1965 26' Owens Flagship restoration underway.

[AlabamaNewbie]

Yeah that just made me throw up a little in my mouth just reading it.

 

[Ned L]

On a cleaner note.......

The Wife got me this book. I'd found out about it on one of my searches about anything Owens related. I kind of figured they sold maybe 10 of them back in the day and there would be no way to ever find one. But she found one on that site named after a South American river that iBoats probably won't let me type. I was shocked. Published in 1964. I love it! It's so 60s. Lots of cool pictures of Owens boats and stuff too.

Cheers........................Todd

Cool! That is a nice addition for the boat.

 

[Sea18Horse]

Yeah, I'm really enjoying it a lot. Lots of great information and tips but some of it makes me laugh out loud. For example; chapter 7. "Boatkeeping is a family task". Tips from the old salts. #9. Sprinkle dry asbestos cement over oil spots. It will rapidly absorb the oil. Then sweep up. Grease can be removed from linoleum and similar floor coverings using carbon tetrachloride.

Or this one under insect control; ....blah blah blah screen all portholes blah blah blah......Carry a DDT bomb...

Great stuff!

Cheers .................Todd

 

[Sea18Horse]

Update time again. I feel good about this one. Two big hurdles checked off the list. Almost ready for the shakedown cruise and a trip to the the boat yard and travel lift.

My son & I got the patch on the hull. Found that the edge of the chine on the outside was higher than on the inside. Didn't expect that. We had to cut a half inch off the bottom edge of the outer patch to make it fit.




Public service announcement! (and you guys probably know this already) When using 3M 4200 (probably 5200 as well I'm guessing) you're supposed to use it within 24 hours of breaking the seal in the tube! I did not know that. It was a little stiffer than I remember it being when I mounted the bilge pump and switch with it a couple weeks ago. It still spread ok and squished out nicely.



The second thing was I got the starboard trim tab installed. It slid right in from the inner end of the hinge. Managed to get the screws in the lower actuator hinge, tightened up, and the little tab on the end of the hinge bent back into place with a pair of chanellocks without sending anything to Davey Jones' locker. A minor miracle in itself!



Tabs full up;



And full down;



Cheers.......................Todd

 

[mickyryan]

are you going to put her on the hard and make a more permanent repair on the side there? figured that was just temporary

 

[Sea18Horse]

Did I over do it for a temporary patch?

Oh yeah, definitely going to replace that whole area. Not sure if I'll do a whole sheet on that side or just replace that rotten section. There is an extra through-hull next to the holding tank vent that's not used anymore that I'd like to eliminate. But that would add a hell of a lot more work. There's also that old Sewage outlet down at the water line forward (you can see it in the first pic) that I'd like to eliminate but that's a whole 'nother sheet.

I'm pretty sure I'll wind up re-skinning the transom completely. It looks like they've already replaced sections around the exhaust pipes at some point in the past. I don't think I can bring that area back to it's former glory (such as it is) without it.

Cheers..........................Todd

 

[mickyryan]

No i dont believe there is such a thing as overdoing a temp patch, never know how long it has to be there , time happens lol

 

[Sea18Horse]

Time happens indeed! It's almost October and I still haven't had it out for a shake down cruise.

Update time again. I forgot to mention last time that I got the plywood sections on the forward birth screwed back into the boat. I'd taken them out in the spring to wash off the mold on the underside and check out what was under there. After I took them home and washed them up they warped into a U shape. They're just crappy 3/8ths plywood stained a mahogany tone. Anyway I wasn't getting anywhere with them at home so I took them back down to the boathouse about a month ago. And when I got there to do the patch and trim tab thing the other day, miraculously they were straight as a die. I guess they'd reached an equilibrium of some kind being back in their native environment. So even though i wasn't really ready I went ahead and screwed them back in anyway. I kind of wanted to scrub the bilge under there and around the fresh water tank but that can wait.

Today I got the fresh water tank pumped out. (It was 3/4 full) The fresh water pump on the boat is dead. But I found a 110 volt pump with garden hose fittings and short sections of garden hose on it in the boat house. Left there by a previous tenant presumably. With a couple fittings from the hardware store it pumped out the tank in no time. I refilled it and pumped it out again just because.

Also got the peeling wood grain stick on vinyl off of the galley table. It actually doesn't look that bad in plain white. I plan to redo the whole settee area eventually because it's kind of funky and I don't think it will work as an actual bunk at present. I'd have taken some pictures but I ran out of time and light. Damn this whole fall thing!

Oh, also I finally got the holding tank emptied. holy crap! (So to speak) what a pain! I'll spare you the gory details but I found three big clumps of what I assume were paper towels in there. Definitely not RV approved T.P. I'm sure that's why it was still over half full.

Cheers................................Todd

 

[Willyclay]

Oh, also I finally got the holding tank emptied. holy crap! (So to speak) what a pain! I'll spare you the gory details but I found three big clumps of what I assume were paper towels in there. Definitely not RV approved T.P. I'm sure that's why it was still over half full. Cheers................................Todd

You are a better man than I, Gunga Din!

 

[Woodonglass]

I'd recommend using a stripper to remove the rest of the DECO varnish and then Do a LIGHT sanding. After that I'd cut some THIN veneer planks from Teak, Or White oak and epoxy them to the plywood.to give her the plank look for REAL!!!

 

[Sea18Horse]

I'd recommend using a stripper to remove the rest of the DECO varnish and then Do a LIGHT sanding. After that I'd cut some THIN veneer planks from Teak, Or White oak and epoxy them to the plywood.to give her the plank look for REAL!!!

Hmmmmm! I like that idea! I wonder how it would work out. Like how could I clamp them while the epoxy cures? Would I be able to keep it sealed with out a boat load of maintenance? Also the deck does flex a little bit up there when you step on it. It's only like 3/8ths plywood. Plus there is a strip of what I believe to be dimensional lumber alongside the fore-deck that runs all the way to the stern. I would have to carry the strips all the way back or I would have a step, however slight, along the side of the fore-deck. I'll have to think on that. Thanks Mike!

Small update.

I got a used fish-finder head for $25 on eBay to replace the one in the boat. The old one sort of worked, you could sort of make out what it said but it had seen too much rain & weather. Supposedly the back light was inoperative on this new one. But it turns out it works fine. Score!



I also took a picture of the galley table that I'd stripped the vinyl off of. It looks pretty darn good! I've no idea why they put that stuff on there.
It looks like this is the only "before" picture I have.



It must have been put on when dark was "in"

Cheers...............................Todd

 

[Woodonglass]

Epoxy remains very flexible once cured. You can glass reinforcement pieces under the deck IF you have access there. Yes there would be some Maintenance but not that much. If she's moored uncovered there would be more. Marine Varnish has a HIGH UV resistance so, I'd expect every other year you might need to apply some more. To install. the use of sand bags would be all the clamping needed OR you could attach using a 23 gauge Pin Nailer. NOT a Brad Nailer. You'll never see them once it's stained and varnished.

 

[Sea18Horse]

Thanks Mike! Definitely going to consider that.

We took the boat out for a shake-down cruise yesterday morning. It went really well. The boat ran great the whole day, it didn't sink, and I didn't run into anything! A big win! I won't lie. I was pretty nervous before we set out. As I said I hadn't been behind the wheel of a single inboard since the 80s among a lot of other obvious factors.

There were no real big handling surprises. It was pretty breezy yesterday so the wind was a much bigger factor than anything else. When I first backed out of the boat house either prop-walk or the wind (or both) whipped the stern right around to port. My plan originally was to back more or less straight back down the fairway kicking into fwd with the wheel cranked to port from time to time to correct, then back some more . But the boat was having none of it. So a quick spin around to the starboard it was. The boat does that really well btw .

And then it was a couple miles upstream to Donaldson marina gas dock to take on 20 gallons of ethanol free. The gas gauge had read a little less than a half tank. The gauge and sending unit had seemed to work when I'd been pumping old stale gas out and putting fresh gas in earlier in the summer. But after gassing up with 20 gallons the gauge didn't move at all. So now I'm thinking I'm really lucky it wasn't way more full than I thought. It could have easily sprayed gas out the vent all over the river. Better to be lucky than good I guess. But checking out the gas gauge thoroughly just jumped up to the top of the list.

Next we headed up to the M. James Gleason memorial boat ramp for a little more docking practice and a potty break. Then we headed downstream around the north side of Hayden island to the bottom and back up the south channel to the boat house. Maybe ten miles total. Over all a really good day.

Cheers...........................Todd

 

[sphelps]

Sounds like a great shakedown trip !
She looks really nice out in the sun !

 

[Ned L]

Sounds great, glad your first trip went well.

 

[Woodonglass]

Congrats on your Successful "ShakeDown"!!!:nod:

 

[Sea18Horse]

Thanks guys!

It was a great day. I'm really glad it went well. The Admiral hasn't been as enthusiastic as she made out in the beginning or as involved in the process over the course of the summer as I would have liked. I mean I get it, it's a good 45 minutes from home to the boat and we're busy all the time. It's only 15 minutes from my work so it's easy for me. Plus I'm used to the drive and she works 5 minutes from home.

She's commented a couple times this week about how smooth it rode. And that she likes how roomy it is in the cockpit. A good thing!

Cheers............................Todd

 

[Ned L]

Good to hear things went well on that front too.

 

[Woodonglass]

Yeah It's ALWAYS a good thing to have the ADMIRAL ON BOARD!!!

 

[mickyryan]

saw this pic and looked like your boat