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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:25 pm
by a j r
I certianly did not intend to imply that your situation was hopeless. I said that it sounded serious. Serious problems can be resolved. You should see some of the baskit cases I get!

Weights while the boat is in the water will not do any good in my opinion. You are fighting all the water pressure on the hull from below. Weighing problem areas down while on land is the way to go. But don't do anything until you find out WHY the problem has occured and repair and replace any decayed or broken wood. Forget about poring googe on and in the wood to solve problems, that is NOT a solution. Replace the bad wood.

Andreas

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:24 am
by JRPfeff
I recently purchased TomJ's boat, motor & trailer. He is moving and could not transport it cross-country.

As far as the two areas of "sag" in the hull, I was considering purchasing a pair of household floor jacks (the kind used for leveling the floors of homes) and bracing them against lumber attached to the gunnel and inner keel. I would then slowly turn out the jacks until the hull attains the proper geometry. I suspect it would be prudent to install some new ribs in this area to help the hull hold the proper shape. Will this work?

The boat has several other problem areas - the outer keel is unusable - rot on the wooden transom brace - rot on the gunnel. When is a boat too far gone to restore?

I now feel extremely lucky with my first boat. There was no major damage, just cosmetic stuff. I feel I may be in over my head with this one.

If this '60 SeaCoaster Special model cannot be restored, I may upgrade my '59 basic model with the buddy seats and deck trim from the '60 boat. Is there any reason not to do this?

Jim

Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:30 am
by a j r
You can change your 1959 boat into anything you want. It's your boat. It will, in my opinion, lower its value and make it more difficult to sell down the road. I have spent a LOT of time, undoing people's "ungrades" of boats to return them to original. I just feel that originality is important.

Any boat, no matter how rotten or hogged or out of shape can be restored. Many professionals and ameteurs restore completely "gray" boats all the time, having to replace every piece of wood. It is a very common practice.

The questions should be, do you have the time, skill, and commitment to complete a major project and is it worth the money and time it will take? Only you can answer those questions.

If you cannot tackle this project, pass it on to someome who will do it.

Just my opinions.

Andreas