TOPIC: New guy here..

Howdy all!! I'm new here but not to old boats as I currently own a 1978 Chris Craft 251 Catalina Express cruiser that has been an ongoing "rolling restoration" since I bought her back in 1992.. I've always had a soft spot for the little Century Resorters and two weeks ago an opportunity to get one presented itself..

One of my customers who's a bigger old boat nut than I am told me about this boat and that it was fixing to be put up for sale.. The boat belonged to his long time friend and original owner, his advancing age & health was forcing him to sell the boat as none of his kids wanted anything to do with the "old boat".. I drove up a couple of weeks ago to take a look at it, we pulled it out of the garage and I couldn't believe how clean it was, the boat is a true "survivor".. Hooked up a garden hose and fired up the engine, it popped right off without so much as a hiccup and settled down to a nice smooth idle.. In the last few years it's had the raw water pump rebuilt, carburetor replaced, and electronic ignition installed.. The interior is all original but is starting to show it's age, the removable rear, center floor panel needs to be replaced due to rot, and both of the wood seat bases need to be rebuilt.. But overall it's nothing that prevents the boat from being used as is.. All the original chrome is in excellent condition and just needs a light buffing to restore it's luster.. The old man was asking $6000 for it, but after I went over it with a fine tooth comb and pointed out the rotted floor and seat bases along with a few other missing items that will be pricey to restore, I offered him $4500 and we had a deal..

It's currently sitting in the driveway on jack stands getting the trailer's springs replaced and the wheel bearings cleaned & repacked.. I still have to adjust the trailer's bunks to give the propeller & rudder a bit more ground clearance as it's a bit too close to the pavement for my liking.. The engine needs a set of intake gaskets to stop some minor oil leaks and I've already found a set of original valve covers to get rid of the aftermarket aluminum ones currently on it..

Here's a few pics of her when I brought her home.. I think she'll make a fine stablemate for my classic Chris Craft cruiser..

100_2645 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

100_2646 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

100_2647 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

100_2648 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

I'll be sure to start a thread over in the "70's" forum to document my restoration work..

Welcome, and congrats! Nice looking boat!

I'd love to see that Catalina, Mr. I Love those Chris craft cruisers, all the way from the 1920s on up until they started looking like air jordan tennis shoes lol..

Welcome. Nice rig and a great looking trailer. All looks very worth the elbow grease and cash it will take to put this back in nice looking and good mechanical order. Great boating to you and good luck with restoration.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!!

I've already had the brown truck busy bringing me supplies to whip the little Resorter back into bristol fashion.. It hasn't been off it's trailer in over three years because one of the original rubber exhaust hose couplings near the transom has rotted out and is leaking, luckily, most of the original exhaust is made up from copper pipe with just a few short hose "couplings" to connect it all together.. To access the exhaust at the transom, I have to remove the fuel tank and it's support platform.. I figure it will be a good time to clean out the tank and replace all the original fuel fill, vent, and feed hoses with modern alcohol resistant hoses.. While I have it opened up back there, I'm also gonna pull, clean, and rebed all the swim platform brackets and the exhaust outlets in the transom..

And here's some Chris Craft porn for Capt. Shake!!

100_0510 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

100_0511 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

You can drool over more pics in it's album..---> POKE HERE

And you can follow my seemingly never ending engine & genset freshening up over at the Chris Craft Catalina Club Forum..

My 383 Stroker Rebuild

Onan Genset Refurb

Thanks, would be fun to spend a summer living afloat drifting from town to town on the river... I've found Ebay to be one of my most valuable tools when working on these old boats, also my biggest downfall as well lol... Right now I'm wondering if some of my latest orders was on that fedex truck that got nailed by that train last week..... Hope not!!

What waters do you claim as home port? Wisconsin river/castlerock lake here...

Most of my boating is done on Lake Conroe just north of Houston, living in Houston, I have easy access to the Gulf or to several large inland lakes..

Back in the late 90's I took the Catalina on a week long trip down the Intercoastal Waterway with a couple of friends and their boats.. We launched in Galveston and meandered our way down to Corpus Christi.. When we got to Corpus, we left the boats in a local marina, rented a van and drove back home.. The following weekend we took the trucks & trailers down and loaded the boats up for the trip back home..

Having a custom trailer for the Catalina is a Godsend, it saves a ton of money that would otherwise be spent on yard fees, haulouts, or slip rentals.. She's not something that you want to trailer often with a nearly 10' beam and just over 12' to the top of the windshield, she's an imposing presence on the highway..

Lol I bet, gotta have a big heavy truck with good brakes lol..

and that coastal trip sounds like a friggen BLAST!!

The trailer has 12" hydraulic drum brakes on all four wheels.. The trailer has a 10,000# GVWR, 8,000# carrying capacity, and a 1,700# empty weight.. Loaded weight with full fuel (55 gal.), full fresh water (28 gal.) and all normally carried gear, she tips the scales at 8,200# with 800# of tongue weight..

Since I was towing an "overwide" boat, the trailer builder made the trailer "overwide" too.. The trailer frame is 8' wide between the main frame rails then add the 8.75-16.5 tires on each side and the trailer is close to 10' wide.. The extra width really helps with stability since the boat has to sit so high off the pavement to clear the inboard running gear.. They also welded in a helluva skid bar to protect the prop & rudder from the pavement when navigating steep driveways..

100_0637 by cc_john67 , on Flickr

Welcome aboard John, excellent stuff!!!!!!! Nice find on the Century. There's a Century boat club on Facebook. I've got a '53 Resorter that I'm restoring. It's in the member project forum.

Bob

Waterwings wrote:

Welcome aboard John, excellent stuff!!!!!!! Nice find on the Century. There's a Century boat club on Facebook. I've got a '53 Resorter that I'm restoring. It's in the member project forum.

Bob

Thanks Bob!!

If I ever get around to signing up on Facebook, I'll be sure to check out the Century Club..

I read your Resorter thread a couple of days ago, all I can say is WOW!! You guys that tackle those old wood boat rebuilds have my complete and total respect and admiration!!

No need to get on facebook. Here is their website. centuryboatclub.com/cbcindex02.htm

Thanks John, it keeps me out of trouble, well some what.

Thanks Cal, forgot to add that.

Bob

Waterwings wrote:

Thanks John, it keeps me out of trouble, well some what.

Thanks Cal, forgot to add that.

Bob

Bob,

I can totally relate to that line of thought..

Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to get a restoration thread started, been too busy with work this week to get anything done on the little Resorter.. If the weather cooperates I'm planning on getting all the seats removed along with the fuel tank, so I can start removing the exhaust system to replace the old rotted hose couplers.. I also need to pull the shaft in order to replace the stuffing box hose as it's original to the boat..

John,
I saw you got the thread started, good work so far. I would double check those stringers while you have the chance.

Bob

Waterwings wrote:

John,
I saw you got the thread started, good work so far. I would double check those stringers while you have the chance.

Bob

I've already given the stringers a close exam.. The main engine stringers are solid as a rock.. The outboard stringers have some minor soft spots in the top 1/3 of the board where the removable floor panel to access the shaft log was screwed into the top of them.. It looks like I might be able to do a temporary repair on them with CPES that will hold me until I'm ready to replace the floor next winter.. In the areas that I've lifted the carpet, the original plywood decking is still in serviceable shape and will get by for another year or two..

After I degrease the bilge, I plan on treating all the exposed areas on the main engine stringers with CPES to head off any future problems down the road..

When using the CPES you might find it helpful to drill some shallow holes in which to fill with CPES thereby allowing it to migrate into deteriorating wood more rapidly and thoroughly. This is of course in conjunction with the paint on application.

Jack

John/Jack good ideas on both counts!

Bob