Newbie restore of late 70's Milligan Nipper - Hopefully

[Davothedevo]

G'day everyone,

This is my first post in this forum, and can I just say that i've been reading all your threads for a little while and i'm pretty impressed with everyones knowledge and attitude to help out. I wish there were more forums like this.

I live in Brisbane, Australia and recently got fed up with fishing landbased and not having the freedom that can only be provided by a boat. I spent most of my childhood fishing estuary's in my families 12ft alluminium (tinnie) boat. 'Captain Salty' as it was known is since long gone so I decided to purchase a 14ft fibreglass boat, trailer, and motor for $500 AU (roughly $300 US i think?). I had limited skills when at school, but hopefully since then ive improved and the restoration and modification of this boat won't be above my skill level. If i've learnt one thing from this site its to take things slow, think about it, use common sense and take things one step at a time.

I have attached some picks of my work so far (with the help of a few mates and a few beers ... well a lot of beers.)

It was origionally a forward stear with a canopy but I planned to cut the front out, and rebuild it as a forward casting platform with a few wells etc.

The trailer is in o.k condition, but will require a bit of rust proofing and the like.

The motor is a 40hp evinrude, electric gear select - which is currently stuck in gear. I was assured that it starts, but my brother in law is a marine mechanic so hopefully he will be able to deal with it.

This is turning into a long post so I will just finish with the pictures and write a new post with pictures to try to tell you all where i'm at and to hopefully pick your brains a bit.

Thanks
Dave

 

[OhioLowell]

Re: Newbie restore of late 70's Milligan Nipper - Hopefully

Looks like it'll be a nice little fishing boat. Please keep us posted on your progress. Lots of pics too.

Best,
Lowell

 

[Davothedevo]

Re: Newbie restore of late 70's Milligan Nipper - Hopefully

O.k, post #2 apologies for the length.

When we got theboat back to the garage, there was a pile of unanted stuff in it which we promptly removed. The floor itself had 2 heights - the base height and a raised section where the steering controls were. I removed the top of the raised section and found the bulk of the flotation which was not dry but not saturated. It seems however, that someone has built that top with the floor So when I had a look at the floor, there was a big square hole in it ...

After we cleaned it all out, we found a bit of rainwater in on the hull, next to the stringers which we were able to drain out though the bilge area. After a lot of 'knocking' I came to the conclusion that all of the existing glass is in very good condition considering. There are literally no spongy/soft/hollow areas in the hull of stringers which was a big relief.

The boys and I then set striping the boat down completely, we removed the steering cables, all fittings, the old floor where it joins the hull and cleaned out the bilge area. This is when we discovered a bit of rot.

Not knowing how boats are built, it would seem that the transom has 2 layers. The outer layer is fine, and 90% of the inner layer is fine also. All the glass is in good condion and not soft or 'hollow'. The other 10 percent is not so good though. The inside of the transom between 1 stringer and the side, below the height of the stringers has rotted out in a neat line - almost as if it were a third peice. When we removed the front, the boat lost some lateral stability but hopefully when we put in the casting deck it will do the same job as the top.

I don't want to bore you with every detail so I will just get onto the questions if anyones willing or still reading. I will post some more pics, and hopefully some close-ups after the weekend. I guess i just have some general questoins at this stage though no doubt there will be millions more after these.

With the state of the hull and stringers, should we be thinking about sanding it all back and reglassing? or strengthening the existing hull with some sort of product, or just give it a coat of something?

I would really like to take the lid so we can get right in under the motor well and clean out all the rot in that corner. We started to take the lid off and all was going well except for the glass on the inside of the boat joining the lid at the top. Is it a big job to cut said glass and take the lid off? - the rest of the lid would come off now if it weren't for that inside glass. or more importantly, should we be looking at replacing the transom?

Apologies to bombard you all with info now, but i've been trying to get this post going for a while - Aussies have trouble logging onto this site because of spam protections.

I would love to hear your opinions and thanks in advance.

Dave

 

[Davothedevo]

Re: Newbie restore of late 70's Milligan Nipper - Hopefully

A few more picks just for good measure.

Dave

 

[Davothedevo]

Re: Newbie restore of late 70's Milligan Nipper - Hopefully

Well, it seems that I was wrong.

The transom and stringers are not in good condition after all. When I did all that tapping and knocking to hear for hollows I obviously overlooked the fact that all of it was soggy.

In the tradition of any restoration project, This one has just doubled in size and length. However, we have decided to keep going, because its just to much fun!

Looks like I'll have to read a billion more threads RE stringer and transom replacement.

If anyone could give me the links for a few good ones that they know of, that would be good - save me some time searching.

Thanks all
Dave