boats on a budget

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

My original plan was to restore it back to what it would have been originally, complete with new “trailorboat klamath” decals on the side, but the more I’ve torn into this thing, the more of an impression I’ve gotten that this was a low end boat when it came to construction, I’ve got it to a point where I can make it better then it was when new, but that also means it’s not going to go back together like it was originally.

For one example, the way the paint was laid in it, it looks like they built the entire boat, wood and all, then after it was completely assembled, they painted it, seats, transom, and everything. If I was going to build a boat, I don’t think I’d be painting it that way, I’d paint the aluminum, then finish assembling the boat with the wood work so that the grain would show, I think it makes for a richer finish, but that’s my opinion 37 years after the thing was built, so back in 1970, maybe people looked at things differently?

Just my observations.

 

[munz951]

Re: boats on a budget

Is this a good deal for this boat? I do not know how much Sorenson Boats are going for?

url]http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-10ft-Sorenson-Fishing-Boat_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ63724QQihZ006QQitemZ160188911828QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW[/url]

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

Is this a good deal for this boat? I do not know how much Sorenson Boats are going for?

url]http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-10ft-Sorenson-Fishing-Boat_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ63724QQihZ006QQitemZ160188911828QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW[/url]

It looks like a pretty clean well kept boat, my guess is that's about the going rate for something like that, not a bargain deal, but an ok deal, that's not exactly the kind of boat I personally like, but if that's the kind of boat your looking for then that's ok.

The boat has quite a few bids on it already, and it's up to 800 and something dollars with 5 days to go, it would be my best guess that the auction will probably close around maybe 11 or 12 hundred?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

i would say that the boat is extremely over powered. the motor is worth a good bit more than the current bid.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

i would say that the boat is extremely over powered. the motor is worth a good bit more than the current bid.

it looks like the listing got removed today, it doesn't come up now

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

says listing was removed. maybe they figure out what the honda was really worth.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

says listing was removed. maybe they figure out what the honda was really worth.

i think the auction was suposed to end sometime today to.

on another note, I did some more sanding on the boat today, is it nessassory to get every bit of paint out of it? I got some in some hard to get to places.

also I was going to take out the copper drain in the back of the boat, once I put in the new motor pad, I was going to drill through it and put a new drain in.

it looks like the drain that's in it now was maybe JB welded? what's the best way to get the old JB weld out? I tried the aircraft paint remover on it and it didn't do anything to the JB weld, will heating it up work?

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

So did ya ever get the JB Weld out and what happened to everyone? Or did the holidays keep everyone too busy. Well I will post some pics of how my boat is going in a few days, but I finally got all the old wooden seats and stuff taken out.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

The Holidays kind of got to me and I haven't worked on it at all, I was just shuffling boats around in the driveway today, it pretty much hasn't stopped raining since thanksgiving, I have got a little sanding done on it and I've got most of the paint out of it but it's only about 20% sanded so far. I'll get back on it as soon as I have a day or two of no rain...

I was given a 16 foot bass tracker that needs some help and haven't picked it up yet, it's not in real bad shape but it's sat out in the weather for a long time, a couple of years at least, I was going to try to do a quick turn around on it, it's got a 65 horse Suzuki on it and I'm kind of thinking I don't want a Suzuki, it's supposed to run good, but you know how those stories go, I'm going to see if there's a way to trade the whole thing for a nice older low horse power outboard or something, but we'll see

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Well Happy New Year everyone! A little late but hey, thats how it goes sometimes. Anyways with the crazy weather and holidays being over I can finally get back to working on my boat. I am in the process of stripping the paint from the interior. All the old wooden seats are out and soon it will be a nice clean shiny boat to start refinishing.

I will post some pics after I have the paint stripped out, which apparentely is some good stuff. Even with paint stripper it is pretty stubborn. Hopefully it only takes a day or two, of course thats if I don't get sidetracked. Also Mr. Stuart did you pick up the bass tracker yet, and if so what shape is it in?

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

Well Happy New Year everyone! All the old wooden seats are out and soon it will be a nice clean shiny boat to start refinishing.

I will post some pics after I have the paint stripped out, which apparentely is some good stuff. Even with paint stripper it is pretty stubborn. Hopefully it only takes a day or two, of course thats if I don't get sidetracked. Also Mr. Stuart did you pick up the bass tracker yet, and if so what shape is it in?

How are you coming with the boat warlord? . I haven’t done anything with mine yet, it's either been to rainy, to cold, or I've been out with the other boat, I think I have a control box issue with the Starcraft, I haven't torn into it yet, but will soon, the cold weather is slowing me down.

The bass tracker is ready to be picked up, I need to do some shuffling at home before I go get it, I'm out of room, their waiting on me, I ended up with the whole boat, motor and all. But the motor is a Suzuki, free is a good price so I'm not going to complain, I also picked up a 15 foot Coleman double ender canoe yesterday, I'm going to try my hand at canoeing this weekend of the weather holds out, the canoe is older then snot it's one of the old green ram x 15's it's got quite a bit of aluminum in it, kind of cool looking for what it is. But in really good shape and only used a couple of times and it shows, one of the guys I work with gave it to me for helping him sell his truck, so it was a pretty good bargain.

I'm starting to end up with to many things that float, so I'm probably going to thin the fleet this summer, I have a raft I haven't used in two years and will probably start by dumping that, then the bass tracker ....maybe ...not sure if I'm going to like that boat or not.

 

[dubnvento]

Re: boats on a budget

sounds like your getting quite a collection going. I finally made progress on my klamath. Went with a hunter green duck boat color for the outside (half done so far) I will also use this on the inside. I have some holes on the bottom of the transom that need welded and hope to have someone do that this weekend. Other than that it just been taking up a little bit of time. Hope to get it in the water soon for some good trout fishing.

I would have bought that bass boat from you if I did have this one. It would have made a great duck boat.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I'm not sure what to do with the bass boat yet, don't need it, it's not really my type of boat, and I'm not sure what to think of the Suzuki on the back, it's got a pretty nice bow mounted minn kota trolling motor I'd like to keep, the trailer is probably better then the one under the klamath (maybe), so I might do a swap with the trailers, or, having a trailer for the canoe wouldn't be a bad idea, the canoe and bass boat are the same length, I just need to get it home, look at it, scratch my head, stand back and go "yup, I think this is what I'm going to do" or something like that, I'm completely undecided with that boat, I also have a friend who's kid would probably want it, so I may give it to him. a year ago, I was wanting a boat, and didn't have one and had never owned one before, and now, they seem to be coming out of the woodwork, had I known then what I know now, I could have gotten into one a lot cheaper then I did, but hind sight is always 20/20

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

How are you coming with the boat warlord? . I haven?t done anything with mine yet, it's either been to rainy, to cold, or I've been out with the other boat, I think I have a control box issue with the Starcraft, I haven't torn into it yet, but will soon, the cold weather is slowing me down.

Well the boat is coming along pretty good. I have been trying to work on it as much as possible, but as you can see in my icon, my little sidekick keeps me busy somedays. I almost have all of the paint stripped off. I just need to go around and get in some of the corners and edges a little. Then yesterday I had my older son help me carry it out to the pool to check for leaks. Not too many, which surprised me, with the age of the boat. Just a few spots around rivets here and there. There was a crack in the corner at the stern but I used that alumaloy stuff and it worked pretty good. As soon as I finish cleaning it out I will post some pics of a shiny gutted boat. Oh yeah and you can never have too many things that float, just not enough space to put them!

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

Warlord, it sounds like your about where I'm at, I'm going to dive back into mine as soon as the weather breaks, I was looking at a little shelf thing my brother built the other day, he used a table router on the edges of the wood to give them a better looking trim design, I think he used pine, but not real sure, but he stained it with a dark cherry stain, then varnished over that and it came out looking really good, so I'm thinking on my wood work that I'm going to want to stain it then varnish it, but I'm not sure about what color stain to use, I want something rustic looking, and maybe a deep red-ish color, my goal even though the boat a 1970 is to give it a vintage restored look, the design on my boat from the best that I can tell dates back to about 1947, and I've seen a 1966 model, and it looks identical to mine, so other then the year made, my guess is that you wouldn't be able to tell what year it is, so I kind of think that the older I can make it look, the cooler it's going to be. maybe I should get a hammer and ad a few dents to it ....just kidding ) either way, I'd like the wood work to stand out

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Well I finally got all of the paint stripped out, that was quite the job! All I have left is to go over it with the wire brush and some steel wool, then its ready to be primed. I think all of the leaks are fixed too, I went around with two hammers and tightened the rivets where it was leaking. Also I am using an aluminum colored silicone on the outside seams, just put on fine enough to fill in the seams so it doesn't show. So with any luck I should have no leaks at all. Yeah right!!! I even tried to hammer out the dents without adding new ones. So hopefully this weekend I will start on the priming and make some progress on my boat. Mr. Stuart you will have to put up some more pics of your project. It sounds like it is going to turn out real nice, I like the sound of making it look vintage.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

wow warlord, that is looking good, still haven't done anything to mine yet, to much rain and bad weather, and mine's outside, I do have it turned up-side-down and sitting on the trailer so no weather gets to anything I've already acomplished on it, my times coming, I'll get back at it, I'm enjoying seeing these other projects getting worked on for now.

Stuart

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I picked up some wood today, I got some western hemlock, and some Cabot Red Mahogany oil based wood stain, I think I came up with a nice vintage look for the wood, I'm not sure if Hemlock is a soft wood or a hard wood, but it seems pretty hard to me, and I'm not sure how the hemlock would hold up, so I figured you people that know more about wood then I do, might be able to enlighten me on this, I took a picture of a sample piece of wood I just stained, I like the grain of the hemlock, and the red mahogany seems to give it a good vintage color.

what do you think?

Stuart

 

[ml8163]

Re: boats on a budget

Hey Mr. Stuart,

I've been following this thread and enjoy watching your progress. The stained hemlock looks pretty good IMO. To answer your question on the hardness of hemlock, unfortunaltely it is not a very hard wood according to the Janka Hardness Scale (http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm). I wouldn't worry about it too much though, you can make it work. Remember - this is a boat on a budget! You could easily spend many times over on hardwood vs. what you already have into the project. Don't forget to post pictures and let us see how it turns out!

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

The stained hemlock looks pretty good IMO. To answer your question on the hardness of hemlock, unfortunately it is not a very hard wood according to the Janka Hardness Scale

looking at the scale, (thanks for the link, that helps a lot) hemlock falls somewhere between California redwood and Mahogany, the scale shows a janka rating from 0 to as high as 4,000 with most woods falling between something like 380 (Eastern White Pine) to as high as 3684 (Brazilian Walnut) where that Hemlock comes in at 500, so it is on the low end, but where I thought Teak was a hard wood, it shows teak at 1000.

I think your right, it should work fine for most everything, especially the seats, but I'm not sure about the transom, unless I ad an aluminum plate where the motor mounts up, clamping the motor directly to the hemlock might crush the transom? ...

the hemlock is certainly cheap enough, I paid $11 for a 1'x8'x6" length, where the same thing in red birch would have been about $26, so hemlock is pretty cheap. and the hemlock seems to be relatively knot free, for the most part. it looks like Lowes has a pretty good selection of wood for finishing the boat, I found the hemlock and stain there, and the prices weren't bad.

I did some ruff guessing as to cost to do the boat up entirely out of teak, and I figured it would come close to $1,000, that's about $999.99 beyond my budget!

Stuart