TOPIC: 1963 Winner Rebuild

Hi folks,
I am restoring a '63 Winner for member Roy Showalter and figured I'd start a thread here showing some of the progress as it goes along. Here are some before pics. Ist pic is the day I met with Roy and picked it up. Roy is on the right, I'm on the left.

Ok, once in the shop we started stripping the trim, hardware, interior, motor/controls, etc. The original floor had been cut out and a piece of plywood screwed in and covered with carpet. All that came out and the deck was removed.

Ok, as usual, the floor was rotten, transom was rotten, stringers were rotten. So, time to pull out the chisel and hammer, die grander, cut off wheel, whatever and get rid of the rotten stuff before moving on to the deck repairs...

Next I moved onm to the deck. The underside of the nose was reinforced with cardboard back when it was originally build, so all of that needed to come out first. All the wood bracing on the deck will be replaced. Let's rip out the old and prep for the new.....

Ok, after getting all the plywood bracing off of the underside of the deck, it was time to sand and prep for the new wood. For the nose I decided to go with 1/4" oak panels in conjunction with new ribs to help spread the stress out over a wide area, instead of using ribs only. No cardboard will be used this time around. lol...

Normally I would have used cloth and resin to attach the 1/4" before glassing over it, but since the deck is real thin I decided to lay a heavy layer of wet mat down instead. I placed the 1/4" in in place and weighted it down with whatever I could fine. I just moved into this building and forgot to bring my weights! Oh well... it worked. As that was drying I cut and clamped the 5/8" bracing into place.

Once the fiberglass adhering the 1/4" oak onto the deck had set I removed the weights and fashioned some ribs. These are roughly 2x2", flat on the bottom, round on the top. I laid a thin strip of wet mat under them and weighted them down to dry. As one pair dried, I added another, shorter pair, and then another, shorter pair, for a totle of six.

When I added the two outside ribs I went in and glassed over the front halves of the other 4 ribs. The temp dropped pretty good about that time so I stopped and will finish it up next week. Once the ribs are all glassed over, I will added glass between them to fully encase the 1/4" and secure it to the deck along the edges.

Then I'll start glassing in the 5/8 bracing and dash panel, and build a new cross brace to under the deck across the new ribs. Once the deck is done and ready to go back on the boat the underside will be prepped and sprayed white.

Wow… You are really busting out some work here!!! How long has all of this work been going on for? I really need to get off my azz & do some work to my pile!

steve... wrote:

Wow… You are really busting out some work here!!! How long has all of this work been going on for? I really need to get off my azz & do some work to my pile!

This has been going on off and on for a while now. Everything with the deck was done in the last month.

Bricks, Buckets and primer Cans... These are in fact our tools of our trade.. LOL I just never let them make it past the editing room... Looks great!

Way to go man!!!!!!!!

Heather wrote:

Bricks, Buckets and primer Cans... These are in fact our tools of our trade.. LOL I just never let them make it past the editing room... Looks great!

Way to go man!!!!!!!!

LOL.. Usually I use window weights or some 1/2" and 1" steel that I have cut into 6 inch squares. The bricks are ugly but they sure were handy!

The 'glass don't know what you used for weight....MAN that deck is gonna be strong! Could dance on it. Great job and it's great to know somebody is getting a build done. The weather has been so bad here since November that I haven't touched any of my boats except to fix the cover support on the Powercat that broke down under 8 inches of snow.

Wow! Do you really think I can dance on it? lol.....Man, seeing all those pictures is so awesome...I can't believe that is my boat! That boat has a cool story behind it. I found that boat in 94. I had been married for less than a year and I had told my wife I really wanted to restore an old boat. I had grown up on a 63 Larson All American and I wanted to get that feeling back of riding and smelling those smells you can't get from a new boat. I'm sure she thought I was crazy, but being a newlywed she acted like it was wonderful. We drove to Hot Springs, Ark for the weekend for the purpose of finding me an old boat. Hot Springs has three lakes so I thought it would be the best place to look. I found this boat in an old boat yard of a mans house along the highway and it was exactly what I wanted. Although I had never heard of a Winner, I knew I liked it. I told my wife(who knew NOTHING about boats) that I had talked the man down to 3 and that I had told him I would take it. That is when she said YOUR GOING TO PAY 3 thousand dollars for THAT boat? The tires were flat on the trailer and there was small growth coming out of the floor but it was beautiful to me. I laughed and reassured her it was $300 NOT $3000...We have had many laughs over that since then. However she did tell me if it came off the trailer driving through Little Rock we were not looking back I was to keep on driving...ha.. This boat is also how I meet Lee Wangstad..I had gone to the book store and bought every boating magazine I could find ..I needed help...After reading one of his classic boating articles..I called the magazine and they were kind enough to relay the message to him and he called me back and he told me everything about my boat and even sent me copies of the original brochure. We have been friends ever since. He later told me I was the 1st person to ever call him to ask about one of his articles. He has even taken me and my son riding in his beautiful Larson.it has the WOW factor...As you can see from Doug's pictures I didn't do the best of jobs restoring but it has lasted me a long time with MUCH FUN.My son has grown up in that boat and even learned to ski in it...I have plans for my daughter to do the same. Buying that first boat changed my life. I now have a passion for old boats and would love nothing better than going around saving everyone I see. but my Newlywed wife (of 17 years) now makes her opinion more known and tells me NOT to come home with any more old boats...I have selective hearing...lol I asked Doug to restore my boat because I wanted the WOW factor...looks like it won't be long now....

1963winner wrote:

Wow! Do you really think I can dance on it? lol.....

Yes I do! With the original thickness of the fiberglass, the mat, the 1/4" ply, more mat and 2 X 2 reinforcements you are going to have a VERY STRONG composite structure. MUCH stronger than original.

Get Clasicfins to lay a piece of mat and resin on both sides of a piece of 1/4 scrap ply...you won't believe how strong it is.

classicfins- That's very nice work on that deck ! It should be strong, but not overly heavy . The rest of the work on the boat looks great too !

Doug we are ready for more pics...lol...you got me all excited...

No, not yet.. Unfortunately my father in law has me painting his mini van. He is retiring for the 3rd time (he's 82)and is moving into a little guest house in our back yard. He has two cars and is selling the newest one (2009 Focus) and keeping his '95 Honda mini van. He wants fresh paint on it before he gets rid of the other one so I've been commissioned for the job. lol

I should be back on the Winner next week and pics will follow soon!

Doug

Wow great work Doug. Thanks for posting the pictues. It is sure easy to tell you have done this a few times.
I met Roy and his son Parker in Beloit a few years back. At that time he was towing a Herters. Glad to see he has stuck with it.

Del

herters59 wrote:

Wow great work Doug. Thanks for posting the pictues. It is sure easy to tell you have done this a few times.
I met Roy and his son Parker in Beloit a few years back. At that time he was towing a Herters. Glad to see he has stuck with it.

Del

Thanks Del,
I just told him a week or so ago that we need to do the Herters when we finish this one. LOL... How is the Volksboat coming along?
Doug

Doug,

Any idea when Winner began using the FG "grillage" system instead of stringers?

All I can tell you is that after the "Thompson built" Winners the company was moved back to Dickson, TN. That is about 1984. They advertised the fiberglass "grillage" system and the picture showed a one piece molded framework that was laminated into the hull.

I guess the floor & transom was still wood. Point is, a rebuild would be much easier if the stringers were not rotten.

Somewhere, I thought the grillage system was in use from the late 60's or so.

Very little seems to be known about the post Thompson boats or the management of the company. Lee Wangsted once said Dickson people didn't want to talk about it or something like that. I was at the Imtec show at Chicago's Mc Cormick Place about that time and talked to Ted M.... (can't remember his exact name). He was supposedly the guy in charge at the time.

AJ or Lee, any thing you can ad?

Jim

Thank you for all of the pics and info. You are giving me som great ideas for my 58 glasscraft project.

jimandros wrote:

Doug,

Any idea when Winner began using the FG "grillage" system instead of stringers?

All I can tell you is that after the "Thompson built" Winners the company was moved back to Dickson, TN. That is about 1984. They advertised the fiberglass "grillage" system and the picture showed a one piece molded framework that was laminated into the hull.

I guess the floor & transom was still wood. Point is, a rebuild would be much easier if the stringers were not rotten.

Somewhere, I thought the grillage system was in use from the late 60's or so.

Very little seems to be known about the post Thompson boats or the management of the company. Lee Wangsted once said Dickson people didn't want to talk about it or something like that. I was at the Imtec show at Chicago's Mc Cormick Place about that time and talked to Ted M.... (can't remember his exact name). He was supposedly the guy in charge at the time.

AJ or Lee, any thing you can ad?

Jim

Jim,

Sorry to say but I don't know anything about the Winner line at all. Maybe Andreas or Lee can help out.

Doug,

His name is (was?) Ned Momany, not Ted as I earlier stated.

My uncle's dad (dead now a good 20 years) bought a new 16' Marathon back in 1967. Powered by a MerCruiser 160 inline 6 cyl. The boat was a rocket. It got years of use on Clear Lake, IA & finally retired after about 20 years of pulling 4 boys skiing.

The Marathon was a deep V "quadralift". It was definately a deeper V and had lifting strakes along the bottom. Also, it seems to me the bottom had a pad type flat area along its rear centerline.

Unfortunately, it was never pampered & that showed. The boat has been unused & left uncovered for probably 15 years in IA, summer & winter.

I would love to get this thing home & at least into my barn until I could restore it.

I have been searching the web & found out that Winner filed bankruptcy back in '73. the link cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F2/511/1010/398981/

Here is a link to a 1966 advertisement. books.google.com/books?id=oSkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=%22winner+boats%22&source=bl&ots=LF-Xr-lCiZ&sig=297Kooo04qhs8dorFwj0-1il_ZI&hl=en&ei=_S6cS7nECpGENI36oOcN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAjgo#v=onepage&q=%22winner%20boats%22&f=false

Here is a link about the local landfill that ties Ebbtide with Winner books.google.com/books?id=QZL5OKuXZ-4C&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=%22winner+boats%22&source=bl&ots=9mog_KzqFN&sig=mmrG9PNo_pdWj7rd06uGO1nxpGE&hl=en&ei=7jWcS5SlLYmuMqD-yeYN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CBsQ6AEwCTigAQ#v=onepage&q=%22winner%20boats%22&f=false

Patent request link (would suggest a timeframe) www.wikipatents.com/US-Patent-3663976/grillage-for-a-boat

Hope these links work.

It's been a while since I've posted any progress pics of the '63 Winner so I think I'll throw some up right quick. They are pretty self explanatory so here we go.....

ok.. the bottom is done for now so I flipped it over and started on the topside. Ground & prepped all the holes and reglassed, then roughed in using a rol-loc grinder with 36 grit. The deck had been painted with a brush at one time so I've been sanding that off with a D/A and 150 grit to get back to the original gelcoat. I haven't downloaded any of those pics from the camera yet, but will update when I do...

Doug,
She's coming along nicely. By the time your done that boat shouldn't flex anywhere!!!!! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Bob

Pics of the sanding off the old brushed on paint. Dusty, dusty, dusty! The original gelcoat is in real nice shape. Now that the deck is sanded ext I'll sit down and use the Dremel tool to grind all the small cracks along the screw holes on the lip of the deck and then fill and smoooth.

doug,nice work,i think the sanding and grinding are the worst part of restoration,but i love laying down paint,just keep thinking about how good its going to look when you are done,john