smalpierre
New member
AKA: "fiberglassed hole in the water in which you pour endless amounts of time and money" 
View attachment 5
@"Genesis"
View attachment 5
@"Genesis"
My beautiful new girlfriend :D
- Thread starter smalpierre
- Start date
smalpierre
New member
She's 11 years older than me - a 1966, with a 1972 outboard. Usually I go for younger girls Not that I haven't had and loved older girls ...
I've got a LOT of work to do ... everything is dated, every wire, hose, cables, switches, fittings, gel coat is chalky - but she was a fresh water girl (not anymore!!! I'm a salty dog!) and her hull and engine are sound!
So first, I'm repairing the bilge pump, changing the lower unit oil, and servicing the propeller, and fixing the bow roller on the trailer.. Taking her out Sunday!!!
Then she's getting running lights, new tires for the trailer (they are maypops - may pop at any second!), a larger or second fuel tank, a second battery and transfer switch, a fuse/switch panel for up front and all new wiring, the carpet (on a boat? YECH!!!) torn out and the deck under it gets non-skid coating, recessed fishing rod holders (already has surface mounts), she needs a SERIOUS buff out - the gel coat is oxidized from being in the hot Miami sun for too long - some spider cracks, dings and scrapes ... nothing major, and nothing structural!
Boat ... Bust Out Another Thousand! (in $USD, do your own conversions!)
Hope wish and pray to whatever gods you might (Try Neptune, and Posiedon) that she might get me home undrowned and in one piece!
Especially considering my luck with ladies
The fiberglass ones have always done me right though <3
Not that I haven't had and loved older girls ...I've got a LOT of work to do ... everything is dated, every wire, hose, cables, switches, fittings, gel coat is chalky - but she was a fresh water girl (not anymore!!! I'm a salty dog!) and her hull and engine are sound!
So first, I'm repairing the bilge pump, changing the lower unit oil, and servicing the propeller, and fixing the bow roller on the trailer.. Taking her out Sunday!!!
Then she's getting running lights, new tires for the trailer (they are maypops - may pop at any second!), a larger or second fuel tank, a second battery and transfer switch, a fuse/switch panel for up front and all new wiring, the carpet (on a boat? YECH!!!) torn out and the deck under it gets non-skid coating, recessed fishing rod holders (already has surface mounts), she needs a SERIOUS buff out - the gel coat is oxidized from being in the hot Miami sun for too long - some spider cracks, dings and scrapes ... nothing major, and nothing structural!
Boat ... Bust Out Another Thousand! (in $USD, do your own conversions!)
iGdesigner said:Wow, it is amazing, I like it buddy
Hope wish and pray to whatever gods you might (Try Neptune, and Posiedon) that she might get me home undrowned and in one piece!
Especially considering my luck with ladies
The fiberglass ones have always done me right though <3
smalpierre
New member
Yozora said:
Yeah buddy! There's not much for repairs - I took her home, then took her straight to the water a couple of days later - and had a blast! She floated and ran without ANY work! For the price I got her at I think I owe Neptune and Poseidon a favor or two
I did have to charge the battery the third trip - the second trip was a bust over a dead battery. Have to check the charging system next time out, the battery is pretty new.
smalpierre
New member
Her name is Ariel because she's my favorite princess (and I've already had a boat named Miss Demeanor - a play on words with USA legal system for misdemeanor meaning a minor criminal offense), and she's too small to be named The Black Pearl (I AM Captain Jack Sparrow after all ) so I named her after the most beautiful princess of the sea
My cousin calls her "Old Man" because everything has an Ernest Hemingway reference, and she IS a classic from 1966! However, she won't be an old man for long. She was juvanated before, and she'll be juvanated again - she'll be RE juvanated!
Some of the issues I have though, is that I REALLY want to replace the forward running lights with one I bought that matches the style - but it's a much smaller housing. I also want to keep her original and rechrome and rebed all the hardware. The original bow light is a big clunker, and the new one looks similar but is more size matched to the boat although not original equipment. So do I replace it with the one H bought, or do I fix the old one and rechrome it?
The original housing has a faded lens that I'm not sure if I can find a replacement for. The starboard light has faded to blue, and legally it's supposed to be green. I've seen plenty of boats with faded blue starboard lights and they don't get tickets (hey it's a classic! but don't try it with a new boat!) ... but it's not right. I DOUBT that I can find a replacement lens, and polishing the lens won't restore it (faded plastic from 1966) and it's WAY too big. But all the other chrome parts are pitted so they're going to get rechromed eventually .. maybe I install the new light forward and keep the old housing - when I get it rechromed I rechrome the old stuff including the old housing AND the new housing (so they match) and keep the old clunker in storage until I can find a lens?
Then there's the windsheild. It's plexiglass (acrylic) so I'm thinking I can find a shop that does vacuum forming and duplicate it. It's not compound curvature, so it won't be TOO expensive ... the original has a lot of scratches, and haze from sun exposure.
Then there's the steering gear. There's a steering wheel with nylon coated cables and pulleys that turn the outboard. That's wrong on a thousand levels, but it's what they did back then I guess. I want to replace that with a more modern push/pull cable for a LOT of reasons. It's all hidden below decks, and it works perfectly, but it bothers me.Maybe I leave the pulleys in the gunwhales but take the cables out and replace it with the push/pull system?
Then the outboard .. it's an electric shift 1972 outboard, not the original. Electric shift was a new thing in the mid 1960's, but they stopped making it for outboards in 1972 (the year of my motor). They went back to mechanically shifted gearboxes then, and I'm not 100% happy with how the motor was mounted anyway. I don't want a NEW outboard, but a later model would be awesome - and then I could properly patch the transom and the scuppers they jacked up when they installed the engine. That's a project that's WAY out of budget for a long time though anyway.
Where to start, where to start! Bust Out Another Thousand (or ten thousand for a new motor) Tha't where! More than the boat is worth, but my girlfriend isn't for sale
) so I named her after the most beautiful princess of the sea My cousin calls her "Old Man" because everything has an Ernest Hemingway reference, and she IS a classic from 1966! However, she won't be an old man for long. She was juvanated before, and she'll be juvanated again - she'll be RE juvanated!
Some of the issues I have though, is that I REALLY want to replace the forward running lights with one I bought that matches the style - but it's a much smaller housing. I also want to keep her original and rechrome and rebed all the hardware. The original bow light is a big clunker, and the new one looks similar but is more size matched to the boat although not original equipment. So do I replace it with the one H bought, or do I fix the old one and rechrome it?
The original housing has a faded lens that I'm not sure if I can find a replacement for. The starboard light has faded to blue, and legally it's supposed to be green. I've seen plenty of boats with faded blue starboard lights and they don't get tickets (hey it's a classic! but don't try it with a new boat!) ... but it's not right. I DOUBT that I can find a replacement lens, and polishing the lens won't restore it (faded plastic from 1966) and it's WAY too big. But all the other chrome parts are pitted so they're going to get rechromed eventually .. maybe I install the new light forward and keep the old housing - when I get it rechromed I rechrome the old stuff including the old housing AND the new housing (so they match) and keep the old clunker in storage until I can find a lens?
Then there's the windsheild. It's plexiglass (acrylic) so I'm thinking I can find a shop that does vacuum forming and duplicate it. It's not compound curvature, so it won't be TOO expensive ... the original has a lot of scratches, and haze from sun exposure.
Then there's the steering gear. There's a steering wheel with nylon coated cables and pulleys that turn the outboard. That's wrong on a thousand levels, but it's what they did back then I guess. I want to replace that with a more modern push/pull cable for a LOT of reasons. It's all hidden below decks, and it works perfectly, but it bothers me.Maybe I leave the pulleys in the gunwhales but take the cables out and replace it with the push/pull system?
Then the outboard .. it's an electric shift 1972 outboard, not the original. Electric shift was a new thing in the mid 1960's, but they stopped making it for outboards in 1972 (the year of my motor). They went back to mechanically shifted gearboxes then, and I'm not 100% happy with how the motor was mounted anyway. I don't want a NEW outboard, but a later model would be awesome - and then I could properly patch the transom and the scuppers they jacked up when they installed the engine. That's a project that's WAY out of budget for a long time though anyway.
Where to start, where to start! Bust Out Another Thousand (or ten thousand for a new motor) Tha't where! More than the boat is worth, but my girlfriend isn't for sale
smalpierre
New member
Peter said:
Probably mostly fishing, some cruising. She'll never make it out of the inlets here - maybe if it's REALLY REALLY calm, the right tide, and not on a weekend - low traffic. The currents in the inlets are hard ripping, they're small channels in the barrier islands between the intracoastal waterway and the Atlantic so people hit the gas hard, and make a lot of wake. I'm afraid her skin isn't thick enough to handle that much pounding.
BUT I'd also like to use her for some spearfishing dives. I'll just be stuck doing it at the bridges instead of the reefs.
I was considering putting tank racks in until I approached the inlet two sundays ago - it was frightening. No room to turn around, people hitting the gas hard, and they don't care that there's other boats there - a bunch of jerks. You HAVE to when it's rough, but there's no reason to nail it that hard when there's other boats that are obviously trying to get the hell out of there ...
Anyway - That trip the steering gear let go on me. It's pulleys and cable not hydraulic - and mounted to an exposed wood strip behind the rub rail. 50 years I'd say it's about time that strip let go. So now I've got to pull the rubber out of the rub rail, take the track off, and I'm going to replace the wood, but this time it's going to be bedded in 5200, and stainless screws used. i was going to glass it in after that, but I'm not going to until I can find some resin for a reasonable price. I'll just have to get a small thing of resin, and take care of the stern where it got whacked pretty good once. Also have to do the water pump impeller, thermostat, and lower unit oil change, I think she's overheating a little bit. Low on water flow I think.
No skiing or tubing - nowhere to put a rope, and the hull isn't the thickest thing in the world - not to mention she's a 1966 - I don't want to stress the old girl out
smalpierre
New member
Yeah, age is just a number ... until you start calculating the repairs haha!
After seeing how the deck to hull joint was done, I'm frankly surprised it held up this long!
After seeing how the deck to hull joint was done, I'm frankly surprised it held up this long!