TOPIC: 1961 Lonestar "Flamingo"

I'll give you a "Lone" if you still need one. I would appreciate it if you would buy one of my DVD Series from American Classic Speedboats.com someday. It has some shots of Bob Hammond and some rare Lonestars at Kevin Mueller's place and a feature on the LoneStar Continental/Sky Lark conversion I'm working on.
Bob Whiteside,
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My flamingo, I found this on ebay and thought of your emblem. I have my fingers crossed.. cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/64-65-66-67-chrysler-Ford-GM-boat-truck-bezels-/190562170283?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c5e63f5ab

Thanks, I will take a look

Boat Looks Great.. Nice Job!

I started working on building a Rear Bench Seat for the Blue Flamingo. Here's some shots of what I've got done so far. Built the base out of Southern Yellow Pine and then made a 3 1/2" webbed grid.


Used Foam from a Craigslist couch and then WalMart Bags and spray adhesive to cover the foam.


Sewed up the cover and voila' the base of the seat is ready to be tugged and pulled and stapled into shape, and then the Hide-Em applied.


Front



Rear


Next I need to build the base and back frame and then sew up the cover for it. More to come.

Excellent, that came out GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! Nice work, that's going to look great in the back.

Bob

Very nice work, I agree! I'm envious of you guys who can create your own seat covers, I couldn't sew a stitch if I had too. Hope you don't mind a couple questions, Flamingo, you know I'm always trying to learn everything I can;

Did you treat or coat the wood with anything?

Staples or tacks to hold the vinyl to the frame, and made out of what? (Brass, stainless, ???)

Wood will be coated with Epoxy, Staples are 1/2" Stainless. I use "Shoe Box" type cardboard 1/2" strips folded into the vinyl to staple the edge and then a piece of "Hide-Em" around the edge to finish it off. I'll post that when I get to that stage. I never sewed a stitch till last summer. Bought an Old Sears Kenmore an went online and got a manual to learn how to set it up. My sister is a Master seamstress so she helped give me some pointers along with a LOT of Googling YouTube videos. Practice and perseverance pays off. I have since purchased a more Heavy Duty Industrial machine for $75 bucks and it makes a LOT of differences when sewing 6 layers of vinyl. I've found I really enjoy the upholstery work. Each piece gets easier and better as I learn the tricks of the trade.

I made some videos of my Upholstery work. Not very good but you might be able to pick up some things from them that will help you in your future upholstery endeavors. Ist one shows how I constructed the base of the seat and did the foam work. The second shows how I sewed and installed the piping an the last is just general setup and sewing info.

Impressive restoration, & the upholstery work is GREAT! I may try & talk the other half into helping w/ the FireFlite when I get to the interior..... We'll see, she's still chapped about the stop over to grab a 650 Thunderbolt.....

Great stuff MF, thanks for the tutorial!

Excellent, I think I'm going to have to find a sewing machine and do my own cushions. Local folks want too much to do them and I'm too cheap. I have a line on a old Morse that I think may work. Vintage like an old Singer.

Bob

Waterwings wrote:

Excellent, I think I'm going to have to find a sewing machine and do my own cushions. Local folks want too much to do them and I'm too cheap. I have a line on a old Morse that I think may work. Vintage like an old Singer.

Bob

I was skeptical of my ability at first so I bought a $35 Singer and thought if I Suck at it I'll sell it and have the upholstery done. But with the help of my Sister and the Youtube videos I was able to figure it out and found out that I had some skill and I actually enjoy it. I still learn everytime I turn it on but that's true of everything. I encourage everyone to give it a try. You can always sell it again on Craislist if it doesn't turn out to be your cup of tea. I did discover that the machine can make ALL the differece. My $75 Morse is a Heavy duty job and it makes it SOOOOOOO much easier. No more broken needles and constant tensioning adjustments. It goes thru 6 layers of vinyl like it's nothing. So if you want to try, I'd recommend trying to find a machine that is recommended for sewing heavy leather or at least multiple layers of denim.

thank you flamingo,nice job.
im hoping to get a machine soon,i will start my learning with upholstering the firetruck,lol,john

john-gibson wrote:

thank you flamingo,nice job.
im hoping to get a machine soon,i will start my learning with upholstering the firetruck,lol,john

John,

If I can help with that Truck, I WILL! If you want to send me dimensions, colors, etc... I'd be happy to make the cushions for it. If you want to do it, then I'll be happy to advise any way I can but, I'll do it if you want me to. I know you've been hurting so if I can take a bit of the load off, I will. Just let me know.

thanks buddy,i know you would,but im wanting to do it just to see how i do,lol.but i will let you know if i need help,thanks ,john

Well I got the Back portion of the rear seat 75% completed. Frame built, Foam installed, Cover sewn and pulled on. Now the fun begins with the tugging and pulling and stapling. She's kinda wrinkliy now, (Like Me), but hopefully they will all come out with the tugging and pulling and stapling. Here's some pics so you can kinda see what she's gunna look like when complete. Not perfect but not to bad for my fisrst time from scratch.

Frame



Left View


Right View




To EveryOne On FiberGlassics...

flamingo,i learned that some wrinkles will come out if you hit them gently with a heat gun,just be careful and keep it moving,john

Now John, Is that for Me, or the vinyl on the SEAT

Looking GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

Bob

lol flamingo,i guess it could be for both,alot of marine vinyl will shrink a little when heat is gently applied with a heat gun,but like i said be very careful,merry christmas buddy,john

holy crap i need a life i just hit 3000 posts.

Well progress has been slow, Life and Work have been pulling me away from the boat. I have been working on the pyramid bases for the from seats. They will be 5 1/2" tall in their finished state. It took some "Googling" to finally figure out the correct Angles for the pyramids, but once I got em, they were actually pretty easy to cut out. In case you're interested. Blanks were 7 3/8" x 16" Tops and bottoms were beveled @ 45° Sides were angled @ 30° and beveled @ 37.26°. This yielded a pyramid of 4 3/4" tall. With a 3/4" top cap I got my 5 1/2". Here's some pics.

Tape the seams Gorrila Glue and fold em together and Pin Nail em. Works Great.



Center post inserted.



Top cap cut and fitted.




Center post Drilled and Schedule 80 PVC inserted.


Top Cap Drilled for PVC



This is the seat base and post. Post will fit into PVC and have Stainless Steel washers. I think it will work Great



Bases will be given two coats of epoxy, epoxied to the deck, tabbed to the deck with 8oz biaxial cloth, then painted with Valspar Oil Based Paint with Added Hardener. I think they'll last for decades. I got the base for the rear seat fabricated too. Will post pics of that in a bit.

Great to see you're back at the project Flamingo, very cool design and nice work on the pyramid bases! Quite an inspiration to the "square box" minds like mine.

nice job as usual buddy,i wish it were warmer here,so i could work on some boat stuff and the charity firetruck.
i envy you guys working on boats and stuff,john

Great progress! I bookmarked your videos for reference when I start my cusions for molded seats.
Love the vids.

Looks good! Do you still need any badges? I have one Lone*Star in very nice condition. Found it while unpacking the MI stuff forgot I even had it. I have no use for it and would most likly end up mounting on a tool box.

Wow, the bases are looking GREAT!!!!

Bob

More work on the bases. Got one almost finished. Just need to imbed the Stainless washer on top in epoxy. Will prolly wait and do that at time of install. Here's some more pics...

nice ,very cool seats,they came out great,i was supposed to get a couple of machines for sewing vinyl,but it hasn't worked out yet,lol,still looking.
those seats look way too comfy,im afraid i would fall asleep in those babies ,lol,very cool ,john

That is one great looking seat base setup you have designed there. I like how you have done the seat post in it. You should be able to get lots of use out of them. I can't wait to see them mounted in the boat. Keep up the great work. Skip.

Well I got a little done today. Finished the 2nd Pyramid base and the Rear Seat base got Glued, Screwed and Assembled with the Center Brace. I was so happy with the results I HAD to clean out the boat and temporarily put the seats in. I am VERY PLEASED with how they look. My wife even came out and Said WOW!!!!!

Definitely a WOW factor there. She's going to look awesome when your done.

Bob

That came out great!

Looks great. How are you mating the back seat backrest to the seat? How are you keeping the backrest up? Any storage under seat? Thx, Joe

Industrial velcro strips will attach the back and seat to the frame. No storage planned for under seat. Lots of storage under the bow of the boat.

Gettin Close to Splash Time!!!

Rear Seat is done








Boat's on the trailer




Motor, Throttle and Steering all connected (motor Runs GREAT! Fired and started on the first touch of the key.)





Hope to splash this weekend.

MyFlamingo wrote:

Gettin Close to Splash Time!!!

Hope to splash this weekend.

Yeah, Yeah.... You said that LAST weekend

Most Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see her splashed. Take plenty of pics!!!

Bob

Here's a pic of the Blue Flamingo on the water.







Here she is tied up at the Dock waiting for the Mrs. to come on board.



Under way, with the bow Flag Flappin in the Breeze.




Captain @ the Helm...



And last but not least a video of her under way...



Motor ran like a new one. She is WAY under powered so I am going to have to get the 70 hp Merc ASAP!!! Also found out just how SMALL an old 15' runabout is. Got bounced aroudn pretty good and it was a calm day. I also found out I was a lot Skinnier back in the 60's.

That's all the GOOD news.


Now the bad news... The wind picked up so we decided to quit early and load up. Got the trailer ready, was fighting the wind but got her lined up and gunned her to put her on the trailer and heard and felt this awful thud and scraping. She lurched a bit and then loaded right on up straight as a string. Wife pulled me out and I disembarked to take a look at what the heck happened. I WAS NOT HAPPY. Since I did NOT use the Tilt Feature of the Trailer,I evidently did not have her ligned up on the rollers and I basically pretty much destroyed the keel under the front portion of the bow. She might even be cracked!!!!! I'm SICK!!!! REAL SICK!!! To top it off the wife slipped in the boat and fell and hurt her back when she slammed it into the corner of the battery since I did NOT put the New Rear Bench Seat in for tha Maiden Voyage. NOT A GOOD DAY!!!!! Gunna take a while for me to recover from this day. I sincerely hope everyone else's First Launch was better than mine. What was supposed to be an Enjoyably day turned in to a Nightmare very quickly.

Sorry to read about the bad news. She sure does look good out there though. Hopefully everything will all come back together soon both physically and mentally.

And are you sure it should be Captain at the helm? You do bare some resemblance to "Scotty" from Star Trek in that photo! (who by the way was my favorite character in the series.)