1967 Larson All American project

[Larson67]

Hey there, everybody- I'm brand new here, having just bought my very own boat for the first time in my life! My family has owned one for years at our little hideaway, but this one is MY baby. She's an old 16' fiberglass runabout with a '67 Johnson 60hp V4 and canvas top. I'd post pictures, but I'm having trouble with the rich text editor loading, so I just get the plain text one for now, which doesn't allow pic uploads. Anyhow, I just made the first to-do list for her, and so far it has about 50 items. I've got everything from toggle switch upgrades to getting the Gel-coat smooth and shiny. At some point, I'll pull up the floorboards and check out the stringers, wood supports, foam, etc., but right now I'd rather pretend it's all good. I've never taken on a boat project, so I know I'll have a ton of questions. I read Coolbri70's thread about his All American and learned a lot, and plan to read up everything I can get my hands on. For now, the engine idles well enough, and shifts into and out of gear, so I'm waiting to take her out on her shakedown cruise, most likely tomorrow or the next day. If it doesn't sink or explode, I'll be posting my questions soon. Thanks in advance for your advice and thanks also to iBoats.com for this awesome forum!

 

[gm280]

Well Larson67, :welcome: aboard. Great to have you join us here at iboats...

Just be extremely careful until you know for certain your new to you boat is water worthy. So many older boats have huge rotted wood issues and going boating before understand how safe that boat is, can be a trick scenario. So go gently... Your transom is probably one of the worrisome issue I'd say. So maybe take a serious look at it even before taken her out for a trial run. If the transom is really bad, you could loose the engine quickly as it breaks off the boat and sinks... Just saying... But glad you joined us and I look forward to your boat project as well... :thumb:

 

[Larson67]

Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll go check the transom first.

 

[coolbri70]

:welcome: to iboats, drilling a sample from the wood through the inner skin is best, also you can stand on the cavitation plate and bounce, there should be no flex at all. then look at the bottom of the engine bracket, it should not be sinking in or cracked at all. hotoics please, photobucket works well

 

[Larson67]

Okay, the transom checks out- thanks for the heads up. The boat is in pretty good shape overall, and was registered for 2013. PO claimed they took their grandkids out skiing and tubing a lot, for what its worth. But the original chrome all looks real good and there are no signs of bad bumps, trailer bites, warping, etc, so I'm betting the hull is good for this season. There are some cracks in the Gelcoat around a cleat and some spider web cracks where step plates would go. Thinking I'll glass in a few layers up underneath that spot and then clean up the cracks and install step plates. I've decided to delay the splash until I've installed a temp gauge. Hate to see that nice little V4 destroy itself for want of a little patience on my part. This got me a frown from my wife, but she knows its smart. I'll have the new gauge and sender by end of the week, so maybe we can get it in the water next weekend. -- As for pics, I'm still having trouble with the site here (attachments button), so I've put a set out on photo bucket under the larson67 name in a public folder named Larson all American. Saw some linking stuff there, but didn't have time to figure out how to use it. Think it might be a way to get the pics over here. We'll see. -- Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!