleased with the overall appearance of the boat, the trailer sucks though lol bor to beef it up a bit

 

[crunch]

Re: Dave's rebuild

Hatch thing works 8) Just do a 360 around the boat as far as pics go... what is a AM photo girl?

No soft spots in the floor is a good thing, but they built those old boats like tanks, not like modern boats and cars... trip and catch yourself on a modern SUV, and you have a $1500.00 repair bill.

If you have a rubber mallet, tap around the transom and listen to the sound... if it goes plink, plink, instead of plonk, plonk, the transom is probably good (dry rot will give you a hallow sound) if you don't have the mallet, hold a screw driver by the end and use the handle.

You might re-think the I/O. Most likely the transom is setup for an outboard and it would be a nightmare to change that to an I/O IMHO.

Look for an old outboard to go with the boat... you'll get oh's and ah's with the restored package.

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

yeah i was thinking the same thing with the I/O myself and think i might jsut go with the Outboard.

lol man i am so pumped up over this boat it makes me feel like i am a teenager again lol (i will be 30 this month)

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

oh and it means Amature Photographer

 

[crunch]

Re: Dave's rebuild

I know the feeling, I was pumped when a customer gave me the boat I'm restoring... I thought it was just put it in the water and go... LOL... live and learn d

Check out that floor real careful, pull up the covering and look close at the deck. I had what I thought was a small soft spot... it seems to have gotten bigger...

http://forums.iboats.com/bbBoard.cgi?a=viewthread;fid=26;gtid=1146872

BTW, I'll be 53 in 3 months, and I'm still pumped.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Dave's rebuild

the most expensive, part to replace will the the windshield. find a glass place that works with lexan, it will be your best bet. i have 3 boats right now, and have to admit i could not have resisted that one either. measure the distance from the bottom of the boat to the top of the transom where the motor mounts. it probably originally had a 35 big twin on it.. but it think that would be under powered now days. maybe a 50 or 65 hp.

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

ok this morning when i got up and looked outside and BAM had me a engine.

Its off my 1979 terrybass boat that i have. I think i need to do some work on it. i am gonna post on the Outboard about the motor and see what some people think

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Dave's rebuild

if it runs well use it, terry's are darn good little bass boats.

 

[Always Broke]

Re: Dave's rebuild

Nice buy! A lot of ambition and a little TLC and you’ll have a classic and a lot of compliments. I had a ’61 Fabuglass with the same basic haul shape, fins and all, with a ’59 V4 50 HP Evinrude, it was a fun boat. The semi V, although hard riding, didn’t take much horsepower to push and I was able to pull average tubers and skiers without much of a problem, it did around 30 MPH by the old time speedometer. The old motors are great for their simplicity but parts are kind of scarce. If you could work on an old lawn mower you could work on an old outboard, the basics were pretty much the same. Watch your oil mix, a lot of the old timers took a quart to six gallons instead of a pint, they had babit bearings instead of needle bearings and needed the extra lube. I was able to make my own windshield with Plexiglas and a heat gun, it wasn’t easy but it could be done. I don’t want to get into the whole process here so if you decide to go that way drop me a note and I’ll help you out. Good Luck with your new boat!

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Dave's rebuild

You could try fiberglassics.com to helpidentify this one. You may also get inspriation from some of those guys have restored..

 

[i386]

Re: Dave's rebuild

I'm not sure what you have there but its lines kinda look like a 1950's Crestliner model, though I believe those boats were all aluminum.

I have a Chrysler 20HP similar to that one. Mine's a good little engine. The parts are a little more diffucult to find and are more expensive than say a Johnson or Evinrude from the same period. I'm sure we'll see you in the Chrysler/Force forum.

One interesting thing I learned about those is the white paint... Take a look at the cylinder head. If the paint has a pink tint to it, it has been ran hot before.

Anyway, good luck with your boat. It looks like a great project with a lot of potential. If the floor and transom is good you're in really good shape to get started.

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

well as i tore up the carpet the floor is in great condition. i couldnt be more happy with it, other then scrapping all that yellow 3m adhisive off of it.

Had a problem with the transom, Found a hollow part , gonna maybe drill in it and look around a bit?

I would post some more pics but i think i lost my wifes dig camara, man is she gonna be mad....

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

ok funny story.

So me a CBC and a couple of other people on here been looking at what type of boat it is, did this about 3 days before one of them gave me a ad that was in a mag or something that told it was a Aristocraft, and i tracked it down from there to the year 1965.

Well today me and my brother are looking it over and i tell him to check out the steering wheel and see what we need to do with that and the cable steering (which we have desided to keep). Staring there right in the middle of the boat is a little srome circle that say Aristocraft...........

Yeah my wife said i was a idiot to LOL

anyway the restore is going good, gonna cut out the transom and use a pourable one instead of Ply and glass.

here is the link http://transomrepair.com/zk/testimonials.shtml

anyway i will keep you updated with what is going on with it

 

[tiller7104]

Re: Dave's rebuild

That boat is cool ! If you search aristocraft, there is one that a guy was going to look at in Nebraska, it had lime green interior and it was a really cool boat!

 

[dhatcher]

Re: Dave's rebuild

Ok i have hit a snag a bit ans need some advice. Should i Cut the whole transom out and rebuild it or do i grind the inside of it out tell i get to the outer shell of the transom? or would posting a pic of it be better lol.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Dave's rebuild

Neat boat. It's gonna look great when done. One big problem area is going to be the windshield. My guess is it had a nice bubble style windshield like cars from the 50's- 60's. In fact, it may have taken a car windshield.

So my suggestions are:

1 - See if it actually matches up to any year/model car and see if you can find a glass windshield to fit .

2 - Take it to a plastics fabricator and have a new plexy windshield made (major bucks - I bet a grand or more)

3 - Make you own windshield out of lexan.

4 - Just drive around like it has one even if it doesn't.

Getting back to the auto windshield thing - - - I knew that windshield opening/frame looked familiar --- If not an exact fit, it could be a starting point --- 1960 chevy.

 

[i386]

Re: Dave's rebuild

Ok i have hit a snag a bit ans need some advice. Should i Cut the whole transom out and rebuild it or do i grind the inside of it out tell i get to the outer shell of the transom? or would posting a pic of it be better lol.

Don't damage the outer skin if at all possible. Post pics and ask questions before you cut if unsure. You can't un cut something.

 

[saxis]

Re: Dave's rebuild

Not sure if this will work in your case, but it certainly did for me. On my boat I cut only the skin all around on the inside and peeled the old cloth off the rotten wood. I also cut and peeled it off all across the very top so I could see where the plywood joined the outer skin, then used a long chisel to break the rotten ply off in chunks.