Re: Whether or not to restore an Arkansas traveler
HI dvejr. Welcome to iboats. I have a'59 Arkansas Traveler DUT-14, v-hull, aluminum runabout that I converted to a fishing boat. I found my AT to be very well built and solid, which made all the repairs/mods I did fairly easy. There are several AT threads here in the forums and tons of Starcraft threads which are also very helpful. I think you'll find that the hardest part will be getting stock parts if/when you need them, otherwise the repairs ad work itself are pretty straight forward. There are a couple ruls of thumb to keep in mind. If your boat is aluminum NEVER use pressure treated lumber on it as it will cause an electrolytic reaction with the aluminum hull of the boat. As a result most folks use marine grade or high quality, exterior grade plywood, coated with epoxy, then painted or coated with polyester resin, then covered in fiberglass. Most folks prefer the epoxy method because it faster and simpler, but does cost a bit more. You'll also want to use stainless steel fasteners coated with 3M 5200 for any all through-gull fittings. You can also use SS hardware to attach items to the hull also, but some folks prefer aluminum pop rivets. As for flotation, most of us use blue and/or pink foam insulation boards from HD or Lowes and cut it to shape. Most folks can gut and refinish there aluminum boats for about $1500 and a couple weekends work of work. That's really about it. Everything else is just a matter of taste, time and money. Bare in mind that, like most boats, you'll probably never really get your money back out of her, but you'll learn tons, have lots of fun and feels great after you build/fix your own boat. As Monterey Dreams said, we LOVE pics. Keep us posted. Good luck!
These guys are helping hundreds of us noobs so try to keep the posts short, sweet and to the point and it will greatly help you in your chances to hook one of the big fish around here. 
