# 1960 ish 12' starcraft



## nerdtastic (Apr 23, 2018)

So I have been a long time lurker and I finally have the time to start my first full build project. I have a little 12' 1960 vintage starcraft that I got from a friend for a song and a handshake. I have used it for several years with my son for fishing for Kokanee in the lakes here in western OR and night fishing and crabbing the bay in Newport. Right now it is rigged with a 1986 5 HP mariner that runs like a top and a 30 lbs Minn Kota for trolling in fresh water and a few no motor lakes. I run clamp on downriggers for Kokanee. So as you can see this is a bit of a do all split personality rig and with the salt water the trailer has seen better days to put it nicely. so the plan is right now as follows:

pull the bench seats out and replace with new wood
pull the old transom and replace with new wood
inspect and replace flotation foam if needed
built a mount for the battery under the front seat and install wiring for nav lights fish finder and trolling motor
strip bad camo paint job and repaint the bottom with wetlander if budget permits if not rattle can Rustoleum self-etching primer and topcoat white
strip trailer repaint with paint over rust Rustoleum top coat with basic white Rustoleum
replace bearings and races
rewire with all waterproof connections

So now for the newbie questions

for the wood, I have access to some white oak off a friends property. We are looking at cutting it into 2-3 inch quarter sawn strips and edge gluing them together to get the 12" width that I need for the bench seats. so the question is will that work we, of course, will be using Titebond 3 that is supposed to be waterproof any thoughts?

I was planning on running just 1 battery (it is a small boat) but I have heard that it is bad to run the trolling moter and fish finder together like that and it is better to have a separate battery for the fish finder has anyone is it possible to just cheat and use a DC noise filter, something like this https://powerwerx.com/dc-line-noise-filter-oemt

that's it for now until I get home and get some pictures tonight. thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice you guys might have!


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## DaleH (Apr 23, 2018)

Boat companies like Lund et al use 5/8" MDO (faced plywood) for their seats and that product lasts and lasts and lasts ...

MDO = Medium Density Overlay; some call it 'signboard', as it has smooth resin-impregnated facings, so it doesn't check. 

Here's a link for how I re-did the transom wood on my early 70s vintage Starcraft 12' skiff, link = *https://www.forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=43039*

I bought some aluminum channel from Grainger.com for the new trim cap on the transom, worked out slick! 'Before' and 'after' photos shown below. I also think that the 'white boot stripe' _makes the hull *POP!*_


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## nerdtastic (Apr 23, 2018)

Thanks, DaleH your boat looks exactly like what I have, the same star on the corner caps and everything! I am still kicking around paint colors and designs. I am hoping to be able to do wetlander up to the chine sense we tend to drag it up on the beach. I really like the blue and white pattern you did though. I may shamelessly copy that 8). I was also wondering how far down I could go on the transom wood and have it be stronger so I will copy what you did there. mine drops down about 1.5" and I never liked it so getting it to go straight across will look nice and get the motor just a little higher and make it easier to get both the 5 HP and the trolling on at the same time. That transom is already pretty short and it can get crowded when they are both on.


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Apr 23, 2018)

I’m doing a budget re finishing on a similar boat. Mine is pretty beat and not worth putting a lot of money into. I’m using pine for seat boards for that reason. And just used 2x10 for the transom board. Here is the link if you’re interested. https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=44152


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## nerdtastic (Apr 23, 2018)

hey, Weldorthemagnificent thanks for the input.

I had seen your build last week and that was what had pushed me over the edge to start mine  
How have those pine board benches held up so far? I was planning to go with the oak and like I said earlier get them all into vertical grain strips so they don't sag over time, well and the wood is free. But, if yours have held up well over time I might not need to go to that effort just mill them to a generous 3/4 and call it good.

Again since the Oak is free would it be good to use a solid piece for the transom board or would it be better to go ahead and get some plywood for that piece for dimensional stability?


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Apr 23, 2018)

Oak is good. I haven’t finished my seats yet. Just picked up stuff to seal. I used rough pine milled to 7/8” and it just fits in the brackets barely. The angle and the flotation boxes lend some rigidity. Yeah if you can get oak for free by all means go for it. 


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## WV1951 (Apr 23, 2018)

I wouldn't be afraid to use one battery for the troller and fish finder.


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## nerdtastic (Apr 24, 2018)

Thanks, WV1951 I have been trying to figure out a 2 battery system but with this small of a boat, I am pretty much out of space not to mention additional weight.

So I have some starting pictures

and here she is in all her battered glory







as you can see the trailer is pretty bad but it is still solid but it won't be much longer if I don't get on it.






Seats, of course, need to go and it needs a good pressure washing.






transom wood needs replaced and I am planning to extend it to about 12 inches and go straight across the top, hopefully getting the motor up about 2-3 inches it is a long shaft and right now it drags pretty bad.






I really like the blue with the white stripe like Daveh did but I think I might go hunter green (Rustoleum pro rattle can of course) with a white stripe just above the chine then leave the chine natural and do something light on the bottom but I am open to ideas still just kicking ideas around.






I am really happy it still has the original corner caps after seeing how few still have these. I didn't realize how rare they are until now. I think I might mask off the star and paint it white Just to make it pop a little.






Still trying to figure out how I want to do the wiring I would like to have 2 switches one for the nav lights and one for the fish finder. I have one of the good Minn Kota battery boxes that I think I will build a cut off switch into and I would really like to have a USB plug and volt gauge. but right now that is just dreaming first the fun part, disassembly and cleaning. Hopefully, I can get to some of that this week.


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## WV1951 (Apr 24, 2018)

I used the hunter green Rustoleum, but I brushed mine on. Three thinned coats over primer and it came out very nice. It took nearly a quart just for the bottom on a 14', so be prepared to go thru a few cans of spray paint.


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Apr 24, 2018)

I painted a 14’ boat once inside and out flat green Walmart paint. Used 27 cans! Talk about sore fingers! But that was back when paint was 75 cents a can. 


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## nerdtastic (Apr 26, 2018)

So progress, however small, has been made. I got the seats out and started the cleaning process 
















I heading to my friend's house tonight with the old seats to use as a template for milling the new ones. I have an appointment for next week to have the trailer cleaned up. I was going to DIY it but every way I tried to do the cost just kept going up and it still would be quite right, for around $200 they will sandblast it to bare metal, epoxy primer and topcoat in the color of my choice. That will keep it alive for a long time and with the new bearings, races, and bearing buddies, I will be good to go.


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## LDUBS (Apr 26, 2018)

Seems like a pretty good deal for $200. I would do the same thing.


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## nerdtastic (Apr 30, 2018)

So got it off the trailer and pressure washed. I had a few minutes tonight to experiment with different methods of paint removal it looks like wire wheel on the angle grinder is going to be the best, but if anyone has ideas to make this any less labor intensive I am sure open to them. I know it's going to be a lot of work no matter what but I am not an expert like some of you guys are.






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## richg99 (Apr 30, 2018)

weldor


https://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1276387&KPID=962079&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Drive_to_Store&pla=pla_962079&k_clickid=f0ea3233-680d-42c9-9131-08b01f02a807&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ZrXBRDXARIsAA8KauSAE8p1sMKcYVfYWw9jInJF0JvcC4uLOY4wsTHf-5-P-6hax2xwYH8aAsZ3EALw_wcB


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## nerdtastic (May 1, 2018)

Yeah I started to think along the lines of just giving up and painting over the top of it but the current paint isn't very well anchored, which is part of the problem. I really need to get it down to bare metal with some nice self etching primer. I was thinking about just using the Rustoleum self etching stuff has anybody used that, and if so how well did it stick? Or should I go with some kind of epoxy primer but that stuff is crazy expensive.

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## Weldorthemagnificent (May 1, 2018)

richg99 said:


> weldor
> 
> 
> https://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1276387&KPID=962079&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Drive_to_Store&pla=pla_962079&k_clickid=f0ea3233-680d-42c9-9131-08b01f02a807&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ZrXBRDXARIsAA8KauSAE8p1sMKcYVfYWw9jInJF0JvcC4uLOY4wsTHf-5-P-6hax2xwYH8aAsZ3EALw_wcB


I know I was looking for one. Went to every hardware, Walmart etc. Nothing. Finished painting and went to the grocery store for a celebratory steak and there was a whole rack of them! 


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## Weldorthemagnificent (May 1, 2018)

I used the Rustoleum self etching primer on my last project. It worked fine. Prior to priming I did a vinegar wash (50/50 with water). Light coat of etching primer and lightly sand it prior to painting 


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## Shaugh (May 1, 2018)

I think you'll be surprised how easily that paint will strip off with chemical stripper..

Here's a thread on a similar boat I did.

https://www.forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44636&p=448844&hilit=mirrocraft#p448844

Once you get most of it off with the stripper use one of these brushes... they're much easier to use than wire wheels, do a good job and don't dig in like wire.

https://www.myhardwaresupply.com/store/p/2988-4-org-Med-Nyalox-Mounted-Wheel.html?feed=Froogle&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInPWb0ufk2gIVjIzICh1b8gr6EAQYBCABEgJ6IvD_BwE

On a small boat like that you can make small removable floors and mount a comfortable chair to them, like this:


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## nerdtastic (May 1, 2018)

that is a great build Shaugh I thought about using 2" stock for the seats but I wasn't sure how it would work/look now after seeing yours I will mill my seats thicker, I am hoping that will help keep them from warping as well. I like the idea of the chair with no bench sadly though I need to make sure I have at least some floatation sense we fish and crab in the bay and the last thing I want is the have the coast guard doing a deep water rescue.  

I read a bunch of reviews on the Nylock wheels and they are pretty mixed it looks like they moved there manufacturing to China and a lot of the reviews I read said they just fall apart now. I have the following tools/abrasives that I am going to try and I might even post pictures and a brief report of each:

4-inch angle grinder with a wire wheel

Drill with a wire wheel

Drill with a quick strip disk

belt sander 4X20 with 80 grit and 120 grit

random orbital sander with 80, 100, 150

I have never seen a side by side and I think it might be a useful way to give back to the board a bit. I know I need to be careful with the belt sander it could easily tear straight through the hull but with a little care, it might make short work of the stripping. I know that any one tool will not cover everything and I may very well end up having to use a little bit of everything, but hey whats the use of having toys I mean tools if you don't pull them out and play with now and again right  

assuming it's not pouring rain out this evening I will get some pictures going tonight after work.


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## akboats (May 22, 2018)

Cant wait to see more looking good


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## nerdtastic (May 23, 2018)

so I did do some of the stripping and made good progress, but then real life got in the way. I hope to get back on it this weekend and get some more pictures posted. I also got some of the wood for the seats milled last night. it's all white Oak that we are milling down to 1 inch thick. it's going to take a few weeks for it to dry the rest of the way but once it is done we will edge glue with either a spline or biscuit joiner so it's all quartersawn stock. We got about half of it milled up Monday night. I also acquired a siphon feed paint sprayer so that should make the painting on the boat and trailer go much quicker when I finally get to that part.


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## richg99 (May 23, 2018)

Sounds good.


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## nerdtastic (Jul 1, 2018)

Ok so it's taking way longer for this simple project than I anticipated. But, progress is being made I am nearly done with the striping on the boat. I got the ancient bearings and races replaced and installed with stainless steel bearing buddies. I finally have a full wiring plan and everything is place to spray the hull once the striping is done. The big news though is the white oak is finally dry enough to start the glue up for the seats and the transom.


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## Kismet (Jul 2, 2018)

*Ok so it's taking way longer for this simple project than I anticipated.*​

Work on an old tin expands to meet the time available. At some point, you have to say "enough."


Best wishes; nice work so far.


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## nerdtastic (Jul 2, 2018)

so just some pictures to let you know progress is still being made 






sanding the flattest areas with the palm sander
















following up with the abrasive disk and wire wheel, I used up the first small drill mounted wire wheel on the transom seem rivets so I moved to a larger angle grinder stainless steel wheel. I have to be super careful or it will take the rivet heads right off, but it does make short work of the paint though.





















Completely finished on one side!!











and well into side 2






I also got the transom caps removed and all of the extraneous nuts and bolts that I didn't find the first time around. I have a ton of holes that I now need to patch or rivet. what kismet said about a project like this filling all the available time is ringing true. the Kokanee are on and this thing is still upside down  

I will get there though.


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## richg99 (Jul 2, 2018)

You do nice work. You obviously have a lot more patience than I do, but so do most people. 

Is that a vibrating sander, or a Random Orbital Sander? I love my Random Orbital Sander(s).


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## nerdtastic (Jul 2, 2018)

richg99

it is a full random orbital, it's the older version of this one from Harbor Freight
https://www.harborfreight.com/5-inch-random-orbital-palm-sander-93431.html

I have beaten the heck out of it on a couple of projects now and for $29 it's still working great. With some 80 grit diablo sanding mesh from HD it takes the paint off in a hurry without damaging the underlying material. I still have to come back and do the details with the wire wheel and angle grinder though. I am really trying to limit that though because the wire wheel really gouges badly, I tore a whole section up that I had to go back and try to clean up with the abrasive pad so now I am just using it around the rivets. I will try to get a picture tonight of each of the tools I am using and how they affect the paint and aluminum. I know it's pretty basic for most of you guys but hopefully, it will help another newb like me.


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## nerdtastic (Jul 8, 2018)

Tasks for today get the old bunks that are pressure treated 2X4s off finish the second set of bearings replace and install the bearing buddy and get the rust off and ready for paint. 




For the record, if anyone is wondering, yes using pressure treated wood on a trailer for an aluminum boat that goes in salt water is a really bad idea. I have serious pitting where the paint was worn off and the wood was directly on the metal, not bad enough that I have to patch but only just barely.




I ran out of daylight to get pictures of the after but I will get some and post them tomorrow. it's hard to see just how bad the rust is and how much better it is after several hours of the grinder with a wire wheel and cup wheel but it really made a huge difference. Honestly, if I had left it much longer there wouldn't have been enough metal left to work with. It's a really old trailer and we have used it in salt water for the last 10 years or so. I had hoped to get tot he painting part today but I ran out of daylight before I ran out of ambition hopefully tomorrow if I get lucky.

so success on the bearing. fully packed with the grease shown. looked like the best stuff I could get at the local BiMart




of course, I should have waited on the bearings until after painting but hindsight is 20/20

any advice on how to set up the new bunks? I really don't know know if there is a right way the previous owner had this setup but I never really liked it.


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## nerdtastic (Jul 9, 2018)

So some after shots of the trailer with several hours of cup brush and wire wheel to knock off all the lose rust. I actually got down to clean metal on the fenders but pretty much everything else is black oxide. I wasn't going to but I think I need to do a coat of ospho before doing the Rustoleum Rusty metal primer any thoughts would be appreciated.








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## nerdtastic (Aug 7, 2018)

So I finally got some time this weekend to finish stripping the last few feet of the hull. so i got that done and one more pass on both sides since it has been sitting for a few weeks before going for it with the paint.






I went back over both sides by hand with some 80 grit just to rough it up one more time just before painting.






then some masking, I decided to go to the bottom of the chine sense that is where the seem is and it made for a nice look between the topside paint the bottom paint I plan on doing next.











I decided to follow the line straight across the transom because I thought it would look nice and provide a little barrier between the aluminum and whatever I use for a transom pad.






Then three full coats of the aluminum etching primer.






For what I covered I did 3 coats and went through about 4 cans











Then it was onto the color topcoat again I went the Rustoleum pro in gloss red. From what I understand the pro stuff is much harder and more durable than the standard rattle cans and flows a little faster and evener. It seemed to do really good and I am pretty happy with the results. 






From what I understand the pro stuff is much harder and more durable than the standard rattle cans and flows a little faster and evener. It seemed to do really good and I am pretty happy with the results. 





















so after all was said and done I did find a few flows but not enough to make it worth going over the whole thing again. All in all though not bad for my first ever time working with metal like this. 

now onto the next steps, I am ordering some steelflex ultra slick to do the bottom below the chine, and the normal steel flex for the inside with the nonslip additive. In the week it will take to get here I hope to finish off the trailer since I am finally down far enough that I can start painting it. In between coats on Saturday I did both wheels. the local tire shop pulled the tires off for me for free since I trashed the valvestem trying to clean them up with the wire wheel on the angle grinder. Here is the before and after and after paint.

So the before after just one season in the salt, Chinese steel at its best.






and after some work with the angle grinder and wire wheel, down to clean metal ready for paint






now for some paint. I went with the Rustoleum cold galvanizing in the hopes that it really does provide "superior corrosion resistance" as it says on the can I figured for 5 bucks it was worth a try it can't be worse than the original paint. If it doesn't hold up I will just replace them with proper hot dip galvanized next year.











so hopefully tonight it will be more painting and new bunks so I have somewhere flip the boat onto so I can work on the inside.


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Aug 7, 2018)

Progress! Looks good. 


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## nerdtastic (Aug 20, 2018)

So made Some progress Sat. on the trailer got the fenders off and the final prep done and laid some paint down. I went with the Rustoleum rusty metal primer and a top coat of matching red that I used on the boat so now they match hopefully it will look good when I finally get them back together.

so after three coats of the primer, it started to look really nice




I masked off the bearing buddies and the keel roller hopefully this will help keep at least some of the corrosion off the hubs as these are really hard to find and if they fail I will have to replace the spindles as well.




Just for reference in case someone else wants to do this it took about 4 15 ounce rattle cans of Rustoleum to cover it in three coats, and about 3.5 cans of the pro stuff for the topcoat color.







I think it came out OK but I started to get a bit tired near the end and I think I could have done a little better but for rattle cans it was OK.


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Aug 20, 2018)

Thumbs up!


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## nerdtastic (Aug 20, 2018)

So the family went over to the coast for a little quick git away, and I just happened by the marine supply in Newport and got everything to keep rolling. I got two new keel rollers on adjustable mounts so I can get everything lined up much easier and super heavy duty galvanized, also all the hardware for mounting the rollers. I should have got the galvanized bolts to mount it to the trailer but I can get those back home. 2 new bunk mounts also galvanized and the hardware for mounting the 2X4 bunks, coat-it epoxy for the bottom to help seal up and leaky rivets and protect it when it gets dragged up on the beach. they had the Tined marine grade wire for about the same price as Amazon but by the foot so I didn't have to buy as much. they were short on a few things but this is enough to keep me busy until next payday  

Any advice on applying the coat-it would be much appreciated I am Just putting it on below the chine.




So the folks at Englund Marine were super helpful and patient with all my newbie questions. I don't know about the other locations but the store in Newport OR was great!


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## nerdtastic (Aug 21, 2018)

And just like that it is starting to look like a boat trailer again [emoji16]





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## nerdtastic (Aug 21, 2018)

All masked off and ready to go for tomorrow. I am doing it in coat-it after talking to several driftboat builders that know way more than I do about protecting aluminum boats. I have to wait until tomorrow night when the temperature drops below the 90 deg. It has been today.





I am hoping the dark gray goes well with the red I have already done. I guess it's a little late now as there is no way I am starting over just to change the color.


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## nerdtastic (Aug 24, 2018)

So I think I have everything ready for doing the coat it tomorrow I washed it twice with simple green to degrease it tonight and went back over all the spots I found that I had missed the first time around with a small brass wire wheel. I have some phosphoric acid gell to do one last etching right before I start tomorrow. I am a little nervous as this stuff is expensive and I don't really get a second chance if it goes sideways. The temp should be perfect tomorrow after work, right around 70 and overcast so no direct sun to overheat the metal. I have my dad coming over to help mix while I roll it with a foam roller. I did one quick dry walkthrough tonight just to make sure I have everything in place. Any final advice on applying the coat it tomorrow from you guys that have done this before? 

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## LDUBS (Aug 24, 2018)

I'm looking forward to seeing the "after" pic's.


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## AnglerRoy (Oct 29, 2018)

Can’t wait for more pictures. Excellent job!


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## nerdtastic (Jun 3, 2019)

So the sanding and paint removal on the outside of the boat was so emotionally scarring it took nearly a year for me to get back at it and do the inside. Well, that and some family issues but back at it, I am. 

got the seats back from my friend that was helping me with them that is hand cut western OR white oak with 6 coats of polyurethane but of course, as you can see there is a still a lot of paint to get out this is what was left after an aggressive pressure washing. My Dad came down to help me get over the aforementioned emotional issues. That nice black and white shirt was mostly black by the end of the night  






A money shot of the seats they really are way too nice for the blood and guts fishing boat that this is.






but I am making some progress getting it a bit more shiny. I have hung out on this board for a while now and I a really envy you guys that seem to be able to get the old paint to just fall off. I tried several different paint stripers but nothing seems to work other than just elbow grease and the angle grinder with a stainless wire wheel. I also used the sanding pad you see in the picture there it worked great for the flat areas but there isn't a lot of flat areas as you can see so many hours sitting in odd positions trying to get into the chine and around all the rivets, ribs and seat mounts not to mention the bow. I am fairly sure it need to get a blood test now to see how much aluminum I have ingested.






I took a short break from the agony of grinding (have a mentioned how much that part stinks) to test fit the seats and transom. I had to spring the hull apart a bit to get them to fit but it seemed to be OK.






At this point, I am pretty much done with the paint stripping and it is clear that I am not going to get it to be uniform and while sitting in it it was also clear that the glare is severe to the point of discomfort. So I decided to just go all the way and paint the inside as well. I mean I am already at a ridiculous amount of time on this project so why not just take it to the next level. So, facing my irrational fear of spray painting I decided to go whole hog and prime and coat with raptor liner. Nothing like jumping in the deep end just to see what happens right. So off to the local automotive paint supply to pour a little more money down this black hole AKA "boat". The good news is they were really helpful and happy to take as much of my money as was willing to give them. I really wish I had found these guys sooner I would have done the outside way different and I would have saved me a lot in buying rattle cans. I walked out with the 4 liter kit of tintable raptor liner with free schutz applicator gun, 16 ounces of tint, automotive grade degreaser and a quart of 2K catalyzed primer. The 2k catalyzed primer they sold me went on really great and way easier than I would have ever imagined. the bad news is I mixed up way more than I needed it only took about half of that to get a good layer on. This is where my ignorance might show. It said that a quart was right for 60 Sq feet but I only used about half of it, did I do it wrong and should have used it all or was it fine with just 2 coats? 






both me and my Dad took a turn as it was a bit of a pain stretching across to get the opposite side and my back was tweaking after the fun morning of grinding











then it was on to the raptor liner. I only got a video of this process so you have to go to the link to see it. Again, it is obvious I have no idea what I am doing so any suggestions on technique would be appreciated 

http://faculty.bus.oregonstate.edu/spraguea/photos/06012019183924.MP4
http://faculty.bus.oregonstate.edu/spraguea/photos/06012019184046.MP4

A few hours later we were done. 










all and all it turned out pretty good a few spots were a little light but it looks great!

Now hopefully this wed. after the liner cures some more I can get the seats installed but between now and then I will get the floatation mounted under the seats.


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## richg99 (Jun 3, 2019)

Nicely done. You will appreciate all of your hard work when you slime the boat with its first fish (after the big refinishing job, that is!).

Kind of late to even mention this...but..considering all of the trouble that you had taking the old finish off, one wonders if an inexpensive Harbor Freight Sandblaster might have saved your back and lots of time. I have NEVER used a sandblaster, but I read about guys taking material off with Walnut Shells and other exotic materials, instead of just plain old sand. Anyhow...maybe next time.

The one thing that I picked up in your comments about the beautiful seats, was that they were fit very tightly. 
Let the seat boards be a bit long. My guess is that they will shorten themselves a bit in the first month or so.

regards, rich


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## nerdtastic (Jun 3, 2019)

You are right about the sandblaster, I kept thinking about it but didn't pull the trigger on it because I was worried the media would be too expensive. When all was said and done though it would likely have been about the same and taken half as long. I would be really interested to hear from any of the other guys out there if they have used a sandblaster for this kind of project. I haven't seen it much on the boards for anything other than trailers so is there some reason that it shouldn't be used? I am likely going to be doing another boat slightly bigger next year so while it is too late for this project there will be others.


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## nerdtastic (Jun 3, 2019)

I am going to leave the seats the length they are which is a bit long. They have seasoned now for nearly 3 years and oak tends to be pretty dimensionally stable which is just one of the reasons it is so highly prized for boat building. Hopefully, they won't shrink much but if they do it should be fine and I am going to brace them on the underside with some angle steel that holds the flotation pods on and that should also help keep them from warping. I will have more pictures as I get it put back together during the week that might help make more sense.


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## richg99 (Jun 3, 2019)

Seasoned for three years.... You are right, they will not shrink like my green cedar did in my fence. Good luck, looking good!


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## LDUBS (Jun 4, 2019)

Boat looks terrific. For whatever it is worth, wood will expand/contract more across the grain than lengthwise. I think you will be in good shape and those finished oak seats are going to look great in your boat.


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## nerdtastic (Jun 5, 2019)

So last night I decided to set the motor on it to see how it looked and get an idea of what I wanted to with the transom cap, and yeah it looked great  but...

like an idiot, I thought I should pull the cowl and see how it looks since it has been in storage now for over a year. I grab the release and it won't budge. I push a little harder still won't budge, so I grab the wire brush and wedge the wooden handle in there and it starts to move a bit but not enough. So, I grab the pliers to see if I can get it to move, I'll just be really careful I tell myself, it starts to move and just as I am about to let go... (yeah you saw it coming didn't you, everyone who knows what happens next raise your hand ) there is a sickening snap and I am holding what's left of the cowl release lever in the jaws of the ridiculously large channel locks that never should have been within 10 feet the motor.
OH CRAPPITY crap craptastic   :evil:

so after going through the 5 stages of grief 

denial "that didn't just happen", 
anger "what the he!! what was I thinking" throws pliers on the ground, 
bargaining "I can just JB weld it back on, I promise I will never use pliers on you again", 
depression "so how much are little 5-9 horse 2 strokes going for right now" spends hours on craigslist while avoiding contact with family and friends
acceptance "OK I am an idiot but it still runs and it's paid for so there's got to be a way to fix this"

and there is, ordering a couple of different rubber hold downs from amazon so the idiot tax on this one is small around $22 for a hold down
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GS8XTMW/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?th=1

So learn from me don't use stupidly large pliers on small cast aluminum levers.

but you knew that already I really am an idiot "sigh"


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## richg99 (Jun 5, 2019)

Well, you wanted it to open. You did what you had to do..... NOT.

Sorry, but we are all guilty of using too-large pliers/hammers to fix some small thing that is resisting. 

They say the price of Experience is making a lot of Expensive Mistakes.


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## nerdtastic (Jun 10, 2019)

The small release lever mentioned in my last post


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Jun 10, 2019)

Did you ever get it open?

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk


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## nerdtastic (Jun 24, 2019)

Hey Weldorthemagnificent sorry, it took me a bit to get back to this and yes I did successfully get it opened, turns out I had it moved far enough already if I had just stopped it would have been fine. I got it mounted and fired up and it still runs great. It didn't pee at first so I was worried about the impeller but I got some advice to just hit it with some air to see if it would blow out and after clearing a bunch of what looked like mud out it seemed to be pumping fine. So good news all the way around, well except for the broken latch


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## nerdtastic (Jun 24, 2019)

So the work is progressing and I am nearly there but on to the updates, first a bit of electrical work.

I wanted everything to be self-contained and I don't have a lot of room to work with so I built this out of a smallish plastic ammo box that should really help to keep everything dry and hopefully reduce the amount of corrosion I will get. I built everything with marine grade wire and waterproof heat shrink crimp connectors. But, enough words pictures or it didn't happen I did this work over the winter while I was recovering from the issues mentioned earlier.






So, three switches one for the red/green bow light one for the 360 stern light and one for the fish finder that I hope to install eventually all waterproof marine grade switches.






Those wires just wrapped around were temporary for testing I have since replaced them with the proper blade connectors.






here they In the boat and just set in place for testing and they look great! These are really important as one of our favorite things to do is go night fishing out in Yaquina Bay and it is a pretty busy commercial waterway. I would rather not get squished by some of the big fishing boats that come and go so being properly lit up is a big deal. I am really impressed at how bright these little LEDs are.











I picked both of these because they were small, all LED and all stainless steel that will hopefully last a while in the salt water and have really low battery draw. at the same time, I was measuring the trolling motor wire that I mounted a plug to so it will be much easier to take it in and out as I only use it in fresh water. Next post the seat install


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## richg99 (Jun 24, 2019)

The boat looks great. 

Regarding your use of the ammo cans, well done! I have three or four of those things around. Of course, all of mine hold ammo.....NAH, they hold tools on the boat or in my shop.

I have a bit of concern about the height of your stern light. The regs say something like "must be visible 360 degrees at all times when in use". Unless your unit is extendible ( I had one of those) it appears that when you are sitting or standing in your boat, your body will block some of those 360 degrees. Just an FYI. regards,


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## nerdtastic (Jun 24, 2019)

So on to the seats and transom install. I am getting near the end at this point and looking back it is clear that somewhere along the I completely misplaced my common sense and went full on nuts with this build. Don't get me wrong I had fun along the way and it gave me something to do but I could have done it a lot cheaper if I had a better plan from the beginning. Enough with the introspection and back to the fun bits so seat install...

the first step is to remember way back when what the seats and flotation looked like at the start






so yeah they were as much of a mess as everything else but they were still solid. It's not entirely clear but I think these might be the original pieces and once I pulled them apart they were clearly hand made at some point.






I cleaned them up and did the Rustoleum matching the outside then I attempted to get them lined up on the bottom of the seats. This was only mildly successful but unless someone gets a tape out it isn't noticeable they are a little off. I bolted them down with all 1/4 20 hardware that I tried to standardize on for everything on the boat. The hope is that will make it much easier later if I need to replace anything. I had drilled out the rivets so i could install them properly. I had visions of some really creative ways to put these back together but I just wimped out and went back to rivets as I had them and it worked for many years the first time around so why try to reinvent the wheel.





















A bit of a montage there but you get the idea, line it up, drill the holes, install the angle, test fit and rivet the pod back on.

Then get the whole thing installed back in the hull.






I started in the middle as it pushed the hull out the most and then fit everything off of that.






again everything with the same stainless hardware.






Rinse and repeat for the second seat.






then onto fitting up the transom, I had to spend some quilty time with the belt sander to get this to all fit down nicely.






I got the corner caps to fit back on and they are back solid again.

I saw somewhere that you can use an old cutting board for a transom plate and as I was out of budget I got the wife to let me cut up an old one. so After some measuring, I got it cut up on the bandsaw.






it took some work but again some time on the belt sander got everything to fit. The total thickness was a little over 2 inches so after sanding I could just barely get the motor on but it works so I am fine with it.






So I have a few cleanup things to get it in the water.
1. get the bowring back in I really should have done that before spraying the bed liner but whatever
2. get the electrical installed and the lights mounted
3. adjust the trailer bunks and get the fenders reinstalled
4. fix the flat tire that developed while it was sitting

None of that is really critical with the exception of the bow eye as I don't have any way to keep it on the trailer and there is a big hole in the bow. I should be able to get all of that done fairly quickly though and with any luck, I will actually be fishing in the next few weeks.


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