boats on a budget

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

Can I barrow your kids when your through with them today?

Heck yeah, I tried everything I could think of short of offering to pay them, and they still said "no way dad" ...now, if you can get them to work, and let me in on your secret, we might be on to something

Actually, I got so busy on other projects this weekend that I never got a chance to pull the cover off the boat.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Re: boats on a budget

How many kids do have? This could get expensive!

My boat budget has a limit, and I am not sure I can afford to bring in outside experts.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

How many kids do have? This could get expensive!

My boat budget has a limit, and I am not sure I can afford to bring in outside experts.

my boat budget has a limit to, but I think I'm way past the limit at this point, I'd fire my deck hands, all 5 of em, but beins how I'm not paying them in the first place, I haven't really come up with a way to fire them yet, then again, on the other hand, if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have a boat, I'd still be paddleing my behind off in my little sevylor rubber raft .......

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Re: boats on a budget

Hum ...

I have a boat restoration question?

5 deck hands = ten extra hands ready to sand
or
5 deck hands = two and a half kids ready to sand

When counting “deck hands” do you divide or multiply by two?

I've got to wet sand the first coat of paint on my little hull today. I sure could use ten extra hands today!

As far as you paying them, as my dad used to say, “as long as you live under this roof, and eat the food at this table, your *****'s works for me” ...

My jobs were different than working on a boat, at least I would have had the pleasure or rewards of playing with the boat later.

I got the pleasure of cleaning gutters, re-roofing the house, mowing several acres, 2-3x a week, with a small push mower, digging 400ft drainage ditches by hand, hauling hay, sanding & painting the house ...

... all in the middle of Texas summers.

Just not the same fun watching the water flow freely down the newly dug ditch during a storm, as it is tubing/boarding/skiing behind the newly restored boat.

I think (not my strong point) your kids are probably pretty lucky to have you as a dad.

Cheers!

P.S. I like paddling little rafts. Something about boats without motors. They don't attract distant relatives, acquaintances, & neighbors like a magnet looking for a free vacation.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

We?re a little off subject here, but that?s ok, I?m not getting much, if anything at all done on the boat at the moment. the tow rig has been in the shop for over a month now, getting around on a bus isn?t as easy as it may seem, 8 hour work days have become 12 hour work days when you calculate in transit time on a bus.

So until I get everything fixed with the car, all boating activities are going to have to take a back seat. It?s become an all day chore taking the bus to go pick up boat parts, so nothing gets worked on. But, hey, look at the money I?m saving not buying gas right now!

About those kids: in my case, 5 deck hands = maybe 2 extra hands to help with the boat, and that?s after a lot of trickery and bribery. So in my calculations, you take the number of kids, multiply said number of kids by the rate of 4 to the seventh power, ad 12, carry 5, throw in a square root or two for good measure, have your trickery tactics at their best level, and your lucky to come out with one kid willing to help.

The kids are pretty busy this time of year to, one is graduating high school this weekend then going off to collage, another one is graduating collage next weekend and getting ready to fly off to Peru with his new bride for the next couple of years, 2 are still in high school, and one in grade school, and I?m going to turn them into boaters yet!

I wish I could get more done on the boat and the other little restoration projects I have, but at the moment, I?m finding that it?s all having to take a back seat, which is ok, but one of these days (soon, I hope) I?ll be back on track with my boat restoration.

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Well I guess I'm not the only one with their boat project on hold. Work has been keeping me super busy lately, so I only squeeze in an hour or so here and there working on my boat. I will post some new pics this week for sure though, cause it has come a long way since any of the last ones I posted.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Re: boats on a budget

We’re a little off subject here, but that’s ok, I’m not getting much, if anything at all done on the boat at the moment. the tow rig has been in the shop for over a month now, getting around on a bus isn’t as easy as it may seem, 8 hour work days have become 12 hour work days when you calculate in transit time on a bus.

So until I get everything fixed with the car, all boating activities are going to have to take a back seat. It’s become an all day chore taking the bus to go pick up boat parts, so nothing gets worked on. But, hey, look at the money I’m saving not buying gas right now!

About those kids: in my case, 5 deck hands = maybe 2 extra hands to help with the boat, and that’s after a lot of trickery and bribery. So in my calculations, you take the number of kids, multiply said number of kids by the rate of 4 to the seventh power, ad 12, carry 5, throw in a square root or two for good measure, have your trickery tactics at their best level, and your lucky to come out with one kid willing to help.

The kids are pretty busy this time of year to, one is graduating high school this weekend then going off to collage, another one is graduating collage next weekend and getting ready to fly off to Peru with his new bride for the next couple of years, 2 are still in high school, and one in grade school, and I’m going to turn them into boaters yet!

I wish I could get more done on the boat and the other little restoration projects I have, but at the moment, I’m finding that it’s all having to take a back seat, which is ok, but one of these days (soon, I hope) I’ll be back on track with my boat restoration.

You may be a little behind in the boat rebuild, but you are way out front with the kids.

I think some congratulations are in order for all concerned!

Hats off to you and your wife for getting them this far, and to those who just graduated.

I hope you all enjoyed the recent special occasions!

Cheers,
Turtle

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

You may be a little behind in the boat rebuild, but you are way out front with the kids.

I think some congratulations are in order for all concerned!

Hats off to you and your wife for getting them this far, and to those who just graduated.

I hope you all enjoyed the recent special occasions!

Cheers,
Turtle

The graduations went great, my oldest was senior class president of his collage class, and the one that just graduated high school won a scholarship to go to the same collage my oldest boy went to.

I finally got the Jeep back, it's got more problems, but their workable, the rear end has a horrible whine to it, and the front end still binds up in tight turns, so I need to look at that.

Meanwhile, my youngest son is on his way out from Minnesota to spend the summer with me, (he's 9) and it was totally unexpected, so between the car problems and the boat rebuilding and my youngest son coming out to visit, I had to make some drastic plan changes, so the budget boat is on hold until further notice.

I did however pick up another boat to use while the Minnesota son is here, it's water ready and good to go, so we will be using it, (it's a little fiberglass 10 foot tri-hull) and when he goes back home, I'll dump the boat and start in on the budget boat again. So that's my latest update, I know this is way off topic, and not at all what this thread has been about, but in the big picture of things, posting this will also show what's involved in a boat restoration, in real time, and some of the things that can get in the way of a project like that when you have a family, the boat will get done, but not until late summer if I'm lucky.

I'v found that with the current fuel prices, the starcraft is way to costly to use right now, 18 gallons of fuel lasts about 5 hours of running time, and at 4.15 a gallon out here right now that comes out to about 75 bucks a tank, plus the 4 bucks a pint or so for the 2 stroke oil, it comes close to 87 bucks a tank, and at 5 hours per tank, it costs about 17 to 18 bucks an hour to operate.

the little motors on the other hand, 6 gallons of fuel last a good 2 hard days of running, so you know what boat I'll be using

Stuart

 

[whatsthediff]

Re: boats on a budget

Warlord

I have a 1979 Starcraft Holiday. Can you email a photo of your dash? I am missing a couple items and want to see what they look like.

Whatsthediff

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Whatsthediff

Its Mr. stuart that has the Starcraft not me. So maybe he can help you out.

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

I finally got to do some more work on the boat, well actually the trailer. The trailer has older style split rims that were all nasty looking, with the paint feeling off and all that good stuff. Plus the tires were worn down to nothing. So after some paint stripping and sand blasting, I think the rims came out pretty good after that. Even nicer with the new tires on them. I also took the bearing outs and repacked them and cleaned up the hubs too. So I have posted a pic of one of them before and after. You can even see where I have started painting the trailer.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I finally got to do some more work on the boat, well actually the trailer. The trailer has older style split rims that were all nasty looking, with the paint feeling off and all that good stuff. Plus the tires were worn down to nothing. So after some paint stripping and sand blasting, I think the rims came out pretty good after that. Even nicer with the new tires on them. I also took the bearing outs and repacked them and cleaned up the hubs too. So I have posted a pic of one of them before and after. You can even see where I have started painting the trailer.

Wow, those wheels came out looking good, I wish I had time to work on mine right now, but with the 8 year old out here for the summer, we're keeping really busy with that other little boat, I should be posting some pictures of what we're doing, but the last couple of times we went out, I forgot the camera, last Saturday, I busted the keel on the little fiberglass boat, so I did a quick fiberglass repair job in it, it looks ugly, but it's going to be under water where no one is going to see it, so who cares what it looks like as long as we can use the boat.

Tomorrow, we're headed out for a 3 day camp out on one of the islands in the river, we are packing light because the little boat is only a 10 footer, and it is only rated to something like 540 pounds. People, motor, and gear, so that leaves us with enough room for 150 pounds of gear for our camp out.

My son arrived on the 24th of last month, and we've been out on the boat something like 5 times since he's been here, we've been fishing, cruising, and island exploring, so we've been really busy.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

here's a picture of my son and the little fiberglass boat were using right now, it's working out well, except that keel damage we got last weekend, but it's fixed now and ready to go again, and my son is having the time of his life, so we're using the little boat a lot right now.

I'm hoping we're going to be able to take a canoe trip next weekend, he hasn't experenced that yet, so canoeing should be fun for him to.

 

[clemsonfor]

Re: boats on a budget

About your wood on the floor, teak is very rot resistant, or you could use treated coated in epoxy ittl be good for a while, and if still concerned make it where it is removable. Also make sure to store the boat coverd so its not wet all the time.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

About your wood on the floor, teak is very rot resistant, or you could use treated coated in epoxy ittl be good for a while, and if still concerned make it where it is removable. Also make sure to store the boat coverd so its not wet all the time.

I figured on storing the boat up side down when not in use, I think teak is a little to costly for that boat, I thought about doing in part with nylon for the bracing under the flooring, and hard wood for the flooring that's been stained and varnished.

 

[AZMinyard]

Re: boats on a budget

I have really enjoyed following your project (as well as Warlord's) any chance I could convince you guys to post an update - with pics?

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Hey no problem I will post an update soon. I just have been swamped with work so everything just got put on the back burner for awhile.

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Okay things are finally back to normal around here. So now I can get back to working on the boat. Actually I have been squeezing in a lot of work on it so it is almost done. Of course is it ever really done. Anyways I will be posting more this week and putting up some new pics of the progress. Sorry it took so long but hey thats what happens in life.

 

[Warlord]

Re: boats on a budget

Okay I guess I will just keep posting all of the progress of my boat on here, even if I am the only one reading it,lol. Anyways here are some pics of the front seat installed and how I seperated that area of the bow from the rest of the boat. Its a miracle with what you can do with silicone caulking, wood and some paint. In one of the pics you can see how there was a hole in the aluminum support for the seat. This was where the old owner routed some wires for the trolling motor.

 

[i386]

Re: boats on a budget

Don't worry. I feel like I'm the only one reading mine sometimes too. Your pics look pretty good to me, but I have to ask what you used the silicone caulking for? It's pretty well accepted here that silicone works well in the kitchen and bathroom, but just doesn't hold up well in boats. Not trying to be negative here, just trying to help.