Uniflite 17 Express Cruiser

[Guest]

I'm posting this on behalf of our new member, Michael Pingatore. He says:

Greetings just starting a restro. Need lots of info.

My dad got the uniflite new in feb 1960 at the Bellingham factory. I have a picture of me sitting in the seat holding on too the wheel when I was 7 years old. That day we got it. Wow! I am 59 now. Dads been gone since 1996. The boat was under a car port all the years and has not been in the water in 42 years. It came with a 40 hp Johnson and sometime in 1962 dad got a bigger 75 hp Johnson whitch is still on the boat. The bill of sale says feb 2 1960 model 17ft express cruiser and the trailer has four tires and wheels two on each side. One problem- all the seats are missing. Gone.

That's it for now.

[Guest]

And from me- that's cool. I don't know a lot about the Uniflites, but my first question is always "How is the wood? Normally on these boat the transom, floor, and stringers get waterlogged and rot out. On my Bellboy it was mostly just mud and splinters. But if yours has been under a carport they may still be sound. That saves an incredible amount of time and effort. Have you tried polishing the fiberglass? That looks like you may be able to bring back the shine.

And look how nice that trailer is. Do you plan on using it in just fresh water? If you're going to use it in salt water you're going to need to use some care on that.

[TheBronze]

That is a cool story and a cool boat!

[Helmar]

Welcome aboard, welcome to the group. Also Thank you for supporting the club.
I see that 75 on the back of the boat and beings that is vintage 62 I am thinking those were thirsty engines back then. But, Hey, if she starts and runs without too much more investment, that is a Great thing.
Not too much is known about the smaller Uniflite boats we have. Seems the company put most of its focus on the bigger boats and then the 14 runabouts.

Funny, when I got mine, I only knew of one other Uniflite. Now we must have 6 or more spread around. Kind of liking that myself. I was afraid they ended up crushed or something tragic.

On your restoration, how or what would you like to start with?
Does the floor seem fine or do you find any soft spots or dry rot?
How is the transom. Any close up shots of that. If you tilt that big 75hp Monster up, and shake her foot, do you see any excessive wobble.

If she seems solid, been covered all those years, might get good buffer and some 3M cutting agent and get after the gel coat, add some paint to the wood and make her a Restoration in Progress.

I know some of the folks like to have them complete and showroom ready (almost, Mine is one of those User boats I call a 20-20 boat, looks good from 20 feet away and at 20 mph)
but mine is a Restoration in Progress

[michael pingatore]

Welcome aboard, welcome to the group. Also Thank you for supporting the club.
I see that 75 on the back of the boat and beings that is vintage 62 I am thinking those were thirsty engines back then. But, Hey, if she starts and runs without too much more investment, that is a Great thing.
Not too much is known about the smaller Uniflite boats we have. Seems the company put most of its focus on the bigger boats and then the 14 runabouts.

Funny, when I got mine, I only knew of one other Uniflite. Now we must have 6 or more spread around. Kind of liking that myself. I was afraid they ended up crushed or something tragic.

On your restoration, how or what would you like to start with?
Does the floor seem fine or do you find any soft spots or dry rot?
How is the transom. Any close up shots of that. If you tilt that big 75hp Monster up, and shake her foot, do you see any excessive wobble.

If she seems solid, been covered all those years, might get good buffer and some 3M cutting agent and get after the gel coat, add some paint to the wood and make her a Restoration in Progress.

I know some of the folks like to have them complete and showroom ready (almost, Mine is one of those User boats I call a 20-20 boat, looks good from 20 feet away and at 20 mph)
but mine is a Restoration in Progress

[michael pingatore]

[Guest]

More pictures

[Kelly]

Welcome to Club Uniflite!! Nice looking boat, definitely a good starting place for a resto and this is a great place to hang out and learn for sure!

Helmar I think we only have two early Uniflites, yours and mine, then the rest around '60/'61...but I agree it's very cool to see more and more pop up.

[Guest]

And some more. (Michael doesn't have access to his PC right now, which is why I'm posting these.)

For those who know eary Uniflites: I'm looking at the u-shaped aluminum tubing. Are those folding seat bases? The black bracket looks to me like it might be a downrigger mounting base, but that's just a guess. The controls look decent. After 40 years I'd want to to replace the steering system with a modern no-feedback system, but there's a good chance the wheel might fit.

[michael pingatore]

Welcome to Club Uniflite!! Nice looking boat, definitely a good starting place for a resto and this is a great place to hang out and learn for sure!

I think we only have two early Uniflites, yours and mine, then the rest around '60/'61...but I agree with Helmar in that it's very cool to see more and more pop up.

[Tim_Mattson]

Welcome Michael ,
Glad to see you trying to post , like me I think our Web browsers are not working quite right ...I have to log-in with Google Chrome to get a reply to work for some reason.
Anyways his boat felt solid when stood in and motor doesn`t sag or creak when stood on though I wasn`t truly jumping on it like I could have.
Inside had some dark spots down low but after a short time with Bleach water on it it seemed to reveal nothing too bad.
Worst thing is the Hook on the bottom from sitting on the roller trailer with rollers not very close to the transom.It won`t ever reach the max speed possible but Mike says he does not need to go too fast so I`m advising getting it wet and use it to set a baseline.It is really long and may have enough fwd hull to not matter.
We`d have a bunch of stringers to cut free before getting it to go flat from front to back ,the 1`` of hook will work like huge trim tabs.I`ve seen alot worse so again let`s see what happens with the lovely Electramatic lower unit equipped V-4......but like Helmar said ,it will be thirsty.
Mike is intent on finding the fold-down Gunwhale seat frames if anybody has something to work with.....just hoping outl loud.
TM

[michael pingatore]

Welcome to Club Uniflite!! Nice looking boat, definitely a good starting place for a resto and this is a great place to hang out and learn for sure!

I think we only have two early Uniflites, yours and mine, then the rest around '60/'61...but I agree with Helmar in that it's very cool to see more and more pop up.

greetings kelly..can you send me pictures of ypur seating in your

Welcome to Club Uniflite!! Nice looking boat, definitely a good starting place for a resto and this is a great place to hang out and learn for sure!

I think we only have two early Uniflites, yours and mine, then the rest around '60/'61...but I agree with Helmar in that it's very cool to see more and more pop up.

greetings kelly can you supply pictures of your seating i dont have the seats for my boat thanks mike pingatore

[Guest]

Tim Mattson is over helping Michael with the Evinrude. The compression is still solid. It has spark and turns over well, but isn't running yet. Tim recommends replacing fuel lines, spark plug wires, etc. I'm pretty sure that a 42-year-old water pump impellor is at end-of-life. But it doesn't look like it needs anything expensive to run again. The guy with the beard is Tim. Michael is the one with the service manual.

[Kelly]

I think we only have two early Uniflites, yours and mine, then the rest around '60/'61...but I agree with Helmar in that it's very cool to see more and more pop up.

Oops..I meant Helmar's boat and mine were the early ones. ..I like them all either way though!

I have some pics of my current seats in my restore thread. .. One original seat, one aftermarket. I'm pretty sure the early Uniflites came with only one seat. I'm on the hunt for seats and just waiting on the word to pull the trigger.

[michael pingatore]

Oops..I meant Helmar's boat and mine were the early ones. ..I like them all either way though!

I have some pics of my current seats in my restore thread. .. One original seat, one aftermarket. I'm pretty sure the early Uniflites came with only one seat. I'm on the hunt for seats and just waiting on the word to pull the trigger.

greetings kelly i could not find your picture seats...please help mike pingatore