Hey Bill - Thanks for your interest in the Chris Craft..It really makes me feel good knowing that you've got people watching out for you. 
<br /><br />There hasn't been a lot of progress since I put it away late last fall - it's been too cold here to work on it (I don't have a garage for it so I have to do all my work outside). This was the first weekend warm enough to work on it and it's been pouring rain as hard as I've ever seen it... ugh.<br /><br /><br />When I put it away last fall, I had most of the woodwork done and the hull painted above the waterline and most of the berth painted. Over the winter, I got the old Johnson outboard that it came with out cleaned it up a little bit, and put a battery on it not expecting anything to happen - I was wrong. It started to turn right over (No gas, of course) and while it was cranking, a few handfulls of probably 10 year old mouse nest came flying out of the exhaust port. I have no doubt that after a little bit of work and oil, it'll start right up.<br /><br />As soon as it clears up outside, I'm going to get the rest of the painting done, then the motor, then put all of the trim and hardware back on, figure out if I'm going to keep the old rope stearing or upgrade to something more modern, finnish building a hatch for the berth and then it's time to see if she floats. My goal is to get her in the water by Summer.<br /><br />In the mean time, here are some pictures -<br /><br />This is when I first got it:<br /> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshs...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshsfinn/my_photos <br /><br />The previous owner bulit a camper top on it. This is after I took it off and put new canvas on the bow:<br /> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshs...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshsfinn/my_photos <br /><br />This is how it looked just before I covered it up for the winter. The white paint is new - the red bottom paint is old:<br /> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshs...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshsfinn/my_photos
<br /><br />There hasn't been a lot of progress since I put it away late last fall - it's been too cold here to work on it (I don't have a garage for it so I have to do all my work outside). This was the first weekend warm enough to work on it and it's been pouring rain as hard as I've ever seen it... ugh.<br /><br /><br />When I put it away last fall, I had most of the woodwork done and the hull painted above the waterline and most of the berth painted. Over the winter, I got the old Johnson outboard that it came with out cleaned it up a little bit, and put a battery on it not expecting anything to happen - I was wrong. It started to turn right over (No gas, of course) and while it was cranking, a few handfulls of probably 10 year old mouse nest came flying out of the exhaust port. I have no doubt that after a little bit of work and oil, it'll start right up.<br /><br />As soon as it clears up outside, I'm going to get the rest of the painting done, then the motor, then put all of the trim and hardware back on, figure out if I'm going to keep the old rope stearing or upgrade to something more modern, finnish building a hatch for the berth and then it's time to see if she floats. My goal is to get her in the water by Summer.<br /><br />In the mean time, here are some pictures -<br /><br />This is when I first got it:<br /> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshs...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshsfinn/my_photos <br /><br />The previous owner bulit a camper top on it. This is after I took it off and put new canvas on the bow:<br /> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshs...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshsfinn/my_photos <br /><br />This is how it looked just before I covered it up for the winter. The white paint is new - the red bottom paint is old:<br /> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshs...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joshsfinn/my_photos