WOW, how time flies.

The boat was finished, 12 coats of varnish and a few coats of paint.  We put it in the water twice and I had a wonderful time, my wife and daughter disliked the whole experience!!

I sold the boat to Travis Kelly for a few hundred bucks (about 25% of what I had into it) and a great story.  He weaved a tale about how his grandkids would love the boat and he would enjoy taking them out on it, etc.etc.  A week later he called and asked me to sign a bill of sale... that had some other guy's name on it. So I guess the grandkids missed out on the fun...  Anyway, Mark Sellers, I hope you enjoy it, after you guys get all of the paperwork straightened out and figure out who is going to pay the taxes.

I had a great time restoring the boat and my only regret is selling it to a person who couldn't just forge my signature and let me believe the lie...

I've moved on now.  I'm working on restoring a Vespa scooter and getting my Skydiving "A" license.  Pictures to come soon.

Chrome is happening

I dropped off my aluminum parts to the guys in the picture.

That's Buddy on the far right and he assured me they would take good care of the parts.

I'm having the original bow handle chromed, the steering wheel bracket, and the Windshield brackets that I ordered from :Lake Shore Aluminum Castings -

31817 Poplar Street
PO Box 59
Erie, PA 16512-0059
Phone:800-458-0463
Fax: 814-453-4293

I'll post pictures when I get the parts back.
E-mail: info@sisigns.com

3rd, 4th and fifth coats of varnish... WRINKLES!

Ok, so in the past 10 days, or however long it has been, I have traveled for work, had an unlicensed and uninsured taxi cab run into my new car, and managed to apply 3 coats of varnish.

First picture there is of Franklin the Wunderspaniel. He's old, but looking forward to getting this boat out on the water.

Second picture is a terrible attempt to capture the "wrinkles" that appeared in a very few spots on the boat.

last two pictures are just showing the overall shiny-ness of the new varnish.

Second coat of varnish...

Second coat of Epifanes CV varnish went on this afternoon. With the thinning again... it said, thin 25%, I'm there one way or another.

SO the second coat is drying now, and it looks good. You can actually see some of a reflection in the finish.

In addition to the top I varnished the boards that run along the side - on my boat they are screwed in at the point where the white paint and the red paint meet. What's the name for these boards? I have no clue - for now, they are side boards.

These are the side boards, they are screwed in where the red and white paint meet... What's the real name?

First coat of varnish.

The first coat of Epifanes CV Varnish, thinned 50% has been applied. Some of the cedar really sucked the varnish!

I was impressed at how easy it was to get a nice even coat of the thinned varnish on.

The directions on the varnish said to thin it 50%. Now, is that 1 part varnish to 1 part thinner? Or is that 2 parts varnish to 1 part thinner? I'm not telling what I did, in case I did it wrong.

6 coats of varnish to go.

Also, I got the fuel tube in from Amazon. I am rebuilding a gas can for the boat - it's a nice metal gas can that has a gooey sludge buildup on the inside bottom. I've tried several things to clean the crap out of the tank, and so far nothing has worked 100%. I'm getting close.

Supplies arrived!

The orders arrived today from Jamestown Distributors. Thanks to Jamro and Nathan for doing such a fine job packing the orders - I have 3 weeks worth of newspapers to read and recycle! But seriously, the order arrived in great shape.

I'll be painting everything below the water line with Interlux Brightside "Fire Red". The above-the-water-line-sides will be painted with Brightside "Blue-Glo White". Essentially maintaining the existing color scheme.

The unpainted wood on the topside will be finished in Epifanes (is that 'eppie-fah-nay-z' or 'eppie-fae-ns'?)

CV clear varnish.

There is still a little bit of sanding left to do, but there is potential to have the first coat of varnish on by Saturday.

Outboard cart, motor Carrier, whatever you call it

Friday I took the 25hp Evinrude off of the boat. I thought I would store it clamped onto the heavy duty handtruck that I have... I was wrong, it does not fit.

I searched the internet and found several different carts specifically designed to handle an outboard motor, but the prices were pretty similar and one was available locally. I bought a Trac Outboard Cart from Bass Pro shops.

Assembly was very straightforward, in 100% English (rare, I know). It took a 10mm wrench, a Phillips screw driver and a 10mm socket on a driver handle, and about 15 minutes. I stole the pictures from somewhere on the interwebs because the Bass Pro picture is flash.

Here's the link to Bass Pro, 79.99.