New boat owner, New to restoration--pics included

[abjur]

Greetings,

First time poster but man I love this site. So many great projects completed, I am simply amazed and if I can only partially accomplish what some of you guys have, I will be happy.

Today my dad finally gave me our old Alumacraft boat. This boat has been in my family for a long time. It first belonged to my grandfather, (who passed away several years ago) and my mother said that he owned it since she was a little girl (she's in her 50's). My mom said she even learned to ski behind it when she was a young teenager. I remember going fishing with my grandfather in this boat and I have a lot of great memories. My grandfather eventually gave it to my father and we also share a lot of great memories in it. Unfortunately it has sat for a long time on my dads property, not being used and it needs some work. One day I asked my dad about it and he said the boat could be mine. I am pretty excited to finally have this boat and to get some work done on it. I want to fix this boat up and get it into good looking/working order so that I can create some memories with my own children (3year old daughter and a son due in August). I also wanna pay tribute to my grandfather by fixing it up and keeping it in the family, maybe even eventually passing it on to my son.

Now the major hurdles will be the work, as I have no experience what so ever. I also don't have much information on the boat. My dad thinks it is around the year 1956 but he isn't sure. I am not seeing any sort of serial/model number stamped anywhere on the boat and the the tags on the transom just say it is a Alumacraft combination row/outboard. I think I will call my grandmother to see if she remembers any information on the boat like when it was purchased, was it new, year etc.

Anyways here are some pics, any advice information, tips, etc will be appreciated, I will need it all!

sorry so small, not sure how to make them larger on this forum

 

[hossthehermit]

Welcome aboard. First of all, nice boat, can't beat the old ones, IMO. Has it ever been registered? If so, it should have registrstion number stuck onto the bow on each side. The state should be able to supply you with year, serial #, model #, etc. from that. If not, hope your grandmother can find some paperwork for it someplace around the house.

 

[jasper60103]

Sounds like you inherited a great boat with a lot of family history. Awesome! Take care of it and it will last for generations to come.

 

[abjur]

Well I talked with my dad today and he says he does have information on the boat some where. I will have to get on him to look for it but he's pretty busy lately with remodeling his kitchen lol....I also posted on iboats and someone recommended getting a vintage Evinrude Big Twin. Wasn't too sure exactly what it was, other then a motor but I have been doing some research and the more I think about it, I would like to get an old Evinrude to retain that vintage look. My dad has a vintage 5 horse Evinrude that I can have until I decide/find something bigger.

I want to keep some of the boats vintage look but also modify it some to make fishing/cruising a little more enjoyable. I have so many ideas swarming through my head, not even sure if some will even work but this site has given me alot of inspiration. Just wish I could start on it now....ugh too many projects.

Anyways sorry for rambling, just excited to be here and learn!

 

[bassboy1]

Yep, a 35 big twin would be great on the back of that. I'd go with a '57 or so Johnson, as opposed to the 'Rude, as the Johnson is that purty candy apple red. Something about that color just goes great with an old aluminum runabout.