1961 Larson All-American 14'

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

This photo shows a couple of things that may be interesting if you've read this far into the build. The dash is 1/4" plywood (as are the seat bottoms/backs) wrapped in marine white vinyl. I found the vinyl on Ebay from a dude in Connecticut. I don't remember what I paid, but it wasn't too bad - I'm thinking $10-$12 per yard?

I decided to install black carpet (what!? It's too hot...it's too much work...) in the boat, and I was still waiting for that order. I also found the carpet on Ebay.

The windshield was something I was worried about. I look through my windshield when driving (what's this sitting on the seat back crap?) so I was concerned about seeing when the sun was setting. This was an issue the first time I took the boat out.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

I really wanted to the clean up the back of my transom and have as few holes as possible. The darker area where the engine mounts is epoxy with woodflour. I faired the transom with a belt sander, and came back with epoxy and glass bubbles to smooth everything. The transom has only 7 holes now. 4 for the engine mount, 2 for the trailer eyes, and one for the bilge drain. I anticipate 4 more small ones just above the waterline for a boarding ladder than I have, but haven't installed yet.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

I use two 6.5 gallon fuel tanks in my boat. The battery was originally in the rear of the boat, but has since been moved to the bow to distribute the weight a little more evenly. I've been averaging a tank of gas on my weekend jaunts of waterskiing. My ski sessions involve me and a friend and we ski until we can't walk. We're usually on the water for about 4-5 hours. Of course this isn't all run time, but for $18 worth of fuel for a weekend run isn't too bad. It's so much cheaper than therapy.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Too much black. Too much black. I needed something to break up the solid black deck on the boat. I had been contemplating a stripe, but I thought it would be a bit boring. I decided to use the same radius I used on the side stripe and apply it to the bow. Yay pizza pan again!

I started the stripe so it was just an inch or so wider than my bow light, and made it wider as it tapered to the windshield, similar to the side stripe.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

That's not a bad little stripe. It'll look even better when I get my red pinstripe on there.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

With the brutal Texas summers, I knew I had to have a bimini. I did a lot of searching and discovered those things are really expensive. I decided to do what I normally do when I find things too expensive - I build my own.

I used 1/2" emt conduit and a conduit bender I had to make my frame. I purchased some plastic bimini hardware from a Texas business ($5 for all the fittings!) and installed them. I used cotton fabric for the bimini top, and installed grommets to hold the fabric to the frame. Viola!

I decided to use black fabric for bimini (but black is too....CORK IT!) to stay with the pimp look.

The straps are Walmart camping straps and I run them through the front cleats.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

The rear straps of the bimini have been replaced with conduit poles. This supports the bimini so I don't have the bimini laying on the boat deck when in transit. The blue tape on the frame was there for setting bending marks. I installed the Teleflex rack and pinion steering. I've never liked cable steer setups so I decided to go with the single cable steering. I also installed the original boat speedometer, which decided to stop working on the 3rd or 4th trip out.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

I found the Larson sticker on Ebay. I find a lot of good junk on Ebay it seems. Ignore the motor hanging on the transom - not ready to talk about that yet.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

Yay! My 1/2" red pinstriping came in. I really like it. I installed it on the front stripe, and on the top of the side stripes. It really cleans up the boat.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

\

More pinstriping and pads on the ski tow. Oooooooooooooooh. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

I've also installed the steering wheel. The boat now has the modern right hand (starboard) steering.

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'

 

[stevewolverton]

Re: 1961 Larson All-American 14'