In need of an education...

[duhmey]

Ola iboaters!

Iboats sounds like the perfect place for me... I am new to boats and when I found this site while searching for information on fixing old boats I was floored! I have spent HOURS reading about your adventures in boat restoration and have learned lots..BUT I still have no idea what I am doing

I have recently ?inherited? a boat from my grandparents. This boat has been sitting in their yard since they bought it at an auction sale 10 years ago. The boat does not run and it seems the PO(s) were really rough on her as evidenced by the sections of the hull where the glass was repaired and left exposed as well as the places that were not glassed but definitely should have been!

As I said I am new to boats and so I have a few questions about this one?



From what I can gather, the boat is a ?69 14 foot Crestliner Mustang? Sitting on the transom is a ?59 Mercury Mark 55A (I am approximating the year based on my research)





My questions at this point are as follows:
There do not seem to be any stringers or flooring in this boat ? is that a common thing? Instead of a floor the interior hull seems to be covered with some sort of coating.




(the coating)

 

[duhmey]

Re: In need of an education...

In addition the transom is only as thick as the fiberglass used to construct it ? should I be concerned about that?



The other question that I have is about these little star shaped cracks on the side of the hull?


How do I go about repairing these surface cracks to hull?

As I said I am new to boats?I am also new to fiberglass. I can wrench but this is new territory for me and I would love your input on these questions.

 

[produceguy]

Re: In need of an education...

Welcome to iboats DOH!!
In pic 4 of post 1, it looks as I'm looking at the deck. Stringers would be under their.
As far as the transom, on an o/b it is usaully gel coat, glass then a wood core in the center and then more glass on the inner transom and paint or more gel.

You can do a drill test on the transon to check for rot if you want. Not sure on those spider cracks.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: In need of an education...

Welcome to the Dry Dock,

VERY VERY cool old Kiekhaffer, Mark 55 (now Mercury Outboards)...and in my book that would be my first order of business....You can tie up some serious bucks fixing her up. You said it doesn't run, so lets see it's problems first.

The spider cracks arent' bad to fix...just do a search here on repair gelcoat cracks, you'll have all the answers you need.

I agree with Produce Guy on the stringers, I'm sure you have them, but of course they are under the deck so you can't see them.

Also agree on the transom...I'm very sure you'll find two layers of 3/4" plywood as a core inside the fiberglass. The drill test he mentioned is quite easy. Just take a 3/8" drill bit and put a stop on it (so you don't go all the way thru) and drill a few test holes....if the wood comes out wet...there's a new transom in your future...comes out dry you're good to go, just fill the test holes with som thicken resin and be happy.

Good Luck with her.

CW

 

[oops!]

Re: In need of an education...

lol.......welcome to iboats.....

love your attitude.

both of the above posts are correct.
your boat does have stringers...and the actual transom is encased in the fibreglass...so what you are looking at is the outer section of glass that covers the inner core of wood.

click the link in my sig for more answere to your questions
even tho it is a totally different boat and motor configureation.....all boats of this size are the same.....hull, transom..stringers, deck. even a 12 foot tinny is built that way.

in the merc outboards section...tghere is a link to a thread called "waking up a sleeping outboard"......read up.....if the motor works.....the rest is easy...but itchy...lol

 

[JDA1975]

Re: In need of an education...

hope you can get that motor running, that old retro look of the cover is pretty sweet, and looks like it would polish up nice

 

[Jon Sob]

Re: In need of an education...

Welcome DOH ..... When you do your core samples on the transom do them from inside the boat not through the outter skin.

 

[duhmey]

Re: In need of an education...

Good good good info! Thanks to all for the feedback, I will read up on those posts to find out more. I am really thrown off by the thickness (or lack there of) on both the floor and the transom and am anxious to learn more about this boat. As for the Merc, it has been one of my main attractions to this boat so if I can get it running that would be phenomenal...so we shall see.

As for your thread Oops!...its a LONG one. I am about half way through it...the info is outstanding... and the side conversations are comical as well!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: In need of an education...

I was confused by the thickness of my floor, and got schooled very early on, that what i thought i was looking at...wasnt. You have come to the right place, I am in the middle of my own restoration, my first time, with no mechanical or body work experience and i believe I am doing a pretty good job so far, thanks to the info I find here. good luck and looking forward to seeing what ya do with that