14' SeaKing Refurb

[Holly L]

I've been whining about no project and finally bought this one off EBay. It is a 14' 1978 SeaKing. No motor but as you can see, I am now the proud possessor of a broken, propless Minnkota. Haven't actually seen the boat in person and will pick it up next week. I'm told the hull is in good shape and hope I'm not unpleasantly surprised. Plan to strip all the paint and polish the hull and do many of the other terrific ideas I've seen on this site.

I won't get started for a week or so (projects around the house to make up for the purchase.

I will post photos as I go along.

Love the forum!!! Thanks to all!!

 

[TojosMojo]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Welcome to the forum, there are a lot of great people here with tons of tips and advice...

 

[Holly L]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Well, I picked up the boat last Thursday. I had to replace the tires before towing and ran into the same trouble documented in another thread. The trailer is a 1955 and the hubs are integral to the rim. Luckily they were in fairly good shape and a local tire store was able to put tires on it. While they did that, I repacked the bearings and we were good to go. In a year or so, I?ll buy a new axle. Easy trip home (3.5 hours though).

Just to see what I had, I stripped some of the paint and hit it with a buffer. There are four coats of paint including the last one, which looks like house paint. The aluminum is not pitted and only has a few dings. However, the previous owner drilled two holes in the side and six in the top of the rail. Don?t understand why people do this. I thought I?d try Dura Fix aluminum brazing rod to fill these holes. Has anyone else used it?

Also, it has a really ugly, aftermarket bow cap that I?m going to have figure out how to replace. Maybe have one welded up out of diamond plate aluminum.

Holly

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Congrats on the purchase Working on boats is a great way to kill some time and end up with somthing to be proud of when you're finished. I'm wrapping up my 12' aluminum restoration soon, feel free to check my thread to see what kind of problems and solutions I dealt with.

Welcome to iboats and good luck with her

 

[Holly L]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Only able to spend about 5 hours during the week. That little amount of time doesn't allow for much progress.

A couple of things I've learned. By rounding the corners and polishing the edge, I can carefully use a putty knife to remove paint without scratching the aluminum.

The paint is really I tried to purchase toluene (as suggested in another thread) to dissolve various gobs of crud, adhesive, stickers and paint. Alas, not available in my area. I did buy MEK and it does a terrific job of melting some the stuff that methylene chloride (stripper) doesn't do too well on.

pics to follow...
Holly

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Looks like the bow cap is steel and that could cause corrosion problems ......

If you intend on a polished finish on the entire hull exterior I would suggest shark hyde treatment to preserve it.

You probably should plan on gluvit to the interior rivets and seams..... the stripper you are using will make some of the existing seams prone to leaking.

I highly doubt you will be happy with durafix for the holes. Get them welded up by a good aluminum welder, sand and polish. Durafix repairs will stand out like crap.

 

[Holly L]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Bob_VT

You are right about the bow cap, it is steel and will have to be done away with.

Gluvit and Sharkhide are on my list. They look like essentials.

Thanks for the tip on durafix. All I've seen is their webpage and they sure make it look good. When I have the new bow cap made I'll haul the boat down and let them fix the holes. I'm actually thinking of having a motorhome repair place form the cap as they have a brake for the aluminum plate and usually weld.

Thanks again!!
Holly

 

[Holly L]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Lots of stuff going on with the boat, no pics as I suspect that there are a sufficient number of aluminum paint stripping photos on Iboats and more would be the straw that...

However, let no one say that an aluminum "row boat" or "tin can" doesn't require work. Slopping on a can of paint doesn't cut it.

My thoughts regarding flooring... 5/8" plywood (glassed) fitted to within a couple of inches or so of the bottom and spaced with higher density closed cell polyethylene foam. This would keep the weight down (no 2X4's) and help muffle any noise. I plan to cover it in standard I/O carpet. Any thoughts on this?

Also going to hook up some water resistant speakers and attach a Sony CD/AM/FM player. 20 hrs. on 2 AA batteries.

Contacted Minnkota and have in hand the correct prop for the old trolling motor that came with the boat. Those folks are great, very helpful and have almost instant shipping.

More to come.
Holly

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Holly glad to hear you are making progress on the rig

Did you get the weedless wedge prop or regular? I'm considering upgrading to the weedless design since I've...well...had issues with weeds LOL.

Also we(I'm speaking for 100k plus iboats members here) will never complain about too many pictures...only too few

I agree that the aluminum boats do require a decent amount of work...but not anywhere near what the 'glass guys go thru to get back on the water

 

[Holly L]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Believe me, I respect the effort required for a glass boat. Only saying that the ratio of work to the few pounds of aluminum seems out of whack. Now...if you really want to talk about work, I restored a 30' Chriscraft Cavalier in mahogany. Hours and hours of sparvar and paint and hull work and new stringers and...and...and... It slept 6 had a head and galley, was painted brown when I bought it and took an entire season to get right. When we brought it home we opened a seam in Suisun bay and had to spend the night in Vallejo with the bilge pump working overtime. The first time we took it out on San Francisco bay, my wife caught a two foot shark and when flipping it into the boat hit me right in the crotch. Ugh...It was cursed. I've got a pic around here somewhere and will post.

Holly

 

[Holly L]

Re: 14' SeaKing Refurb

Sorry about not letting you know about the prop. Weedless is what I bought. It comes with the prop and a nut kit that includes the drive pin, lock washer and nut. Works like a champ.