Fastwin
Well-known member
After 6 weeks of intense labor and nothing but lint left in my wallet, blood on my clothes, and burns on my skin, I have finally completed my restoration. Well. . . as we all know it will never be "complete" but it's pretty close!
It started off that I was just going to replace the cheap plywood on the seats. Once those were off, I thought to myself,
"Hrm. Why not replace the wood on the transom too?" Which was quickly followed by, "since all the wood is off, this is a good time to paint the bottom!"
Once all the paint was ground off it only seemed logical that it was also the best time to clean the hull with Aluma-brite. Of course, what's the point of cleaning it if you're not going to follow up with a metal protectant, and new stickers?! Then something had to be done about that ugly battery!
Well, now that the boat was getting all this attention, something had to be done about that motor! The paint was dull, there was some grease build up, etc. . . so I spent 5 hours detailing it and getting it where it needed to be, then another hour on the pressurized gas tank.
Then, I thought it would be a good time to upgrade all of the keel rollers on the trailer, and build a custom mount for the winch to raise it higher and to install a real bow-stop instead of the crappy rubber hose that use to be there.
I'm glad I did it, the boat looks like it traveled through a time machine straight from 1957. I took it out last Saturday morning after much anticipation, but had to immediately load it back on the trailer after a "drain plug malfunction." I fixed the oversight and hit the water for the first time in 6 weeks on Sunday once the sealant was dry. The motor started on the 2nd pull and away I went!
I didn’t take true before-and-after photos but I did find some photos that contain problem areas.
This is the best photo of the floor, even the dog is sad.
In this photo you can see the mailbox hull numbers and no brand stickers:
Here is another shot from the inside. You can see the plywood more clearly and how dirty the hull is. It was very oxidized with numerous black marks and blemishes.
Let’s begin by replacing the wood. I did some research for hardwoods that can withstand the marine environment and came up with two, Teak and Mahogany. Teak was WAY too expensive, almost $600 for the pieces I needed, so I chose African Mahogany. Chris-Craft boats are constructed of Honduran Mahogany so I felt confident it would work just fine.
The original transom was just cut plywood but I wanted a more professional look so I made the new transom out of burled Mahogany and cut it to match the contour of the hull.
After the transom was mounted, I faced the problematic decision of fasteners. I didn’t want bolts with nuts, nor did I want to scar this amazing piece of wood with tee-nuts. The solution was to install stainless barrel nuts aka “sex bolts” so that I got a clean look on both sides. Then I added stainless finishing washers in the hull to address a dinky-looking screw head.
Now that all the pieces of wood were cut I needed to seal them with Tung Oil mix from Waterlox (waterlox.com). Tung oil is good for boats because it seals the entire board and doesn’t harden. The problem with polyurethane is that wood shrinks and contracts, poly doesn’t and will crack, fade, chip, and yellow in UV light. If the wood ever becomes damaged, just fix and apply more oil, no need to sand the entire piece to removed stain/poly.
I stopped at three-coats because there was no room for the wood to absorb any more:
Once the wood was finished I started on the hull. First, I washed with Aluma-Brite from Mill and Mine, then sealed it with Sharkhide (Sharkhide.com). You know you're in over your head if you ever find yourself lifting your boat up in a parking lot while wearing a respirator, splash goggles, and hazmat suit. emolaugh
Here is a photo of the metal protectant. On the right is the typical “chalk” look after using Aluminum cleaners and on the left is the aluminum after wiping on Sharkhide. It dries in about 1 minute and restores the luster to the metal.
Next up, the paint. I posted on this earlier but here are some photos of the yellow acid-wash, the white epoxy primer, and the top coat to which tiny plastic beads were added for a non-skid surface. This was definitely the crux of the restoration. There are a lot of steps with strict time restrictions and I found myself waking up at 3AM to paint several times before the deadline of each coat approached. It took 4 days to complete all 5 coats (1 wash, 2 primer, 2 top).
Then I added reproduction stickers
And replaced the mailbox numbers with a larger custom printed HID from Sign-A-Rama:
Next, Steve at AES helped me install a battery box under the seat to hide that black turd that powers my trolling motor. The cover is flush with the seat when bolted on (no pics yet).
Here is a photo of the motor after detailing it
There is not much to explain beyond this point. I am still working on a few things, including a stern light, vintage bow light, custom trolling motor bracket, a trolling motor made with parts from 3 other trolling motors (thanks again Dave!) and a few minor details to address.
In closing, here are some general photos of the boat on launch day! I didn’t spend much time on the water, it was just a test drive. I’ll get better photos on future trips
It started off that I was just going to replace the cheap plywood on the seats. Once those were off, I thought to myself,
"Hrm. Why not replace the wood on the transom too?" Which was quickly followed by, "since all the wood is off, this is a good time to paint the bottom!"
Once all the paint was ground off it only seemed logical that it was also the best time to clean the hull with Aluma-brite. Of course, what's the point of cleaning it if you're not going to follow up with a metal protectant, and new stickers?! Then something had to be done about that ugly battery!
Well, now that the boat was getting all this attention, something had to be done about that motor! The paint was dull, there was some grease build up, etc. . . so I spent 5 hours detailing it and getting it where it needed to be, then another hour on the pressurized gas tank.
Then, I thought it would be a good time to upgrade all of the keel rollers on the trailer, and build a custom mount for the winch to raise it higher and to install a real bow-stop instead of the crappy rubber hose that use to be there.
I'm glad I did it, the boat looks like it traveled through a time machine straight from 1957. I took it out last Saturday morning after much anticipation, but had to immediately load it back on the trailer after a "drain plug malfunction." I fixed the oversight and hit the water for the first time in 6 weeks on Sunday once the sealant was dry. The motor started on the 2nd pull and away I went!
I didn’t take true before-and-after photos but I did find some photos that contain problem areas.
This is the best photo of the floor, even the dog is sad.
In this photo you can see the mailbox hull numbers and no brand stickers:
Here is another shot from the inside. You can see the plywood more clearly and how dirty the hull is. It was very oxidized with numerous black marks and blemishes.
Let’s begin by replacing the wood. I did some research for hardwoods that can withstand the marine environment and came up with two, Teak and Mahogany. Teak was WAY too expensive, almost $600 for the pieces I needed, so I chose African Mahogany. Chris-Craft boats are constructed of Honduran Mahogany so I felt confident it would work just fine.
The original transom was just cut plywood but I wanted a more professional look so I made the new transom out of burled Mahogany and cut it to match the contour of the hull.
After the transom was mounted, I faced the problematic decision of fasteners. I didn’t want bolts with nuts, nor did I want to scar this amazing piece of wood with tee-nuts. The solution was to install stainless barrel nuts aka “sex bolts” so that I got a clean look on both sides. Then I added stainless finishing washers in the hull to address a dinky-looking screw head.
Now that all the pieces of wood were cut I needed to seal them with Tung Oil mix from Waterlox (waterlox.com). Tung oil is good for boats because it seals the entire board and doesn’t harden. The problem with polyurethane is that wood shrinks and contracts, poly doesn’t and will crack, fade, chip, and yellow in UV light. If the wood ever becomes damaged, just fix and apply more oil, no need to sand the entire piece to removed stain/poly.
I stopped at three-coats because there was no room for the wood to absorb any more:
Once the wood was finished I started on the hull. First, I washed with Aluma-Brite from Mill and Mine, then sealed it with Sharkhide (Sharkhide.com). You know you're in over your head if you ever find yourself lifting your boat up in a parking lot while wearing a respirator, splash goggles, and hazmat suit. emolaugh
Here is a photo of the metal protectant. On the right is the typical “chalk” look after using Aluminum cleaners and on the left is the aluminum after wiping on Sharkhide. It dries in about 1 minute and restores the luster to the metal.
Next up, the paint. I posted on this earlier but here are some photos of the yellow acid-wash, the white epoxy primer, and the top coat to which tiny plastic beads were added for a non-skid surface. This was definitely the crux of the restoration. There are a lot of steps with strict time restrictions and I found myself waking up at 3AM to paint several times before the deadline of each coat approached. It took 4 days to complete all 5 coats (1 wash, 2 primer, 2 top).
Then I added reproduction stickers
And replaced the mailbox numbers with a larger custom printed HID from Sign-A-Rama:
Next, Steve at AES helped me install a battery box under the seat to hide that black turd that powers my trolling motor. The cover is flush with the seat when bolted on (no pics yet).
Here is a photo of the motor after detailing it
There is not much to explain beyond this point. I am still working on a few things, including a stern light, vintage bow light, custom trolling motor bracket, a trolling motor made with parts from 3 other trolling motors (thanks again Dave!) and a few minor details to address.
In closing, here are some general photos of the boat on launch day! I didn’t spend much time on the water, it was just a test drive. I’ll get better photos on future trips
