So my brother and I, now both semi-retired and bored, decided we wanted to start fishing and trot-lining again like we did when we were kids back in the 50s and 60s. First we had to find a boat.
We were about to buy a new Jon Boat when we ran across this one that was exactly like the one our Grandfather owned, and we fished-in, back in the day. (We've both had plenty of boats since then, all shapes and sizes and too much money to even admit to over the years, but now we're back to the old basics.)
We found this boat, it had been listed for about thirty minutes the morning we started looking, and it was close-by, literally a couple of miles from us. It had been sitting up in the woods for a few years, unused, full of muck, pine-straw, rotted leaves, a dead squirrel, etc. Had about ten inches of water in it, stunk like heck and we both probably got malaria the way the mosquitoes were swarming inside it ... they were some kind of thick.
Boat looked rough, trailer looked rougher. It had a Johnson 9 1/5 cooter shell, (that's what we call them around here), flat-top low-profile motor hanging on it that we were told ran the last time they used it. 1968 model.
They wanted $1,000.00 for everything. We got them down to $550.00 and brought it home.
It's been a lot of work. Just cleaning the gunk and trash out of it took a couple of days ... drying it out. We removed some old rusted-up seats and a bunch of homemade junk stuff ... PVC rod holders, old wiring, etc.
Took the motor to a little shade tree marine mechanic friend to see what we had there, it was a gamble but it wasn't locked-up so we decided to roll the dice on the motor.
The trailer tongue was busted, no lights, rusted up pretty badly and missing the two center rollers.
That was two weeks ago.
Here's where we are as of sundown today just working on it in our spare time for the past two weeks.
It had some astroturf glued and stapled-in ... we pulled that naturally, it was rotted.
.... and then the sanding and painting began. It was rough. Five coats in sixty years and it was flaking and cracking and peeling everywhere.
So we welded the trailer where it needed welding, put a waterproof light kit on it, got all that done, sanded it down and painted the trailer too.
I've actually already got the bow light on up front and the post base on the back. And those wires you see dangling for the trailer lights, they are gone now. I'll take more pictures of that stuff - figured it wouldn't interest anyone how we accomplished that.
Got to figure-out how to fix that torn front seat. The other two bench seats, we've not seen another DuraCraft in pictures with seats like those.
We're thinking of blowing the interior in bed liner .... has anyone ever done that around here and, how did it work?
And I've got to do a little more wiring the inside for the lights.
We bought a battery box, (thanks to an idea I read on this website while lurking) that has the built in circuit breaker and a couple of DC outlets.
We bought a new battery ... Interstate, a big one, because we got the big TM.
I want to put a cleat on the back. Figure we'll just use anchor rope to tie off in the front of need be.
I managed to clean-up and save, even though they were badly rusted, the OEM reflectors on the back. They I rust converted those, enameled them and made gaskets for them out of peel and stick. I'll rivet those on tomorrow.
I've used aluminum rivets to secure everything so far, opting for those rather than screws, except on the trailer where we used stainless self tapping to tie-down the wiring harness.
The motor is supposed to be ready tomorrow. We went over there yesterday to check it out and it runs like a top but it needed a new water-pump so there was a hold-up on that part and a four broken bolts that had to be drilled and tapped.
So here's where we are so far, budget-wise.
$500.00 in the boat, motor and trailer.
$300.00 in motor repairs .... carb rebuild kit, waterpump and labor included.
$100 in paint, sandpaper and primer.
$170.00 in the TM.
$120 in the battery and another $55 in the battery box.
$45 in the light kit for the trailer.
$35 in the front LED bow light.
$50 in the rear post mount and post that can go both running and anchor mode. (I've got to find a three-way switch to get it all hooked up.)
$100 in a six gallon gas tank and new hose and bulb with connectors.
$30 in various stainless nuts, bolts and screws. $10 in a rivet kit with the sizes we needed, all aluminum.
$20 in three new life preservers and another $25 in a new seat cushion for the third rider, just in case. (We've got two swivel seats we took off of another boat we're going to use on this one.)
We already had paddles.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I still feel like we're ahead of the game with not a long ways to-go ... but we're getting there.
I'll update with some more pictures soon, the closer we get to getting her done and in the water.
1955 DuraCraft Model 15008 14' gonna name her Double-Nickle
We were about to buy a new Jon Boat when we ran across this one that was exactly like the one our Grandfather owned, and we fished-in, back in the day. (We've both had plenty of boats since then, all shapes and sizes and too much money to even admit to over the years, but now we're back to the old basics.)
We found this boat, it had been listed for about thirty minutes the morning we started looking, and it was close-by, literally a couple of miles from us. It had been sitting up in the woods for a few years, unused, full of muck, pine-straw, rotted leaves, a dead squirrel, etc. Had about ten inches of water in it, stunk like heck and we both probably got malaria the way the mosquitoes were swarming inside it ... they were some kind of thick.
Boat looked rough, trailer looked rougher. It had a Johnson 9 1/5 cooter shell, (that's what we call them around here), flat-top low-profile motor hanging on it that we were told ran the last time they used it. 1968 model.
They wanted $1,000.00 for everything. We got them down to $550.00 and brought it home.
It's been a lot of work. Just cleaning the gunk and trash out of it took a couple of days ... drying it out. We removed some old rusted-up seats and a bunch of homemade junk stuff ... PVC rod holders, old wiring, etc.
Took the motor to a little shade tree marine mechanic friend to see what we had there, it was a gamble but it wasn't locked-up so we decided to roll the dice on the motor.
The trailer tongue was busted, no lights, rusted up pretty badly and missing the two center rollers.
That was two weeks ago.
Here's where we are as of sundown today just working on it in our spare time for the past two weeks.
It had some astroturf glued and stapled-in ... we pulled that naturally, it was rotted.
.... and then the sanding and painting began. It was rough. Five coats in sixty years and it was flaking and cracking and peeling everywhere.
So we welded the trailer where it needed welding, put a waterproof light kit on it, got all that done, sanded it down and painted the trailer too.
I've actually already got the bow light on up front and the post base on the back. And those wires you see dangling for the trailer lights, they are gone now. I'll take more pictures of that stuff - figured it wouldn't interest anyone how we accomplished that.
Got to figure-out how to fix that torn front seat. The other two bench seats, we've not seen another DuraCraft in pictures with seats like those.
We're thinking of blowing the interior in bed liner .... has anyone ever done that around here and, how did it work?
And I've got to do a little more wiring the inside for the lights.
We bought a battery box, (thanks to an idea I read on this website while lurking) that has the built in circuit breaker and a couple of DC outlets.
We bought a new battery ... Interstate, a big one, because we got the big TM.
I want to put a cleat on the back. Figure we'll just use anchor rope to tie off in the front of need be.
I managed to clean-up and save, even though they were badly rusted, the OEM reflectors on the back. They I rust converted those, enameled them and made gaskets for them out of peel and stick. I'll rivet those on tomorrow.
I've used aluminum rivets to secure everything so far, opting for those rather than screws, except on the trailer where we used stainless self tapping to tie-down the wiring harness.
The motor is supposed to be ready tomorrow. We went over there yesterday to check it out and it runs like a top but it needed a new water-pump so there was a hold-up on that part and a four broken bolts that had to be drilled and tapped.
So here's where we are so far, budget-wise.
$500.00 in the boat, motor and trailer.
$300.00 in motor repairs .... carb rebuild kit, waterpump and labor included.
$100 in paint, sandpaper and primer.
$170.00 in the TM.
$120 in the battery and another $55 in the battery box.
$45 in the light kit for the trailer.
$35 in the front LED bow light.
$50 in the rear post mount and post that can go both running and anchor mode. (I've got to find a three-way switch to get it all hooked up.)
$100 in a six gallon gas tank and new hose and bulb with connectors.
$30 in various stainless nuts, bolts and screws. $10 in a rivet kit with the sizes we needed, all aluminum.
$20 in three new life preservers and another $25 in a new seat cushion for the third rider, just in case. (We've got two swivel seats we took off of another boat we're going to use on this one.)
We already had paddles.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I still feel like we're ahead of the game with not a long ways to-go ... but we're getting there.
I'll update with some more pictures soon, the closer we get to getting her done and in the water.
1955 DuraCraft Model 15008 14' gonna name her Double-Nickle
