14' AT? Richline? Whatever. I'm getting there! Thanks guys

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EYDavis

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Pics coming....on the home computer.

Got the boat with trailer for under $300.

This thing is in pretty decent shape, but I'd like to get it down to bare aluminum inside and out. I've been reading over the forums---great resources, guys.

I pretty much started with the trailer...that's going ok...not rocket science, there...making it up as I go and using the forum to pick out replacement components. I might be dealing with a homemade trailer, here.

But I moved over to the boat yesterday with some methylene chloride stripper...harbor freight aerosol then lowe's gel/aerosol. Not budging, bubbling, or blistering....only thing it does is soften it for the wire brush, which I'd prefer to limit. I ordered some stuff ($70 shipped) that sounded stronger that I found online (tcpglobal.com). We'll see how it goes.

Still planning what to do with this thing...trying to figure out what I've got. I'm looking at the wetlander product...seems like it would make sense and I've always been impressed with my buddy's duckboat with frogspit. But then I worry about getting it to adhere if I need epoxy or jbweld or bondo or something else to seal off dents and leaks.

Overall goal is to get it farm-pond with trolling motor worthy to fish for bass among the lily pads.

Anyway...will post pics tonight. Awesome forum guys.
 
Ok, here we go with the pics. Would love some feedback and thanks for the interest.
 

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Semi -V goal to have a little bass rig. I'm breaking down the trailer currently. Ordered some aircraft stripper...there's some pretty nasty carpet adhesive on the inside.

Thanks for looking.
 

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Take a small screwdriver and start poking around at the wood in the transom and see if you find any soft spots. Looks like you're going to need to find a welder to do some hull repairs.
 
RE: JMichael

If you're seeing holes on the bottom, I think those are paint flecks.

Are you talking about the dents in the transom area?
 
bigwave said:
Nice find, you have a blank canvas. :WELCOME:


Yeah, been a lot of fun to thumb around the site and see what's out there. Almost overload in terms of options.

I'm trying to make it 'blanker' right now with a good stripper...vision keeps evolving everytime I see a project I like.
 
I used aircraft grade paint stripper and it still didnt take all of the paint off so I just wire brushed it off with a wire wheel and grinder. A lot faster then stripper unless you are going with a bare aluminum look. Wire wheel roughs it up a bit.

Steve
 
Hi EY. Great to have another AT tinny owner here in the forums! I have a '59 DUT-14 (I think) with a '66 20hp Johnson outboard. It started off life as a ski boat runabout, but I've converted to a tiller drive skiff thingy. Good luck on your new project. Can't wait to see what you do with her. Here's a handy link with a bit more info on Arkansas Traveler.

https://www.fiberglassics.com/library/Arkansas_traveler
 
EYDavis said:
RE: JMichael

If you're seeing holes on the bottom, I think those are paint flecks.

Are you talking about the dents in the transom area?
Yea, I was talking about the area where the transom meets the sides. Looks like it is in pretty rough shape there.
 
JMichael said:
EYDavis said:
RE: JMichael

If you're seeing holes on the bottom, I think those are paint flecks.

Are you talking about the dents in the transom area?
Yea, I was talking about the area where the transom meets the sides. Looks like it is in pretty rough shape there.

Yeah, agreed. Not looking forward to addressing that transom. I've ended up doing more of a trailer rebuild than I thought...maybe I'm procrastinating.
 
So I've gotten hung up on the trailer. got frustrated stripping the boat and knew I had to get the trailer road-worthy anyway. For the trailer, Wire brush, some dismantling, and some electrolytic rust/paint removal (which was fun--I'll post pics) and it's actually looking like a trailer. I've just got to reassemble, replace a winch, tongue. I'll post some pics when I get proud of it. Oh---and naval jelly is great for rust on that steel trailer. It's got rust-oleum rust resolver on it now, and I plan to prime it gray. But lots of reassembly left to do. Anyway--I figure I need it for leak testing anyway. Still gotta put lights on it. Gonna go with a harbor-freight special, I think. Anybody know of any SUV-style cages for those things?

Stripping this hull has been a real bear. I've been all around town for stripper...found several bottles of weak stuff at lowes, etc. Ended up ordering a gallon of legit stuff that seems to work much better--paint just blisters off. What's interesting to me is that there's, under the paint, a layer of rust-colored something-or-other, and several of the rivets have been green epoxied. The rust colored stuff seems to wire brush off fine, and even the naval jelly seems to help, but I'm trying to limit that and am moving to a sander. This thing will eventually have some sort of thick airboat type coverage on it...

Anyway, I need a break from this outside of the hull. And I'm thinking I may be doing this in the wrong order anyway. I'm going to flip it this week and take those gunwale corner pieces off at the transom and see what I'm dealing with there. I've also got those corner dents to decide what to do with. And there's that dent in the right aluminum gunwale to deal with.

I've looked around for dent links, in the forum but am coming up empty handed. Anybody got any tips re: the dented transom corner, gunwale?
 
Update with pics...of trailer. wire brush, wire drill bit sanded, then Rustoleum Rust Restorer'd. I think I'm going to prime it anyway.

I'm in full blown info overload with boat, though. My head is swimming with 37 different ways to fix leaks, reinforce rivets, durafix, etc. Now I'm thinking fast-track, get it troller/farm pond worthy and functional, then sort out mods as the spring goes on. I'm about to just JB anything I see, then etch prime what I've stripped, then follow with hammered finish rustoleum in multiple coats inside and out (I know, each coat has to cure a while).

The original goal was to strip to aluminum all over, replace rivets the right way, transom if necessary, straighten dents, then airboat-coat the bottom. I'm thinking that may be a little ambitious for my first project.

I'm bank fishing again this weekend...gotta get out there, man. If anybody has any safe but-not-so shortcutty ideas as to how to get this thing going...I'm game.

I guess I've got to paint the trailer. It might be a good chance for me to try out the hammered finish rustoleum....
 

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It's good to see another A/T owner here. I have a 1962 Tarpon. Solid old boats, just be patient and take your modes/repairs one step at a time. I started with function first, getting it ready for the water. Then you can add other modes and won't miss any fishing time.
 
JMichael said:
What are you using for your power source on the electrolytic?
 

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So I've got a partially stripped boat and a trailer that's coming around. But I've got to rock and roll.

So Rustoleum makes a leak sealer, says it's paintable with oil paint.
And I've got some of the 3m 5200.
And I've got some zinc aluminum primer.
And I've got some sandpaper.
And I've got some cans of silver hammered rustoleum.
And I've got some vinegar.

Methinks its time to get rolling. Scuff every bit of the outside. Wash boat. Wipe down with Vinegar. Dry. Prime any exposed aluminum with the zinc primer. 3m 5200 on every rivet, rattle, or leak, or weird seam. Couple coats of Rustoleum leak sealer on outside seams/rivets with time to dry. Then brush or roll a couple coats of hammered silver rustoleum (sale rack at Lowe's...10 bucks...got 3 cans...guess what's going on the trailer?). Quick and light 400 sand, then one more good coat of Rustoleum hammered silver. I figure with drying time between coats, I'm in the water soon. Then chip away at the projects over time.

Does that plan make anyone sick to their stomach? I know it's not the usual. I may have to strip the inside first with the nasty chemical stuff. there's carpet adhesive in there that is just mean.
 
When you say 5200 on every rivet, do you mean on the boat? If yes, I wouldn't do that. I leak tested my boat, marked every rivet that was leaking even the slightest bit (14 rivets), then drained the boat and re bucked every rivet. Leak tested again and I had 2 rivets that seeped just a tiny bit so I clean them and surrounding metal off on the inside and put a little 5200 on them and all my leaks were gone without a lot of mess. I consider the 5200 as a temp fix but re bucking a rivet is a permanent fix in my book.
 
So we finally had some rainfree and garage friendly days... Finished the trailer. Used Lowes indoor/outdoor carpet (12$ per linear foot but the guy 'rounded' to 16") for the 5 foot bunks...literally a linear "foot" at lowes did the whole things. Scotch guarded the heck out of it and plan to silicone/Teflon periodically. Very impressed with brush-on rustoleum for the trailer, but if I had it to do over I'd thin it out as if to spray. Still turned out good. Now that I'm assembled I'll go sand with 150 the rough spots and roll a second thinned coat.

Had to get something done to the boat today. Actually trailered the boat, put on the kleen strip aircraft on the INside down to the first row of rivets then drove to the corner coin wash----now that got some stuff done. You shoulda seen the crap lining up to go down the plug hole. only problem is i think a lot of old seam sealer came off too. gonna need some gluvit i guess but i wonder about that gflex. I'll post afters maybe later tomorrow but that got most of that old paint and all of that carpet adhesive off...feeling much better about the inside.

I talked to the wetlander dude. I think I'm just gonna scuff the outside then go with his product. Probably after a gluvit or flex type seal. I really don't want to fool with stripping the outside.

Has anybody ever used any pipe insulation over a gunwale, then used some kinda blackish PVC (what's it called...for sprinklers maybe) over that? I'm thinking it would be good for sound and a pretty cheap fix for a dinged up gunwale. Probably secured with drilled (gasp) holes under the gunwale then wiretied on.

I ramble. Pics tomorrow. Love reading the forum.
 
Hi There,

Welcome to the forum!

I was looking at your boat and it looks just like mine. I don't think it's an arkansas traveler to be honest. It looks like they might have thrown that badge on their with roofing nails. Take a look at my build and compare.

I think what you have is actually a Richline. Obviously I could be wrong too, but from the looks of the bow and stern caps, and also the center line drains that are built into the seats it looks like Richline and likely a sportsman just like mine. A picture of the bow seat would likely be more proof if I could see it.

Maybe somebody else can chime in too, but my money is on it being a Richline. GA had mine labeled wrong as well (I see you have the replacement HIN sticker on the back).

Congrats on the new boat! Looking forward to what you do with her! Where do you plan on fishing her?
 

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