1973 14' Lowe V Bottom

[wrench001]

So I finally bought my first boat. Its a 1973 Lowe 14' V Bottom, came with a 1992 Mercury 8HP which is in pretty good shape (starts on the first pull).

My plans are:
1. Take off all paint - going to bare metal cause its flaking everywhere
2. Wire brush the interior
3. Fix the leaks (leaking in 2 spots, one front, one rear)
4. Prime (already bought some Mar Hyde Self Etching Primer)
5. Paint - Going with Parker Hunter Green for exterior and Parker Sand Tan for interior
6. Cut access in center bench for batteries and add a hinged plywood lid (carpeted)
7. Put plywood deck (carpeted) over front two benches with storage area in the space between those seats
8. Add plywood floors with carpeting

I plan on taking it out a few times after Step 5 to see how she handles and if there are more leaks under stress

Here are a few pics (looks really nice from far away, up close is another story):

 

[micnichol]

nice find lookin foward to the updates heres mine just done

 

[Rat]

Lots of potential there! I really like to watch the builds on these Semi-Vee hulls. They just look so cool when they are done. All I ever see are flatbottom Jons on my lakes...

 

[huntinfool]

This one will be a good one to watch.

 

[wrench001]

So I got around to stripping off all the old paint. I don't know what the previous ower used to paint the thing, but paint stripper didn't seem to faze it at all. So I had to resort to a wire wheel on my corded drill. That worked fairly well but was taking forever so I made a trip to Harbor Freight and picked up an angle grinder for $15 plus $5 each for a nylon wheel and a stainless wire wheel. The nylon wheel was perfect, finished a whole side (minus tight spots) in about 2 hours. Then I went over the spots i missed with the wire wheel. Now I just need to clean up the interior and its ready for primer.

 

[wrench001]

So I want to add removable floors in this thing. Seems simple enough but I'm afraid the panels will be bouncing around every time I hit a wave or slide if someone steps on the edge, but I want to be able to take them out of the boat to clean it (so no attaching them to the ribs). Does anyone have any ideas or links to other v bottom rebuilds to put in removable floor panels?

 

[Froggy]

Screw them in with 4 large screws, just unscrew to remove.

 

[huntinfool]

Screw them in with 4 large screws, just unscrew to remove.

That's what I plan on doing...just in case.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

lookin good. getting the paint off with a wire wheel sure is fun aint it

 

[luvdlake]

lookin good. getting the paint off with a wire wheel sure is fun aint it

The Fun way to remove that old paint is the way I did it and pay 150 bucks to a professional sandblasting company, only took them two hours and they got every speck of old paint, tar and who knows what else off. But anyways your boat is coming along nicely, Looking good. keep them pics coming.

 

[wrench001]

So, had to take some time off of working on the boat cause the in-laws were in town... But I managed to get alot of work done this week. The previous owner(s) decided to drill about 20 holes in the sides of the boat so I filled them with some marine putty. To check for leaks I filled the boat with water and marked any drips. I rebucked the leaking rivets and coated them with some Goop marine epoxy that I found at True Value. Then today I primed and painted the exterior with a spray gun from Harbor Freight. My goal for this week is to get the interior cleaned and painted.

 

[wrench001]

Got the interior all painted up today (Parker Sand Tan). I went with a light color to keep the boat a little cooler in the sun. Next task is to replace the transom boards. I bought some ACX 23/32 plywood, Thompsons Waterseal and some Titebond III for the edges. I can see the end of the tunnel finally... Its been rough having my boat for a month and not taken it out on the water yet.

 

[StrasBuff]

Nice work! And thanks for posting the pics of some of the products and tools you used.

 

[mgydorsey]

I too have a 14 foot lowe utility, great boat not leaks at all. I have one question for you, mine has had all the labels and stickers removed, what is the liste max HP and max capacity for this boat? Thanks for any info. Great job on your boat, I may just wind up with a new winter project....
Mark

 

[bigwave]

Good work, I like the colors. =D>

 

[adajam99]

Great boat Coming out nice I really like the colors

 

[topdog5050]

Nice paint job on the boat and keep up the great work.