(Really) Quick update – it’s been a busy spring and early summer with some travel and hectic work-life. I’m greater than 50% done stripping the paint above the water-line. Going to get all of the white off, then make another pass at the green afterwards because there’s a few more layers there.
My process is improving and I’m finally getting ambidextrous with the heat-gun and scrapper.
I also got the paneling off the gunwales – no surprises thankfully.
Needless to say I am long overdue for an update. It has been close to five months. I certainly picked an awful winter to start a project like this. Buy a snowblower and you get no snow – start restoring a wood boat and you break a snow record. We did get a few things done during the deep freeze but not nearly as much as I wanted to. The propane heater did a fine job of heating the air, when the temps were above 20. The concrete slab was just too cold to stand on for a long duration – I meant to buy some rigid foam insulation to stand on but never got around to it, plus a heat gun and hot paint scrapings landing on the foam would be an added fire risk and chemical exposure.
What did we do? The deck is mostly stripped of the vinyl cover. It is wasn’t the original covering. That went fairly quick aside from pulling several hundred staples. The deck is in generally good shape. A few soft patches: very tip of the bow, at the seam on each gunwale and the port and starboard edges of the stern deck and at the stern deck vents. That piece I am going to replace entirely. Glen managed to get it off cleanly to use as a pattern. As you can see from the picture below someone previously tried some sort of an epoxy patch at the seam edges.
Rot on starboard side of stern deck.
As for the remaining deck – I might replace all of it or just patch in fixes. I haven’t decided how I am going to finish the deck yet. Seem to have about three options: covered deck similar to the original, painted deck, or varnished. Each have their pros and cons. As much as I want to be original – I dislike the idea of doing the vinyl covered deck because of how much you have to take apart to redo it (if I ever were to).
After removing rear deck plywood.
Removing the piece of rear deck allowed for closer inspection of the transom area. Other reasons for removing that portion of the deck: easier access to paint everything and if I choose to add a swim platform it will make reinforcing the transom easier to not have that in the way. Overall it appears to be very solid. There is a hairline split in the transom below the water-line that you will be able to see in photos. We also have not decided how to address that. Last year after we first got the boat and wanted to try and use it some we filled the joint with 5200 – and no leaks (there at least). Not sure if I want that to be the long-term solution. I want to do everything “the right way” – but my money tree doesn’t have enough branches to do it all. If it were above the water line I wouldn’t debate it.
The same time we stripped the decks, Glen did a little scraping on the rub rail. This gave us some historical insight on the painting history of the boat. Green is definitely the original color (matching the hull card), at one point the stripe was blue and then changed back to green. So there are at least three coats of paint on the stripe. The current green does not appear to match the original – at least in the state that they are both in. Who knows how much fading and weathering has altered those colors? Either way, green will be going back on the stripe – likely as close to the original as I can get to.
Paint history on the rub rail
Aside from that, I have done some cleaning in the bilge and the inside – scraping dirt and loose paint off and shop vacuuming. That’s the extent of the winter work. About two weeks ago I got back into things since the weather broke. First thing I did was some organization in the shop and I built a bigger work-bench. About eight years ago I bought a solid maple bench top from a facility Visteon (auto part maker) was closing for about $20 – it’s been taking up space in the basement all this time. The original intent of it was to make a bar out of it – that’ll have to keep waiting.
I have about 5 or 6 hours in to the striping effort now. I am using a heat gun. This is my first use of a heat gun. I have used chemical methods in the past on furniture, metal register vents, and even watched my neighbor use it on a 1966 Stingray. Nasty stuff. I started at the centerline of the transom and decided I’ll go clock-wise around the boat above the water-line. We are going to flip the boat, I’ll strip below the water-line then. The varnish on the transom goes really fast compared to the paint. After fiddling with the technique for a bit I discovered getting a stiffer 1″ scraper and putting a slight rounded edge on the corners sped up the process and reduced the risk of gouging the wood. I am wearing proper PPE (personal protection equipment) – respirator, gloves, glasses, etc., and am cleaning up periodically and after every session.
Note the hairline split in the transom going all the way across below the water-line. The water-line is fairly easy to track on the transom since it has clearly been sanded and refinished above the water-line at least once – there is a slight lip in the wood.
Glen helped for a couple hours while I was on “clean the basement duty” with Lindsey two weeks ago. The original green paint does not come off well – I may have to use chemical stripper for that. As it is I will make one pass getting the newer green and blue off and all of the white off and then try again on the original green. So far no unwanted “discoveries” – of course I am above the water-line. I however do know where there are some issues on the bottom.
Here’s another shot. I’ve made more progress since this photo, I am almost forward of the windshield now. We’re home this weekend and have no major plans so I hope to get the port side close to done in the next few days (we’ll see).
Port side progress
Today we made a big leap forward. The boat is in my garage/shop. I’m going to make this a quick post, but will update in more detail and images soon.
Glen and Lindsey’s Uncle Paul (we call him U-P) came over to assist. Initial plan was to just get the motor out and that went very smoothly and quick in fact.
After that we had time and since my cart was basically ready to use and the gantry was up we decided to just finish the job and get the boat off of the trailer and onto the cart.
This is UP with the motor hoisted. We’re about to pull the boat away and bring in the motor cart. I broke my iPhone screen just prior to taking this shot – $75 casualty.
And the boat is in the garage. It fits very well actually – I have some organization to do yet but it should work well. We also have some more work to do to the cart.
More to come. I definitely glossed over this – I’ll add explanation and detail.
The approach of winter weather in Michigan has forced me to get my act together with getting the boat torn down and into the shop (my garage) –
I’ve made a stand for the motor to go onto. I found an example online that I mostly copied, I still need to add a few blocks for the motor to sit onto. I set it up so the motor will sit as it is in the boat — we’re very tempted to run the motor on this at some point…. for tuning, and because it’ll make for a fun video.
Motor Stand
A few weeks back we winterized the motor. I removed the (2) raw water intake hoses from the water pump and in their place I attached (2) 6′ lengths of heater hose fed to a 5 gallon bucket. This 283 can pump water really quickly – 5 gallons was gone in no time. We ran the motor on water for a couple minutes to warm it up a bit, then pumped in RV/Marine anti-freeze – eco-friendly stuff, fogged the motor and that was it.
Water/anit-freeze setup
Later that week I removed the decking and seats. It all generally came out pretty easily, there were a few screws with stripped heads to drill out but it went well. With the seats and decking removed I have a little better idea of what I’m up against for wood repair/restoration. There are at least 6 ribs that need to be replaced — they’re rotted at bilge. It starts under the helm seats and goes forward, everything behind that point seems solid so far.
Last Saturday Glen came over and we tackled a few more things. We cataloged and tagged all of the various trim pieces and hardware and removed everything. The rub rails are in very good condition, the previous owner said he replaced them a few years ago.
We also removed the windshield. Which was surprisingly easy – I had envisioned an all-day effort to get that off for some reason. The front part we got off in one piece and the port and starboard sides came out in (3) – the top rail, the glass, and then the bottom rail. None of the glass seems to be original. And it was replaced with plate glass. I can tell it is not original because it wasn’t cut particularly well. I will likely replace the glass with laminated glass at least, or tempered if the price is right. I worked for a glass company several years ago for a few summers — getting a piece of laminated glass and cutting it somewhat excites me to relive my late teen summers at EDCO Glass.
Windshield Removed
We also cataloged the wiring harness on the motor, tagged all the wires and disconnecting everything. Also, unattached the shaft-coupling, and removed the exhaust hoses and elbows (elbows had to come off to pull the motor mount bolts). The only thing left attached to the motor is a the fuel supply. I have about 12 gallons of gas in the tank to siphon out and dispose. The dump will take the gas, I just have to get it there — anybody have a couple of 5-gallon gas cans you want to lend me for a few hours? I really don’t want to put the gas in Lindsey’s car (my Jeep is a diesel).
New aerodynamic look! The bow light has since been removed as well
This weekend I will be building the gantry that I will hoist the motor out with. This is the part where I use my structural engineering background. More to come.
Funny in a way that my last post was called “first run” and this one is “last run” – it is a busy life this being a parent of a 9 month-old is!
We put in over Labor Day weekend to make a quick run. I have some leaks/rot forward of the helm that have prevented extended use of the boat this season. Plan is to take care of all that this winter (details and posts to come). I just wanted to post some pictures Glen took of us on our last run before going into the shop –
View from “Rocket” – Glen’s 1953 CC Rocket Runabout
Checking the engine temp
This post is just as much for me as it is anyone else — something for me to come back and re-motivate myself with when I’m freezing my rear end off in the garage this winter.
The boat is currently back at our house, on the trailer on the driveway. I’m in the midst of devising my plan to pull the motor, get the boat off of the trailer and flip her over. Part 1 was to build a shed in the backyard to get my junk from the garage into. This will be one of the rare times I can put my career as a professional structural engineer to personal use (one word: gantry).
Slab I made for the shed
New shed
This is a long overdue update. Needless to say, we’ve been busy – but life is good.
On Saturday, July 6 we were able to take the first run with the boat. It ran great with a few relatively minor issues discovered to address. But here’s how we got there –
Where I last left off I was ready to do a few tune up items. One of which was to replace the spark plug wires. Easy enough, right? The starboard side went quickly, but I made a discovery on the port side. The plug wire for the #5 cylinder was actually clamped down under the fuel pump plate. Someone carelessly installed the fuel pump at some point. I will discover that this is not hard to do.
Plug wire that was under fuel-pump plate
I finished installing the plug wires, a nice 7 mm set that I was able to custom cut, and then bought new gaskets for the fuel pump because I’d have to take that off and re-install it. I also replaced the alternator belt and the pair of water-pump belts.
Prior to this I never had experience with a mechanical fuel pump. As usual I did some internet research to learn about what I needed to do and how they work. I even found a few videos to watch. Everything I read and saw described keeping the push-rod that drives the fuel pump in place during installation is the most challenging part. Most suggest adding a little grease to the rod and that will help keep it from sliding down. I did this, and it worked perfectly. The hard part I found was actually getting the pump back on – aligning the lever onto the rod was very difficult.
I managed to do it, or thought I did. Long and embarrassing story short – I damaged the fuel pump and also the push-rod. The trick, obvious after the fact but not mentioned in anything I found, is you need to crank the motor a few times and check the positioning of the rod. Since the rod is driven off the cam there’s a point where it is fully out or fully in — find that fully-in position and installing the pump is simple. So I bought a new pump, Holley makes a marine application pump that works, and a new rod. All said, about $150. The rod and the gaskets you can get at pretty much any decent auto parts store, again it is great to have a GM 283.
An added benefit to the new pump is that it has the port to run a vent line to the carb in case of a pump diaphragm failure. Instead of pumping fuel into the bilge, it would run into the hose and flood out the carb and stop the engine. You’ll see in the video below where we ran that. It would have looked better to run it to the aft end of the carb but functionally, I felt it would work better on the fore end – in case it is ever needed the fuel would dump into the carb with assist from the angle of the boat being on-plane.
Part of this project I installed the new fuel line and in-line filter I had planned to do –
New in-line fuel filter
I used USCG approved fuel hose, stainless clamps (2 at ea fitting), I have a shut-off valve on the demand-side of the filter, and a anti-siphon valve at the tank. I bypassed (and removed but will someday reinstall) the Chris Craft fuel filter.
Now the fun part – on July 6, we launched at the Lexington MI state ramp. Here’s a video of the motor running (yes, we need to learn how to use an iPhone to take videos) –
And here’s a video of us running her past the Lexington harbor (again, sorry for the video orientation) – Lindsey is behind the camera, Glen is on the back seat with Lindsey’s cousin.
Overall it was a great first run. I honestly did not expect us to be able to run the boat at all this first summer so any time we get is a bonus. We noticed a few issues: the water temp gauge doesn’t work and a few of the hoses were leaky. Also the bottom leaks – more than I’d like to spend a day on the water with. We ran the boat for about 15-20 minutes and pulled her out.
I wanted to run the engine before changing the oil (previously we checked the oil and it looked OK) and do it with the engine warm. We brought the boat back to the cottage and I extracted the oil with the pump I have. I got around 5 quarts out through the dipstick tube and figured I’d get close to half a quart or more out with the oil filter. I prepped for removing the oil filter and then… ugh. It was stuck, really stuck. I got it off, but I’ll go into that in the next post..
Three and a half weeks after getting the boat I am finally getting around to writing an update. This is going to be a rather long post.
First off, we’re naming her Remember When. Fitting for a classic boat and just happens to be the title of the first song Lindsey and I danced to. A country song by Alan Jackson who coincidentally is a bit of a boat collector himself. Lindsey came up with the name, in about 30 seconds of thought. I tried to come up with one but could not get my mind off of things like fixing broken seat supports and wiring. That makes two names we’ve pulled from country songs we love – our daughter, Carlene, got her name from Phil Vassar‘s song of the same name.
Let’s go in order of what’s happened since getting the boat –
The day after, May 11, I went to the Secretary of State to pay my fines, I mean taxes, and to register the boat and trailer. Michigan has permanent trailer plates, and the fee is based on the empty trailer weight. In a previous post I discussed this. Turns out the state has tables of trailer weights by manufacturer and they will apply a weight to your trailer (on the high end) if you do not know it, or do not want to go through the hassle of weighing it. Good enough for me. All set. I also got the registration number, in Michigan they’re “MC” numbers – why not “MI”? Who knows.
After doing that I got the stickers to put on the hull for MC numbers – knowing that I plan to strip and repaint the hull I decided to just get hardware store grade basic stickers for now. That still didn’t stop me from laying out lines and taking over an hour to put the numbers on straight.
Sunday was Mother’s Day – no boat work on Mother’s Day. It’s a law somewhere.
Monday I started removing the decking so I could clean out the bilge. Complicated by the fact that someone in the past striped out many of the screw heads. Most of the screws on these old boats have what look like phillips heads – but they’re not. They’re frearson and a phillips screwdriver or driver bit will strip them very quickly, especially the soft bronze screws. The worst of it was the trim board holding the deck down at the bottom of the gunwales – I had to drill most of those screws out, I did manage to keep the boards in good shape.
Starboard side decking removed. Note – flame arrestor installed 90 degrees off and my beer can prize on the bench
Thankfully, the only real surprise on the starboard side bilge was a beer can, a very old beer can. All of the frames are solid, just dirty and needing of a few coats of bilge paint.
Before removing the decking I had noticed that turning the wheel would at the same time cause the shifter to move – meaning the linkages were likely binding up somewhere. Removing the decking revealed the problem.
Guide block for steering and shift linkage pipes.
The removable side to the guide block for the linkages was unattached and laying in the bilge (loosely replaced in the photo). The nut and washer were no where to be found — I bought new stainless hardware to replace it. Other items in the photo: the red cable is the throttle cable, the rusty cable is the tachometer drive cable — future items to replace.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings I redid the indicator lighting and mounted the license plate on the trailer. I fished the majority of the wiring through the trailer’s steel tube framing – I think this is the first time I’ve successfully used an electrician’s fish-tape. I’m happy with how it turned out, but it did nothing for hiding the rusty steel (not sure if I’ll keep this trailer long enough to justify completely repainting it). Somewhere in that time I also replaced the spark plugs so I felt like I did something to the boat.
Rear trailer lights and license plate.
Friday, May 17 – I towed the boat out to a trailer repair shop in St Clair Shores to have the brakes worked on. I was hoping to get out of there with little damage – what I got was a new coupler, hydraulic lines, bearings, pads… basically new brakes. Not ideal for the budget but worth it. Towing with properly working brakes is much easier and certainly safer. My 2nd backing the boat up the driveway experience was successful on the first attempt, my trailer reversing skills are returning to my late teens and early 20’s construction work glory days.
Saturday, Glen came over to help out. Much appreciated. We tackled a few things. Before he arrived I got the port side decking out and shop vacuumed out the bilge. The surprise on the port side was a Frisbee – not a new one but what is likely a 30 or 40 year old one. Fixing that surprise takes 2 seconds – I wonder if I can sell it on Ebay?
We also adjusted the steering and transmission linkages – they were binding up on each other, and we put gear oil in the steering gearbox – something that may not have been done since 1962. Last job of the day we took apart and reassembled the shifter bracket at the helm – it was loose and not very sturdy.
The following week I did not really get much done – aside from spending (more) money. Having had the time to inspect the boat and get acquainted with what I have the to-do list has grown, not surprisingly. I could write a mile-long to-do list – but at this stage I need to put the list into “must do” and “like to do” categories. The goal for this season is to get some use out of the boat – whether that’s 3 days on the water or 10. I’m not going to rush-job repairs just to get them done – do it right the first time even if that means spending some extra cash and time. Long-run vision is better in the end (I also invest in index funds..).
Overall this boat is surprisingly original. The alternator belt has a Chris Craft part number on it. The plug wires are original. The distributor and carb are original. As great as that is – we intend to use the boat, and on Lake Huron. I don’t want a day ruined by a 50 year old part failing. That said, we’re going to be replacing some worn, old parts. Wherever possible and feasible for my wallet they will be replaced with the correct parts, otherwise I’ll replace with what’s available.
Items done or in progress – Group 1
Group 2 – (when I get more $) –
I’ve purchased everything I need for the first list – aside from the last item, I need to get into the boat and take some measurements on the prop shaft and packing nuts.
Memorial Weekend would have been a great get-work-done weekend, but we were up north at a wedding for one of Lindsey’s best friends. We had a great time and it was much needed time away from home. We were in Good Hart – north of Petoskey on Lake Michigan.
Lake MI
The battery cables are done –
New batter wires (and battery). I will do a proper battery box soon.
The plug wires are on back-order. Frustrating because it’s one of the easiest things to replace and I’ve now been waiting close to three weeks for them to arrive.
The fuel line I am replacing because I want to put in a good in-line fuel filter water separator. Someone previously put a cheap in-line filter but made a serious mistake in the process. The OEM fuel line is copper all the way from the tank to the motor. Durable, but also doubles as a ground for the tank. Static discharge when filling a gas tank is a serious concern, without a ground that’s very dangerous. Whoever spliced in the existing fuel filter cut the copper line and used rubber hose to splice in the filter – eliminating the ground. To fix the grounding issue, we’ve run a 10 gage wire (marine wire) from the tank fill tube to the common ground on the engine block. I will replace the fuel line after we’ve had the boat running and burn through the old gas.
The distributor cap has been a bit of a pain. I first found one on Amazon, for something like $25 – good deal. It arrived and it was brown. I found another that is the original black color, from RockAuto. So I sent the Amazon one back and ordered another and installed it. Done.
This past Sunday, June 2, was first launch day. Glen and I took care of the fuel tank ground, and also repaired the supports for the port side front seat and the support on the starboard side of the rear bench. In fact, we completely disassembled the front seat, cut a new piece of mahogany for the support and reassembled it. All of the seating will need to be rebuilt at some point but for now it is all solid. Previous attempts to fix the supports appeared to be more of the “just put more screws in it” type of effort.
After doing that, I put about 10 gallons of gas in the tank, to dilute the 10 I already had (I made a measuring stick — I’ll do a post on that soon) and we went to the Grosse Pointe Woods park boat launch. Well, she floats…
First Launch
..mostly. The stuffing box and shaft log are leaking, and more than is acceptable. Those unfamiliar with these terms – the shaft log is a bronze fixture that the propeller shaft runs through and it is screwed and sealed to the boat. The stuffing box is what seals the shaft – it contains a rope impregnated with flax or teflon to make the seal. There are drip seals and drip-less seals. The drip seals are the older style – the idea is to allow some water (3-4 drips per minute) through to cool and lubricate the shaft, drip-less are newer and based on what I’ve read it seems like your opportunity to install them incorrectly and cause damage to your shaft is greater. Any way, we’re going to have to reseal the stuffing box, and reseal the shaft log. We’ll have to pull the shaft to do all this – at the same time I’ll examine the cutlass bearing. Look for this in a future post.
I did not notice any other major leaks. Thankfully. However, we were unable to start the boat. We narrowed it down to not getting any spark – recall that I replaced the distributor cap. Our initial thought was the cap wasn’t correct. I towed the boat home, put the old cap back on and it fired right up (I am trying to avoid starting and running the motor dry as much as possible – which is why I didn’t try to start the motor after putting the new cap on it). So inspecting the new cap I discovered the pin/prong or whatever you want to call it at the center at the ignition coil connection was non-existent –
Defective cap/launch ruiner
Lesson learned: inspect your new parts before installing. I got a refund on the part and I’ve ordered a new one.
I am waiting for the new belts to arrive, I’ll go into those on the next post. I have a busy couple of weeks so it probably will not be until the weekend of June 22 that we try to run the boat again – this time possibly in Lexington.
We finally have the boat.
Last Thursday evening my father-in-law (I’m tired of typing that out – it’s time to use his name – Glen) and I drove to Buffalo, stayed the night at a hotel and picked up the boat Friday morning and drove it back.
Sounds simple enough in a single sentence but there’s of course a back-story.
There are two realistic ways to go to Buffalo NY by car from southeastern Michigan: 1. through Canada, or 2. through Ohio. The Canadian route is about 100 miles shorter than the Ohio route, has less traffic and the roads are in better condition. Not to say Ohio’s roads are bad, they are better than Michigan’s but that’s a rant for another day.
Crossing the Canadian/US border is not what it used to be – passports are now required, and rightfully so there is increased scrutiny/security. So, we really were not certain if we would be able to drive across the border Thursday evening without a boat and then drive back Friday with a boat, sitting on an unregistered trailer no less.
On Wednesday I called the US border patrol in Port Huron, spoke with an officer and he said as long as I had bill of sale, etc. it’d be fine with the US, but he didn’t think the Canadians would let me through. I called the Canadian border patrol, but couldn’t find a contact for the Fort Erie station, and was told the exact opposite: OK with Canada, but better watch out at the US border. Not at all surprising that two different but the same agencies would give me conflicting information.
It came down to being a gamble of whether or not I’d be stopped at the borders for more than 2 hours. I liked my odds, so we the spun the wheel. At the Buffalo side we waited in traffic for about 45 minutes, and got through no problem. At the US side it took two minutes and the only thing of note was the officer asking me where I got my diesel Jeep Liberty.
Back to the real story –
Friday morning we were up early. Likely the combination of 15+ years of waking up at 6 am or earlier for work and having a 5 month old (she does sleep amazingly well). At any rate, we had time to kill so we hunted for a breakfast spot in Orchard Park, NY. We ate breakfast and called the seller to see if we could come over earlier than our 9 am meeting. We also wanted to get ahead of the coming rain.
Glen and I met the seller at his condo and judging by the C5 Vette in his garage and the various spare boat and car parts about we knew he liked his toys; Glen immediately noticed some nice aluminum Vette valve covers sitting on a shelf next to a can of green paint made to match the original color of the Skiff (huge help to get that). We then proceeded to follow the seller to his son’s house where the boat was.
Against my normal cautious and calculated personality I bought the boat without much inspection or review. Remember, I’ve never seen the boat in person – all I had was an agreement and a $500 deposit. I can blame this on three things: it was raining, I had an envelope in my pocket containing more physical cash than I’ve ever had in one place and Glen is kind of my opposite: he jumps into things – I followed his lead. Glad I did because I might have over-thought it and changed my mind. Might have.
Before I knew it I had paid the seller and Glen was changing the tires – I ended up buying 2 new tires instead of one spare, made sense to put good rubber on the road and keep the old ones for spares.
Boat before leaving
To no one’s surprise, the lights on the trailer did not work. The seller was nice enough to buy one of those magnetic trailer light kits – but it would not ground so the flashers did not work. After hitching up we found an auto-parts store, bought a new light kit and re-did the signal lights in the parking lot. Less than an hour and $40, not bad. I really didn’t want to be pulled over for not having working lights, and I REALLY didn’t want to get into an accident. The only accident I’ve ever been in (knock on wood) explains the oddly colored rear bumper on my Jeep – that was an expensive pizza to pick up.
Parking lot of the store, fixing the trailer lights.
Towing the boat home was pleasantly uneventful. I’ve towed other boats with my Liberty before, I don’t think this one is the heaviest but it is the longest. The truck handled it fine, and I am within the rated tow capacity and trailer length. The fuel mileage was not too bad – I got almost 20 mpg on the way home, 28 on the way there. Diesel power!
After dropping Glen off at his house I towed the boat to our house on the other side of town. Backing into the driveway took a little bit of effort. The short wheelbase of the Liberty and my narrow street made backing up the driveway fun. Royal Oak allows boats on trailers to be on your driveway as long as they’re registered and behind the front of your house on your driveway. I got it eventually with my neighbor to help guide me back. To wrap up the day I put the boat cover on it – which happens to fit just about perfectly for not being custom made for the boat. I’m really happy with that purchase. Thank you, Taylor Made.
Lindsey and I ended the day saying to each other and multiple times: “There’s a boat on our driveway” We said it with excitement and a bit of “what did we do?!” feelings.
Home on our driveway
After waiting, and waiting… and more waiting I finally have a pickup date set for taking ownership of the boat. On Friday May 10 I will drive to NY with my father-in-law to pick up the boat, we hope to make it there in back in one-day but we will likely stop somewhere for the night on the way back before bringing the boat home to Michigan.
I say “home” for two reasons – 1. She will call Lexington, Michigan port and 2. She was originally sold in August of 1962 on the west of side of the state to North Shore Marina in Spring Lake (still in business). I know where the boat was sold because I have the equipment record (hull card) –
Here’s a scan of the original hull card I obtained from the Mariner’s Museum –
Original Hull Card of 1962 Sea Skiff SUC-20-084
Many, many Chris Crafts were built in Michigan. However, this particular one and the majority of Sea Skiffs were built in Salisbury, Maryland. I have a minor connection to Salisbury – I used to drive through there on the way to the beach in Ocean City, MD back when I lived in Virginia.
Since I last wrote I haven’t done too much, other than spend money on the various needed items to own a boat. Luckily for me my dad kept most of the accessories from the boat he sold last year and gave them to me. From him I got: several life-vests, a throwable floating pad, a couple of coolers, two tubes, water skis, trailer lock, and a couple of dock lines.
Other items I’ve bought – I found an original bronze rudder for the boat locally on Craigslist. For $40. Yes, $40! I’ve seen them elsewhere for upwards of $200. I may not ever need the part but for the price it was impossible to pass up. I also found a 15 pound Navy-style anchor on Craigslist for $25, also a great bargain.
I’ve also bought a pair of boat fenders, dock lines, anchor lines, fire extinguisher, signal flag, signal whistle, first aid kit, battery charger, oil extractor, a second anchor, collapse-able paddle, spark plugs, and infant life-vest.
As far as safety gear is concerned I need to get a pack of hand-held flares locally at a store (shipping is really expensive for flares due to their hazard) and then I should have everything I need to meet Coast Guard regulations for this boat. Coast Guard requires (3) day & night visible signals for boats over 16 feet – having (3) hand-held flares meet that requirement. I will exceed the requirement by having the signal flag, the paddle is also orange, the boat has lights, horn and I have a whistle. I’ve signed up to take the Michigan Boater’s safety class, it is (8) hours over two nights in May and only $22.
Other items I still need to get are a trailering boat cover and the associated accessories such as a vent, poles and reinforcing. I contacted the folks at Taylor Made who among many other marine products also make boat a large variety of covers. Using the dimensions of my boat they suggested a specific size and model of a competition ski boat cover they make. The Skiff is shaped very similar to modern ski boats, especially since both have fully inboard motors. I also need to get a spare tire/rim for the trailer. I’m not at all the kind of person who would drive without a spare, especially for a few hundred miles. The seller is going to send me the tire and rim size of what’s currently on the trailer so I can get one.
Aside from all of that (it’s a lot) I really shouldn’t need to buy much else other than gas to put the boat in the water this summer. I will need to put new registration numbers on the hull, unless MI lets me keep the NY registration numbers currently on the boat – we’ll see.
Before I go to NY I am going to try and register the trailer and get a Michigan plate for it. All I need is a bill of sale and the empty trailer weight. The trailer is made by EZ Loader – I’m not sure of the year, but there should be a metal plate on the trailer with a VIN number at minimum and possibly the actual trailer weight. With the VIN I can call EZ Loader and they’ll look up the weight. Being able to avoid weighing the trailer without the boat on it will be a major savings in time, hassle and money.
I’ve also looked into storage. The boat will primarily be used in Lake Huron. My in-laws have a cottage south of Lexington, Michigan. The cottage does not have a garage (yet – we’re dreaming about one big enough to store and work on the boats) but does have a large-ish parking lot. I kept my dad’s fiberglass boat on the trailer there one summer and it worked out fine. But this being a wood boat and antique I’m very hesitant to leave the boat covered on the trailer without at least a tent-type structure over it.
Considering that it would cost around $800 for a 12’x25′ tent plus the cost of planting some trees to hide the shelter I’m not going to do that this year. I’ve found a self-storage facility in Port Huron with 10×30 carport spaces for around $45 per month. I’ll keep the boat there during the season and find an indoor storage location for the winter months. It should work out well – I’ll pick up the boat on the way up to the cottage and drop it off on the way back. Until we build a garage at the cottage or I move and build a bigger garage for myself this will be what I do.
I’ve decided to try and educate myself about Sea Skiffs in general and my boat in particular in order to fill the time between now and when I actually take ownership of the boat. Hopefully this will temper my anxiousness but it may just add to it.
Last Wednesday I stayed home from work with a nasty cold – which turned into a perfect opportunity to lay in bed with my iPad and scan the interwebs for all things Sea Skiff.
First, I found an original sales brochure on EBay, naturally I bought it. Below is the cover and the page for the 20′ Sportsman –
The 20′ looks like toy next to that 37′ Corinthian on the cover. I wonder if anyone still has one of those? I’m happy to have the brochure – I also have a brochure for the 1961 model year. I’ll explain why…
Before my sick day (maybe the third I’ve taken, ever) I discovered the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia (link) has an archive for Chris Craft. The museum will provide a scanned copy hull cards, similar to a car window sticker, if you have the hull number of the boat. They also have much more available – turns out they have all of the design drawings for this boat (for a fee). As a designer and someone who creates design drawings myself I will likely end up buying at least some of these drawings.
Well, I obtained the hull number from the seller. The boat was advertised as a 1961 and before I contacted the museum I did an eBay search on “1961 Sea Skiff” and found a 1961 brochure – of course I bought it. I then contacted the museum and they got back to me quickly with news that the boat is in fact a 1962. I’ve since found out that the telltale visual difference between the ’61 and ’62 is the the window frame – 1961 is the last year the frames were made in mahogany. Chris Craft began using aluminum in 1962.
The hull card also told me something else very important – the original motor is a 283 V8. For non-motorheads that’s a small block Chevy V8. General Motors made many thousands of these engines during this era – 283’s were standard issue for Corvettes from 1954 to 1961. The 1962 Vette was the first model year for the 327, which shares many traits with the 283. It takes a knowledgeable eye to see the differences, aside from obvious nameplates. Having a 283 makes maintenance a little easier – it won’t be too hard to find the majority of parts should I need them for a rebuild.
Continuing my education efforts, I wanted to find a manual for the motor. Chris Craft was pretty good about providing documentation on their motors – and I knew I could find one. Back to eBay I went and again came up successful. I found a CD of PDFs with the various 283 manuals, service bulletins , etc. Coincidentally, the three purchases I’ve made on eBay for this boat are my three lifetime eBay purchases. I’ve never needed eBay until now.
I got the engine manual and immediately wanted to determine one thing: does the motor have a generator or an alternator. Remember, I haven’t seen the boat aside from a few exterior photos so I don’t have a visual of the motor yet. Using the engine number from the hull card I was able to determine the motor has an alternator. Good news. Replacing an alternator is cake compared to rebuilding or finding a generator. Another item of interest is whether or not the motor has a thermostat. I’m about 99% certain it does not. Not a huge concern. But those early season runs on Lake Huron may run cold.
That’s all for now. I’m currently working on figuring out where and how to store the boat. A winning lotto ticket would simplify the effort.
62SeaSkiff 