1975 SS 16' Rebuild

[FJ_Russo]

I got the boat home last night. I got a little worried when I got to Portage Ind. 2.5 hours away! At the arrainged meeting time and the seller was there, and was not answering my phone calls. After about 6 calls I went to the bass pro shop a mile away hung out there for about a half hour then he called whew said he forgot. On his behalf we did change the meet time from sat to fri.

Boat looked great just the way he described.

Here are my goals for the rebuild.

Remove old interior
Clean and Gulvit Hull
New deck
Overtons non skid coating on the deck " I know "overtons" but I did not find one on I boats"
New front seating with a pedestal mount in the front at the trolling motor
Capt and co Capt chairs on pedestals
Jump seats in the rear with a pedestal mount raised in between them
Paint the Hull
Refurb the trailer

Thats obviously a very condensed list but those are my goals. Transom looks good so I might wait a year on that.

My goal is everything done by April 15. I'm calling it my 90 day project.
We shall see

I have pictures to post tomorrow, I'm at work on a 24 right now but tomorrow I will do some demolish and take some pictures for you guys.

I do have a question this boat needs a prop, it has a busted up 4 blade plastic prop anyone running a good 3 blade on thier Johnson 85 and 16' SS. That might be able to tell me what prop they have, it will be a fish and ski and heavy on the SKI.

Thanks much guys. The posts and previous resto threads have made this possible they have been great for planning. And I'm sure will come in very handy during the process also.

 

[TheWrks]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Congrats on your SS I can't wait for the photo's good luck with your Resto

 

[dozerII]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Good choice of boats, now the fun begins. Check out the Hustler props they work well and the price is right. I had a 13 3/4 X17 on my Johnson 90.
Glen

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Ah, shouldn't take you but a weekend or two to knock all that stuff out. No problem!



Man, it takes me 10 times longer than I plan for any task! I gave up on deadlines long ago.

Hey congrats on the new rig! I'll be rooting for you FJ!

Have Fun

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Glad to hear ya got the rig home safely

Your plan of attack sounds exactly like what I was up to last year about time. I ended up getting back on the water in May so you should be right on schedule.

Let me know if you need an extra hand, I know I was glad to have help getting my old transom out.

Welcome to the fleet FJ

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild



Glen, Thanks for the prop suggestion!
Jasoutside, Weekend or two no problem you know whats gonna happen I will prly get it all wrapped up tomorrow and be waiting on the ice to thaw... LOL Yea well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.
HA, Once again thank you very much! Its great to know when I start to really screw this thing up I have someone to come and bail me out

Did some demolish and LOTS of measuring and planning. Kinda dissapointed to see that the previous owner removed one side of the front seat framing to set up his after market live well. I guess I will be rebuilding the seat frames with wood. Deck is pretty much shot, I'm hoping I can get it out in large enough pieces to have some sort of guide to go by with the new deck.

I decided to go with marine vinyl on the floor, cabelas sells it 23.00 a yard. That works out to be 7.60 a foot!

Day off tomorrow and a heated garage to work in I'm hoping to get front seats, windshield, consoles, and floor removed. I have my good friend all day and were starting at 8:00 am.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Sounds like you are really gonna get after it.

It looks like you have all the major aluminum structural parts on the dash and stuff, nice score there. These rigs are fun to work on and easy to tear down.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

I have my good friend all day and were starting at 8:00 am.

Sounds like you mean business! Game time!

Have Fum FJ

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

So we did make progress today I can see this is not a very hard boat for a restore. Not a simple task but very manageable.

We removed the entire front end down to the hull. The biggest pain today was the previous owner had hardware all over this boat. I will be doing some major JB weld to fix bolt holes. I dont have a clue what he did with it all. I mean he had 8 tie down cleats. and 18 rod holders.. LOL

I didnt completely get to all of my goals today. We left the rear portion of the floor on ran out of time. I guess too many union breaks... But she is pretty bare looking.

Tomorrow I will be teaching lil firefighters to be big firefighters so I wont be working on it tomorrow. But the next day it will get some attention.

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

I'm curious did any of you have to cover a large hole on the top edge of the boat? I have several holes about 2" in diameter where a rod holder was that need to be covered up before paint. Any suggestions??

Thanks guys. And happy MLK Day! Hey at least it means no bills today!!!

 

[flatsider45]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Nice score fj, I know exactly what your in for. These are really great boats and if you have help; a major plus!I can't count the times I was in and out of mine.Had to do everything by myself and it's amazing how much time it takes away from progress,left my pencil,wheres my tape,go measure again and again,fit this,fit this again and again you get the idea.But when it's all said and done it really makes you appreciate it even more.I'm pretty proud of my little 73 16 SS.I really had a basket case.I've been told that mine probably led the armada with one of the worst cases of neglect.It was pretty bad.But you wouldn't know it now.As far as the holes,probably the best is to have some one weld some plugs back in place and refinish or you could put a backing plate under them with some marine JB weld,fill and sand,sand,sand.Anyway good luck with her,looking forward to seeing the progress made.More pics please!

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Flatsider, I know exactly what you mean. My G/F is always a great help with projects but she says she always feels like shes not doing much. I try to explain to her me not having to get down the ladder another time or running to get this or that speeds things up like you wouldnt believe.

Marine JB Weld??? I did not know there was a marine version. Good to know!

I don't know anyone with aluminum welding abilities so, probably a backing plate fill and sand will be my route for repair. I will have to take a picture of the bow I think this guy shot it with an oozie not a drill LOL He has holes EVERYWHERE and all of them had a bolt in them.

Thanks again and I will keep the pictures going throughout. The camera died today so three was all I got.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Welding aluminum is pretty tricky stuff, and pricy so most folks have opted for JB weld to fill small holes. For larger ones maybe rivet in a new plate and use some 3M 5200 to lock it in well.

I wonder what all the holes were for besides rod holders?

DJ even went as far as replacing the entire top gunwale on each side if you want her to look brand new again.

 

[GT2010]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Enjoying your thread. My boat is a 72 16ft. Looks exactly like yours, colors and all. This is my first time rebuilding a boat. Couldn't do it "correctly" without all of everyone's knowledge through these threads.

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Pricing out all my parts

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

It's good to support the forums, nice work. That will get you lots of free advice here.

Is that nailer tool also capable of riveting? I've read where they are great for that and I think I want one.

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

No its only finishing nails and staples, I got it for the cushions for the front end I will be making. I looked into the air powered riveter. HF has them 29.99 like 8 bucks more than the hand held one they have. So I'm thinking about picking one up. I will give you all a full review if I end up with one.

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Thanks for the F- F work you do . Been there Done that. Great feeling. Now We - I - Never disclose how much I spent on rebuild only on necessary material, As you can see the incidentels add up , but gee Ill always use this stuff somewhere else. Great project Thanks for sharing.

 

[FJ_Russo]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

PugetSound, thank you! and I do enjoy what I do so its not to bad . I noticed that when I was reading through rebuilds I did not find prices which I found interesting as it would be hard for a new guy never doing one before to decide if it was a feasible option. I plan to list my total costs at the end of the project unless there is some reason not to? I just want people to know how much goes into one of these so if they are thinking of doing one themselves they can plan for it.

I got some more work done today. I was able to remove the entire floor, and all the old foam flotation.
I also moved the boat up on the trailer some it was way to tongue light, to the point it wouldnt stay on the ground so I adjusted all my rollers and now have about the right amount of tongue weight. But man was that a labor intensive job. That took up almost half the day.

I also bought the supplies for the new deck and will begin cutting the pieces for the deck and building some of the interior structure next. Sunday and monday will be some build days so expect more pictures to come.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1975 SS 16' Rebuild

Nice work on the teardown, she will look new on the inside soon...and get her shine back

Is that a gas line to the bow?

If so, I wonder if that was from the factory, I think it may have been added maybe?