New Lone Star Owner Introduction

[touvell]

Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Dave, and live in central NC. I just became the owner of a 1963 Lone Star boat that my grandfather owned. It needs a lot of work, and I stumbled across this forum while searching for information on it. It's a 16' aluminum fishing boat, from the brochure I found on fiberglassics.com I believe it's a Skipper, (but not 100% sure). I was looking for information such as the original paint scheme, load capacity, what materials the seats were made of (they're missing), what are those two brackets and a post at the front port side of the interior for, if it originally had a floor, etc. If it really is a Skipper, the brochure says it will take a 45 HP max motor, but I'd also like to verify that. I can't find any kind of data plate except a small serial number tag on the upper starboard corner of the transom.

Photos are linked below. Thanks in advance for any information.

Dave

 

[jbcurt00]

Triangle brackets at the transom (back end of the boat [stern]) are structural support helping tie the transom to the sides of the hull.

No idea about the post at the front. There are 2 tab brackets next to the post, might have been some sort of small console for a sterring wheel because the small tabs appear to be similar to what would have been used to mount a remote control (throttle) and theres evidence of something being mounted there. Theres a light area surrounding the tabs where something was mounted.

The seat tops were flat wooden benches. Plywood or mahogany would work, as would white oak (but NOT red oak). All would need to be well sealed.

Some piix can be found here:
http://www.fiberglassics.com/library/Lone_Star

Great to see pix and hear you're keeping it in the family.

What are your plans for it?

 

[touvell]

Thanks for the reply. I thought the post & brackets may be for a steering console, but didn't see any evidence of cables having ever been run to the motor area. But something definitely used to be there. I'm trying to contact my uncle who had the boat for a while and see what he remembers about it.

My plan right now is to restore it the best I can to the original look. The transom needs replaced, so that's probably the first thing I'll do. That plywood bulkhead with the doors at the front needs to come out. Then clean, sand, & paint it in the original color scheme. I guess before painting I need to find out if/how bad it leaks and figure out how to fix any leaks. Then new seat tops, re-wiring the lights, and finding a motor for it.

I didn't really plan on this boat, but I remember fishing in it with my grandfather and dad, both now deceased, when I was a kid. So when my mom said she was getting rid of it I took it to keep it in the family. Now that I actually have it, I'm getting excited about fixing it up.

Dave

 

[redneck joe]

Keep the pics coming.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[touvell]

I guess the good news is that it looks like the transom has been replaced once already. It's still rotting along the bottom, but at least the rivets have been drilled out and the new one was bolted in so it shouldn't be hard to replace it again. Actually, it looks like it was replaced once, then later some fiberglass placed over the exposed area as a band-aid.

It's 1-1/2" thick, so 2 layers of 3/4 exterior grade plywood glued together and a few coats of spar varnish should do the trick. I saw somewhere in the forum that a mixture of boiled linseed oil + mineral spirits + varnish worked good. I might try that. What's the best glue to laminate the two sheets of plywood together?

As requested, here are some more pics: