jiminmontana
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2009
- Messages
- 77
I am fixing up a '57 Lone Star Caribbean. She's rotten to the gunwales. Hull surface is really good, though. Has a good 1964 Johnson Meteor 90 hp.
I have my motor stands built and bought 2 more '64 Johnson 90 hp's for $100 each. Both run, but 1 is sans hood and prop. I plan to take them all apart and do a complete overhaul of new bearings, gaskets, impellers, electical, carb, and hoses, etc. Have access to a mill used by the Dept of Def until 1998 when it was sold at auction for $12000! So the motors don't scare me. The dead boat did for about 2 weeks, but I'm over that -- for now -- until I start scraping her out.
This boat called for a max of 150 hp. What if I put 2 90's on the back? I am looking at 1800 pounds on top of the bare boat which includes 2 Meteors @ 227# each, a 47# kicker, a 300# fuel load (central), & 4 chubby people. In addition is the likely ballast required plus cargo for 4 going trolling with 1 or 2 down riggers, plus a small live well. That's 2200 pounds in addition to the hull absolute max on a 19 footer.
I have decided to do this girl up right. Forget the $1000 cap. I plan to do 95% of the work, but the paint alone will be $2000. I have talked to some FIN nuts. I hear that this '57 is 1 of 5 known to still exist. Only 1 is operational.
The only 2 modifications I plan are an internal 35 G fuel cell between the stringers (cripple the central stringer with a heavy T bulkhead - and putting enough integrity in her to handle 180 hp thrust and the weight of 2 motors.
I have a 5" wide plate of 3/8" steel with which to strengthen the transom -- which will be 100% pure beef itself. If I weld a 2" per side piece of 1/4" thick angle iron the full length of that plate (which will span the beam) AND put long "ears" on the ends of that plate to distribute the force of the thrust along some 24" vertically on each side of the hull/frame -- will that be strong enough to send the boat off at full throttle without hull damage? And since all the wood is spongey and being replaced with white oak/plywood and roven woven over that as needed (including the gunwales and ribs - I have access to a sweet set of wood working tools), I plan to go heavy on the framing.
I need to know how much ballast will be needed at the bow of a 19' boat. If the fuel cell (which will only be full for one trip per year) is central to the point of gravity, how much ballast will be good for the front? I have collected 420# of used wheel weights for making bullets and can get all I want for free from local tire stores. I can use coffee cans for the molds as needed, or fill old baking sheets to spread out the weight. Coat them so as to eliminate the poisonous lead oxide.
I can launch the boat into a piece of still water that has a gradual deepening to 3 feet so as to test the amount of ballast while on the trailer.
With a heavy load, I would accelerate with caution.
Am I forgetting something?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Check my blog for progress through this refurb. Am planning a 2 week trip in August. I expect 300 hours on the boat redo to get her ready to paint.
I have my motor stands built and bought 2 more '64 Johnson 90 hp's for $100 each. Both run, but 1 is sans hood and prop. I plan to take them all apart and do a complete overhaul of new bearings, gaskets, impellers, electical, carb, and hoses, etc. Have access to a mill used by the Dept of Def until 1998 when it was sold at auction for $12000! So the motors don't scare me. The dead boat did for about 2 weeks, but I'm over that -- for now -- until I start scraping her out.
This boat called for a max of 150 hp. What if I put 2 90's on the back? I am looking at 1800 pounds on top of the bare boat which includes 2 Meteors @ 227# each, a 47# kicker, a 300# fuel load (central), & 4 chubby people. In addition is the likely ballast required plus cargo for 4 going trolling with 1 or 2 down riggers, plus a small live well. That's 2200 pounds in addition to the hull absolute max on a 19 footer.
I have decided to do this girl up right. Forget the $1000 cap. I plan to do 95% of the work, but the paint alone will be $2000. I have talked to some FIN nuts. I hear that this '57 is 1 of 5 known to still exist. Only 1 is operational.
The only 2 modifications I plan are an internal 35 G fuel cell between the stringers (cripple the central stringer with a heavy T bulkhead - and putting enough integrity in her to handle 180 hp thrust and the weight of 2 motors.
I have a 5" wide plate of 3/8" steel with which to strengthen the transom -- which will be 100% pure beef itself. If I weld a 2" per side piece of 1/4" thick angle iron the full length of that plate (which will span the beam) AND put long "ears" on the ends of that plate to distribute the force of the thrust along some 24" vertically on each side of the hull/frame -- will that be strong enough to send the boat off at full throttle without hull damage? And since all the wood is spongey and being replaced with white oak/plywood and roven woven over that as needed (including the gunwales and ribs - I have access to a sweet set of wood working tools), I plan to go heavy on the framing.
I need to know how much ballast will be needed at the bow of a 19' boat. If the fuel cell (which will only be full for one trip per year) is central to the point of gravity, how much ballast will be good for the front? I have collected 420# of used wheel weights for making bullets and can get all I want for free from local tire stores. I can use coffee cans for the molds as needed, or fill old baking sheets to spread out the weight. Coat them so as to eliminate the poisonous lead oxide.
I can launch the boat into a piece of still water that has a gradual deepening to 3 feet so as to test the amount of ballast while on the trailer.
With a heavy load, I would accelerate with caution.
Am I forgetting something?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Check my blog for progress through this refurb. Am planning a 2 week trip in August. I expect 300 hours on the boat redo to get her ready to paint.
Last edited:
