Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Time For a Face Lift

Nearly twenty years ago I acquired this little modified V boat.  Back then she was nearly new but time has a way of taking its toll on both man and machine.  Over the years seats, electronics and the bow mounted trolling motor were replaced.  The boat was still functionally sound but the carpet had long since seen its best days

Frontal shot showing the wear and deterioration.


Carpet completely gone in high traffic areas.


Having never done this kind of work before the entire job was a learning process.  The first lesson I learned was that a great deal of disassembly was required to do the job right.  Some items such as the trolling motor mount and rear hatch cover were held in place by rivets.  These all required removal by drilling and replaced with stainless steel bolts.

With the interior stripped down to the frame the laborious job of cleaning the parts began.  A paint stripping disk mounted in an electric drill did a great job removing the old glue.

Cleaned parts: rear deck and floor pan

Remembering the old adage; measure twice cut once, I was able to cut the carpet with no major mistakes.

Marine Adhesive is used to glue the new carpet in place

With major panels covered and in place the boat begins to take on its new look.

Reinstalling the rod holders and other accessories along with covering the hatch lids with aluminum diamond tread panels completed the job.  Total cost $255 in materials, 29 hours of my labor.

The 'ol girl now is now ready to carry me into another twenty years of fishing & waterfowl photography. if only I can last that long :)

11 comments:

Montanagirl said...

You did a great job of restoration! I hope you enjoy those 20 years cruising the waters and shooting photos, because I sure enjoy seeing them.

imac said...

I'm sure you will outlive your boat again Coy, oh by the way, super job done too.

Susan Tidwell said...

Reminds me of the Alan Jackson song "Drive". Have fun with it!

Chris said...

Wow Coy, I'm very impressed cause the final result is simply gorgeous. She effectively looks ready to carry you 20 more years... Well done!

Elaine said...

Good restoration job! You could have taken the easy road and said that after 20 years you deserved a new boat, but it looks like you made your old boat feel like new and saved a lot of money to boot. I hope you enjoy 20 more years of good times on the water.

Anonymous said...

It really does look nice. Almost like new.

I like all the birds. Grackles are special as parents and are very proud of their young ones and bring them around and show them off, just like people do.

Brad Myers said...

I know the feeling Coy, it is too bad we can't get the same overhaul the boat got. But we will never look that good again.

Let me know when you want to make a day trip to SNP, I am ready to go again. I even got vacation over the Elk rut this year so we should get to shoot together a few days in the North.

Now get out and get some new photos with that boat.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: Very nice rework of the boat.

Misty DawnS said...

AWESOME! I bet you are quite proud, just as you should be.

Meggie said...

Wow! I'm impressed!! If you're going to spend 29 hours restoring the ole girl, you may as well do it right. Looks great, Salty!

Juan C. Aguero said...

Good job and enjoy it!!!