1979 Lowe Line Stinger 15

[UTFISH]

Now that I tore the transom out and found out it was completely rotted, thought I would start a new thread here, since that turned it into a complete tear down project. I guess I should have figured that from the start. Here are the only pics I've taken so far. I think it originally had a johnson motor as it has johnson controls, and the control mount looks to still be factory riveted to the boat, but it came to me with a 1985 OMC 30hp. Looks like I will have to remove the foam filled floatation ballasts to fix the transom. Any advice on the best way to proceed or working with solid rivets, is appreciated.

 

[UTFISH]

Got the transom torn out and the mess cleaned up. You can tell from the pics how it was all put together. I didn't want to grind out solid rivets, especially ones in the bottom, but all six solid rivets that held the knee brace to the transom were either sheared off with nothing but paint holding the heads in place, or completely gone with silicone in the holes. So I figured what's a few more since I will have to get solid rivets anyway. Any advice on where to find soild rivets and working with them is greatly appreciated. This is my first experience working with rivets of any kind.

 

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I set the console and driver seat mount / baitwell back in the boat to show how they are laid out. It had a shoddily done front deck when I got it in March, which when I tore out revealed the factory set up had been cut out prior to it. I would like to know how it was originally built and see some pics if anyone has any or something similar? I would also like to know where the passenger seats were mounted if anyone has any idea? Thanks.

 

[UTFISH]

Here you can see where and how the baitwell was plumbed. The drain hose was run through the foam floatation ballasts and emptied into the back of the boat. Some previous owner sealed up the through hull fitting with epoxy so it just emtied into the back of the boat. I guess they ran the bilge pump constantly to keep it drained while on the water. The factory wiring was also run through the foam, so all the rewiring that had been done was zip tied to the motor control cables.

 

[UTFISH]

The smaller floatation ballast opposite the driver side had at some point been modified into a storage box. Doesn't look factory. I plan to do the same to the driver side one to match. Its not dry storage, but will be handy to keep small things out of the way. The existing one does hold water, so I will need to put drains in both.

 

[UTFISH]

Need to get the motor up on the make shift rack and get the lower unit off. Skeg is in terrible shape or I wouldn't have just set it there. Prop is pretty chewed up but may still be salvagable according to a friend. I would like to remove the cheap spray paint from the original controls. Any advice on removing that without messing up what's underneath is appreciated. At some point everything on this boat and trailer was spray painted, and poorly so. The gray spray paint on the boat does appear to have preserved the factory Lowe Line graphics which I will attempt to salvage while stripping the rest to bare metal.

 

[mfbear]

Got a nice project there. Aluminum rivets have a center mark on the head for drilling them out, hard to see with paint on them or if someone messed them up. They are drilled out with same size bit as hole. Most boats I've seen use 3/16 rivets. I would invest in a spring loaded center punch (not that expensive at Harbor Freight) and pop them several times to get a good starter mark. Start with a smaller drill bit like a 1/16, make sure your drilling at a perfect 90 degree to rivet. You will know when the burrs come off in a spiral. The rivets you install should be 1 1/2 times longer than thickness of materials, so I'd find a rivet grip gauge also. I don't know where your located but for rivets if any places make aircraft parts they may have rivets, Vo-Tech schools that teach aircraft courses may have them also. Ebay has them. Check YouTube for videos on installing and removal.