Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

[csendker]

I'm a new guy on board. New to the forum & new to boating. Some background: I recently went on a father/son fishing expedition with some other guys and had a blast. My son & I were the only guys without a boat, so we rented one at the marina. $85 for the weekend got us a little aluinum rowboat with a 9.9 Honda on the back. It worked great, caught some fish and totally enjoyed ourselves.

So I got to thinking, maybe for not too much more I could pick up an older boat to have for ourselves. So I looked & looked wanting something cosmetically hurting but structurally sound. I found a 1970 Luger 14' runabout, trailer, boat & a (supposedly) running 50 Hp Merc OB, so I took the plunge.

I did my research and found that Luger was a kit boat manufacturer. They shipped the hull pieces & whatever else you ordered and you put it together in your garage or backyard. Not a whole lot of information left for these guys, but I grabbed what I could.

The rug was saturated & shot (foreshadowing) and the seats (3 of 4) were just lying around. The PO said she ran like snot, but looked a little rough and ran a bit low (more foreshadowing). Her she is (was):

So I went to remove the last seat standing and it just fell over. Lag bolts & all. I started to get a sick feeling in my gut. I pulled up the rug and found the decking was shot. There was a hole the PO cut in the back for a bilge, so I knew the deck thickness. I set my circular saw to that depth and sawed a 3~4" slot up the centerline of the deck. Then a couple of perpendicular cuts and all I ad to do was just yank up the old decking, nothing held. I found this:

And after I removed many, many garbage bags of totally saturated styrofoam I had this:

No drainage at all, so there was standing water in every cell. The bottom half of the stringer system was glassed, the top half exposed. The stringers were made from the packing crate (as per the instructions supposedly):

I was able to save the one with the shipping address on it. By now, I've pulled everything out and am in the process of cleaning up the hull:

I'll get into specifics in later posts, this one's plenty long enough as is.

I'll thank everyone in advance for whatever help comes my way, this seems like an active & giving forum.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

whwn you done with this project, that's going to be a nice looking boat, keep the pictures coming

 

[csendker]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

A little more before I end the day. I've never seen the original instructions, but I've gotten some information forwarded to me and just recieved an old catalouge today.

The boat came in three big pieces. You screw them together and "in one night" you have a boat (so they said). Then you glass all of the joints on the inside:

The transom is really goofy. It's inside-out; two pieces of 3/4" marine ply sandwiching a layer of fiberglass. Note in the picture the back end runs completely across the boat (well, inbetween the pods). One piece of ply is adhered to the outside of the fiberglass backplate, inbetween the pods:

And the other is cut to fit the entire inside from gunnal to gunnal:

Actually, the stringers were installed first and tabbed to the fiberglass transom. The inner transon was notched for the stringers and then screwed on:

Here's how they suggested the stringer system should be:

And yes, they did recommend using the packing crate. But the instructions show several full-width frames going from side to side, I had two. It also shows some main stringers, I had one that went 2/3 of the way. They had notches for drainage, not mine. Nice & symmetrical? Nope. It's all gone now.

So I'm at the final chip/grind/cleanup phase. Now I'm designing the new stringer system and floor layout. I failed to mention that there was a recessed (~3/4") footwell up front that just caught water & seeped it down below. I won't be recreating any of that mess. I'll post drawings of my intended decking system when I finish them.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

great project boat, and cared for afterward, you grandchildren will learn to fish in it.

 

[csendker]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

Thanks guys. Now for a cosmetic question. I'm slowly stripping all of the hardware off and thinking about a new coat of 'paint'. In quotes as I don't know what to use or how to proceed.

I'm pretty sure it's been painted at least once, look here (note on the left side where the splashwell was:

I don't know what type of paint is on it or if there's a gel coat or what. I wouldn't know what a gel coat is if I bumped into it anyway. So, where do I start? Buff the heck out of her to see if I really need to paint? Or just blaze away with .... ????

I'd like to paint the blue part if nothing else as there some scratches, etc. that I want to fix up. I'm also considering running without the splashwell; it's a little dinged up & chews up a lot of the deck area.

While I'm at it, what options are there for the deck? I'm not thrilled with a permanent rug for water reasons, I'd rather some sort of coating. What's out there?

Thanks.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

i don't run with out a splash well. it does not have to be as far into the boat as that one.

deck finish, glass it in, then you can use non skid paint. herculiner etc.

here's one i'm working on that did not have a splash well. it's ready for glass.

 

[csendker]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

The original splashwell is ~28"deep, too big for my taste and chews up too much of the cabin. How do you figure out a reasonable minimum depth? Eyeball it (w/OB tilted up)? Say ~12' deep?

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

what a nice looking boat. good luck with the build, keep the pics coming. my gelcoat was faded in spots and painted in others. i used interlux brightside paint. i used the roll and tip method. just remember, if your going to paint, prepping the boat is key. lots of sanding, proper priming, etc.

 

[csendker]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

Thanks TC, I like it too; but I think she'll look a whole lot better in the water. I can only hope to do as nice a job as you did on yours.

And I have to ask, what the heck is that boat in your avitar??

 

[domains]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

Nice boat ..You could make a secondary drain plug on the outside for under the floor.

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

pretty cool avatar, eh, csendker? lol. it's some kind of a tug boat with 8 outboard motors.

 

[csendker]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

You could make a secondary drain plug on the outside for under the floor

I have one drain plug in the bottom of the transom to drain the 'under deck'. There was another drain plug higher up to drain the splashwell. There was nothing to drain the deck itself until the PO chopped a hole in the back of the deck to expose the lower drainplug.

And open the entire underdecking up to water exposure...

it's some kind of a tug boat with 8 outboard motors.

I'd love to see the steering linkage on that monster, better be hydraulic or you'd need a gorilla to steer it, heh, heh...

 

[domains]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

Id love to see steering linkage on that monster aswell .

cheers.

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

check these out. i like looking for somewhat different pics of boat.

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

check these out. i like looking for somewhat different pics of boat.

That second one looks like a drug runner..... maybe found abandoned like that?

 

[csendker]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

Nearing time to re-do the disaster of a structure I found when I opened her up. There's NO WAY I'm going to re-create that mess, so I'm starting from scratch. Look at the enclosed picture, yikes!

The transom; it was a kit boat so I have a goofy transom. First, you assembled the fiberglass pieces (which included a full-width FG transom). Then you applied a precut piece of 3/4" ply on the outside and a second 3/4" piece of ply on the inside. In effect, sandwiching the FG with ply; inside-out. I have some pics showing the concept.

I pulled off the rotted inside piece and am intending to replace it with (2) pieces of 3/8" marine ply. Expoxy the first piece onto the existing, glass it in, epoxy the second piece, glass it in. Eventually, do the same to the outside piece. With four layers of wood and six layers of glass, it should be bullet-proof.

Next the underdeck structure. I'm looking at fabbing up stringers out of (2) layers of 1/2" marine ply. Cut to shape and epoxy glued together, forming a 1" thick stringer. Install two of these, about 16" apart; leaving about an 18" (worst-case) gap between the stringer and the handy-dandy molded in ledge for the perimeter. I'll glass in a 3/4x3/4 wood 'ledge' along the transom for the decking to rest on there. I've included a picture with the ledge circled in red.

For my frames, at first I was thinking of more fabbed up stringer-like things, but I wondered how to get something solid to lag in seat pedistals, etc. So now I'm thinking of 2x12's going laterally across the boat, with the top of the 2x12 level with the ledge. This will give a massive surface for the plywood joints to sit on, and something really solid to lag in a ski pylon, seat pedistals, etc. I've included a drawing showing the structure.

The ledge will work for the back 8' of the boat, then it curves up too much and I'll have to glass in some more 3/4x3/4 ledges for the perimeter support.

Your thoughts & comments?? Thanks!!

 

[fortcarl]

Re: Rebuilding a 1970 Luger Runabout

My dad built one of these in the late 60's. He passed away in 07. I've been thinking of rebuilding it as it has been sitting for some time. Did you ever finish this project?