Hi folks!
Just picked up my first boat that I don't have to paddle (at least, I hope to not have to paddle this one). Free from a family friend. It's a 1990 Klamath 14 DLX. It's a welded tin boat. Came with a 1985 Mercury 25 XD outboard. Neither boat nor outboard have been used in nearly 20 years. The outboard at least was stored inside and it looks like somebody had the sense to winterize it before putting it away -- it will probably run pretty good with a little rehab. The EZ Loader trailer is rusty, had no working wiring or lights, had an old frayed poly rope on the rusted winch, original rubber on the tires, probably original grease in the bearings. Redid the trailer wiring, added lights, replaced the winch and strap, new tires, repacked the bearings...didn't do much about the rust.
The hull on the boat looked in OK shape. I vacuumed out about 10 gallons of dirt and pine needles out of the bottom, attached a triangle of plywood to the bow with self tapping screws, mounted a bow-mount trolling motor to that and took her out to the reservoir to see if she floats. The good news is that she handled great even considering the rain and gusty winds and with only an electric trolling motor for propulsion. The less good news is that she wouldn't float forever -- after 3-4 hours on the water there was maybe 10 gallons of water in the bottom of the boat. It was drizzling, but that seemed to be too much to just be attributed to rain.
I went exploring with the boat back on the trailer and found a few patches of corrosion at the bottom of some ribs on either side underneath the middle bench seat, looked like little spots of crumbly grey graham cracker. Barely looked like much of anything. Then I probed them with a needle and found a couple have holes (from pinhole to 1/8") that go clean through the hull. Of course, even the spots that don't have holes yet are probably pretty compromised.
I drilled out the rivets and removed the bench seat top revealing some ancient moldy wet foam and a bunch of mouse nests at the bottom over the leaks. I'm not sure why Klamath thought it was a good idea to make an otherwise inaccessable area under the seat have a drainage opening that would fit a mouse. I assume the combination of constant moisture and mouse pee made a witches brew that caused corrosion at the bottom of some of the ribs where water pooled. What's the best way to fix this in a cost effective way?
Bench seat and foam removed. Gross. The corrosion is mostly below the debris.
Spot of corrosion from below, with pinhole causing leak.
Several spots of corrosion from below, 2 mm hole causing leak.
Some of the offending moldy wet foam.
Just picked up my first boat that I don't have to paddle (at least, I hope to not have to paddle this one). Free from a family friend. It's a 1990 Klamath 14 DLX. It's a welded tin boat. Came with a 1985 Mercury 25 XD outboard. Neither boat nor outboard have been used in nearly 20 years. The outboard at least was stored inside and it looks like somebody had the sense to winterize it before putting it away -- it will probably run pretty good with a little rehab. The EZ Loader trailer is rusty, had no working wiring or lights, had an old frayed poly rope on the rusted winch, original rubber on the tires, probably original grease in the bearings. Redid the trailer wiring, added lights, replaced the winch and strap, new tires, repacked the bearings...didn't do much about the rust.
The hull on the boat looked in OK shape. I vacuumed out about 10 gallons of dirt and pine needles out of the bottom, attached a triangle of plywood to the bow with self tapping screws, mounted a bow-mount trolling motor to that and took her out to the reservoir to see if she floats. The good news is that she handled great even considering the rain and gusty winds and with only an electric trolling motor for propulsion. The less good news is that she wouldn't float forever -- after 3-4 hours on the water there was maybe 10 gallons of water in the bottom of the boat. It was drizzling, but that seemed to be too much to just be attributed to rain.
I went exploring with the boat back on the trailer and found a few patches of corrosion at the bottom of some ribs on either side underneath the middle bench seat, looked like little spots of crumbly grey graham cracker. Barely looked like much of anything. Then I probed them with a needle and found a couple have holes (from pinhole to 1/8") that go clean through the hull. Of course, even the spots that don't have holes yet are probably pretty compromised.
I drilled out the rivets and removed the bench seat top revealing some ancient moldy wet foam and a bunch of mouse nests at the bottom over the leaks. I'm not sure why Klamath thought it was a good idea to make an otherwise inaccessable area under the seat have a drainage opening that would fit a mouse. I assume the combination of constant moisture and mouse pee made a witches brew that caused corrosion at the bottom of some of the ribs where water pooled. What's the best way to fix this in a cost effective way?
Bench seat and foam removed. Gross. The corrosion is mostly below the debris.
Spot of corrosion from below, with pinhole causing leak.
Several spots of corrosion from below, 2 mm hole causing leak.
Some of the offending moldy wet foam.
