The_Chain said:Since the Grady's in tip top shape I having been looking for a project..Found this puppy on Craigslist...got a really sweet deal!..needs some TLC but I have always wanted one! My sons 11 and I think this is a good learning boat..supervised of course..should be a great addition alongside the grady. Hulls an 83 the Yamaha is 1996..~500 hrs..all freshwater..I want to keep it as original as possible as I restore it but I have some mods bouncing around in my head already..
The_Chain said:Since the Grady's in tip top shape I having been looking for a project..Found this puppy on Craigslist...got a really sweet deal!..needs some TLC but I have always wanted one! My sons 11 and I think this is a good learning boat..supervised of course..should be a great addition alongside the grady. Hulls an 83 the Yamaha is 1996..~500 hrs..all freshwater..I want to keep it as original as possible as I restore it but I have some mods bouncing around in my head already..quote]
Spent the better half of the summer collecting parts and figuring out how I was going to go about the restoration of this little boat. My son and I had a great time restoring this and he and I had some quality father and son bonding time...some of my best memories when I was a kid was working with my dad on his boat. Anyhow...we stripped it down to just the hull, removed the rub rail, all the wood and the wiring. The hull was in fantastic shape so I didn't have to take it any further. We started with the rubrail, and after a lot of clamping and heat gun work we were able to get it all on. We also taped off and painted all the non-skid areas with Kiwi_Grip (soft gray) to get some better traction on the deck and it cleaned up some of the rust stains from the old metal gas cans. After taking out the old wood..it was in pretty bad shape, for over 30 years old it had some rot. I contemplated getting mahogany and cutting and varnishing, but found for the time spent and the cash it was easier to buy a pre-existing kit from some folks out in California. Once I got the wood interior...I had to cut the holes to flush mount my FF/Chartplotter and drilled holes for the steering, push pull knobs and lighter. Then we spent a good week wiring as much as possible inside. So last week we starting pulling wires and finished up the interior install in the boat. We wired in a small automatic bilge pump (we often get 7 inch a rain an hr here in one storm), under seat lights, rode holders, and nice cable organizers for the wires and lines. Anyhow its all done now and my son couldn't be more excited. This things a little rocket ship...he has a few years before he takes it out on the lake without me...just thought I would share
