Giving an old boat new life, restoration pics

[PAbasser927]

Hi all!  Just wanted to share a few pictures and talk about a 4 month "first boat" restoration project that is finally coming to a close.  

 

Back in May, my dad and my brother and I came across an old walleye/bass boat that was in ROUGH shape.  It is a 1994 Stratos 217F, 17.5 ft glass boat with a 1993 60 horse Evinrude.  Being that we primarily fish small electric only lakes, the underpowered outboard was not a concern to us.  We would be putting on an 80 pound thrust Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor that we picked up for a great deal.

 

The boat had been rear ended in travel both bending the motor out of it's bracket and busting the winch post on the trailer. The entire finish was completely oxidized to the point where it looked like it could be impossible to bring back the shine (spoiler: we did).  A portion of the casting deck was clearly rotting and needed to be rebuilt.  On top of all that, the carpet was torn throughout the boat and smelled as if animals had been living in it for quite some time.  That, plus it was just generally filthy throughout.

 

Consequently, this thing was priced to get it off the lot.  Looking through all the flaws, the boat seemed to have good bones and  the electricals were all in good working condition (it did end up needing some light rewiring).  My uncle is a boat mechanic and part owner of the shop and vouched for the boats structural integrity.  The three of us are quite handy and knew it would be a lot of work, but we knew we could make this boat nice again.  So we decided to chip in to buy the boat and get our restoration project underway.

 

This is a picture of the boat the day we took it off the lot:

Shortly after we got it home we started stripping it down to the bones and got to work:

One of the many tedious tasks of removing the old carpet glue:

Lucky for us, my brother is a welder so he was able to weld a new winch post back on to the trailer (the shop gave us a new winch post with the sale).  The second issue caused by the accident we also got lucky in that we were able to bend the motor back into place.  We were able to brace the motor bracket against a telephone pole with a steal beam to keep the whole trailer from sliding across the road (learned the hard way that is what would happen).  Then we used tie down straps wrapped from the telephone pole to a farm jack to the boat motor.  It took both my brother and I winching the jack but the motor bend back into place and moves perfectly within its bracket when trimming up and down.

Wet sanding, compounding, polishing, and waxing proved to be the most tedious part of the project as it took 3 full weekends to do the entire boat.  Before and after pics on a small section below:

The next cosmetic upgrade was painting the motor cover since the sun had taken its toll over the years:

My brother made a custom dash in order to reposition the gauges and fit our fish finder mount conveniently:

This weekend we just finished glueing in the new carpet, installing the new seats, and buttoning back up all the odds and ends we had to remove over the course of the project.  As she sits now, ready to fish!

[tander]

Super job !!!!! Boat looks great.

[TheRodFather]

Very nice job!  Can you explain in more detail the steps you took with the carpet install, glue used, tips and tricks, etc?

 

I am at the point now where my roll of carpet is in the mail, but I haven't decided on the type of glue yet, standard marine glue (trowel type), or contact cement, or 3M super adhesive, etc.

 

Again, great job!

 

TRF

[crypt]

great job.you have something to be proud of.

[bass crazy]

Nice work !! Boat looks nice and I like the layout with the rod locker.

[Gundog]

Amazing. Shows what a lot of hard work can do for an old boat.  Went from a mess to looking new. Enjoy the sweet ride.

[NorcalBassin]

Awesome job!

[XpressJeff]

Fantastic job!

 

Awesome old girl she is now!

[PAbasser927]

Thanks everyone!

 

 

19 hours ago, TheRodFather said:

Can you explain in more detail the steps you took with the carpet install, glue used, tips and tricks, etc?

 

Carpet install is a bit tricky.  What worked well for us was keeping the old carpet to use as a template when cutting out the new pieces.  We would trace the old piece, then cut out the new carpet about two inches bigger than where we traced.  Then we layed it in the boat and pressed it to the edges.  Then we used a razor to cut away the excess. We did this for all the sections where you are glueing directly to the boat.  For these sections we used the trowel type glue so that we were able to work the carpet after laying it (rather than it being stuck immediately like it would be with contact cement).

 

For the compartment lids and the removeable section of the casting deck that we needed to rebuild, we used contact cement.  I MUCH preferred working with contact cement where possible.  When cutting carpet for the compartment lids, we simply traced the lid then measured to add enough of a buffer so that we could fully wrap the carpet around the edges.  The great thing about using contact cement on the lids is that you do not have to clamp while drying like you would with the trowel type.  Once it is stuck it is STUCK.  Even after being placed for a split second, it would likely rip the carpet if you tried to remove it.

 

I don't know about any tricks to offer you other than to be very careful, but I can offer a few tips.  First, make sure you cut the new pieces out of the fresh carpet so they are all oriented in correct direction.  The carpet has a "grain" that runs one direction.  If you are cutting with a goal of making the most efficient use of the carpet you bought, the boat will end up looking two toned as the light reflects off the grain differently depending on the angle you are looking at it.  You should determine the front and back of each compartment lid and section prior to cutting and orient it accordingly.

 

Next tip, make sure you have a fresh pack of sharp razors and change often.  The razor will rip the carpet, rather than cut, as soon as it begins to dull.  We probably used 10 blades on our 17.5ft boat.

 

The last tip is only if you have never used contact cement before (I hadn't before this project).  It is very tempting to stick the pieces together too soon.  That will kill the strength of the bond.  You need to apply the contact cement to both surfaces and let it dry until it no longer "strings" to your finger when you touch it.  I typically let both sides dry for 10-25 minutes before sticking together.  I believe the can says to stick the pieces 10-45 minutes after applying and that window held pretty accurate for us.  The contact cement is intimidating to use because of how careful you need to be, but it proved to be a godsend for us over the course of the whole project.

 

Good luck!

[Spankey]

Sweet! Have fun. 

[TheRodFather]

4 hours ago, PAbasser927 said:

Thanks everyone!

 

 

 

Carpet install is a bit tricky.  What worked well for us was keeping the old carpet to use as a template when cutting out the new pieces.  We would trace the old piece, then cut out the new carpet about two inches bigger than where we traced.  Then we layed it in the boat and pressed it to the edges.  Then we used a razor to cut away the excess. We did this for all the sections where you are glueing directly to the boat.  For these sections we used the trowel type glue so that we were able to work the carpet after laying it (rather than it being stuck immediately like it would be with contact cement).

 

For the compartment lids and the removeable section of the casting deck that we needed to rebuild, we used contact cement.  I MUCH preferred working with contact cement where possible.  When cutting carpet for the compartment lids, we simply traced the lid then measured to add enough of a buffer so that we could fully wrap the carpet around the edges.  The great thing about using contact cement on the lids is that you do not have to clamp while drying like you would with the trowel type.  Once it is stuck it is STUCK.  Even after being placed for a split second, it would likely rip the carpet if you tried to remove it.

 

I don't know about any tricks to offer you other than to be very careful, but I can offer a few tips.  First, make sure you cut the new pieces out of the fresh carpet so they are all oriented in correct direction.  The carpet has a "grain" that runs one direction.  If you are cutting with a goal of making the most efficient use of the carpet you bought, the boat will end up looking two toned as the light reflects off the grain differently depending on the angle you are looking at it.  You should determine the front and back of each compartment lid and section prior to cutting and orient it accordingly.

 

Next tip, make sure you have a fresh pack of sharp razors and change often.  The razor will rip the carpet, rather than cut, as soon as it begins to dull.  We probably used 10 blades on our 17.5ft boat.

 

The last tip is only if you have never used contact cement before (I hadn't before this project).  It is very tempting to stick the pieces together too soon.  That will kill the strength of the bond.  You need to apply the contact cement to both surfaces and let it dry until it no longer "strings" to your finger when you touch it.  I typically let both sides dry for 10-25 minutes before sticking together.  I believe the can says to stick the pieces 10-45 minutes after applying and that window held pretty accurate for us.  The contact cement is intimidating to use because of how careful you need to be, but it proved to be a godsend for us over the course of the whole project.

 

Good luck!

 

That sounds like the route I was going to take, trowel on the large areas, and contact cement on bends, corners, etc.  What specific products did you use?

[PAbasser927]

16 hours ago, TheRodFather said:

 

That sounds like the route I was going to take, trowel on the large areas, and contact cement on bends, corners, etc.  What specific products did you use?

 

We used DAP Weldwood contact cement and AAT-390 for the trowel type glue.  I know the contact cement has good reviews on durability but I have not heard of anyone else using AAT-390.  Considering our carpet has been in for only a few days I obviously cannot speak to its durability over time but it seems like ok stuff.

[boostr]

WOW! what a transformation. Great job.

[NAV20]

I just joined by googling "restoring old bass boat" and came upon this article.  I've inherited my Grandad's 1981 Kingfisher 17" fiberglass boat with a 90 Johnson.  It's been sitting on and off for 30 years so it needs full resto.  Your restoration give's me hope for mine.  Great job on yours and great tips on carpet laying.  What did you do with the motor to get it going again?  

[GreenPig]

Excellent 

[kjfishman]

Great job! When can I drop my boat with you?

[PAbasser927]

On 9/1/2019 at 8:05 PM, NAV20 said:

I just joined by googling "restoring old bass boat" and came upon this article.  I've inherited my Grandad's 1981 Kingfisher 17" fiberglass boat with a 90 Johnson.  It's been sitting on and off for 30 years so it needs full resto.  Your restoration give's me hope for mine.  Great job on yours and great tips on carpet laying.  What did you do with the motor to get it going again?  

Thanks!  The motor actually ran good without having to tinker with it.  It just needed a paint job for cosmetics.

 

11 hours ago, kjfishman said:

Great job! When can I drop my boat with you?

LOL!  My wife and I just had our first child two weeks ago, so no time for these types of projects for a while!

[kjfishman]

13 minutes ago, PAbasser927 said:

Thanks!  The motor actually ran good without having to tinker with it.  It just needed a paint job for cosmetics.

 

LOL!  My wife and I just had our first child two weeks ago, so no time for these types of projects for a while!

Congratulations!

[PAbasser927]

15 minutes ago, kjfishman said:

Congratulations!

Thanks!!

[GreenPig]

1 hour ago, PAbasser927 said:

Thanks!  The motor actually ran good without having to tinker with it.  It just needed a paint job for cosmetics.

 

LOL!  My wife and I just had our first child two weeks ago, so no time for these types of projects for a while!

Congratulations! 

[Rip_lipz]

I love this topic! Awesome job. So many old boats for sale for under 1000 dollars that have so much potential. I just finished a 97 ranger. Carpet powerhead paint etc. It takes up a lot of time but totally worth it at the end. Enjoy

[PAbasser927]

3 hours ago, Rip_lipz said:

I love this topic! Awesome job. So many old boats for sale for under 1000 dollars that have so much potential. I just finished a 97 ranger. Carpet powerhead paint etc. It takes up a lot of time but totally worth it at the end. Enjoy

Couldn’t agree more!

[FishinBuck07]

What a beautiful job restoring a boat that was left to rot!  Also just think of the memories made during the process, something you will never forget.  Congrats on the boat and the new baby!