Sunday I finished painting all of the lower exterior hull and cabin. I think she turned out very nice, I mean the job is not professional and you can tell the paint was not sprayed on. However I am happy with the results. My parents are happy with the restoration so far and told me I do not have to put my boat back in the back 40. I got to work on her for two days straight. Yesterday I moved the boat onto the driveway so I could paint the bottom hulls without being stabbed by the sticker bushes. I had forgotten my little air compressor at home and yep you guessed it I had a flat on the trailer starboard side. (You can see in photos). I did not see that it was flat at the time; I had put slime in the tire the previous weekend and thought it would hold, I and moved the boat onto the driveway. Well the tire broke a bead and was half on half off the wheel. :facepalm:Since the tire was toast anyway I moved the boat back to the side of the driveway after my work yesterday. I went and bought a replacement tire and today I took the old tire off and replaced it for the new tire on my old rim. Now I have four tires on the trailer that I should not have to worry about. The weather has been very hot here so I have not done as much as quickly as I would like. I do not want to drop from heat exposure. Today I also cleaned the deck in prep for fiberglass work. I have decided to try my hand at fiberglass. I would like to seal the complete deck with a layer or three of new fiberglass cloth (just to make sure it is watertight) it is a fifty year boat after all. I have all week to research here at iboats how to install fiberglass. Can any of you can give me some pointers or send me in the right direction on the site? I also disconnected the ?steering wheel? frame? Hutch? It is too ugly; being comprised of a homemade frame and the front plate from a Square D electrical panel. I am going to build a wooden one and stain it etc. While cleaning the floor I found an access panel that when you remove it you can see into the inner hull. Stringers made from a single piece of wood (looks like a 1x6 plank standing on narrow end) that has been glassed and the little bit I can see looks very good. Wood is firm and glassed. (I could see 3 stringers in the little view I had) I cannot see any rotted wood particles or glass shavings in the bottom of the hull. I thought the stringers would be more substantial. Is that normal for stringers in this era boats? I was thinking of putting a bilge pump down this access hole. So I do not have to cut a hole in the deck. The access is up towards the middle of the boat where the steering wheel is in the photos. Is this too far forward?
Hi all, I decided that I want to try the deck idea I have. I think it is going to look very nice. I do appreciate the concerns that ezmobee brought to my attention, and as such I sealed the ?underlayment plywood with three coats of Spar Urethane Sealant on all sides and then mounted them to the boat. (After the bottom side dried) In a few days I am going to seal the underlayment again with fiberglass resin and cloth/mat. After that dries I am going to try my deck planks that I am staining and creating now. After the final deck is attached I am going to seal it again with the Spar Urethane over the top. I really want the wooden deck effect; I did not like (could not get my mind around the vinyl or carpeting ideas. I think the weight of the floor total will amount to the weight of one adult. I am sure the boat was created to hold at least 5 people or so and since it will only be my wife and I (I think/hope) it will be alright in the end. As to the water getting into the layers of wood, I think that if I seal wood multiple times each season it will be alright. I will check the decking layers as part of my boating ?pretrip?.
this weekend still working on the floor, I cut the boards to length and then stained with Minwax?s Sedona Red. Then I began attaching them to subfloor. I think they are turning out decent; I am not any sort of a carpenter. There are a few gaps where wood was warped or such. I am going to go to Hardware store and find out if there is some sort of putty/ filler that I can cram to fill up. I ran out of planking and screws so I had to stop for today. I think I am making progress. Underlayment is sealed with Thompsons, and planks are sealed on all sides as well. When full floor is in, I am going to stain again with minwax and put two coats Spar Urethane from Helmsman. 
Have a great afternoon my friends.
and as such I did not put as many layers as I would have liked Paint tray was very hot to touch. Is this a result of chemical reaction or outside temp? But I feel I need a lot more practice. From now on regardless I am going to only glass in garage.
I thought that it might be the heat and the metal tray under the plastic liner (it really was hot). As for the resin, and fiberglass cloth, I bought them locally at a PPG shop named Finishmaster. The ?old man? there at the shop told me about less being more in fiberglass. He also told me that this product (I don?t recall the actual name) the cans are at my storage yard (parents? house, ha, ha) would be good for marine applications. I think I will order the next batch from US Composites. I think that I was gouged unmercifully for the luxury of getting it quickly without shipping times.
