# '57 Richline Project



## C.U. Fishin (May 25, 2010)

Hi all, I'm new here although I've been lurking around for a few days trying to get some ideas for a boat I've been looking at. Well today I went and got the Boat, it's a 1957 Richline 14' w/a '84 trailer. It was a stalled project that a guy in the neighborhood has had sitting for a couple years. He had done a few thing recently like new tires and winch. The boat has probably not been in the water for over a decade but seems to be in surprisingly good condition. 
I like to fish and in a couple of these pics you can see my little 14' flat bottom, a good little boat for what it is but can get a little scary out on a bigger lake. The other thing that has always bothered me with that boat is that I like to stand while I fish, thats not a good idea in the 32" bottom flat boat.
Obviously I'll be replacing all the wood, adding some flotation and rebuilding the transom after a good cleaning. The plans after that are not as solid. I know I will put in a floor and a front casting deck, most likely covered with outdoor/marine carpet. I'm trying to decide if I want the seats carpeted or just nice wood w/ polyurethane. I'm also undecided on whether to paint it inside and out or just leave it bare aluminum. 
Another thing that will be upgraded in the future is the motor, right now I have 2 almost identical Fishing Scott 7.5hp motors(one is a '60 and the other a '61) you can see at least one of them in the pics. They were fine on the little flat bottom and will have to do on the Richline for the near future. But I'm thinking that something in the 15-25hp range will be what I will make this thing into a adequate fishin rig.
Any ideas or comments are welcome, I came here to learn.


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## C.U. Fishin (May 27, 2010)

Almost time to get going on this project, I need to buy some 3/4 in plywood for the transom and seats, I've read that exterior grade is OK and that I should only get marine grade so I'm wondering if I should spend the extra on marine or not. Whatever I get will be covered with at least a couple coats of spar urethane. 
I'm also going to add flotation under the seats and eventually the front deck, is the Styrofoam sheathing available at lowes or home depot the right thing to use? And, should I plan on fitting some under the floor as well?
I havent leak tested it yet but I'm also wondering if going to the expense of putting some kind of sealer on the floor si what I should do just to be on the safe side. I'd like to keep my expenses to a minimum right now so any ideas on how to proceed are welcome.


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## Ictalurus (May 27, 2010)

Nice looking boat. I used regular 3/4" oak ply (was on sale) for the benches and 15/32" for the floors. Both were covered with three very generous coats of spar urathane. Lowe's sells the blue board, I put that between the ribs under the floor, adds support and quiets things down.


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## Brine (May 27, 2010)

Welcome aboard CF.

Looks like a great project in the making.

I'd stick with exterior grade plywood over the marine, and seal it up good. The foam can be bought at Home Depot (the pink kind) and Lowes (the blue kind). I got the blue because I thought it looked better. Not much logic behind the choice though. The issue I had was finding it in 1.5 thick (the height of my ribs), which neither place stocked. I had to go to a lumber supply company to find it. Most only cary 1/2" around here, and I didn't want to stack it and have it rub because hearing squeaky styrofoam (like egg cartons) is like running nails down a chalk board to me. I suppose you could glue the pieces together to prevent that, but because I found it in the 1.5 close I opted for it instead. 

Your leak test shoule be item number 1. Take it to the lake and bring a sharpie, or fill it up a few inches with water and look from underneath. I wouldn't put anymore water inside than you'd have on the outside, as the water get's heavy at 8.35lbs/gallon. I think I put about 4 inches of water in the boat, which was the height of my last set of rivets that would be submerged if on the lake. 

I'm not a wood expert, but I think spar varnish is more suited for a boat than poly. You may google around to find the best choice for your application. 

Good luck with the build.


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## C.U. Fishin (May 27, 2010)

Thanks for the replies.
I guess exterior grade is the way to go. Our painter here at work can hook me up with the right kind of spar varnish and has given me some good pointers on how to do it for the best results, like drilling all my holes first to allow the varnish to seal the inside of the holes as well. He also recommended 3 coats.
Lowes sounds like the place to get the flotation material, online at least the local store claims to have widths from 1/2" up to 2" so I should be able to get everything I need for the seats and floor. Good idea about gluing it in, I have some spray contact adhesive that should work fine. I might even have a can or two of expanding foam to really lock it into place and cut down on the noise.
First order of business will be a leak test, I need to power wash the whole thing this weekend anyway so that will be an easy time to do that. I'll just let it fill inside to just above the floor rivets and spend some time underneath looking for drips.
I'm gonna have a lot more questions in the next couple of weeks, Thanks for helping me get started.


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## perchin (May 28, 2010)

Brine said:


> not a wood expert, but I think spar varnish
> 
> 
> > Spar urathane would be the correct product to use, not varnish. Other than that I can't add anything more for now as what brine said is a great way to get started.


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## C.U. Fishin (May 28, 2010)

perchin said:


> Brine said:
> 
> 
> > not a wood expert, but I think spar varnish
> ...



Yes, Our painter at work has me hooked up with Helmsman Spar Urethane, he claims there is nothing better. Next step will be off to Lowes tomorrow to put a dent in my credit card #-o 

Hey Perchin, I took a look at your project thread. It's looking really good, wish I had the funds to do everything in aluminum, maybe next time around that's what I'll do but for now I just need to get it ready for some fishin on the cheap.


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## C.U. Fishin (May 30, 2010)

Got it leak tested today and found a couple very minor leaks, I'll work on those tomorrow. 
Got most of the materials bought for the project today and got started on the transom and flotation.


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## C.U. Fishin (May 31, 2010)

Almost done with the transom, need to go pick-up a few more stainless screws and nuts. Got the thing primed and first coat of pain on, been working since 5am. I don't know why I'm working so hard on this, it seems like I go out to do a couple things and I just can't find a stopping place :lol: 
Any way here are a few pics of the progress:


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## C.U. Fishin (Jun 12, 2010)

Well tomorrow will be the shakedown run. These pics are from a couple days ago, since then I've gotten all the final work done: Installed trailer lights and wiring, got the hull # and registration stickers on, wired up the troller, Got the anchor secured under the bow plate.
I did cut one big corner, that was using some old commercial duty carpet I had rolled up in the basement. I just didn't have another $150-200 available to buy marine carpet right now. I know I'll be re-doing it in a year or two, maybe sooner but this boat doesn't see much rain and is stored in the garage. I figured keeping the mortgage paid was a priority for right now. Since it's sort of temporary I didn't use carpet adhesive on any of the big pieces, I used it on the first couple hatch covers I did but at that point I realized that this carpet wasn't going to be permanent and when I redo it all the adhesive will be a real pain.
Still need to get a stern light and wire up the running lights, and thinking seriously of upgrading my fishfinder, Got one of those Hummingbird Fishin Buddy's that clamp on the side right now.

Looking for some ideas on how/where to put in some kind of a switch panel with a place to mount a fishfinder and possibly a small compartment that I can seal up good for keys, phones and camera.


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## C.U. Fishin (Jun 13, 2010)

The maiden voyage went great, the boat is very stable even with someone standing on the both casting decks. After 4 hours of fishing there was barely enough water in the floor to wet a paper towel. 
My antique 7.5hp Fishing Scott motor doesn't have enough quite enough power to get it up on plane, but that was not completely unexpected. I have a good line on an older (probably early to mid 70's) Johnson 25hp that I should be able to pick-up at a very reasonable price. It has been stored for probably 20+ years so it will need a little TLC before it would be ready for the water. Owned by the same widow that sold me my 1432 and the Scott motor, from what I can tell her late husband took good care of his toys. So hopefully some carb work, new impeller and new lower unit lube could be all thats needed.


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## RStewart (Jun 13, 2010)

Nice job. Boat looks good.


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## C.U. Fishin (Jun 15, 2010)

Ready to roll


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## C.U. Fishin (Jun 18, 2010)

New addition to the project:
1971 Rude 25, been in storage for @20 yrs, only occasional use before that, bought from the widow of the original owner for $200.

The angle of the pictures make it look like the cavitation plate is well below the bottom of the stern, actually it's only 1.5-2" lower. I read somewhere that some motors where made with 17-18" shafts in an effort to get them to fit a wider range of boats. Unless I'm doing it wrong (quite possible) this one has a true shaft length of @17.5".
My transom is almost exactly 16"


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## bluegillfisher (Jun 18, 2010)

Nice


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## sgtfletcher (Jun 19, 2010)

Looking good :lol:


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## C.U. Fishin (Apr 12, 2011)

Well, now that I've had the "new" motor on there for around 9 months I finally got to measure the speed with my friends portable GPS unit this past weekend. We had nice calm water on Carlyle lake in IL. and got to a wide open speed of 24mph. It seemed like it would run there with no problem all day long if you wanted. I guess we might all want to go faster than we can but I'm satisfied with 22-24mph, We covered a huge amount of water that day, Carlyle is @ 15 mi. long and maybe 5 mi. wide and we hit 3 corners of the lake. I know if I lightened up the boat by taking out all my tackle, rods, troller, battery and such it would probably be a little faster but then what would be the point of being out there


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## jcollinsia (Apr 19, 2011)

Great job! I had a picture in my head of doing the same type of storage with the middle bench. It's good to see it actually done and functioning! We even have the same fishing seats!


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## C.U. Fishin (Apr 19, 2011)

jcollinsia said:


> Great job! I had a picture in my head of doing the same type of storage with the middle bench. It's good to see it actually done and functioning! We even have the same fishing seats!


Yeah I really like how the middle seat works, I put foamboard flotation in the bottom and covered that with a piece of luan that I protected with spar urethane. Then I just held it in place with some good silicone caulk.


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