TOPIC: '64 Silver Line Rambler 14' rebuild

New member here so I guess I better introduce myself first. I'm also a member of the iBoats and Scream & Fly forums with the same user name. I'm a gearhead type of person who is always working on something, but never have done much with boats until just recently. I was a machinist (MR1) in the Navy for most of my 20 year career there then retired due to health reasons and moved to Montana. I decided to build a boat and chose to go with the Dillon Laker 14, a wood boat design based off of a modern racing tunnel hull. http://www.dillon-racing.com/Laker14/Construction/index.htm My build thread for that one is over on iBoats, but it's a modern design so it's not really suited for this forum from what I can see. Here's a link in case anyone wants to take a peek at it. http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-repair-and-restoration/boat-restoration-building-and-hull-repair/10284190-dillon-laker-14-16-5-wooden-tunnel-hull-build-mod-project

This past summer I bought a boat trailer for the Laker I'm building. It came with the condition that I had to use it to haul off three old hulls to get it for the price I offered the seller. None of them had motors or controls, so I just planned on stripping them for any good parts and disposing or making use of the hulls. One was a big blue wooden fishing boat (possibly a GlenL design from the look of it), the other was a green and white Larson FG 16'er and the last was a little 14' blue and white model of some kind. After I got them all home and got a chance to look them over a bit better, the Larson I was thinking about saving, turned out to be a lot worse than I have expected so it was stripped and scrapped. The big blue one was completely waterlogged from sitting on the trailer, bow down and uncovered, for a number of years. That one got gutted and cut in half. The bow is now a shed for the lawn mower and the stern is a basement door cover. Recycling at it's finest. lol.

When I checked out the little blue and white one, I started to warm up to the simple design lines of it. I found a few identifying features on it and did some research to see what I could find out about it. On the rear sides was a shallow chrome "V" emblem with the words "Silver Line" above it. On the dash was more chrome plated metal with the words "Rambler" and "14'". On the transom I found a tag that said Morehead Plastics Inc. Morehead, MN. I came across a website with info on the Silver Line boat company that had the info I needed to positively identify this boat. Here's a link to the Silver Line info website. http://www.silverlineboats.org/ I found these two copies of old sales brochures that positively identified my hull as being either a 1964 or 65 Rambler 14'. 1964 Silver Line Models: http://www.silverlineboats.org/1964-02.jpg and 1965 Silver Line Models: http://www.silverlineboats.org/1965c-02.jpg . From looking at the shape of font on the "Silver Line" name above the shallow "V" on the sides, that further confirmed it as being a 64-66 model year boat. This is the link to the FAQ page that helped me to ID the font: http://www.silverlineboats.org/1965c-02.jpg .

Here are pics I have of it so far. I'm about to cover it up for the winter pretty soon so if anyone wants or needs any pics of any particular areas of the boat let me know and I'll do my best to post them.

How it looked when I got it home with the other two:


Part way through tearing down the other two boats, the rambler temporarily got used as a dumpster:


Pic of the "Silver Line" and shallow "V" emblem on the side:


Here's a pic from the front:


I thought I had a pic of the dash emblem and the transom label, but apparently not. I'll post them here when I get them.

I still have most of the original pieces and parts stripped off it and as far as I know I have a complete set for the boat. The capitol "S" is broken off of both of the chrome Silver Line name emblems on each side, so I'll have to either find a replacement for them, or rebuild it and get it rechromed.

It will be a while before I start on the Rambler rebuild since I plan to finish the Laker build first. In the meantime I'll keep researching this little boat and keep a log of any additionial data I find on it. I don't have a motor for it yet, and I do for the Laker, so that's the biggest reason for the delay right now. The factory rated this hull for a max of 50HP, but I found this old Mercury testing document here in the FiberGlassics Library where they put a 650 (65HP) on a 1963 Rambler 15. http://www.fiberglassics.com/library/File:BHBPHOTO381.JPG I'd like to find an old 1964-65 vintage Mercury 650 with matching controls to go with this boat to keep it period correct.

I may ditch the original cable steering system and go with a more modern Teleflex style system in the name of safety. The original aft plastic cable pulleys don't look like they have much life left in them. If decide to stay with the cable steering system, I'll remake all the pulleys out of either aluminum or stainless before putting it back in the water. Whichever way I choose to go with it, I'm keeping the original steering wheel with the boat.

It'll probably be a while between updates on this thread for a bit, but I'll still monitor it for replies so I can answer any questions asked.

Welcome aboard! I was on Iboats but haven't been on there for years now. That Silverline looks cool, it should be a fun project and if you can find a 650 it should move out nicely.

Bob

Thanks for the welcome. iBoats seems to have a ton of all around info, and less of the attitude I was finding at S&F, so that's why I started the Laker build thread there. This little Rambler is old enough I felt that I might find more restoration type info here (vs a regular repair) so that's why I started the build thread for it here instead.

I just got back inside from cleaning out the Rambler to prep it for going into it's winter hibernation. While I was out there I took a LOT of pics. It'll take me a little while to prep and upload them all. Once that's done, I'll come back here and put them up along with some comments to go with them.

Due to continuous problems I've had, and am still having with PhotoBucket, I've decided to try out ImageShack for the first time. Wish me luck.

BTW, I'm fairly sure this boat is a '64 model by the pic and description in the factory brochure I posted a link to. So unless I hear anything contradicting that, I'm going with calling this a 1964. So, with that settled (for now), on with the pics.

Manufacturer tag on transom.


All that was left of the seats (bases only, no backs).


Factory wiring needs a little work (like everything else on this boat).


View from the rear.


Old floor was covered with house linoleum (poorly). It's all gone now thankfully.


Under the splash well.


I found a stowaway while I was cleaning the boat out. My little shop helper "Little Kitty".


Yea, The transome is gonna need a little work...


The bow deck didn't have adequate support from the factory. You can see spider web cracks around where the supports are.


Here's a look at the worn out steering parts.


Transom extension made by one of the previous owners.


And here's some shots of the factory pieces I had already removed.





And after the cleanup was done, I got it all repacked and ready for hibernation. The big white pieces are side panels from another free boat I picked up from Craigs List. A Larson All American that looks like it's from the 60's as well.

I'm not sure why, but the last couple of edits I did to my last post didn't take after I hit submit. Anyway, I was putting a note at the end saying what I found that I'll need to address when I start in on this project. The transom is shot and will need replacement. The floor was squishy in a couple of places so I'll have to replace the floor, stringers and foam under the deck. There's a lot of spiderweb cracks all over the fiberglass shell so those will all have to be addressed as well. And of course all the hardware will need to be refurbished before it goes back on. Just a guess here, but any motor I can find with my budget is likely to need some work. So, yea, pretty much everything.