Most everything sorted out at this point. Did some watersking with it this weekend. The Mk55 gives us just under 30MPH at 3000 ft elevation. Really enjoying the boat!
Like Sam's, my boat was missing the mid bench back rest. I did something a little different from stock, steam bending the top plank to match the deck profile when the seat back is up. It's also built out of a little thicker white oak (3/4" vs 5/8" - I don't have a jointer/planer.) One coat of...
We got to do a little shake down cruise yesterday. Looks like I won't need those bilge pumps... perfectly dry boat! After some water pump work (lower unit issue, not the rebuilt powerhead) the 1958 Mercury Mk55 (55A engine) worked great too. More details soon, but I wanted to share a couple...
Forming the aluminum keel/stem guard ended up being a lot more work than I expected. I have some thin aluminum bar stock on hand, that, cut in half lengthwise, was about the right width for the job. Cutting, grinding, and sanding the two resulting strips ended up being a lot of work however...
Another question for you Sam... When you attached the aluminum keel/stem metal strip, what hardware did you use? I was thinking aluminum screws to avoid dissimilar metal corrosion, but didn’t you use bolts all the way through?
I’m liking the red. Need one more coat, but it has gone on easily by roller and brush. It’s West Marine BottomShield paint. Water based, so cleanup has been easy.
Ok... Thanks Sam. I'm just going to repaint the bottom. The fiberglass resin and cloth is a nice reinforcement really. I'm changing it to red to tie in with the motor though. I'll redo the registration numbers in red or white... maybe sand. We'll see.
The mircospheres showed up and I used...
I think I know the answer to this one already, but I'd be happy to hear otherwise. I really like the unpainted look for the bottom of the boat:
But a previous owner fiberglassed the bottom of mine. I experimented today with sanding back down to the fiberglass layer, removing the last layer of...
With the power head on its way to Utah after rebuild, I needed to switch gears to the engine case for a few nights. I used glass bead to clean off the old paint. This worked well, but my air compressor can't really keep up with sand blasting for more than a few minutes at a time (even at lower...
Also covered the screws in the transom and used mahogany plugs to fill the four 1/2 bolt holes the previous owner had drilled through it to mount the 70hp outboard.
I'll fiberglass tape the below water line transom seam also.
The motor is on its way to Utah from Wisconsin now.
In the mean time I did a little more work on the keel... got a replacement layer of fiberglass laid down. First I brushed on a coat of CPES, waited a day for that so soak in and did another coat, then the following day a layer of the...
Looks like the power head will be home soon. I've got to keep moving on the hull repairs to be ready for warmer weather. (We had 4 inches of snow this morning, but I know spring is just around the corner.)
Yes Sam, two drains in the stern. They work well, but you have to remember to close them before launch... not that I have any personal experience 😬. (Fortunately, whoever added the drain plugs also added a bilge pump... and an emergency backup bilge pump.)
