1983 Smoker Craft Big Fisherman 15.5 ft

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JasRam

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Hi all. I picked up this Smoker craft Big Fisherman with a mercury 50 hp 2 stroke. It wasn’t running when I got it and the owner said that it had been left outside with no cover for a few years . I’m sharing some pics of the process so far .
 

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Some images of the stripped hull and primer plus paint . I used Ace Rust Stop with 10% hardener thinned with mineral spirits.The hull was stripped with Zip Strip and then coated with Aircraft primer before the paint was applied .
 

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Hi DaleH,
I found that it is rebranded rust oleum and I liked the Regal Red From Ace. I used a process I found on another boat forum a few years ago.It’s primed with zinc chromate from NAPA and I’ve added a urethane hardener used for Van Sickle tractor paint . I needed something I could roll on since I couldn’t get the boat into a closed space. It has hardened up nicely after about 3 weeks. I did a smaller boat a few years ago and a local guy owns it now, the paint still looks the same as the day it was painted and he stores it outside all year.
 
Newer image with the decals in place
 

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Nice boat. Did you just paint the outside or did you do some work on the interior also.
 
Hi Stomper. Yeah, I’m close to finished, I’m down to the details . Here are a few images of the inside when I began the year down. The seller said “ it might have a few small wet spots”. That was an understatement! I found that they had gone over the original floor with 1/2 inch ply. I replaced all wood with 3/4 marine coated with west system epoxy .
 

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Nice job on the paint and thanks for the detail of adding the hardener. I t seems like a few here to that. Going forward, if you need epoxy, also consider www.raka.com and save considerable $$ over West, as most boat shops up here have switched.

What's the word with the OB motor?
 
Hi Dale, thanks for the epoxy link, the prices are much better than West. I build furniture so I’ve used west system for bent laminations tor the past 15 years or so.I’ll have to pass this on to my friends as I haven’t heard any of them mention it.

Regarding the motor. I bought it knowing it didn’t run. I got it home, rebuilt the carbs, replaced impeller, and installed a new trigger and stator and it started right up! I hadn’t heard about the problems with older Mercs and rotting wiring, now I know! I was able to test the compression before buying it and it was right around 108 on all cylinders. Once running, I tested it warmed up and I got 112 on all 4 cyl. I’m really happy with how it runs , it moves along at about 29-32 mph at wot .

I’m attaching a few images of what I found in the motor, before and after
 

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JasRam said:
... hadn’t heard about the problems with older Mercs and rotting wiring, now I know!
Similar situation today with cars, where Chinese-sourced wiring is covered in a soy-based insulation and rodents LOVE to chew it! Issues on a 'simple' 2-stroke OB is one thing ... but imagine the 'rats nest', no pun intended, incurred on a computer controlled :shock: vehicle with 20-50X the amount of wiring?
 
Here are a few images of the interior and an image of the boat in the water. Still in the process of removing some of the old red carpet. I can’t believe how much carpet I’ve gone through at this point !
 

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Lookin’ really good, even said as an anti-carpet advocate! Note I boat saltwaters & sand beaches where carpet is the WORST ... but I certainly ‘get it’ for lake/pond use.

Ya’ gotta LOVE those hulls with a 4-6” wide ‘gun whale’ (gunnel) around the topsides!
 
A few more images.Finally getting around to doing the transom. I’m using the layers of 3/4 ACX coated with epoxy . Going to do install it this weekend, I’m hoping to use my ceiling hoist to raise the motor and hold it to the side , instead of completely removing it.
 

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I got it all in , it was an 8 hour job and most of the time was spent vacuuming out the old transom.My plan to hang the outboard and slide the new transom under the motor worked well. Things were a bit tricky as I didn’t have help. I used a few tie lines to pull the motor out of the way as needed. All drilled holes were coated with epoxy and all bolt heads on outside of the boat were sealed with 3m 5200. I don’t want to do another transom for a long time 😀
 

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More progress
 

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