Re: My restoration project. Photos up!
Re: My restoration project. Photos up!
A said:
What part of Ga. are you in? Im trying to find a source of good marine plywood. Im in Westminster,SC... cant find any though. Im thinking Altanta might have a place that stocks it...
Last year I fixed up an old Crosby 15ft with a 40hp big-twin, but it was in good shape to begin with, for the most part. With me, a gas can, and a milk-crate to sit on, it did 41mph on the GPS.
I had to move it to the backyard for now to make way for my "new" 30/yo bass boat!
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/k224/A_Fn_NOOB/Ranger/
Also, where are you going to get your resins/fiberglass stuff from?
I was gonna bump this up since Mas asked about it in the Evinrude/Johnson forum but now I can kill two birds w/one stone.
I have not even looked for marine plywood yet. I was going to see if my local ACE or Home depot would order it for me. I think I can do the whole project with 2 sheets. I know it can be ordered online but I'll avoid that if possible. There's also a few places near lake Harding/Lick Skillet area that build boats. I might try there too.
For fiberglass cloth, I'm hoping I can grab some of that "slightly irregular" cloth off eBay. So far everything I've ripped out of the boat was either mat or chop gun stuff. The only cloth I've seen in the boat is in the hull. Just about any cloth I could use would be better than the original design.
For resin, I just found out there's a local company (one of my company's customers) that's a supplier of many things including epoxy resin. I can get it from them for a little more than $20/gal. If that doesn't work out, it'll probably have to come from US Composites.
I still need to see if I can get brushes, cups, rollers, etc... locally somewhere.
I sure would like to see some pics of your Crosby!
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So what's the status now? Mostly just thinking and gathering materials. It's too cold to do any glass work and it gets dark quick. I am hoping to start working on the trailer soon. That is something I think I can do over the "Winter". I live in GA so I know a lot of y'all will think it's funny that I call it Winter.
I know I've made a lot of grand plans about modifying this and that but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if I should. At this point I think I should just concentrate on making the repairs and putting it all back together. I should just put the console right back where it was. No paint or gelcoat anywhere. I think I will not glue in the back yet though (if you could see how it was designed you wouldn't think that's as crazy as it sounds). Just get it all back together and get it on the water and see how I like it. I may decide it makes a good runabout for me and the dogs but not such a good fishing boat, who knows. I do believe it's not necessary to do a full restoration before I get it out on the lake though.
My wife's dad bought the boat used and then passed it on to my wife's BNL where it ended up like you saw in my pics. Her dad did tell me that it had some cracks in the floor and some water in the foam when he had it. I expect the boat will be WAY lighter than even when her dad had it when I'm done with it. He did say it was a good riding boat but was hard to get on plane (gee I wonder why).
SO here we are:
Fix trailer
Fix floor and repair any holes/cracks in hull. Make it better than it was.
Glue up and glue in the plywood for the transom.
Join my top-half back together where I sawed it in half. Really wish I hadn't done that. In hindsight I think I could have gotten the top off w/o sawing it.
Put the top-half back on with screws.
Put the motor back on.
Install the original console. Find good used rotary steering system.
Get new control cables.
Outfit boat with all required items.
Test and go from there.
Edit: Forgot to mention the engine.
I think it's going to be fine. The "new" powerhead seems fine. I might end up doing a carb rebuild and replacing the fuel pump. I say that because that's about the only thing that it could need at this point. I'd love to see it restored to look like new, but it's gotta prove itself reliable first.
