thompsondockside.com

Hello everyone!

I've been a browser of the forum for quite some time. I've spoke with Andreas a lot over the past few years about my '64 T&T. He's a great guy for that (and most boats for that matter) mainly because his father has the same exact boat! Pretty neat.

Anyways, I wanted to start a restoration thread. It's going to take a long time since I don't have much free time but it's something I want to try and tackle. Be prepared for A LOT of photos, and a lot of questions. I really enjoy doing build threads with lots of details. I'm an RC car fanatic and do this with my RC car builds.

On to the story. My Papaw bought the boat in the early 80's and did a basic restore to the finish on the boat. I was born in '82 so of course I spent a lot of time out on the boat with him. In '06 I caught wind of him getting rid of the boat. Turned out he was handing it down to my father which I was happy about, until I found out that my Father planned to give it to a good friend of the family because he didn't have a place to store it or money for the upkeep. I knew I had to have the boat.... Too many memories to let it go so easily. Being extremely persistent (and probably annoying) I finally talked them into handing it down to me. I lived in an apartment at the time so had to rent out a storage place for it. Before I got the boat my Papaw warned me it had a soft spot that he had patched and we checked it over. In all honesty I probably should have never put the boat in the water especially with my family and friends in it. Well the time has come that it needs repaired. Since it's such a major repair I'd like to look into going over the whole boat and trying to bring back as much as I can to factory. Here are a few photos to show it's current condition.

My first time out on the lake after taking ownership. Of course I told my Papaw he was coming along.





This photo says so much to me......



Now onto what is in need of repair. This is what was "patched"





Dug into the keelson with my finger and managed to cause this damage.



Basically all of the ribs up to the bench are rotten at the keelson. They seem to be ok before they reach the sister keelson.

First thing that needed to be done was to make a motor stand so we can get this motor off the transom. It's a '65 Merc1000 so had to build something beefy.

Got some help my 1 year old son Blake.



Measure twice, cut once Dad!





Hopefully this weekend I can talk some friends into getting the motor off the boat and onto the stand.

Not a huge update but some progress is better than no progress!

Started tearing into the splash well. Trying to get all the gas out of the tank and get it cleared out. More gas than I thought in there.


Checking to see if I'll have to pull the boat forward to get the motor off.

Nice cart you made there. I use an engine stand, but since the damn merc's are so top heavy it's not incredibly stable. I may add some ballast. I rolled it into the corner, a good shove and it would go head first!

Evan

Thanks! I had to build something decent because I have a Saint Bernard who occasionally romps through the garage. That's not something I'd like seeing sitting on the floor after a crazy episode from the dog!