14' JBoat Fixer Upper

[GAHunter]

I'm trying to find the motor . It was stored somewhere and no one can remember.. so chances are it's gone. Unfortunately. Would have been nice not to have to spend that lol. Maybe I'll find it sometime.. there have been 3 or 4 different moves between my parents and myself so there is no telling. Last time I saw it was at least 8 or 9 years ago. Maybe more. I've been looking on craigslist and Facebook market.. nothing good as of yet.

I think I will paint it on the inside, maybe take some pine (1x12), stain, seal up and put on top of the benches. Will definitely go with a clamp on swivel seat, I saw where many strap em down, gonna get a cover too, I dont have any covered storage unfortunately. I like the coffee can idea too.


I'm thinking of Fasco Steelflex on the bottom, either a pigment or just rolling on clear on bottom and sides, then paint over that whatever color I decide. I gotta track down some marine grade plywood too. Lowes/home depot dont have it, maybe one of the lumber yards will. I'm gonna draw out a cardboard form for my motor plate. Think I may paint/epoxy everything then put the transom back in. I may have to drill out the rivets in the support bracket and replace with bolts through the side of boat. Not sure how else I'll get the transom back in there otherwise. I took a jig saw and cut it in half to get it out.

 

[1960 yellowboat]

The boating supply stores sell bottom paint for aluminum boats but it is expensive. Since you are going to use an epoxy undercoat, perhaps Rust o leum would work.

The wood covers on the seats is exactly what I did. Got 1X12 pine, stained it walnut with oil based stain and covered it with many coats of marine polyurethane spar varnish. I got both the stain and varnish at Home Depot.

As far as the new transom wood goes,If you can get the corner braces off, then you can slide the wood down from the top. Otherwise you'll have to remove the flanges and re attach them after you bolt the transom wood back in. The holes in the back will serve as a guide for replacing the flanges. The wood, being fitted to the transom, will show through the holes and you can drill the bolt hole in from the back.
The bolts, now sticking through the metal and wood will act as pins for the flanges.
I'd use small stainless bolts or pop rivets [ my first choice] to re attach the flanges to the hull.

Tommorrow or Saturday I will show you what I made out of PVC to support a tarp over my boat to keep it dry.

 

[1960 yellowboat]

I don't have any inside storage for my boat either. but this is how I keep the boat dry.
First, you need to get a tarp, {Harbor Freight?] that is at least 2 or 3 feet longer than the boat.

Next, you'll need at least 4 pieces of PVC from Home Depot. Any size will do as long as it is the thick wall kind.
Get 6 T's, 6 endcaps and 2 45 degree elbows.
Cut 3 pieces of pipe at least 12 inches longer that the maximum depth of the boat.
On each end of these pipes place a T. The top one 90 degrees off from the bottom one. You'll have an exaggerated H
On the bottom T, put two 12 inch pieces of pipe with an end cap.
When you put these in the boat,centered,the ends will be facing the sides of the boat
One each in the rear, one in the front and one in the middle.
Join the 3 uprights with two long pieces of PVC pipe.
At this point you will have a framework to support the tarp.
At the back end of the support and the front end add a 12 inch piece of pipe and then the elbow.
Put a piece of PVC into the elbow long enough to go past the bow and motor.
Drape your tarp over it, centered and using rope and bungee cords and tent pegs, secure the tarp to the ground at an angle going away from the boat.
You've basically made a removable tent to cover your boat.
Mine works fine here in Florida where it rains every dam day!

 

[GAHunter]

Awesome, thank you for the idea! I will have to tackle that soon aswell!

Is this what we are talking about as far as the motor plate?

Maybe just a touch less wide.. figure I'd use 3/4 on both sides and cap with a new aluminum plate (as Wolves described I believe).

I found some epoxy on amazon that I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on, Goop Coat it I think its called. Then the paint I may go black and red (black on the Lower parts and red around). Then either white on the inside or a light grey.. I'll throw up an example in just a bit.

Thanks Yellow!

 

[1960 yellowboat]

Awesome, thank you for the idea! I will have to tackle that soon aswell!

Is this what we are talking about as far as the motor plate?

Maybe just a touch less wide.. figure I'd use 3/4 on both sides and cap with a new aluminum plate (as Wolves described I believe).

I found some epoxy on amazon that I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on, Goop Coat it I think its called. Then the paint I may go black and red (black on the Lower parts and red around). Then either white on the inside or a light grey.. I'll throw up an example in just a bit.

Thanks Yellow!

Yes, that is perfect. Wide is good.I like that color scheme too.

 

[GAHunter]

Ty Sir! I'm thinkin something like...

Tried to do it with my phone lol. Rough

Maybe black on the back with red transom board..

 

[GAHunter]

Just a quick first coat on the interior, gotta finish the very back but need to clean it up a little more first. Will probably do 2 or 3 coats.

Thought I might luck up on the "oops" paint but they had every other color except white and gray it seemed like. 9 dollars would have been nice. I went with Valspar porch floor and patio exterior paint, was already light grey and is about exactly the color I had in mind.


Before/after:

 

[1960 yellowboat]

that looks perfect.
you're getting the hang of this restoration business

 

[GAHunter]

Checking around for a motor, saw this: Guy claims it's not locked up and turns over he just dont have time to tinker with it.

Never know I guess, but not bad?

 

[1960 yellowboat]

Older mercs can be a nightmare to repair, Plus, I dont see a lower end in the pic.
Stick with Evinrude or Johnson, you won't be sorry.
And make sure it runs before you buy it.
Where in Ga. are you?

 

[GAHunter]

Ahh ok, I will see what I can find Johnson/Evinrude, I'm in North Ga. It irks me I cant track down my old motor, I'm hoping I'll have one of those Aha! Moments and remember what I did with it.. But so far, nothin.

 

[1960 yellowboat]

Mercury's aren't necessarily bad, they just can be expensive to repair.
If you could get the seller to allow you to have it checked out by a shop before you buy it, that would be best.
It will most likely need a new impeller and plugs.
For $100, offer him $75 and take a chance

 

[1960 yellowboat]

Here's the rub.
Your boat is coming along nicely and you REALLY want to get out in it. I was the same way. I bought a 20 horse Johnson that needed quite a bit of work. i thought I could handle it. I couldn't. I ended up taking a few parts off it and giving it away. The next one I bought was a 1955 Evinrude 15, but this time I made sure that it ran. Still, it cost me $300 to get it top running condition. That is why I stress getting a motor that is running. If the seller won't have it running for you for at least 15 minutes, then walk away. If the motor runs and pumps water, then make your offer. Newer motors "Pee" when the water pump is working. If any outboard is cranked dry, you destroy the rubber impeller in the water pump, and it will have to be replaced.The water actually lubricates it.
OK, you found a nice motor at a good price. It runs and pumps. At least you can use it and restore it as you go. If you are handy working on small engines then you can go on You Tube and learn how to work on it. I'm not. I know that parts are available for rudes and johnsons all the way back to the 50's. I'm not sure about Mercury. You can go to Marineengine.com to research just about any outboard.
Go to Duckworks.com and find the articles about rebuilding old motors by Max W. It will amaze you.

 

[GAHunter]

Thanks Yellow! I will take a look at those links, and yeah I agree, I'd rather shell out the money 1 time, even if a bit more.

I have a lot of work to do still, cant wait to get her in the water, I removed the back "skarews". I imagine whoever did that just did It to plug the holes.. This is what was below the sealant:

I am ready for some wood now. I may call up lowes to see if they can order me a 4×8 sheet of marine grade. If I can get the time I'm going to try and run to lowes and get the 1x12s, get em cut, stained and at least a couple coats of poly. That may or may not happen today lol.

I went through and checked the rivets, circled the ones that need attention(dry erase marker). It will take me a sec but I'll put those up in the next post. Someone along the line decided to wrap wire around 2 of the front rivets and use then to pull the boat.. not sure if I can hammer those back down or not, its above the water line but such a terrible way to do it lol.

More to come.

Thank you!


Actually: let me try this:

I dont really know what I can do with the rivet that got JB welded in... unless I drill it out and replace it with a larger head. I bought a riveter but couldnt find any sealed rivets. Amazon probably for those. The loose one (that sticks out a little) is one of the rivets on a bench/seat.

My initial plan was to braze the cracks. One of them for sure leaks, the other probably does, they just filled the channel on inside with jb weld but didnt prep it right (or it's really old) its falling out. I will probably remove all that then go from there with those.

 

[GAHunter]

This was one thing I have been meaning to ask about.. its toward the front and doesnt seem to leak or anything that I noticed, should this be tapped back down? (From inside?) Or maybe push in some sealant or something prior to epoxy/paint?

It's the cap/ridge that runs down the middle of boat (for lack of actual terminology)

 

[GAHunter]

Called Home Depot the next town over. The guy claims they have marine grade 3/4... but he said it was 30 something a sheet which makes me think it's not marine grade.. hopefully im wrong but everything I've seen so far seems twice that much for a sheet.

 

[1960 yellowboat]

Geeze!
Are you still friends with the guy that sold you the boat?

OK, I had much the same cracks and rivet problems on my 60 year old boat.
There is a product called West Marine G Flex epoxy. If there is no West Marine near you, you can get it off Amazon.It ain't cheap. Around $35 or so but it will seal everything you have.
It's a two part epoxy made specifically for aluminum boats. It's made for rivet and crack repair. You clean the affected area with a wire brush and acetone or rubbing alcohol and put the epoxy on the crack or rivet. Then you carefully heat it with a heatgun or propane torch and the heat and capillary action draws it down into the opening. This stuff works so good, you can use a regular pop rivet and then seal it with the G Flex.
On the big crack, tap it down as flush as you can, clean it and G Flex it.
As far as that goofy J B ed one, do the same thing.
The whole trick of using this stuff is that it is a HOT patch instead of a cold one like JB.
Don't worry about the marine grade plywood. It still has to be sealed. Get exterior grade ply made for ground contact and seal the devil out of it.Regardless of what you use, it will only last 5 years or so.

 

[GAHunter]

Haha I know right. So the thing came from Alabama somewhere along the line, who knows beyond that then it was used as a boat at some camp place. So I imagine that's where it got beat up. (over used/abused Pond boat). The guy I bought it from told me he had about 5 cups of water to dump out after he used it. Probably from the 2 cracks and loose rivets (below the water line). I will clean her up and look into the product you recommend. I think I jumped the gun on the interior paint, luckily I only did 1.5 coats for now. Not sure what the heat will do to the paint, worse case I sand off that spot, epoxy/heat and paint back over it.


I will see what they have tomorrow, I hope to be able to remove the top corners so I can slid the transom in, there are a lot of rivets up there though. But if I can get then out and replace with bolts that will make replacing easier in the future.

The closest west marine is about 1 hr 22 mins, but I work down that way so closer on days I go to work.
Going to check online in just a moment. Again, Thank you for the input/help!

 

[GAHunter]

Nice, I found a video on how to apply g flex. I was just thinking, if I plan to epoxy the bottom/sides should I still go ahead and pre fix the rivets/cracks? Or would that be over doing it? Just wanted to be sure before I pulled the trigger on the g flex.

 

[1960 yellowboat]

yes, definately do them first.