73Chrysler105
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2009
- Messages
- 407
Okay so I have been lurking here a long time and just after 4 days of lost time at work finished reading through oops extenda boat thread and thats cause i skipped over some sections and skimmed over others. If I read the entire thing man I dont think I would be half way through it and would be looking for work cause nothign would get done.
Anywho that inspired me to post my own restoration project for others to learn from my mistakes and others to tell me what mistakes I am making along the way.
This is my first full restoration and seems to take on a life of its own. I want to first preface this by saying that I in no way am any sort of know it all and in fact I have done a lot of reading of the last two years about boats and repairs and a lot more over the last year preparing fo this restoration.
Now down to the project. This will due to the nature of the beast be very similar to the rebuild of oops boat (named not yet public) except that I wont be doing a hull extension, but he has made me think about it.
This is a badly abused and abandoned boat I found on Craigslist for $400 listed as a mopar being sold by a mopar enthusiast like me. There wasnt ever going to be another buyer out there for this boat. He had rescued it from goign to the junk yard from the previous owner thinking he would fix it up but was never a boat person and never got around to it. so basically since 1985 this boat has been sitting in one field or another in the Texas heat.
Now for a little history lesson most people don't know that Chrysler made boats but they bought out Lonestar boat in Plano Texas and started making thier own line of boats which lasted until early 80's when Chrysler go into touble and the govt made them drop all lines that were not dealing with the automotive industry. The boats made from the 60's through the 80's were manufactured under Chrysler Boat Corporation.
This boat is unique in that it not only is a boat made by Chrysler with a Chrysler Inboard motor it also has a drive designed and manufactured by Chrysler an all new Jet Drive.
Well when I went to see the boat it was up on a hill. I got in carefully fully expecting to fall through the rotted wood. The floor was soft but not going to falter. The motor was long gone so no 340 it will be gettign a 360 pics on that later. BTW I know how everyone loves pics I have lots of them and will post them all. The captains chair was there but that was it. The jet appeared to be complete and the direct drive to it was there along with the flywheel, bellhousing, and exhaust manifolds. There was also a raw water pump that was in bad shape but rebuildable. All the other accessories were missing (alternator, spark arrestor, starter, carb, brackets, motor mounts, etc.).
Well I told the guy I would get back with him a month later the boat was still there (like I said it wasnt going to anyone else) I offered him $250 for it and I overpaid. The Tires were held on by bolts and nuts not lugs and studs. the hitch was also not positively locking wrapped some bailing wire around it. And to top it all off I had a 30 mile drive home half way home one of crossmembers the second one back from the front the welds broke and it dropped and was dragging underneath the trailer being held on by one rusty bolt to the end of a piece of rotted 2x4 holding up the boat. My luck was with me and whoever was driving behind me cause I could just see that thing bouncing down the road behind me into someones windshield. Of all the things that could happen that was the last thing I would have thought that would have happened. It made the rest of the trip home safely though.
Next post though will post some more pics of the boat and then some of the initial issues found.
BTW this all Happened Jan 2011, my goal was to have it water ready by April 25th 2011 my birthday. It may not have been pretty but would have been on the water for the first time in 26 years.
Thanks for reading
Anywho that inspired me to post my own restoration project for others to learn from my mistakes and others to tell me what mistakes I am making along the way.
This is my first full restoration and seems to take on a life of its own. I want to first preface this by saying that I in no way am any sort of know it all and in fact I have done a lot of reading of the last two years about boats and repairs and a lot more over the last year preparing fo this restoration.
Now down to the project. This will due to the nature of the beast be very similar to the rebuild of oops boat (named not yet public) except that I wont be doing a hull extension, but he has made me think about it.
This is a badly abused and abandoned boat I found on Craigslist for $400 listed as a mopar being sold by a mopar enthusiast like me. There wasnt ever going to be another buyer out there for this boat. He had rescued it from goign to the junk yard from the previous owner thinking he would fix it up but was never a boat person and never got around to it. so basically since 1985 this boat has been sitting in one field or another in the Texas heat.
Now for a little history lesson most people don't know that Chrysler made boats but they bought out Lonestar boat in Plano Texas and started making thier own line of boats which lasted until early 80's when Chrysler go into touble and the govt made them drop all lines that were not dealing with the automotive industry. The boats made from the 60's through the 80's were manufactured under Chrysler Boat Corporation.
This boat is unique in that it not only is a boat made by Chrysler with a Chrysler Inboard motor it also has a drive designed and manufactured by Chrysler an all new Jet Drive.
Well when I went to see the boat it was up on a hill. I got in carefully fully expecting to fall through the rotted wood. The floor was soft but not going to falter. The motor was long gone so no 340 it will be gettign a 360 pics on that later. BTW I know how everyone loves pics I have lots of them and will post them all. The captains chair was there but that was it. The jet appeared to be complete and the direct drive to it was there along with the flywheel, bellhousing, and exhaust manifolds. There was also a raw water pump that was in bad shape but rebuildable. All the other accessories were missing (alternator, spark arrestor, starter, carb, brackets, motor mounts, etc.).
Well I told the guy I would get back with him a month later the boat was still there (like I said it wasnt going to anyone else) I offered him $250 for it and I overpaid. The Tires were held on by bolts and nuts not lugs and studs. the hitch was also not positively locking wrapped some bailing wire around it. And to top it all off I had a 30 mile drive home half way home one of crossmembers the second one back from the front the welds broke and it dropped and was dragging underneath the trailer being held on by one rusty bolt to the end of a piece of rotted 2x4 holding up the boat. My luck was with me and whoever was driving behind me cause I could just see that thing bouncing down the road behind me into someones windshield. Of all the things that could happen that was the last thing I would have thought that would have happened. It made the rest of the trip home safely though.
Next post though will post some more pics of the boat and then some of the initial issues found.
BTW this all Happened Jan 2011, my goal was to have it water ready by April 25th 2011 my birthday. It may not have been pretty but would have been on the water for the first time in 26 years.
Thanks for reading
