52 Duracraft Sportsman restoration.

[m casey stock]

Something exciting happened today.....PAINT!!!!!

 

[bigwave]

Awesome.....I will have one of these someday....I love the old runabout's.

 

[TheMaestro]

Wow, nice paint! I love the colour, keeps it in the time period, very authentic looking. Cant wait to see her finished

 

[m casey stock]

Thanks Guys, now to polish the sides and put all the pretties back on.

 

[DOBSONFLY]

Beautiful paint, looks awesome. Will be anxious to see the chrome and such back on her! =D>

 

[m casey stock]

Beautiful paint, looks awesome. Will be anxious to see the chrome and such back on her! =D>

I'm sure it won't take me long,LOL I have this pile of polished and cleaned up stuff in my office that has just been patiently waiting. Some brass some aluminum some chrome. I know the chrome and aluminum will look fine, I hope the brass does.

 

[m casey stock]

Hey, any of you guys personally used the clear Shark Hide sealer after polishing? I'm wondering how it holds up. I've seen several videos on it and read articles but I don't know anyone in person that has used it.

 

[m casey stock]

Been doing a little hand rubbing on the sides, I'm trying to decide if I want to go all the way with the chrome look or stop where I'm at with the "new" aluminum look. I'm pretty darn happy with the way it is right now. My plans are to use this boat and have fun on the water as much as I can. I figure at this point I can get the Mothers out at the end of each Summer (or anytime in the off season) and give it a good polish and be ready for the next boating season without much effort.

Here's a shot of my Jetson style stern light

 

[DOBSONFLY]

Don't change a thing, this is perfect. The natural luster you have got it to now is awesome combined with the other pieces adds perfect contrast. I love it. :mrgreen: envious!

 

[m casey stock]

thanks, that is what I'm going to do. I still have the whole other side to do, so it's back to work. It's getting so close I can feel the water spray LOL :lol:

 

[DOBSONFLY]

What are you going to push this with? Tell me you got a big old classic Merc to put on!

 

[m casey stock]

LOL, it's only rated for a 25hp, so I guess it shouldn't be a "big" anything. I do have a 58 Evinrude Lark 35 I'm thinking about, but when I first bought the boat I wasn't thinking "classic" so I rustled up an 88 Johnson 25hp (30hp by classic standards) for it. I may use the 25hp for everyday fun and hang the 35hp on it if I decide to show it. My son has a 14ft 60ish model Mckenzie runabout with an 82 Johnson 25hp (rated at the crank, so a 20hp by today's standards) anyway it goes plenty fast with that hanging off the back so I figure performance wise I should do just fine with the 25hp. I do have a 150hp Merc on my center console if that makes you feel any better LOL :LOL2:

 

[DOBSONFLY]

Shoot I figured it was rated higher than that, but either way sounds like it should scoot along okay!

 

[PSG-1]

Been doing a little hand rubbing on the sides, I'm trying to decide if I want to go all the way with the chrome look or stop where I'm at with the "new" aluminum look. I'm pretty darn happy with the way it is right now. My plans are to use this boat and have fun on the water as much as I can. I figure at this point I can get the Mothers out at the end of each Summer (or anytime in the off season) and give it a good polish and be ready for the next boating season without much effort.
View attachment 1
Here's a shot of my Jetson style stern light

Great looking boat! How in the heck do you get the aluminum to shine like that? :?:

 

[bobberboy]

Oh,baby! Time I got back to work on mine.

 

[m casey stock]

Been doing a little hand rubbing on the sides, I'm trying to decide if I want to go all the way with the chrome look or stop where I'm at with the "new" aluminum look. I'm pretty darn happy with the way it is right now. My plans are to use this boat and have fun on the water as much as I can. I figure at this point I can get the Mothers out at the end of each Summer (or anytime in the off season) and give it a good polish and be ready for the next boating season without much effort.
View attachment 1
Here's a shot of my Jetson style stern light

Great looking boat! How in the heck do you get the aluminum to shine like that? :?:

I cleaned it with aircraft paint stripper and a green scotch-brite pad and started rubbing and polishing with Mothers aluminum polish, mostly by hand. Others have polished their boats in a different manner with great results, sanding with fine sand paper and buffing with different polishes, I tried this method and got better results polishing by hand. It's tough work, I won't deny that, but I'm happy with how it has turned out. Wax on wax off, over and over LOL until it shines like a new penny.

 

[m casey stock]

Oh,baby! Time I got back to work on mine.

LOL thanks man :mrgreen:

 

[wingsnhammers]

That boat looks great! I've been interested in those old school runabouts for a while. I'm thinking I may try to find one to fix up at some point. They are just so cool. lol. You have done a killer job on yours!

 

[m casey stock]

That boat looks great! I've been interested in those old school runabouts for a while. I'm thinking I may try to find one to fix up at some point. They are just so cool. lol. You have done a killer job on yours!

Thanks for the compliment. Yea, I never even thought about one of these old aluminum runabouts, not sure I even knew they existed until a year ago. I was driving along on one of my usual routes and saw this boat up on a hill for sale. I bet I drove by it for at least two weeks. I kept thinking that it looked kinda cool, but just didn't have time to stop. Finally one Saturday I stopped and the more I looked at it the more I got hooked. I thought it was just some old open top pond boat but when I got up level to where I could see over the sides and that it had a covered bow and then noticed it had pulleys and guides for steering I knew I was not leaving without it. I did hold my excitement long enough to successfully lower the price from his original $950.00 asking price :mrgreen:

 

[m casey stock]

looking for a the small pole that goes in the hole of my bow light that a flag would be attached to. Anybody know of a site that sells reproductions?