TOPIC: First boat project- where to start?

1959 Newport with mercury engine and tee nee trailer

Hi everyone this is my first project and I'm starting a list of the things that need to get done and in what order. Some basic questions I need help with:


1) a friend is going to scrape the rust off the trailer and repaint her , put new tires and bearings,etc.

Where can I get tee nee decals ?
What's the best place to order tires? Also need a spare

2) I want to work on the boat while he works on the trailer. What's the best way to position the oat in my garage for that? Where can I buy the right stands?


3) I need to have the engine checked out and restored if possible. Anyone know of someone reputable in NJ?

4) this does not have a full transom, how should u check it for damage?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Jim

Sorry forgot some pictures

Looks like a great find Jim, congrats! (And welcome) In the upper right hand corner of the screen is a "Search Forum" box. You can enter any subject you like and see all the posts that pertain to your question(s). Let me tackle a few of them;
1) trailer tires (&wheel assy.'s) - Wally World, Northern Tool, Menards, etc. can be great sources for those. Just get the best you can afford, they've jumped in price lately like everything else.

2) search "boat cradle", several folks here have built excellent models from scratch recently. If you build one on wheels, it makes life much easier!

3) Couple good places up in NY, not sure about Jersey. Might want to post that question in the "Regional Forums" below (FGNE)

4) search "transom" - basically you lift up and/or stand on the cav. plate to see if there is any flex at all. Take some drilled wood samples to check for wet or black wood.

Good luck with your project, keep us posted on your progress.

Nice looking setup.
Motor matches the boat perfectly.

1) www.easternmarine.com/shop/
I have found some hard to find rims here.

2) You will want to build stands or a cradle. Search as Mark suggested.

3) If you want it done right, do the engine yourself. Buy tools and a factory manual if available.

4) Again as Mark suggested. There are not a lot of holes it it so maybe you got lucky. For what it is worth, I used Seacast on my transom although a very different boat. It looks like you may end up pulling the deck from the hull.

jim, no classic merc mechanics i know of in jersey but i'm sure theres some out there. start calling the marina's at lake hopatcong. 2 super mechanics on these old merc's are :
tim calmes up in perry, n.y.(paradise boat works)about a 6 hour drive.
jim sgrignoli down in lancaster,pa...about a 3 hour drive.
as far as paint on the boat goes, if your going to have it painted give maaco a call. theres one in saddlebrook, n.j.
if you have here done by october theres a aomci wet meet at lake hopatcong the first saturday of october.
also the tuckerton seaport acbs show in september. i attend both. ron

Welcome aboard. Now I have someone to share my restore woes with. Dig in and send lots of pics.

Ok bad news! She definately has water in the transom. In my excitement/ stupidity of finding her in a farm and my first boat purchase I neglected to shift her up and down on the trailer. I did that today and clearly plenty of water in her. So now I have to remove the top section, cut into the fiberglass floor, remove the water , put new stringers and put it all back. I don't have the skill to do that so I will have to pay someone else. So the question is should I move forward or quit while I am ahead and sell her for parts?

Ok, don't discourage.
It isn't rocket science replacing floors and transoms. It is dirty grunt work and some common sense. Mechanical know how and a little carpentry are good too. Get the book "Runabout Restoration".
I think it is too nice a boat to not do it. It may take a couple of years, but it can be fun doing it. A partner in crime helps too.

How do I go about pulling th deck from the hull?I assume they are glued together? I'll need to do that if I'm going to cut into the floor.

sorry jim i can't be much of an optimist as i would never even attempt to do that kind of work myself. i'm goin nuts just trying to hook up my control cables. ron

Jim, that boat is definitely worth the time and trouble to bring back, IMHO! I have a copy of the book "Runabout Restoration" if you'd like to buy it. ($10 plus shipping, ($15 total) how's that sound?) It hasn't been in print for some time now, so it's used but in decent condition. Definitely a good "basics" read to get you started. Even if it takes you a year or two, you'll end up with a Glassic that few others can own! Plus the satisfaction of knowing YOU brought her back yourself, is priceless.

Paying someone else to do it is an option, but extremely expensive. If you take your time, break the project down into smaller, basic steps, it's something anyone fairly handy with a few basic tools can do. Send me a message if you want the book, we'll get you started. Plenty of experienced folks here are always glad to lend a hand if you have questions, I still ask for guidance all the time. This place is a great resource, don't know what I'd do without it!

Jim, Welcome.
You can do it. You should do it. That is going to be a REAL sweet boat when you are through. Of course I am partial to the Merc on there and it matches perfectly. So go ahead, dive in man, the water's fine!
Neil

Santjim wrote:

How do I go about pulling th deck from the hull?I assume they are glued together? I'll need to do that if I'm going to cut into the floor.

Jim, not all decks and hulls are glued together. Usually it's not hard to tell by laying in the boat and looking up into where the rub rail is attached. Can you see the rivets? Can you see a joint there? Or is is glassed over?

First things first. You'll need to remove the rub rail no matter whether the deck is glued to the hull or not. The rub rail is probably riveted on, so you'll need to drill the rivets out. If it's not glued on, it should lift. If it is, you need to experiment with the best way to break the seal. Mine was done mostly inside with some outside effort. Most of mine was done with an old 3/4" chisel and hammer, and took a while. I also set up cheap block & tackles on each corner of the deck to keep continual upward pressure.



The book Mark has offered you (Runabout Renovation) is the only comprehensive book available for this stuff, and for 15 bucks, you can't beat it. I've owned one since it was published in the early 90's and mine is beat.



Back in '92, there was no internet, so now that there is, there's all sorts of info, including web sites where folks have documented their projects. You'll find a lot of that here, then also folks have their own web sites too. I have a pictorial one here: www.powercatboat.com/Group/FA_14t/FA_14t01.html that also has a pdf of an article on the project at the top of the 1st page. For a number of reasons, it took me 4 years to do, but it's done and we have a blast with it.

Best of luck to you!

Frank

In reality you don't need to separate the deck from the hull.
It will likley be easier though if you do.
I would only separate for the transom replacement, not the floor.
Due to the size and weight of my boat I did not separate the two.
I did the floor and transom. Get that book and read a little.
Sometimes I had more fun working on the boat then actually being on the water.

Book is now available on Amazon.com. Just got a copy last week. Some really helpful ideas, especially trying to put all the various steps in some sort of logical order...

welcome jim,if you want you can follow along with my restoration of my nephews boat,in the thread about working on it,also the guys are right about a rolling boat rack,use big castor wheels,they work great on uneven surfaces.heres a pic of the one i built,boy it saves alot of hard work,and when i need to get it out of the garage i just roll it out.john.p.s. my restoration may take awhile though im doing it when my nephew is available,so he can learn how to do it.

When I separated my Herters a few weeks back I did it cave man stlye on the cheap. It was both rivited and bolted together with really sticky caulk/tape added in for good measure. Like the man says, take off the rail, and start at the bow or transom to see what is holding Humpty Dumpty together and then improvise a plan but take your time so you don't crack/break anything. Once I finally got the two halves unglued I took two 2x4's one at a time, lifted up the back corner, slid the board between the halves as far as I could, went around to the other side, lifted that and pulled the 2x4 through. Now you have the stern separated by a few inches. Do the same at the bow area and voila! you have two peices of boat. Get a six pack and a few buddies, lift the top off and store it where it won't get crushed by daily living. When I did my transom everything was done from the inside of the boat, don't compromise the outer shell that is where you will build you new transom on. Chip/cut out all the rotted material and get some resin, glass MATT, cloth and 3/4" plywood. I did a sandwhich job. Take cardboard and make a pattern of the inside of your transom and cut out two blanks from the plywood,Lay a thick layer of matt to the inside transom hull,lay a thick coat of resin on one side of the plywood and then glue the plywood to the transom, clamp or screw them tight together, lay another layer of matt on the outside of the placed plywood and repeat the proceedure gluing the two plywoods together. Screw the two peices together really tight and let set. You need to use glass matt on the transom because that will not let water seep in like glass cloth will. Once the rough transom is set up you can remove your screws if you want. I took pieces of matt and shoved it in all the voids around between the hull and new plywood, you will never get a perfect wood to hull fit. I then finished the job with a final layer of matt over the exposed plywood and topped that with a finish layer of glass cloth rounding all the inside corners, bottom and over the top. You now have a 2" thick solid new transom that will hold a 5000 hp motor.
Hope that helps. Good Luck
Cal

Also consider Seacast on the transom.
There looks to be some angle aluminum that is not original on it already. Get that engine off and start investigating.
The first year of my refurb was research and investigation.

Hey Ron I remember seeing your boat at the Tuckerton Seaport... I am going to bring my G3 this year , it will be the first boat show I ever entered. Mabey we can display together . I live down here in Manahawkin,so I'm close , I'll be contacting them soon so I can register . Tony

Hey Jim, Nice looking boat !! I have an excellent fiberglass guy down here in West Creek, NJ. He rebuilt my transom, and put a new floor in , reinforced the dash . He does beautiful work , There is a bunch of dealers and Marinas I deal with also ,for engine parts

Thanks to everyone for the sage advice and encouragement!!! I'm going to do some more investigating on her this weekend and take some more pictures. I found some more cool parts under the seats and the horn works very loudly (have to find the positives)

65G3 wrote:

Hey Ron I remember seeing your boat at the Tuckerton Seaport... I am going to bring my G3 this year , it will be the first boat show I ever entered. Mabey we can display together . I live down here in Manahawkin,so I'm close , I'll be contacting them soon so I can register . Tony

see ya there tony...

hi all - thanks to jim s another member who had a newport that unfortunately did not survive i have another option. he cut his newport up to dispose of - from the pic below she does not have any foam or balsa. since my boat has not been in the water for years. she has been sitting in a field covered only by the original canvas. the water inside her then must be accumulated rain water.

if i drill a hole in he transom she should drain out. im going to take the engine off and inspect closely.

john great pics of the boat rack. this will help very much! and ill get working on her right away

jim

the original aqua float cushions are in good shape. is there a way of replacing the interior and restoring them? or is it more cost effective to replace them?

anyone restore theirs?

That transom may go all the way down. It may not connect to the under floor space.

Santjim wrote:

the original aqua float cushions are in good shape. is there a way of replacing the interior and restoring them? or is it more cost effective to replace them?

anyone restore theirs?

I would save the cushions for "showtime" as they are period correct.I would think the material may be to brittle to re-sew.That picture shows them to be in great condition. Buy some uscg approved ones for everyday cruising.

I'm in my first boat project. I started in the floor first as this was the only thing I had planned to do. But while doing this it didn't take long before I decided to start replacing restoring everything! I hoped to run my boat this summer but now it probably won't see water till next summer. I made my own boat stand out of 4x4 and 2x4. Makes it so much easier to work on the whole bottom and trailer.

Pretty cool getting a "cut-away" view of the hull construction Jim. I agree with JT (Mr.88), I think those cushions are neat, but "show only".

Welcome aboard Tempest. Nice stand, you should start a thread with your project and keep us posted on your progress.

Some other cool finds

I need another one of these splash guards- anyone seen one around?

Is this clear plastic pole suppposed to light up?