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Tonight we worked on gluing some spots where the plywood is peeling a part a bit ...

We're back! After a 3 1/2 year delay, we're now back to working on the Sea Coaster Deluxe. Why the 3 1/2 year break? Kids growing up and more active, a little lack of motivation, plus time away due to two jobs. But thanks to COVID-19, we're going to start working on it again! This weekend we added m...

Thanks Jim for the offer, but we hosted Thanksgiving this year and part of the deal was they had to help get the boat on the trailer, then we could eat. :) The job didn't take very long, and having a couple of tires on wheels made it very easy to position the boat. http://www.accuracetiming.com/shar...

We were able to apply the final coat of copper bronze this morning, as temperatures were well above 50 degrees. By this afternoon the paint was dry enough for me to remove the painter's tape. http://www.accuracetiming.com/shared/58.jpg My goal is to have the boat back on the trailer by next week. I'...

Thanks Peter and Jim for your comments! We've had some nice warm weather this week so I'm doing my best to get the painting done now before the cold weather sets in. This image shows the first coat of Kirby's yacht white semi-gloss (left) .... and then what 2 coats of yacht white semi-gloss looks li...

This weekend we purchased a quart of Kirby's Marine Topside Hull and Deck white primer and applied 1 coat using a 2 3/4" foam brush.



Our next step is to apply two coats of Kirby's Marine Topside Hull and Deck yacht white semi-gloss.

Hi Jim! Thanks for the message! Yes, I'll try to connect sometime and talk about our restoration projects, etc. This weekend we put the stem and keel combo onto the boat. We first did some pre-drilling with some help from the kids to hold the board down. Then we applied BoatLife Life-Calk on areas w...

I purchased a two quart kit of Smith's CPES and decided to start applying a first coat today ... starting with the left side. I wanted to show you a side-by-side comparison of what it looks like when CPES is applied. I'll apply a very light second coat when the first coat cures in a few days, as lon...

It's been a while since I've posted updates on how things are going. To repair the hole I had in the bottom of the boat, I routed an area about 3/16" deep, and roughly crafted a piece of plywood to fill the hole. I plan to hold this piece in place by carefully screwing from the inside through a...

Today I pulled back the wood strip that covers the last set of fasteners on both sides of the boat, and noticed a strip of plastic behind this wood piece. Does anybody know why that's there?

I spent some time today tightening all the fasteners ... starting from the inside with a 5/16 socket. As my son and I did some inspecting, we noticed most of them will not tighten unless somebody on the other side holds the bolt securely with a phillips head screwdriver. Change of plans ... now we'r...

We had some great help this weekend working on the boat. We wanted to start filling in some dings and scrapes on the hull using Smith's Fill-It Epoxy Filler. This stuff works really well ... easy to mix and apply. The 12oz kit wasn't quite enough to complete the job, so we'll need to get some more t...

We're back at working on the boat after some time off. I'm going to get the '63 Gator model 417 trailer sand blasted soon, and I plan to apply the primer and paint. I'm wondering what color would be closest to what Gator applied to their trailers in '63? It seems to me that earlier trailers made by ...

Thanks Torchie for the great tips! The other night I got my steamer going ... with an old Coleman single burner camping stove and a tea kettle, and a heater hose running from the kettle's spout to the end of the tube. After about an hour and a half of steaming I quickly clamped the stem/keel to the ...

Well we're finally getting around to working on the boat some more! A while ago I was able to find a long white oak board that I would be able to use for the keel and stem ... it's about 170" long, which is a few inches shorter than the original, but it was the best I could find. A guy in town ...