1960 Lee Craft Runabout

[Lyle]

Well since I am hoping to pick almost all of your brains for information and guidance to keep me on the correct path, I figured I would start a somewhat boring photo progress thread. So any input is greatly appreciated.

**Edit** I will be Editing this first post often

[ATTACH]16603[/ATTACH]

I hope everyone realizes that this is my first boat and first boat restore. I am familiar with fiberglass and composites and don't feel that will be a problem with the re-build

Edit:
Most of the original guts have been removed from this boat. I knew from the beginning that this will be a challenge. From the looks of things and the lack of a good Chinese blueprint, or any history on her, I get the feeling I am not going to be able to restore her to original. She will be a one off. Will she still be considered a classic?

I started a photobucket account to post all photos I take. ( I'll weed out the bad ones of course)
I believe this is the link to my account if you want to look at all the un-named photos

http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/Lyle_Erwin/library/Das Boot

http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/Lyle_Erwin/library/

I work third shift so all my activity will be latenight.

Here is a photo of the interior before i have done anything but poke around...This is my starting point.




And away we go.... Ill add steps as I go

Step 1 - **Photo document everything!** (may need reference photos later)
Step 2 - Survey, Tear down, Removal, and Discovery.
Step 3 - Measurments
Step 4 - Sanding, Sanding and more Sanding.! oh and did i mention Sanding!

Materials List - Stuff I am going to need - I am going to order this stuff as I go (subject to change)

100 yds - 1.5 oz. X 50in. Chop Strand Mat
50 yds. - 3/4 oz. X 50in. Chop Strand Mat**
50 yds - 25.3 oz. X 50in. 1708
20 gal - Boat & General Purpose Laminating Resin (H-B) (5 gal-**)
2 qt - Catalyst MEKP**
2 gal - Acetone
- fumed silica
10 lb. - 1/4" Chopped Strand**

** denotes purchased.

[Lyle]

Ok, I may be looking for a blueprint of this boat. Correct me if I am wrong please...
The last photo look like those are frames / ribs on the seats. There appears to be no stringers on this boat. I thought stringers ran from fore to aft? the deck completely rotten and it looks like some one did a temporary deck replacement on this boat.

The seats are going by the wayside. I will be looking to put something different in there.

Looks like I am going to learn a lot about fiberglass boats before I am done.

[aguynamedchris]

Hi Lyle - looks like a pretty nice project you got going there. The stringers will be under the floor and will run the length of the boat. Once you remove the floor you'll find them I'm sure. This is just a guess but those ribs look like they might have been floor supports. The notch in the middle of each might have been where the center stringer ran and then those ribs would have been support for attaching the floor. It's just a guess but I'm pretty sure once you cut that floor out it will be more apparent.

Something that really helped me with my floor replacement was to buy a piece of door skin and lay it down in the middle of the floor before you take it out. Then take a framing square and push it up against the side of the boat until the two end points touch. Then take a jiffy marker and trace the framing square location on your door skin - it will look like a triangle with a fat side and a skinny side to match your framing square. Work your way around the boat this way taking measurements all the way around. This will give you template when it comes to cutting a new floor as you can just put the door skin on top of the new plywood and using the same square and the traces you can plot out the edges of your new floor.

[Bflaherty]

Hi Lyle - looks like a pretty nice project you got going there. The stringers will be under the floor and will run the length of the boat. Once you remove the floor you'll find them I'm sure. This is just a guess but those ribs look like they might have been floor supports. The notch in the middle of each might have been where the center stringer ran and then those ribs would have been support for attaching the floor. It's just a guess but I'm pretty sure once you cut that floor out it will be more apparent.

Something that really helped me with my floor replacement was to buy a piece of door skin and lay it down in the middle of the floor before you take it out. Then take a framing square and push it up against the side of the boat until the two end points touch. Then take a jiffy marker and trace the framing square location on your door skin - it will look like a triangle with a fat side and a skinny side to match your framing square. Work your way around the boat this way taking measurements all the way around. This will give you template when it comes to cutting a new floor as you can just put the door skin on top of the new plywood and using the same square and the traces you can plot out the edges of your new floor.

Lyle,

This method works great! There are pictures somewhere on the forums, inside several restoration threads, of how this is done and what it should look like... But I can't seem to find them right now (I am using mobile access so the search tool is limited).

You have what should be a rather unique and practical boat when your finished so take your time, measure EVERYTHING, ask lots of questions, and most importantly HAVE FUN!!

[Lyle]

I removed the rest of the deck and I figured that at some point in her life someone decided to throw in a half a$$ temporary deck. By the looks of it, I would say they did not care how long it lasted...



Big question here... Should I cut into the bow?


You can kind of see where the old stringers were at one point.

This looks like a burlap bag:
t
There are more photos in my bucket (see link first post) I have to wonder about the transom.

[Lyle]

Holy smokes, I think I took a huge bite to chew on. I am finding a ton of information the more i poke around and dig. Lots of good stuff.

Looks like I will be digging into the transom too.

It seems that maybe i should get the boat up on blocks, stands and off the trailer.

[aguynamedchris]

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in here but I'm concerned that your boat has no stringers at all! There should be some kind of support running the length of the boat but yours looks like just a smooth hull. I'm not sure if perhaps you took them out when you tore out the floor or if they weren't there to begin with but you will certainly need to address this. By the way that burlap looking stuff is called woven roving - it's structural fiberglass cloth. You will be getting to know this stuff well if you end up havin to rebuild those stringers!

[Lyle]

That was my concern when I pulled the floor up. What you see in the photos is what I found. I knew something was wrong the minute I started to clean her up. the decking, if you want to call it that, took me a few seconds to pull up and, as you can see in the photos, most of the hardware is from the fence building department at Homedepot.

I am not too deep into the project but I have a few concerns:
Will I find a lot of delaminations on the hull from bouncing around the trailer with no supporting structure?
The plywood under the bow deck is showing signs of rot and the transom is "squishy". Do the two areas at the bow need to be removed to complete the discovery portion?
How much of the boat is missing? I have a lot of pulleys and brackets that have no visible purpose that I know of. The steering cables are kind of sketchy. Will I be able to find a photo of this boat to see what it is I need? I have scoured the internet but have found nothing.
If I step into this project with both feet... She will no longer be a classic. She will be a custom boat with no pedigree. I will have to engineer everything (which I am far from) or make it work/fit.

As I poke around here I see a lot of beautiful boats and the time everyone has put into them and that gives me inspiration.

please don't think that whining or complaining... this is just a lot to take in for a rookie and I think I got little excited about the boat itself before I really thought it through.

the trailer is good!

No matter what happens know that I have boat fever.

[Bflaherty]

If there is any indication of rot, you want to remove it. There would be nothing worse than doing all this work just to have some little section you skipped turn out to be a structural problem. Do it right the first time!

You are definitely going to need to build stringers back in to her. There are several threads on here that discuss different options, even a couple that discuss using composite materials...

Your end result will most likely be "resto-mod" but really that's what most of our boats are. Unless you are going to try and win the Tahoe concourse boat show there is no good reason to stress about staying true to original design. Especially if there is no available documentation of the original design...

[Lyle]

you are correct, do it right the first time. I was kind of fixatin on what it is instead of what it could be. So it looks to be a long term project.

Alrighty then, I'll dive into the bow and see what turns up. My wife says I have to finish the remodel of the bath/laundry room before I touch the boat.

Thanks to everyone, this should be fun.

[Bflaherty]

Hahaha!!! Your wife sounds just like my mom! My father had one of the rarest Post-War Chris Crafts ever built (1955 25' Continental, they only produced 30!) for 12 years under a tarp structure and he never got to finish it cause he never "finished" the remodel of the house... Come to think of it, he now has a fully restored '53 Racing Runabout but the house still isn't done... I wonder how that worked out?

Anyhow... Good luck and remember to have fun with it! And if you get discouraged, just come out for a boat ride and you'll get reinspired!

[Lyle]

Rub rails... Is there an preferred way to remove the rail?

[Lyle]

95% of the fasteners are corroded and I thought I would post the rail because the gorilla method of removal is not always the best. On the back side of the rail are rusty nuts. I hope I don't wear out my welcome by posting too many photos.

[Bflaherty]

Unfortunately there isn't any trick to removing these rails (at least that I know of) if you are confident you have all be fasteners either broken or removed, then it is just a matter of weather you hope to reuse or replace... If you are trying to salvage the rail then take your time and go slowly, otherwise just pull real hard (like a band-aid)...

One can not "wear out their welcome" on this forum. Most of us enjoy restorations and if we can help with someone else's then that's a nice bonus! Also, WE LOVE PICTURES!

[Lyle]

I'll replace the rub rail. It seems easier to separate the upper and lower to get at the transom anyway. And not all the fasteners have been broken yet. I'll take out what I can on the backside but the way the fasteners are everywhere else, I think I could end mangling the nuts or breaking them off. This will take while, as I want to minimize the amount of damage to the fiberglass. I already have a ton of holes to repair.

Thanks again, I keep all the photos on photobucket and only post a few on here.