New Projects for this Winter!

[Scaaty]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Personally, I'm pushing for a 3-cylinder OMC. A bright orange Johnson Stinger "Mean Machine" would look sweet!
- Scott

Man you got that right! I was going to add that, but ya beat me to it.
Long ago (70's) had a friend with an 13 ft Allison that ran a Merc 3 cylinder 70, against the Stinger boys. It was just too cool, as the Stinger boys had boat paint to match, and of course all the Merc boats were black. Fun to watch!. He blew the motor, then went up to race 19 foot Tunnels. I bought the boat, converted to a two seater and put a rebuilt 50hp on it. Thing was STILL a grin. And I got a solid on the speedo 50mph one day in thick, just perfect water.
Scott, you test drive that GW, ya know its gonna be had to give back!!
Heres a pic of my old Allison..wish I would have kept it!

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Hi Scaaty,
I've actually got an orange Stinger hood on the shelf that I've offered him if he wants to paint up one of the 70s to fit the "Mean Machine" look...
We'll see!
Love the Allison! My next project will likely be a Donzi Sweet 16 look-alike built off a 16-foot Starcraft hull I've got my eye on...
- Scott

 

[Scaaty]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Hi Scaaty,
I've actually got an orange Stinger hood on the shelf that I've offered him if he wants to paint up one of the 70s to fit the "Mean Machine" look...
We'll see!
Love the Allison! My next project will likely be a Donzi Sweet 16 look-alike built off a 16-foot Starcraft hull I've got my eye on...
- Scott

THATS WHAT IT NEEDS!
A great paint job to match the "Stinger hood'..if it fits the motor..
I'd run center steer (set back..weight..ya be working on the dash anyway...)..run tandem seating...get that puppy up "on the pad"...
TOO COOL!!
Thinking about it now, I would go balls out.
Screw that 70 ..although love those motors...do the Transom right, ..stuff a SS old Merc TOP on it, SS hubless prop..figure 100hp plus (light motors..run a crank up rebuild 135hp on a 15.6 ft Flatbottom myself..dry is 350 pound hull..12 inch gunwhales, 1 inch drop side on chines, ..8 inch pad..(rides the air)
But beats the hell out of me..(blows off the Jetskis though on a punch)..and can't do "trim"...cavitates.
I MISS that "pad"..sawing the wheel.."Rooster tail" thing.
Anybody want to see the Flatbottom build (last year)...its on Yahoo Groups "oldfastboats"...and have pix there of Chinewalkers "stuff"....(and belive me ..he has "stuff"..(never give up Scott...growing old sucks..IF..ya stop "playing"....THEN ya get old..!)
But seems you or me "got a long way to go"...
Nice ride...nice work...."projects " ..give ya a reason to "wake up early"...
PS ..still miss my old 17 FT Switzercraft (74 boat/76 XS150 block) with the XS150 Merc SS, surface Prop (14x28 Hubless..BIG cup...everyone on the bow 'till I said OK.."grabbing"....sit down).."on the PAD"...ran 73mph..lots of motor work done...SMOKED! With little "sawing the wheel"..great hulls, now and still do know Bobby Switzer..builder still at it..Google Switzercraft boats..
(a link here..)
http://www.powercatboat.com/Switzer/Switzer.html
...him and his brother are MASTERS)
On the Yahoo site...(the site is nothing but mostly pix...off..well, ...
oldfastboats....when ya put WAY to much HP..."on a boat"....and grinned yer butt off coming back to the dock....AND..the "boat" ...got the "girls"...the GOOD ol'days..

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

More progress this weekend. Got the floor glassed in all the way around. Two layers of woven roving with a layer of 4 oz. cloth over it. Rock solid now...

 

[oops!]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

sooo clean.......

on to the lid......yer really rippin thru that.......how bad is the break on the deck?

cheers
oops

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Hi Oops,
The break is only at the bottom of the steering wheel cut-out. Looks like the boat has had several wheels over the years and the hole got cut, re-cut, trimmed, etc. until there simply wasn't much meat left. I'm going to replace the entire dash support core and glass over the skin so we can just hole-saw a new cutout for the new helm. Here's a shot I took from underneath back before I pulled the deck off the hull...
- Scott

 

[oops!]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

wow.....i agree...lots of different hubs in there.....

was that 2 sheets of ply or are they just de lam ing.......

at that point yup just cut it out and put in a new peice !

great watching ya work scott.....ive gone thru all the link s

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Thanks Oops.
I'm pretty sure it's just one layer of ply. I've got enough scrap from the floor to make a new dash core...
I've been following your rebuild, too. More than I'd ever bite off, I'll tell you!
- Scott

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

I now have the floor completely glassed in and the kick board is in place. I'll drag the deck into the shop next weekend and repair the dash board and clean up the inner skin of the transom. Next stop - putting the lid back on the box!
- Scott

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Didn't get much done last weekend other than to move the hull portion out of the shop and move the deck portion in. I flipped the deck over and got a good look at the dash board and transom areas.

Someone in the distant past had done a pour-in transom "fix" that was really poorly done. The original wood transom core wasn't removed entirely and the cast part is now a nice relief mold of what was left of the wood core. They made a doorskin box as a form and didn't even pull back the carpet - which is now molded into the casting! What a mess... Hoping it comes out easily, though as I don't relish the thought of hacking away at this stuff.

I did cut away the inner skin of the dash board area and started chipping away at the plywood core. I think that will come out relatively easily...

- Scott

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: New Projects for this Winter!

Made a little progress this weekend, then took a step back when I discovered part of the deck core was saturated with water and rotted. The core material is endgrain balsa and it had gotten wet where the deck skin had cracked around the steering wheel cutout and broken dashboard. Seeped about 12 to 18-inches all around it. I think I'm going to cut up some T&G wainscoting as a new coring material and bed it in some epoxy peanut butter. It's not really a structural area other than to keep the deck from caving in if you sit on it and to keep it from being a sounding board when hitting waves and such. Just means another day's worth of work to get done...

On the bright side, the poured-in type transom material came out without a hitch. A few knocks with a hammer and it loosened right up. What a mess - you can see the voids and molded in carpet chunks...
- Scott