Help with Ward Sea King 12 ft.

[ghulse]

I was out in my kayak last week and found this Sea King boat overturned in the marsh. I tied a rope to the bow and towed it back to my beach.

From stern to bow, it measures about 11' 9". Whoever owned this boat registered it in Maryland in 1978 and I’m guessing that may be the year the boat was made. Although it is certainly possible the owner purchased the boat used. There was a bailer from a milk bottle dated 2020, so my guess is the boat was lost during an extreme storm surge we had last year.

Anyway, I’ve see a few reports online (especially here on tinboats.net) where people have refurbished their Sea Kings. And I’m starting to set up a place in my garage to do the same! I have several questions about this boat and hope the experts here will chime in.

As you can see all the wood parts are pretty much shot. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated on what kind of wood to use for the seats and how to treat the wood. I’m assuming use plywood for the transom?

And then there’s how to get the old paint off. The paint used on the bottom and the interior is very rubbery. I’ve never seen anything like it. Does anybody know what product this might be and how to remove it. Maybe a pressure washer (2500 - 3000 psi) will get this stuff off?

Finally, I see that some Sea King owners are putting flotation boxes under the seats. I will look into doing this as well.

Other than that, should I test for leaks once I get the old paint off? What other considerations?

 

[MN Fisher]

If the ID numbers (reg or serial) are readable - might want to try to find the previous owner...they might want it back. Re-registering it without a valid bill of sale or title is just asking for trouble.

 

[Kismet]

What he ^ said. You really don't want to get in a dialog with state registration folks.

Best wishes

 

[ghulse]

If the ID numbers (reg or serial) are readable - might want to try to find the previous owner...they might want it back. Re-registering it without a valid bill of sale or title is just asking for trouble.

Hey, thanks for the advice. I went through the Dept. of Natural Resources and got the owner's name and address. Called him on the phone and he gladly gave me the boat. There must be an interesting story about how the boat ended up where it did.

 

[DaleH]

Wow, cool find! Thank you and good on you for contacting the previous Owner! See? Good karma to you in exchange!

Rubbery Paint - Ugh, likely it could be a spray on 'bedliner' type material and I find it a beyatch to remove, but once used one of those abrasive 'spider' wheels chucked up in a power drill, for mechanical removal. I doubt a pressure washer would touch it.

And worse, 'if' bedliner for leak prevention ... removing it could make it leak more!

Seats - Tin boat companies like Lund use MDO (plywood with a finished sheathing on it) fo their seats, but with what you have there, you'll need to add some type of vertical supports to those seats.

Transom - Here's a post I did on a transom replacment - using epoxy to seal the wood ... might be a tad overkill for that hull, but it will give you some good ideas. See: https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?p=481416

Hopefully you know this, but do not use pressure treated wood in that hull. Get started, then come back here as you make progress!

 

[LDUBS]

Hey, thanks for the advice. I went through the Dept. of Natural Resources and got the owner's name and address. Called him on the phone and he gladly gave me the boat. There must be an interesting story about how the boat ended up where it did.

That is terrific! Congrats!

 

[KMixson]

Nice lookin boat. I don't see any major problem from the picture. Looks like the hull is solid. Should not be too hard to customize to your liking.

 

[ruffhunter]

id power wash, get a cheap rotary disc sander with 330 grit, TSP powder clean, rinse. Parker Duck Boat primer (best imo). It may appear watery but goes on thick. 2 coats of paint. After rivet inspection and maybe have someone that aluminum weld touch up any spots or tears. Wish you got the story and how far it traveled from where it was to final rest.

 

[ghulse]

id power wash, get a cheap rotary disc sander with 330 grit, TSP powder clean, rinse. Parker Duck Boat primer (best imo). It may appear watery but goes on thick. 2 coats of paint. After rivet inspection and maybe have someone that aluminum weld touch up any spots or tears. Wish you got the story and how far it traveled from where it was to final rest.

Thank you for this advice. I finally received the bill of sale from the original owner in the mail. Not to mention it took me about 12 days to recover from COVID. I'm ready to start removing old paint.

One quick question I have. There was no drain plug when I found the boat. There's a 3-4-inch PVC pipe being used for the drain hole. Do you suggest a PVC cap to plug this? Or use something different?

 

[LDUBS]

One quick question I have. There was no drain plug when I found the boat. There's a 3-4-inch PVC pipe being used for the drain hole. Do you suggest a PVC cap to plug this? Or use something different?

I wonder why they did that. Assuming something isn't going on I would remove the PVC stuff and use a drain plug similar to this:

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

I had one of those and did a freshening on it. https://tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44152

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[uncndl1]

I know this is an older post, but was wondering how you made out on your transom and seat project for the Wards Boat?

I did a similar thing awhile back including the floatation foam, link found here:

https://www.tinboats.net/threads/wards-sea-king-aluminum-boat.39891/