1963 Biesemeyer 4 Point Hydro restore

[f_inscreenname]

Not an offshore boat by a long shot but thought some may be interested.
A little project we picked up for Resurrection Marine.com out of a little town in Pennsylvania. Been sitting in the weeds for decades. Pretty much everything has to be rebuilt or replaced. Should be done the couple months. Already made some progress just waiting on spring to get the build going. Until then all the preliminary work will be done.
An easy way of keeping everyone updated for us is just to make a video. And even though they all kind of look the same as each one is posted progress will have been made.
So give it a watch and tell us what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rInyErAb94E&feature=youtu.be

[f_inscreenname]

Just another winter time quick update. I wish more was going on but for now it has to be everything we can do inside.
Being that we are not building a super special highly chrome big block beast with tons of bling bling we did decide to dress the motor a little bit. So we used the same color that is going on the deck to highlight some accent stripes on the valve covers. And to top it off we took the Merc plastic carb cover, stripped all the decals off, repainted and then did the same accent stripes on it. Then it dawned on us that it would be subjected to 50 to 60 mile an hour winds so we had to reinforced the underside with some half-inch thick plastic. You can probably pick the motor up with it now.
With the motor pretty much done we are moving on to anything we can get our hands on. Even if it means just painting and prepping it for future install. One was the fuel system, being that the new gas tanks have top feeds instead of bottom feeding tanks that were originally in the boat we had to change some of the fuel system around. So now both tanks will feed the fuel filter with cutoffs so you can isolate one tank from the other. Also adding a switch under the fuel gauge that will allow you to use one gauge for two tanks.
Along with that the paint is also in, we are hoping the colors that we chose will give a classic and not an old look. Parts to complete the exhaust and anything else that needs to be bought should be in the shop by now. We hate to do it but we are keeping the 3 inch exhaust tips being that four inch will not fit on the transom. We did at least polished them (they are aluminum) and they didnt turn out to bad. So it will be 4 inch all the way back until it reaches the three reducers just before the tips. Shouldn't hurt performance any being the motor is not a super performer anyway. Also picked up Ron Hill left-hand prop so we won't have to flip the motor around. Wish props were this cheap for our other boats. For what we paid for them we could've bought three for this boat. We know we don't have a baseline yet but we know what was on it and took a best guess at it anyway. What the hell they're cheap enough to do.
We then spent a few days building the one and only seat in the boat. After thinking about it a it turns out to be an expensive seat. We have leftovers but that will only benefit the next boat if we use it on it. But it didn't turn out too bad afterall.
From there we are working on what connects the motor to the V Drive and the V Drive itself. The drive shaft should be completed today. Almost all of it is new but the tube was too long so it's being cut down a rebalance. Next comes the V Drive and on from there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygwH-yFd-aM&feature=youtu.be

[f_inscreenname]

I guess it's time for a bit of an update. Things are not going as fast as I would like but being February I really can't expect much.
After wrapping up most of the upholstery there wasn't a whole lot more that we could do until the weather will break a little. Blistering cold makes no fun out of the simplest tasks if you can do them at all. So we went back to doing what winter is for, anything we can get done in the garage. We pulled what pieces we needed off the boat and the rest would have to wait.
During this time we are also filling what was left on the big list so to be sure that we have everything waiting and ready to go when needed. Just one or two more little things are left so I think we will be good.
We made an attempt at polishing out the aluminum exhaust tips. It would've been much simpler just to replace them but they are kind of one-of-a-kind and fit the boat perfectly. After way too many hours they came out pretty nice. Maybe not "new" but for being almost 50 years old they look pretty damn good.
We also took some of this time to tighten up what was left on the motor. Had most of the drive shaft left over from the race boat build so we ordered a few pieces that were missing plus new U joints and had the shaft cut down to as small as possible and rebalanced. Along with a new power takeoff we are pretty much done all the way back to the V drive.
As for the V Drive, It was completely disassembled and cleaned, checked and re-checked. Move the fill cup and the drain plug to the motor side so you can get to them without taking the back of the seat out. New paint and then reassembled it with all new gaskets.
Then still being in a bearing mood (and still cold out) we attack the trailer wheels. Everything was completely disassembled. Bearings were soaked, cleaned, soaked again and then re-cleaned. All the old grease was removed from the hubs and they were also soaked clean. We then repacked everything including the hubs with the proper grease then reassembled it all. They now both spin smooth as glass. And just to keep it that way we added a set of buddy bearings.
Then we cut down the new fenders to fit and got those installed. To finish it all off we installed a set of 175/65 R 15's. A little more the proper profile compared to the truck tires that were on it before. The chrome rims were not salvageable so we painted them black and added some new chromed lug nuts. We are still little undecided on whether to add chrome trim rings to the rims. Maybe???
Today we had another one of those freak warm days and not let it slip by I picked up the wood for the stringers and decks and a couple 16 foot long planks for the bunks of the trailer. We then realized that we were nowhere near ready for wood yet. It didn't look like much but there was still a lot of things to be taken apart so we spent most of today getting 50-year-old bolts out without breaking anything. It was pretty surprising on how little that we actually had to cut out. For the most part it was just soaking them with penetrating lube and use a breaker bar. But all in all it came apart pretty easy compared to some of the saltwater boats I've dealt with in the past.
I also did come across the first super bonehead thing done this boat. When they installed the trim tabs, or whatever they called those bent pieces of aluminum on the transom, they covered over one of the hull drains and other holes. They did use little extra caulk around it. They also used large machine screws with bolts on the inside to hold the tabs on. For two of these large screws per tab, when they drilled the holes in the wrong place and ran into the stringers so they just screwed in the machine screws with a little extra caulk. Now that will hold it.lol
At least now the boat is actually stripped. All the wiring is gone, steering, cables, whip strut, prop shaft, rudder, gas tanks (one had about 5lbs of rust in it), etc, etc. Everything but a couple gauge that's left in the dash to play with to see different looks. Now it's ready for wood. Or at least now it's ready to get ready for wood.
On a side note, I did find out that the boat has been white, light aqua blue, pea green and dark metallic blue before it was red and white.
Come on spring.
Mark


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-c0-apv95c&feature=youtu.be

[f_inscreenname]

Are right let's get back on track here.
We had another warm day and I started to take the wood out of her the other day and found for the most part that I had nothing but mulch for stringers. All the way up under the deck, the sponsons stringers were rotten also. So I got all of one side out, traced out the other side on to planks, cut the wood to fit, temporarily installed, and then trimmed everything that was needed to get a perfect fit. I then ran out of pressure-treated lumber that I was using for the outside stringers of the sponsors being for the most part they are not glassed in. They just sit slots and attached to the deck. Strange but it worked for 50 years so what the hell. Not being able to trace the new stringers I already cut to new wood before I installed them and it was getting late ment the day was over.
Even though the next day was much colder I went ahead and got the water pickup up installed in the sponson before putting the stringers in. Made a whole lot easier to do and shouldn't be in the way. So now getting ready this set the stringers and just as I start getting things out to do it it starts raining and it didn't stop for the rest the day so back in a hold pattern again and back to working in the garage. I do need spends time on some of the pieces that I took off before. Like the rudder plate is all ate up and both brackets that hold to to the stringers are cracked two thirds of the way through.

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[f_inscreenname]

Got ya fixx.
The race boat is fine. The down angle of the motor, the big oil pan and the location of the pick up, there should not be an issue with the one motor that is turned around in it.
As for the Bies, I will have to look into it but today is stringers.

[f_inscreenname]

Time for another update if you like it or not. LOL
When we left off the last time we were into stringers and rotted decks. Well were still into stringers and rotted decks but a lot of progress has been made even though it doesn't show it. After multiple attempts and fittings I got the starboard side stringers in. After a lot of study I found the best thing to do is to set them in liquid nail. I know some here will freak out but the consensus was that was the stuff you use so that's what I did. Mind you that each Stringer already had a pre-existing fiberglass box (lack of a better term) to sit in. I just used it on the bottoms where it met the hull to give it a solid footing without creating any hard spots in the hull.
Then moved to the port side and started ripping it out. Just what was expected, more mulch. One thing I did find that was interesting. Up under the deck where the seat is there is only a couple inches between the base and the hull but yet there was a pristine beer can sitting there. An old Schmitd beer can. It's old but it can't be as old as the boat being that it has a pop top so it's a bit of a mystery how it got there. After a day of getting everything scraped out and vacuumed up I had to let it dry out. And then the the cold and the rains came again so it was back to the garage for couple days.
One thing I cut out during this whole time was the back plate for the seat. I knew at some point it had to be fiberglassed on both sides and it didn't need to be done in the boat. So while doing other stuff I put a coat of glass on each side while I was stuck in the garage for those couple days. I also built the deck plate that will lock in place to cover up the center tunnel in front of the seat.
Other garage duties included stripping everything that was taken off the boat just the other week and getting it fixed, cleaned, painted and ready for install when needed. For the most part everything was intact just in sad shape. So I replaced anything need to be replaced, aluminum, nuts, bolts, whatever. The steering on the other hand was a bit more of a challenge. The plate that held the top of the rudder shaft to the stringers was kind configured weird and half assed to fit short stringers. They even used half-inch nuts as spacers. I also found that both L brackets were cracked halfway through, all the pulleys were frozen along with the main bearing that holds the rudder's shaft. The funny thing was, it all worked before. Was bit tight though. New L brackets, free up all the pulleys, new rudder shaft main bearing and a couple of things and I think it's ready for install. With a little attention to the steering wheel shaft, getting a new woodruff key slot cut in it along with getting the threads for the big bolt straightened out that sat out in the weather for the last decade plus and hour or two getting the old broken studs out of the steering wheel shaft's bezel and polished back up to almost so-so condition, I think I'm done with steering for now.
Then we had another one of those insanely great March days with it being 65° out. That gave me a chance get all the stringers are awesome place in the front half. It's amazing on how long it takes to do that but they were done. Once done I can add the seat backer plate and bolted in place and glass it in and around the sides and bottom. Cover the boat, put what little space heater in it and let it bake overnight.
Today I had a chance to do a little plumbing that was needed and get the new deck plywood shimmed, glued and screwed in place and everything cleaned up before the rain started. Tomorrow again it's supposed to be warm enough that I am going to try to get the glass on the decks done. Then I can move on to the motor box area.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmeuLugjnyM&feature=youtu.be

[f_inscreenname]

Well the weekend is over and I think I may have made my goal. There is a couple of small things I would have liked to have got and there but for the most part the stringers are done. Along with the front deck is totally glassed in.
With the weather being like it has been, with one day be in a warm and the next being below freezing it's been hit or miss when it comes to working on this thing. When it comes to the structural stuff I really don't want to play around so I've only been doing it on the best of days. There's other things I could be doing like sanding the bottom but I was afraid to move the boat in anyway off the bunks of the trailer because the way the stringers were before (mulch). I was afraid it may bend or warp it in some way. Not that the trailer bunks are any better. Seems like carpet is holding them together for the most part but I guess there's enough support that the hull looked straight sitting on them like it was so I wasent going to move it until the stringers were done and locked in. After doing all the corners one more time today I guess they're officially locked in. And finally now I can move on to bodywork. There's more glass to do but it still bodywork and not stringers.
No movie this time. I did update the movie on Resurrection Marine.com if you have to see the completion of the stringers and couple of the other things I finished up you're more than welcome.

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[f_inscreenname]

While it rains outside on this Sunday I guess I will do a little bit of an update. Can't really complain about the rain being it will knock some of the dust down that is so needed to be done after the insane amount of sanding I've done but it could happen at night and not slowed progress.

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The week started off with fixing the holes in the dash and filling in the fiberglass for the old gas tank fills. I expected two holes for the tanks fills but after seeing some cracks and doing some sanding I found that there were two other holes for fills that had been covered in the past. Little Bondo and paint and it was all good for them but not this time around. All was ground out, backer wood was glassed in where necessary and then multiple layers of fiberglass placed on top feathered into the surroundings. Also a couple areas around where the motor sits had to be patched up also. Nothing major but if it was even slightly cracked or had a hole they got groundout re-fiberglassed.

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As the inside started to tighten up I moved to the top side outer hull. I was making insane progress and was almost thinking I was going too fast until I ran across this. This is where the top half meets the bottom half the boat. The picture is of it after I already attacked it once with my disk grinder just trying to get it semi-flat and some of the five layers of paint off that caked in the corners. After looking at it months ago I already located and priced a rub-rail for it but after talking to another classic Beise owner the first thing they notice was that ours had never had one installed and wishes his did not. I also know a few folks with little outboards boats that are built the same why and they all prefer no rub-rail. So to keep it as traditional as possible I am attempting to fix it.

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At this point I have already filled in the major chunks that were missing and where it was coming apart I filled in all the gaps with resin to where I could get enough of it together to start building off of. Almost like scaffolding under an arch ceiling. Ground everything down to the basic shape and then started making circles around the boat putting down fiberglass as I passed. First the top than the bottom. Let that set up grind it back down to the basic shape and feathering the edges and then back around again for another layer. At this point mechanically it's 120% and is totally intact except for a small place on the bow that I cant get to yet.

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At this point I am also fixing anything else I can find. Fiberglass Bondo for any blemish that is over a sheet of paper thickness and multiple sandings of the whole hull (except for the bottom, got to get it off the triailer first).

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Having over 25 hours into the whole hull joint thing alone kind of makes progress almost look nonexistent but it's happening. Soon things will be moving a little more to where they will show up in a movie and then we'll do another You Tube update but until then you can always check an updated movie out@ ResurrectionMarine.com in the "future resurrection" section.

[f_inscreenname]

Well it's time for a long-overdue update.
A lot has been going on even though it doesn't make for good pictures or movies.

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The main thing it's been going on is bodywork, bodywork, bodywork. You never really know what's wrong until you look at it with a magnifying glass and then you see all. I got enough of the top half of the hull done that I felt it was time to start working on the bottom half. That meant it had to come off the trailer. So out came the big gantry crain and about every block that I could scrounge up. It took a little bit to figure it out being I'm used to blocking up V hulls but after a short time the trailer was out.

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Again one of the main things that was holding me up is this damn deck to hull joint. It was pretty much destroyed all the way around the boat. If I knew it was going to be this much work I probably would've just picked up that rub rail and done with it. But now that it's almost done I'm kind of glad I took the extra effort to do it. Not really sure how long the last but I'm giving it my best effort.
Most of it used to look like the picture above. This is the very bow and the one area that I couldn't get to while it was on the trailer. The process has many, many steps but eventually you get to what it looks like in the picture below.

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Once you got a shelf built then you built up multiple layers on the top side and bottom side, feathered into the hull so not to cause a lump. Let it set up and then do it again. Then when you get enough built-up, scribal a line on what stays and then with the grinder knockoff about 80% of what you built. I wish I knew of a better way. It seems like a waste but it's the only way I can figure with gravity and such affecting the outcome.

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Tiny bit of fiberglass Bondo, some sanding, little more Bondo, more sanding and then couple layers of primer with some light sandings in-between just to smooth it out and get it in the right shape.
Even thoughI still am doing some of the topside stuff the real thing is to get the bottom side done so I can get the bottom painted and the boat back up on the trailer. So I attacked it here and there due to bad weather for a better part of a week. Seems like we get a day a sun and two days of rain and cold but I guess that's what spring is supposed to be like. The bottom required a little extra work to straighten out. It seems like who ever painted it two colors ago used a body filler that was defective or something. Even the smallest amount swelled up under the paint and cause a blister. So every spot had the ground down to the original glass and then fixed back to original. This time I used real fiberglass as much as I could and then fiberglass bondo to finish it off. I don't think it will blister again this time but all this extra work has held me up by a lot of hours.

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On the cold days I've been doing a couple little side projects like trying to figure out a throttle and gear shifter. I was going to do the floor shifter thing and the foot throttle pedal and even have the foot pedal in stock but then decide to go this route. Kind of old school look and for the most part you won't be able to see it anyway being that it mounts under the side bolster padding. But it didn't turn out too bad.

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Also on the cold days I figured I'd have to get the trailer fixed before it can ever put it back under the boat so there was no time like the present. Took about a whole day just to get stripped-down, everything sanded and a crap load of stuff cut off the trailer. Someone in this trailers pass must've been a welder. There were stuff that I've never seen before attached to it.

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Long story short there was about 10 pounds of steel and plastic in my scrap bucket before it was all done

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But with new bunks, new carpet, all the rust removed, new paint, new wiring, lights and the whole thing painted (not to mention the rebuilt hubs and new tires) it looks a lot better.

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One of the main things that I've been trying to do since the day I got this boat is to make the wheels smaller and the fenders lower. Started off with taken off the dry rotted 235/15's tires and replacing them with with a lower profile 175/15's. That brought it down some but the welder guy past owner welded the fender brackets to the axel so no matter how small of a wheel I put on the fenders were going to stay in the same place. So I cut off the brackets, shorten their height and then drilled them out so I could use a couple mounting bolts with wing nuts. It wont be the easiest thing to do but now you can take to fenders off if necessary like you could originaly. Right now it's borderline on whether removing the fender would ever be needed as much as I have lowered them but we will see when it hits the water and how it floats.

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Yesterday I made enough progress on the bottom to put a coat of paint on it. I then saw everything that I missed before. That dark red could really hide some stuff. After giving it a couple hours to dry and then went back at it with my spot putty and primer. Before it got dark I had enough time to wet sand the whole thing again. Today after another wipe down I got another 3 coats on it before I called it quits for the day.

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Now I can finaly get it back on the trailer. I had a friend stop by and ask why I didnt do the whole thing while I was at it. I had to explain that the whole goal was get the paint done in the areas that the bunks sat on and were it would be to diffacaut to get to when on the trailer. Being I have to do the 4 spots that are under the blocks anyway. Doing it this way gives me a chance to go over everything one last time just in case.

[f_inscreenname]

For those who don't like to read. lol
A movie update.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjo5hVfIUdc&feature=channel

[f_inscreenname]

Slowly but surely things are moving along.
Painting seems like it has gone on forever but I think some of it may have come to an end tonight.

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Picking up from when I left off with the last update, the bottom was finished off. From there I had to get back up on a trailer so I could do the four areas where the boat sat on the blocks. I tell you the older these boats get more of a pain in the a$$ they are. I've basically given up on primer. Doesn't matter how many times I prime and block sand I still find things that have to be fixed after the first coat of paint goes on. So I played this game for couple days. And for another four or five days we had 40+ mph winds so things moved along at a snail's pace but on the positive side I don't think I've ever spent so much time on such a small area of paint.

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Then the taping started. After many, many tries and many, many failures trying to get the tape right around the deck and it still not looking right I had to resort to drastic measures. I took a fine tip dry erase marker and just followed where the deck's sunkin detail was. Just stuck the marker in the crotch and made a nice smooth line from bow to transom. Then I just followed the dry erase marker with tape all the way around and erased the marker as I went. All I can say is it got it done. lol

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This past Friday and Saturday I would get a couple coats of blue on and then do a little block sanding and then do a couple more thin coats. I know this is not the way that most of you would do it. But I have a theory behind the madness. The way I figure it is no matter what falls in the paint it will only be one layer deep. Then it will be wet sanded off and a another layer on top of that and the chances of a bug or something landing in the same exact spot are not likely. I hate doing it this way because it causes a lot of extra work but you got to do what you got to do to make it right. I always try to do the final layers early in the morning before things get moving around but for what I call inspection/building layers things move slow enough because of the weather. There's just not an enough time to do a layer, let it set up, wet sand, and then wait until the next morning before I can spray another layer. No matter what though there's enough paint that my buffer will take out any imperfections. I hope.
Sadly though getting a late start on Saturday kind of meant that I had a late finish. I put my last coat on about 6 PM. Look pretty damn good and I figured it was all done. I was going to cover the boat about 8 PM but I figured the chances of me rubbing the top on the wrong place out weighed the chances of rain. Should have took the chance and went with the top. Somewhere between 2 and 6 AM we must've got a sprinkle and the metallic blue paint did not like that at all. I probably could have wheeled out the watermarks in a couple weeks when the paint hardened up but I then decided on doing a little something that I saw on TV that I've always wanted do but was afraid of the outcome. Now it may be a saving grace if it works. But now there was another coat or two to be done. The scary thing was I was extremely low on paint to do it but I had no other option.

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So first thing this morning after I got done throwing things was hard-core wet sanding and re-taping all the lines.
I took what was left of my Light Sapphire Metallic Blue single stage paint and mixed it up with its activator. Then I got out a can of clearcoat (that was so over full from the factory was when I opened it clearcoat fluid blew out the can) and mixed up about a quart of that with its activator. And then I added about 25 or 30% of the clear to the blue paint. Mix it up and shot it. And then for the second it was about 50-50 and for the third coat it was about 80-20 and from there I am out of paint so I hope it works.
Just to make sure it's got the best shot of working and drying properly and even though they are not call for a single drop of rain for the next 24 hours I decided to tent the whole boat after a couple hours of open drying time.
From what I saw of it it looks pretty good and I know when the clear sets and the sun to shining it's going to burn the retinas out of your head. Also on the upside after all this, adding the clear makes buffing a little less risky for single stage.
Now finally I can get to the last paint job. It may be easiest but at same time it to be the hardest. Before anything gets installed everything inside has to be painted from the transom all the way to the tip of the bow including the underside of the front deck. Most of it's a piece of cake but after putting in the bow winch eye I am not looking forward to have brush and roller in hand while smashed between the two decks. It doesn't have to be perfect because you're definitely not going to see it on a daily basis but it has to be done for the clean factor alone. And everything looks better with a coat of paint.

[f_inscreenname]

Damn, I messed up.
We left off at me trying to fix the water spotted blue metal flake paint by shooting a single coat of single stage and then mixing clear coat at different ratios with what little paint I had left.
I would love to say that it was the paints fault but....... I don't know.
I do think the mixing of clear and a single stage is a great idea and I like the way it looks when it's finished. Not so plastic looking on an older boat as a 2 stage looks. Like half way between a single and 2 stage. It also would be great for blending paint for repairs. As for this time I'm not sure what happened. After giving it a day to set up I unwrapped the boat and it looked great from every direction except when you looked at it from the bow to the stern it just didn't look right. There was two areas where the flake took on a totally different look then the rest. Having a few things to do I gave it a couple days to harden up thinking it had to be in the top clear coat layers and they should "color sand" out.
http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/6625/97473008.jpg
If that wasn't bad enough then the real painting hell began.
Before anything was installed or "finished" inside the boat all the interior had to be painted for the first time ever. Some had some spots of paint here and there before but after all the repairs, replacements and crap that sat in it for years it all needed a fresh coat from the stern to the tip of the bow.
It started with power-washing it out and after giving it a day to dry I broke out the roller, brushes, respirator and paint and went at it. I used the Rust-Oleum, Smoke Grey with a can of Valspar hardener added.
For a while there I thought I was getting more paint on me then I was on the hull but by the time I got out from under the front deck it was a piece of cake and made everything look much better.
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/1194/83336326.jpg
I then tinkered around with the prop shaft, struts and V-drive until I couldn't find the coupler for the prop shaft to V- drive so I had to order one that's not here yet. Being I want to put everything together and make sure it's still lined up proper meant I had to wait on it which meant I couldn't install the rudder and steering which meant I couldn't get to this and that as the dominos started to fall.
So I went back to the paint. It had been a couple days and needs to be complete before............everything else. Spent a number of hours wet sanding all the way up to 2000 grit and then compounding and even trying a coat of wax. No matter what I did when I got the bad spots to look better there was always like an edge that I was chasing up the deck. If it was a car panel I could have chased it to an end and you would have never noticed it. There was no end for another 5 feet in a couple directions on the deck and by the time I would get there I would have had made other issues. It took a while to come to it but I had to give up. The blue paint was a total fail or as Forest Gump said after stepping in dog crap while jogging, " it happens".
Sanded everything back down and ordered a new can of paint. It's time to end this.
Had a couple days of the Nor-easter hit us and just for fun this afternoon when things let up I went out and took the top off to install a couple little thing between rain showers. About 2 months ago when doing some of the major fiberglassing I would cover the boat with the top and use a space heater to keep things warm. One time the wind was blowing and the top got in the wet glass. No big deal, let it dry, flake it off and move on. Well it all didn't come off and even though I have used the top for many weeks, after 2 days of rain the fiberglass transfered to the wet sanded area in two spots like a transfer sticker and took major sandpaper to get it all off. I now am using the top inside out until I either get it all off or a new top.
http://www.cbpba.com/forums/images/smilies/headbang.gif
Hoping for a new start tomorrow.

[f_inscreenname]

Where did we leave off at? That's right, everything going wrong.........
Well it seems like I've turned a corner.
After an insane amount of sanding, prep work, taping and masking I was ready for paint again. Put the cover on it that night and it was another 4 days before I got the first opportunity to paint the blue again. Shot it in the morning and then the boat sat out until almost dark. Then I built a tent over it and sealed it up to where nothing could get in just in case of a hurricane or something were to show up. Glad I did to. The next morning before a bright sunny day, it poured, I mean poured for about 15 minutes. Not sure if it would have hurt it at that point but I was happy I wasn't risking it again.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2109/87755715.jpg
It didn't turn out to bad. I did the same thing as last time, adding clear to the single stage for the last few coats. It's going to need a little bit of polishing and such (the added clear will allow a lot of that if needed) but for now I'm going to let it set up for a couple weeks to get nice and hard before anything more. That and I am sick as hell of painting and anything to do with it.
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7343/43633042.jpg
Before I could do the paint and in between rain and wind storms I moved the masking plastic aside and made a go at getting the V drive installed. What a b!tch. Even though I drilled out the old mounting holes into the new stringers before removing the old fiberglass, things didn't go well. The new stringers must be a little thicker or something. It took 2 days of getting frustrated, leaving and going back to it before I think I got it right. A shim here, a shim there, tighten everything up, find it wrong and then do it again and again and again.
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/7093/95879582.jpg
Once that was done I moved on to the rudder. Ran across the same issues. The bracket didn't fit so major modifications had to be made to it. Then I had to get it all lined up (the bracket was now set up and mounted different so there was no old holes to follow). That took forever to get it perfect so the rudder moved with the tiniest effort. For some reason it was always binding after righting everything up. Finally figured out that the top bearing was shifting a tiny bit on the last turn of one of the two bolts that held it. Drilled out the hole in the plate a tiny bit and it was seated down perfect.
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7796/63118484.jpg
Man I've been waiting for this. To me this is the fun stuff. I think my true dream job would be, find the boat, striping it, conceiving what I would want done, send it out for wood, glass, bodywork and paint, then I would fit it out. Like a TV show. lol
You wouldn't think there was that much wire in this boat. The harness I am using has 20 wires at 15' each and I still had to add another 75+ feet to it. That's almost 400 feet of wire. Some will be cut down as things get installed but I guarantee that when it's all said and done there will be 250' left in the boat. Wow! One thing is for sure, there will never be an electrical issue with this boat. Not a single break anywhere, everything is in a wire loom even under decks and up under the gunnels and all the ends and where the wire loom splits is wrapped with heat-shrink.
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/8849/28602510.jpg
After another two days almost all the electrics are done. It was one of the first thing needed to be finished. Everything that was left to be installed from here out either needs electric or would be in the way of running electric so this is a big hurdle to get over. Just waiting on things like fuel tanks and the motor to be installed to finish up the other ends of the lines.
I do like the white gauges against the blue.
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/1803/94668888.jpg
I guess it's official.
http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/5413/67713083.jpg
I just like this picture.

[Ghost]

Looks amazing. Having seen it in person before the paint, it's an incredible difference. You're right about the gauges--they really pop.

As expected, painting the interior of the bow sounds like it was fun. :)

[f_inscreenname]

Yo G, It's night and day since you saw it. Should be done soon.

To everyone else,
I have to say thanks folks for all the views. I wish YouTube would let you do updates to your movies but you have to make a new one with every update (and lose your view count). Just cleaned out some of the older copies and I stopped counting at over 2000 views. So either some of you are digging it or someone one left it on repeat and went on vacation. Either way it was cool to see. Thanks!
So again for those who don't like to read.....enjoy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nACCn7b53Y&feature=youtu.be

Or you can check out all the goings on at http://www.ResurrectionMarine.com (http://www.resurrectionmarine.com/)

[scippy]

Great job on every area of this restoration!.............very inspiring for us DIY's

[f_inscreenname]

Once the electric was run things started popping into place. Lights were installed and looms were made and hung with care. After that things just started happening.
First the gas tanks were installed. They were the biggest balky things. I built shelves for them with half-inch thick fiberglass sheets braced to the stringers with aluminum brackets. There's only one complicated way to put the tanks in and only one way to take them out so there's not much chance that they are ever coming out of there on their own. All wired up to the single gas gauge and the selection switch on the dash. With the tanks in I could figure out the placement of the filter and the fuel pump on the stringer so they installed.
But then believe it or not I had moved back to the front cockpit to install the carpet. It's kind of strange how this boat had to go back together. Like the carpet needed to be installed before a lot of other things that happened. Like all the steering pulleys had to be installed on top of the carpet. But once the carpet was in then the dash could be finished off with this stearing bezel and wheel. Once that was in I then needed to put in the deck plate that fills in the gap between the two sponson's in the cockpit and found the one I made to be half-inch short in width. Not really sure what happened. I know I measured once and cut twice or whatever that saying is. LOL. So I had to make a new one from scratch. Cut the plywood, router the edges, fiberglass the whole thing, paint the back side gray and carpet the top and wrap the corners. Won't make that mistake again.
After wasting all that time things got moving once again. The upholstery took a little finagling to get in. Being that it's never been close to the boat since it's gone through its makeover little tweaks here had to be made and there is still a couple more to do. But…
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/708/25995671.jpg
Here's little thing I came up with. I'm using the original cable steering but I wanted to move the cables out just slightly away from the stringer but I didn't want the cable to rub inside one of those eyes so I came up with this. It adds tension to the line, holds the cables away from the stringers, cables cant come out of the channels and it won't allow the lines the bounce. I looked and couldn't find anything like this. I'm sure they make it but after the amount time I invested in trying to find one it was easier just to build one. Feel free to use my design. LOL
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/9974/70245229.jpg
Then there's the motor. No big deal. Just spent about 10 hours trying to get it lined up right. I was use to a Casale C 1000 and not this Hall craft. The C 1000's gears are cut at angles so the shaft come out of the gearbox at the 10 or 12° and the gearbox sit's up right. The Hallcraft actually leans 12° to match the prop shaft so the input for the drive shaft is already at a 12° down angle and the U joints from the drive shaft only allow for 20° of movement so basically I had an 8° window. Sounds okay but the transmission motor mounts were way too high and the oilpan needed to go about 4 inches below the deck. When it all worked out I had to drop the rear transmission mounts 4 inches and make new brackets to hold it, have the back corner of the oilpan sit about a quarter inch of the strut bolts that were in the deck, then pitch the front end up so the tail would come down. Finally got that sweet spot and then realized the front mount plate was too big. Couple hours of cutting it down a lot of testing and taking apart and more testing, everything bolted up.
For the most part the motor is all wired up, plumbed and ready to go. I have exhaust but they have straight collectors. With the down angle of the motor there's nothing to stop reversion from happening even if it's just a little bit at a time. There is no reason to take the risk at this point. I have to find a set of Nicson collectors that have that 20° angle to them. They just seem a bit scarce on eBay right now. Set of those and couple elbows and this thing will be ready to start.
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/6543/13627324.jpg
It's alive.
May not be running yet but with the battery hooked up all the lights and other things come on. First time anything has worked on this boat in 25 plus years.
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8646/86918730.jpg
On a side note, I found this picture the other day. That steering wheel has come a long way.
http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/1172/77803118.jpg
The next update should be one of the last. Stay tuned.