TOPIC: 1961 Lonestar "Flamingo"

I bought her in December of 09’ for $250.00 As you can see I don't know how to set the date on my camera. She’s a 15' Lonestar “Flamingo”

I have a lot of woodworking experience and "Mr. Fixit" mentality. Have done some fiberglass fabrication in the past. Owned a few boats in my past. But never tried to restore one. At 60 yrs old been a little apprehensive about getting in over my head but what the heck, I decided to do it anyway.

40 HP Evinrude LARK (Came with 3 Solid Brass Props) Selectric Pushbutton Shift. (Tested and Works Perfect) Keel is very rough due to "Beaching" (Not a very good attempt at patching by the PO. I can fix that!!) Boat is complete with all working guages and minimal pitting on the chrome. (The Old Depth finder has GOT TO GO! The CB Radio Too!!!!) Windshield is relatively clear and a good buffing should bring her back to near perfect. Seats are pretty much shot! Frames are good so I think i’ll try my hand at upholstery and try to bring em back to life.
Floor has NO soft spots. Random drilling on transom yielded "Dry Wood" at all points. Boat was always stored inside, Never had carpet. Nothing to hold water on the deck sooooo.... I think I have a winner.
Will strip all the "Jewelry" of of her, clean out the inside, give her a bath and start filling and wet sanding in preparation for primer and paint.
So far I have Stripped her down, removed the motor (purchased all parts necessary for rebuild and currently rebuilding) built a cradle, flipped her. Sanding and filling the hull. Currently Sewing seat upholstery.

welcome to the site,and very nice boat.you will find the people here to be a great bunch of folks.
if you need advise or help,someone is always happy to help.
and as you go along with your restoration ,please post pics of the progress,we love pics here,lol.john

Welcome Flamingo. Nice project, thanks for sharing. Looks like you did find a good one there, keep us posted on your progress. John is right, we love pics here, got any more?

Great boat! Welcome to Fiberglassics. Here's my Flamingo.

I would love to see some progress pics! Awesome Flamingo's!

Here she is all stripped down.

Not bad for a 50 Year old Transom


She Came with Back to Back seats but I'm gunna build some bench seats cuz these are SHOT.

The Deck's all Painted.



And she's Flipped onto the Dolly


The Keel is gunna need some work


I bought some Old Ranger Bass boat seats. Gunna buy a sewing machine and teach myself to sew and then use these to Practice on. When I learn how I will build some custom Bench Seats for My Flamingo.

wow that boat is in very good shape,especially for 250 bucks,and i can see by the pics that you dont need much help if any,your doing great.john

Looking good- Glad to see you here. I thought you already had some seats done?

-Andrew

Well I made some videos of my sewing. Hope you enjoy.







And here's a pic of the final product.
I think it turned out pretty good for being my first time at sewing anything.





Next I'm gunna fabricte some bench seats and hope to make em look like these, except in blue and white.

Thanks go out to Andgott. He helped a lot with encouragement and tips on setting up the sewing machine and sewing techniques.

Thank you for sharing those videos with us Flamingo, the seats turned out great! And yes, props to Andgott for sure. Sharing knowledge about things like this used to be a rare thing, and now another "craftsman" is born.

flamingo,im on dial up and cant see the videos,but the seat looks great,and kudos again to angott,"andrew",hes a great guy and helps everyone he can,and he knows what hes talking about,so when he shows something i follow it very close.
also mark and rest of the guys here are great guys,way too many to list,lol.
im glad your here ,i can learn alot from you,john

Before the flip I stripped everything off her. Had a Terrible time getting the Steering wheel off and it broke. I bought a replacement off of Ebay that wasn't an exact match so I will have to do some adaptation. The first thing I did was paint it to Match my color scheme. I think it came out ok.



The sleeve was made out of pot metal and it also broke




So I had to get creative. I bought a 3/4 inch 6" piece of Schedule 80 PVC Pipe(.79 Cents), a 1" Die to cut some threads($12), a 1" to 2" Threaded adapter($1.29) to cut off the NUT portion and Voila' a NEW IMPROVED Steering Shaft Sheath.



I am a big time purist and plan on keeping the old cable steering. The cable is in pristine condition as well as the pulleys and springs. I'm sure it will be fine when I'm finished.

Been making progress. Got the hull All finished and painted. Used Pettits easypoxy. 3 coats. Also added the Valspar Acrylic Enamel Hardener. Love it. Paint is Hard as Nails. Got her Flipped and today shot the first coat of Rustoleum Harbor Blue. Again used the Hardener. Will shoot 2nd coat tonite and 3rd coat in the morning. Then the fun begins. All the Lights and Trim goes back on, Hang the motor and Hook everything back up and build my Bench Seats.

Looking good!

She's really looking beautiful MF, you do very nice work. Doesn't look like a $250 boat any more! I'm a long way from ready to do paint work, but appreciate the info on different products you can use. In fact you've been most helpful with several aspects of boat restoration, just wanted to say THANK YOU.

If/when you get ready to do the trailer too, the decal guy I use has the Gator stuff already in his computer ready to run. He did a set for another friend, and he's highly pleased with the quality.
www.garzonstudio.com/trailer/gator.html

MF That's looking Awesome, can't wait to see her finished.

Bob

Those flamingo's must be eating some kind of blue shrimp that makes them that color. Looking good..

The Blue Flamingo is ALL DRESSED UP for the BALL!!! Final Coat of Color is ON!! I think she is BEE-U-TEE-FULL. Had some issues. I was 5 minutes from being done when the fitting on my air hose started spitting water on the bow of the boat. Needless to say I was NOT happy. But I sanded it all out and re-shot it and Now it is PERFECT. I am very Pleased. The picture of the Dash (pic #3) most accurately reflects the Real Life color, and the SHINE she has. I used Rustoleum Oil Based Paint with 85° Acrylic Enamel reducer and Acrylic Enamel Hardener. Paint is Hard as Nails in 4 hours. Very Glossy. Next is installing the Lights, Horn, Steering and wiring harness and doing all the electrical under the dash. May be a while Oklahoma HEAT WAVE. 105° in Tulsa Today.


(Click the Pics to Enlarge)

Wow, she looks good! I hear you about the heat wave. I just cant seem to go grind fiberglass in a 115 degree shop. Maybe tonight I can get a few hours in.

Looking SWEET....

Yeah, this weather isn't good for much- Certainly not working outside... But, It'll give your paint a good chance to bake on- It'll be good and hard!

-Andrew

Looks AWESOME, great job, love the color.

Bob

Shes Looking Great !! I Like the color . I never tried Acrylic Hardner in Rustoleum ..I used Valspar enamel Hardner and it helped a little ..With Acrylic its dry to touch in 4 hours ?? Sure does shine good . How much Flash time do you do between coats ??

Well, it was 106° in Broken Arrow on Saturday, but I got up early to beat the heat and did a little work on "Blue Flamingo" I installed the "Ski Tow" Rings on the transom using some 3M 5200 so that's finished. I then Polished and installed the aluminum transom caps and hung the aluminum splashwell. She still needs LOTS of polishing but I wanted to Kinda see how she would look. I think she will look great. I then polished the Cleats and placed them where they will go and then put the Horn and Bow Light on the Bow. Finally I temporarily installed the Steering column and wheel to get the overall effect. I like it. What do you guys think??







Got the Vinyl for the Seats.



Gunna start on them next. Will be in this style. The Green will be Blue. White stays white.


Do you think the color will be close enough and not clash??

Lookin' good, a couple steps closer to completion!

wow mike!!!it looks great,fantastic job !,john

Mike,
She's looking GREAT! I think the colors should be fine. I like a little contrast myself. I guess it depends on the look your going for, blend in or stand out.

Bob

HHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPP!

I was trying to polish my Lonestar Hull emblem and Broke the "L".
It comes in three pieces the Lone the * and the Star I just need the Lone part. If any one has one PLEEEEEEEEEASE contact me and I'll send MONEY!!!!!!!! and address where to ship it!!!

Thanks

Mike

Great job on the paint!! Sorry about your emblem. Can you glue the L?

Uh oh. Looks like the boat is a total loss. Time to start over....

I've seen lone star emblems come up from time to time on E-Bay...

Oooh- there is one on there now-

Lone Star Emblem

Andgott wrote:

Uh oh. Looks like the boat is a total loss. Time to start over....

I've seen lone star emblems come up from time to time on E-Bay...

Oooh- there is one on there now-

Lone Star Emblem

WOW!!! I only paid $250 for the Boat Motor and Trailer and he wants $65 bucks for the emblem. I Offered $20 We'll see how it goes. Thanks for searching for me.

MyFlamingo wrote:

WOW!!! I only paid $250 for the Boat Motor and Trailer and he wants $65 bucks for the emblem. I Offered $20

I think almost everyone that's done a restoration has felt that way at LEAST once...

So, I broke out the Sewing Machine since it has been so hot and got one of the Bench seat Seat Panels done. Whatcha think...

Well done MF, very tastefully done. Should match the front seats perfectly! I'm envious of your talents.

I love it. You have talent Brother.

wow!it looks great,nice job!john

It looks GREAT, can't wait to see the finished product in the boat.

Bob

My Son and I Started wiring @ 9:00 am this morning. I got up @ 7:00 and got things organized and let my son sleep in since he was doing all the work.

(Click the Pics to Enlarge)





We finsihed @ 2:00 this afternoon. My son did an excellent job. Everything Worked. We had a BIT of an issue figuring out how to make everthing work off the ignition but finally figured it out and it all works like a charm. I think she looks GREAT!!!!





We rolled her Outside to take some better Pics.





She still shines pretty good but needs a bath pretty bad. That will come tomorrow.






My Grandson Blake, thinks PoPo's boat needs to hurry up and get on the "Ocean"!!!!





Anyway, All thats left is mounting the Splashwell the Motor Mount, Putting her back on the Trailer and mounting the motor, Hooking up the Steering and Finishing the seats. Hoping for an August 20th Launch Date

Sweet! It looks awesome, that's some great work there.

Bob

The grin on the little guy's face in the last pic says it all Mike! You've done an awesome job on the Flamingo, can't wait to see some "in the water" shots of that baby.