TOPIC: New member, old (new) project. Custom stingray

Hey guys, been reading around looking for answers but can't find what I need. I have a stingray project that I have bought and am getting stated on. Does anybody have pictures of the deck (if there is any) of a 61 (I think) stingray ski edition? I am trying to bring it back as original or possible and have nothing but a hill for a floor. It looks like I should be building up a floor, but since I was not alive in 61, I can't quite recall from memory.
Thanks guys

Dpcarson,

NIFTY boat.

yours, satx

Welcome aboard DP, and nice find on the Sting Ray! Don't know if you've seen the Custom Craft section in the FG Library, but there's some pretty good info there;
www.fiberglassics.com/library/Custom_Craft
Also, the Custom Craft boats have a large, loyal following with Dave up in the N.E., great resource for info;
www.nicklecityclassics.com/

DP, welcome to the site and world of Custom Crafts. Great boats; have one myself (Aqua Ray). The floors were glass over plywood with foam poured underneath. US Composites is a good resource for that.

In the library, there is a description and picture of the ST-15, which is the ski model. There are also more brochures at nicklecityclassics.com in the gallery section.

Just out of curiosity, under the Custom Craft on the emblum, there is a city listed. Most all of them have Buffalo, but there was a builder in VA for a while that had Virginia on it. What does yours says?

Look forward to hearing more about the project.

Hello NOrth Carolina, : WELCOME, Great score on nice model .. Has the correct bow deck Light & flag staff. Windshileds are hard to come by... Looks to be even the white pinstripe fabric on the dash
with a speedo ? or tach ..
There is a 61 Tiger ray hull over here in Chattanooga with a member.. maybe on your floor there was some some of removable Lattice wood ,flat grid .?

Post more pics & history story when you can .

Tudor, which emblem are you talking about with the name under it. This boat was actually found in a little marina between williamsburg and richmond, VA

Sunday was a real busy morning for me and my son. He is ten, and my partner on this project. Here is some of the progress.











Thanks for all of the input guys. I am workign on my supply list for jamestown distributors and us composites right now. Hopefully I can get another day off soon to get started. i think teh transom is gonna have to come out, but i am thinking of giving some of the smith system CPES a try first. But you know, when you have it down this far, if you are gonna replace the transom I guess now is the time.

Any input you guys have will be greatly appreciated. My big questions are about the floor, and just reinforcing the fiberglass in several area, and maybe beefing up the transom even a little beyond original. I do have to cut out a small section of floor though. There was literally a small tree growing out at the drawn port. Roots got all up in between the fiberglass and started some wood rot in there

I am planning to take her back to the original light blue top with white inside and bottom. Say a nice mint green adn white ride on nickle city site that I am trying to immitate somewhat.

..D.: The company info city we are curioius about is imprented on the bottom of that WHITE Logo tag saying CUSTOM CRAFT . It is on your dash , also some had two tags on the rear quarters.
Most say BUFFALO " 7 " New York , ( Which was the early fore runner of the US ZIP codes for rest of county ) .

DID you get the company SERIAL # on the transom ALuminum cap .?Was that one foot square cap still with the boat .. Facing inside & STAMPED VERY SMALL Upside DOwn is the year & Model Srial #'s .???
Could be in this format S.R. 7 8 123 61
....................

Nice progress on the boat. Looks like most of the floor is out. I assume you are talking about some hull replacement. Trees growing is boats are never good. When I did the partial floor replacement on my Aqua Ray, I used 4# foam instead of the usual 2#. Gives it a little extra strength. Remember, the foam cures like bread; rises in the middle.

Taking the deck of a CC is way easier that doing it on a Glastron.

When I restored my old Power Cat, I used 3/4" marine mahogany plywood in part because there are no voids in it. It's a bit pricey, but the price fades to insignificance when you're restoring an old classic boat like yours, plus one 4X8 sheet should do you if you're doing an inch and a half transom. Actually it's easy to build to what you need with thin luan plywood between the 3/4 marine layers.

I'm a firm believer in transoms that are stronger than when the boat was built. You have to remember these boats were a business and time was money. Not so when you're doing a restoration. I don't know how Custom Craft transoms were supported, but the best support is knees. Also, a number of layers of glass and mat tying the transom to all the adjoining surfaces is an excellent idea.

My Power Cat originally came with one cross brace. When I rebuilt it, I installed two cross braces. You can see my web page here: www.powercatboat.com/Group/FA_14t/FA_14t01.html

Good luck with your project, and keep us posted!

Frank

Excelent score. CC boats were one of the best styled of all glassic boats, and very worthy of restoration. Someone has a stash of NOS CC windshields for sale - but I can't remember who it was right now. Someone here will probably chime in on that.

Without question - replace the transom. Transom replacement is the cornerstone of any restoration. Despite how it looks now, you will likely regret if if you don't replace it. Now is the time & you can make it better than when it was new. If possible, I would alter the original "T" shape and run the wood all the way across the back wall. If the contour of the hull prevents this - you'll have to keep the original shape. Be sure to make new knee braces for the transom as well. You can use MDO plywood with excellent results. It is what sign makers use for exterior plywood signs. It is very good stuff. Look it up online to see more.

Have fun.

Dave Albertson, On Nickle City Classics, has the windshields. Not sure what ones he has left, though. They are in Buffalo, but priced very fairly!

The floor in the tiger ray that I've got is rather interesting... It is plywood laminated to the bottom of the hull. There are no stringers, the bottom of the hull is moulded to be rigid. I don't know if your boat is set up the same way or not.

Custom Crafts are really cool boats... I wish I had more time to get to mine!

-Andrew

Thanks for all the info. Mi actually have the original windshield but believe it is likely beyond repai. It had also started cracking at one time and was drilled out, but started again. I am going to hit it with the buffer and see what happens with some fine cut nuvite, but I am not expecting much. This does have the T transom and the knee braces. I believe I will strip the transom ou and completely rebuild it. Plywood or starboard? The hull is like nothing I have seen before. Two layers with about a 1 inch thick stinger, but laying flat, between the actually hull and the fiberglass floor? New to me, but you tend to figure things out when tearing them apart I guess.

Thanks so much for all the info, and please keep it coming. My goal is to have her in the water by labor day. Lofty for a guy that has not had a day off work in ir days. I am thinking of quitting work so I can work on the boat, but my lazy boss would probably never hire my sorry ass back. I happen to be self employed.

So if I go back with light blue and white, white rub rail or black?

Sorry guys, couple more quick questions. I have the original trailer (so I am told) that came with it. We're these painted a specific color and any idea about decals for it or pictures of decals I could have reproduced. The decal on the trailer says "CHAMP".

Also, what is a typical price for this boat with an old Johnson 75 seahorse. Both in current condition, and fully restored

white rubrail......

I thought about using Coosa board for my Reinell until I did the math. My boat has a very od shaped transom, and like yours, most of the board would be lost to sawdust and scrap. I didn't like the idea of having 200-300 bucks or more wasted. So I used my good old favorite - MDO plywood. I'll treat the edges with a good dose of CPES - I have pre drilled all the drain holes and the motor bracket holes - these were slightly oversized. I'll soak all of the holes with CPES. Then I will install the transom into the boat. The top of the transom will be cut about 1/8" below where it needs to be, because the last 1/8" will be layers of fiberglass. When cured, file the edges smooth and flatten the top. I will not use an aluminum trim cap as the factory did, as these invite rot. I'll fill the holes with 3M 5200 before installing the drain tubes and motor bracket bolts.

Thanks for that info Bruce. I like the information and appreciate the logic in it all. Sounds like a good plan

Anybody care to sound off on paint preferences?

Dpcarson,

I think the marina owner is glad the old "bat boat" as they called it is gone!
The owner told me he has had the Custom Craft in the water a few years back but when I saw it the lower unit was not attached. I think there is some pictures of this boat that I took in Daves Custom Craft site. The emblem on the dash did not have which manufacturing plant the boat was produced at. My 1962 Sea Ray has "Custom Craft" in scriped and "OF VIRGINIA, INC" just below, this was my boat was made in the Salem, VA plant (of which is still a fiberglass product company).
As for a going price ...... well the owner wanted what Dave and I both thought was way out line for this boat, so in such I did not buy the Sting Ray. I did want that Champ trailer real bad for my Sea Ray!

Bill in Richmond, VA [img][img]http://www.fiberglassics.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/022_22_600_x_450-20120404.jpg

petit easypoxy...on my mantaray.

Greetings everybody. bill, I figured as long as rent was being paid that Taylor was probably happy to have the boat around. But, I am going to finish it off and then haul it back up to show it to Taylor and the group up there. A few of them should appreciate an old classic like that. I would love to do it by Labor Day weekend since the marina is pretty busy then, but if not, definitely for Memorial day weekend next year.


OK everybody, I have created a new album that I will share the link to so all the pictures and progress can be followed through photobucket. Today I got a chance to work a little again, and as I think everybody does, I found the damage to be much more extensive than I had first thought. The entire hull is being stripped down to hull and a do-over is going to happen. The roots from the small tree that was growing in the back of the boat extended all the way to the seat. Afer cutting open the fiberglas, all of that nice solid wood was able to be peeled out by hand due to the extensive rot. Now I am not sure what to do. Rebuild the way it was, or build up a floor on stringers and bulknheads.

By the way, this is actually my first real boat restoration project. A little work on cosmetics and mechanical is as far as I have ever gone. I think I am going to learn to swim by being thrown in the shark tank here.

I am posting a link to the photobucket album if anybody wants to see the rest of the pictures

Link to album on Photobucket

I think you may have a laminated core hull: 2 thin layers of fiberglass sandwiching a 'core' of wood, often balsa wood, but your's looks like some sort of thicker dimensional lumber not balsa.

In cross section it would look like an oreo cookie, glass is the chocolate cookie & wood is the white creme center.

It would be thinner in cross section & lighter then a 'typical' hull made of multiple layers of glass, which then gets the usual glass wrapped stringers that are tabbed to the hull bottom, and capped by a wooden deck/sole covered w/ another layer of glass that is tabbed up onto the hull sides, locking it all together.

Be careful during demo, it may be more challenging then a standard restoration....

Best of luck w/ your project, and I look forward to seeing you put it back together.

Dpcarson wrote:

Greetings everybody. bill, I figured as long as rent was being paid that Taylor was probably happy to have the boat around. But, I am going to finish it off and then haul it back up to show it to Taylor and the group up there. A few of them should appreciate an old classic like that. I would love to do it by Labor Day weekend since the marina is pretty busy then, but if not, definitely for Memorial day weekend next year.


OK everybody, I have created a new album that I will share the link to so all the pictures and progress can be followed through photobucket. Today I got a chance to work a little again, and as I think everybody does, I found the damage to be much more extensive than I had first thought. The entire hull is being stripped down to hull and a do-over is going to happen. The roots from the small tree that was growing in the back of the boat extended all the way to the seat. Afer cutting open the fiberglas, all of that nice solid wood was able to be peeled out by hand due to the extensive rot. Now I am not sure what to do. Rebuild the way it was, or build up a floor on stringers and bulknheads.

By the way, this is actually my first real boat restoration project. A little work on cosmetics and mechanical is as far as I have ever gone. I think I am going to learn to swim by being thrown in the shark tank here.

What a surprise to see those 2x's in the floor/sole of your boat, I had the same thing in mine although I don't think it was original. Someone had put regular 2x4's in there and it was a real mess. I replaced it with foam laminated in place and it is very solid and very quiet running at speed.

I also cut down the seat support/bulkhead to accommodate a thicker seat and allow room for my legs and gut,(I also was able to move the seat back just a bit).

It's not such a daunting project once you get all that old crap out of there. I also recommend using the MDO/sign board. Very tough stuff, A/B grade with almost no voids. I used 1/4" for the floor/sole and 3/4" for the transom.

Dave