14ft Falcon Restore

[cmore]

Dragged this poor thing home the other day. It's supposed to be a 1973 Falcon although I haven't found any info on Falcons from that year yet. It was powered by a 1972 402 40hp motor that as of now sits as a money pit. The hull of the boat looks in decent shape from what I can tell.
I've followed these forums for some time now leaching info from you all and your restore threads. I have some what of an idea what I'm for. I know how you guys like pics so here they are. These were day one.
The last few days have been spent motor tinkering so not much to show from that just yet. I look forward to any help I can get. This will be my first real boat/build. I had a 12' flat bottom that didn't need much looking after before so it doesn't really count.

 

[CBGale2]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Welcome cmore!

Hey, I think Ive seen one of them before . Very nice little boats, like a shrunk down Holiday. Good luck with the rebuild!

As far as the year mine had a Hull number stamped into the aluminum on the back of it, might give ya some clues on year if its there.

 

[Daltonxj]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Well the brochure for the 1970 show the same bit of information as you ID tag does..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starcraftbrochures/3974936703/in/set-72157622503170504/
a partial pic of a 1970 Falcon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/starcraftbrochures/3975702646/in/set-72157622503170504

about the 10th line under marine Aluminum shows the falcon info for 1970...

hope it helps.

I'm sure someone will chime in with more info then me...

nice little boat..

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Welcome cmore! Hey you did a nice job removing all that mulch and compost already!

Cheers and welcome to the brohood

 

[barato2]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

that's not merely a restore, that looks like a rescue. good job so far! i can see from the transom pic that you've done your homework on what issues to look for....

 

[cmore]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Thanks for the welcome! I looked over your thread CBGale2 before going to pick this thing up! Weighed on my choice. Thanks for those links Daltonxj.

Well I've been working on the motor for the last couple days, I got the motor swivel loose but am at a stand still till some parts get here. Thought I'd start messing with the boat. The boat is not at the same place I'm staying at the moment so I cant reference stuff on the forums before the APE with BRUTE FORCE part of me comes out, in return I break stuff.

I took the two end caps off trying to get to the transom, realized those side panels went all the way back. Thought I'd either bend them or do it right and start removing them. Well the rubrail ran stern to stern. So I tried to take the front bow cap off and here's the result. This bow cap look like it was snapped on then hammered upwards. Was afraid to pry from the top, tried from the bottom and SNAPPPP. Hope I'm going about this right way, I figure I can do a better paint job and not bend stuff with the rubrail tracks and that siding part off anyway.

If missing steps please let me know, I think I'm gonna be doing a ton of reading over the weekend and get back on it next week

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Ohhhh, doooood! I am bummed about your bow cap!!!! Shoot!

I took just a little chip out of mine doing the same thing.

 

[cmore]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Been away for awhile... but im not letting this thread disappear just yet. Had to move and resettle so the boat got put on the back burner for a bit. Now I can get back to the more important things in life..

Between houses I did manage to get the motor going. It was in pretty bad shape but cleaned up nice.

Heres the before picture

Heres the after, it may get painted another day...

Got the boat flipped over and fixed up the trailer. Trailer got a grinding and a new paint job. I used the Rustoleum Hammered Finish that looks pretty nice. Also replaced the bunks with raw 2x4's and some outdoor carpet. Replaced the jack, the old one was cracked and on its last leg. New strap and rubber stop. I the finished it off with some new lights. Trailers got some bends to it but should hold up.

 

[cmore]

Re: 14ft Falcon Restore

Heres the boat! Hope I went through this process right. I should have been on here for every little question I had but it seemed the more I went to the internet for answers about painting the more confusing it became Heres my results so far. If my paints gonna fall off the boat let me know.

I stripped the boat day by day little by little, I used Klean Strip and a wire brush. This seemed to be the most efficient way. It took some time but did the job in the end.

I then took 400 grit and wet sanded it. For Primer I went with 2 coats of Rustoleum Self Etching Primer in the spray can (hope my aluminum not gonna corrode as Ive read so much about).

As of now I have two Bottom coats of Rustoleum gloss white enamel (please tell me enamels cool for a boat, it wont every sit in the water for more than a day). The paint looks good right now and is drying fine do to our 90 degree weather. I will add one more coat of Gloss White to the bottom before I start my Smoke Gray section on the upper section of the hull and the topside. In between coats im roughing up with gray scotch bright.

Also before flipping the boat I repaired about 8 rivets in the hull with ss bolts and 5200.