dillonheath08
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2014
- Messages
- 97
Hi everyone,
New member of the boating community. Owned boats before, but never anything that required maintaining or even restoration. Recently sold what I called my "pond hopper" it was a 8ft. fiberglass two-seater boat powered by a 35lb. thrust trolling motor. It was not much but it got me around the smaller lakes with ease and that is really all I needed it for. But the time came when I wanted something bigger, better, greater. After a few weeks or searching on several "For Sale" sites I had yet to find what I was looking for. I was looking for a Plain Jane aluminum Jon Boat that I could put a 10HP motor on and get around some larger lakes. My boat was sold on Friday and that evening my Fiance' calls me and says she may have found me a boat. Her grandfather has a fiberglass boat. I agree to look at it but I tell her I'm not getting my hopes up. We go to look at it and the boat is not as bad as I had expected, it is not perfect but it can be fixed up. The first thing I noticed, the paint, it needed to be redone but it could wait. From there I inspect the trailer. It is in great condition and might possibly need new rollers. No big deal. It does; however, need new tires. Once again no big deal. the carpet inside the boat was redone one year prior to this and seems to be in decent condition. I am not that crazy about the blue. So I will be redoing it. He tells me that the floor is in good condition and has no rotting. I hopped in and the first place I step I nearly go through the floor. This concerns me, but I do not say anything. Finally he begins to tell me about the motor. It is a 115HP Evinrude. It was overhauled last year in May. He took it to a guy and when he picked it up he was able to hear it run and said it ran strong. With a sigh of relief I back my truck up to it and he says "You can have it. Fix it up and use it. Just do not sell it." We shake hands I drive off.
So I am now the proud owner of a 1979 Venture Bass Boat. It is 17ft. long. I have ripped the carpet on the main floor up and the majority of the floor underneath seems to be structurally sound. I will be replacing the entire thing to prevent future hassles. The entire network of wires is there but are currently in a tangled mess under the dashboard/steering wheel. I have straightened them up and began to sort through them. I have redone most every wire in the stern of the boat and connected them to a marine battery. This has gotten me to the point where my 115HP Evinrude will turn over. I am currently working to redo the fuel line (all new hose, inline fuel filter, primer bulb, and engine connection). Once that is done I will see if she fires up, so, fingers crossed! If she does fire up I will be moving on with the floor restoration.
The floor appears to be 1/4" treated plywood with fiberglass on top of that. I am going to be adding 1/2" maybe even 3/4" treated plywood and adding 2 layers of fiberglass on top that followed by some all-weather carpeting.
Any information or links to information on boats like mine or a motor like mine would be greatly appreciated. And also any information fiberglass (resins, cloth, t hardener, mixing rations) would also be a great help.
I am very new to the boat restoration world and have very little knowledge of it!
