Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud !UPDATE!

[rivermouse]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

You just inspired me to go and at least get it out. i know it is structurally safe cuz i took a close look at it before the flood. i live right on the river about 1/2mile downstream. so as long as it floats, i can get it home. :]
and i LOVE restoring old things and working with my hands to see that finished project that just gives you an amazing sense of pride. When i posted this i wasnt asking if it was a good idea to get the boat or not, i was asking for advice on how i should go about getting it out, and restoring it.

OH. I see that coat isnt the question so you want advice as to how to get it out? Call Shelby on the AXMEN show and see if he will rent you his jet boat..Thats what it is made for..lol

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Make sure the plug is in. An old Wine cork is fine at this stage.

Then get all the water and mud out.
Figure water at 8 pounds per gallon and mud at 20.
You may have a thousand pounds of water and mud in there.
Lighten it and it may float out on its own.

A milk bottle with half of the top removed makes a great scoop.

And we want to see the BEFORE picture!

 

[NYBo]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

^What Uncle Willie said, except I would start with a manual bilge pump. It will move water a lot faster.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Gas operated pressure washer, put a filter on the suction line - use the pressure washer to free the hull from the mud.

 

[oops!]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

the above is the way i would do it.

take a chain saw and cut the overgrown trees out of the way...

then use the pressure washer to blast away the mud from around and under the hull.....as soon as the suction from the mud is gone it is free.....then you can use the pressure washer to drain the boat.....make sure the plug is in and row it home.

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Well, we obviously need pics!! From the start of removing it, on through. Good Luck!!

 

[riptorn]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Well, we obviously need pics!! From the start of removing it, on through. Good Luck!!

Ya. sounds good. Reminds me of Gilligan's Island.

 

[PS94]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Sounds like a money pit, but it's something I would do.....Take pics! This sounds fun!

 

[58tomahawk]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Sounds familar. My girlfriend spotted this boat in the back of the marsh in the concord river. I used a 5 gallon bucket to empty the water and we towed it 4 miles down river to the ramp. This was my winter project and although it took some time it was worth it. Don't let anyone discourage you.

 

[island mike]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

You just inspired me to go and at least get it out. i know it is structurally safe cuz i took a close look at it before the flood. i live right on the river about 1/2mile downstream. so as long as it floats, i can get it home. :]
and i LOVE restoring old things and working with my hands to see that finished project that just gives you an amazing sense of pride. When i posted this i wasnt asking if it was a good idea to get the boat or not, i was asking for advice on how i should go about getting it out, and restoring it.

Hi.You said: Quote: You know its structually safe because you took a close look at it.
Its impossible by just looking to determine that a boat is safe.To get an idea we normaly take core samples of transom and deck..
I strongly doubt a boat being submerged like that for a long amount of time being structally safe..
Most people who responded to your post know a lot about boats and because they KNOW they adviced you against getting it out.
restoring is one thing but when it gets to cleaning out your bank account its no fun anymore.
You will have to: replace stringers,Transom,Deck,Buy a trailer and a whole lot of other things will pop up.
listen to the peeps who gave you advice they know their stuff,For all the money you would have to put in this project you could buy a much better boat without much hassle, Good luck Island mike

 

[rivermouse]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Hi.You said: Quote: You know its structually safe because you took a close look at it.
Its impossible by just looking to determine that a boat is safe.To get an idea we normaly take core samples of transom and deck..
I strongly doubt a boat being submerged like that for a long amount of time being structally safe..
Most people who responded to your post know a lot about boats and because they KNOW they adviced you against getting it out.
restoring is one thing but when it gets to cleaning out your bank account its no fun anymore.
You will have to: replace stringers,Transom,Deck,Buy a trailer and a whole lot of other things will pop up.
listen to the peeps who gave you advice they know their stuff,For all the money you would have to put in this project you could buy a much better boat without much hassle, Good luck Island mike

I wish anyone good luck with any project they have an interest in but if the OP does start work on this junker he will have to endure the many "I told you sos" if he ask for advice about fixing it here......He will still get honest solid advice though.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

... For all the money you would have to put in this project you could buy a much better boat without much hassle...

Realize there are people with different values on time and money.

There are some people that would drag the boat home, spend $5000 dollars and 1000 hours fixing it up.
In the end they would say that the 1000 hours of fun only cost them $5 an hour.
If they then sold it for $4000 then a great time was had for only $1 an hour.
Much cheaper than going to the movies or dinner.

There are also people that would spend $10,000 on a Bass Boat knowing full well that they will never catch anywhere near enough fish to even pay for the fuel, much less the boat!

 

[JimS123]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

There are diamonds in the rough and then there are complete junkers. Don't know until you find out, and it doesn't matter as long as you go into it with your eyes wide open.

Nobody can say "I told you so" unless they are willing to concede that THEY made a mistake if it goes the other way.

I can't get over all the threads where people buy $500 junkers, just to spend countless hours gutting and "restoring" them just to sell it a year later anyway.

This is more than a labor of love, its a real adventure!!!

 

[MaleficentArmy]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Sounds familar. My girlfriend spotted this boat in the back of the marsh in the concord river. I used a 5 gallon bucket to empty the water and we towed it 4 miles down river to the ramp. This was my winter project and although it took some time it was worth it. Don't let anyone discourage you.


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thats kinda how the boat im getting looks. but most of the paint is still on mine. lol that looks amazing though and is also truly inspiring! if you could fix up that, theres no doubt in my mind i can fix up the one i found! im glad im not the only one who has thought of doing this or has actually done it! btw, what problems did you run into with your boat? jw, so maybe i can have an idea of what to look forward to. lol

 

[MaleficentArmy]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

OKAY! FINALLY!!! I got out to the boat last night and I'm just excited beyond belief! i found out its a 1955 whitehouse sea rocket. i cant really find out anything about it other than what year it is, who made it, and what it originally looked like based on a catalog picture. its the middle picture with the girl driving the boat.
it looks like that, but the gelcoat has a few cracks in it and it was spray painted more than once, the original color is for the most part, gone. ill upload some actual pictures of it later. but the boat felt really sturdy, yet very light. i was able to pull it loose from the mud and drag it onto shore a little bit. I'm gonna go back this weekend to bail all the water and mud out and row it home.

 

[JAL51974]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Good for you. We definitely need pictures though!

 

[Ned L]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Nice little runabout.

 

[MaleficentArmy]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

so the drought in wisconsin made the water level low enough for , me to finally get that boat out! and its nice. it doesnt leak at all. it has a 1/2 inch boat plug on the bottom of the hull about 5 inches from the transom. i dug all of the mud out of the boat, pulled it up on shore, drug it over to a better spot and made a plug out of gorilla tape and a stick, then put it in the water and sat on the bow and paddled it to the boat landing. the gelcoat on the hull is in great condition for its age, it has some chips and bubbles. the transom and stringers are probably rotted but still have a bit of strenth to them. im replacing both the transom and stringers as well as the glassed in supports under the bow. im going to re gel coat the hull and paint the top with automotive paint with flex agent (the stuff they use to paint bumpers). most of the hardware is still there except for the bow and stern lights. but the original speedometer was there all hooked up and in tact. i took apart the speedo and cleaned it a little and it still works! i want to put somewhere between a 50 & 70 hp mercury motor from the fifties on it. it still has all the pullys for steering there and functional. as for a windsheild it tirns out the windsheild is just the rear window from an old studebaker turned upside down. heres pics of it in the mud being dug out. i took everything off it now, so im gonna pressure wash it soon to get a better idea of how i want to approach the whole thing. ill keep posting pics.

 

[bgc]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Nice!
Thats going to be a fun project

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Re: Restoring an old abandoned fiberglass boat need advice its stuck in the mud

Looks pretty decent all things considered. Looking forward to seeing the build up.