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Picked this beat up 13 this past week. Price was $900. Motor is a 1998 Johnson 50 that did not start when I went to see it, but spark was good and compression was 150psi on both cylinders. It came with a mismatched, but very nice 18' EZ loader trailer that will get sold and should bring total investment to right around $700. I already have a trailer for it.
Boat clearly was a work boat. There is a sticker on the back that says 1981 so I am guessing 1981 model. Hull is beat up bad, but very light and dry. I have always wanted one of these. As a kid I lusted after one so when this came up I was pleased. I have owned a few boats over the years from 6-32 feet and have come to realize that for me this is the ideal boat.
Plans are to fix her up nicely. I have already stared the heavy repairs to the bottom. I did not want to get moisture in that nice and dry foam. Problem is someone had painted it many years ago. So I am not sure what route to take on finish. It will be either 1 part Brightsides or 2 part Interlux Perfection. I have used Awgrip before, and to me it is just overkill for a small utility boat. It will be a trailer boat for all but perhaps 10 days a year when it may sit in the water when up in New England for the anual family trip. That is where it gets complicated. I think I will just test the 2 part over the old paint and hope for as few blisters as possible in the days it is in the water. I can't decide on weather to go thin below the waterline in hopes of blisters not being a big deal just flaking off in thin pieces or going extra thick and hoping it acts more like a barier coat.
The inside will need all new wood. I have a friend that owns a good size cabinet shop and says he can get me the wood no problem. Said he could give me 26 board feet of Walnut for just under $100. That may be pretty neat to do! I have never seen a boat with walnut, though it is rot and moisture resistant.
Anyone have experience with this kind of painting the hull issue? I am not going to go crazy and sand off all the old paint to do gel. Can anyone recomend a good body fillerand glazing putty for below the waterline?
I will get to the motor this spring. It clearly has been poorly kept, but I am keeping my fingers crossed it is only a minor carb problem and cosmetics to deal with.
Easiest way for you to post photos is by either setting up your personal page or a project album. Look on the left side of the page under photo gallery and you will see both
Take lots of before and after pics for us
Garbage in...garbage out. Lose the paint idea. Gelcoating can be a PITA but is very do-able and well worth the effort. I know you didn't ask for paint vs. gelcoat opinions, however, the amount of work in the two is pretty small for the superior (imo) results of gel-coat.
Zap
I rolled and tipped Perfection on mine and am happy. I sanded down to either bare fiberglass or thin gelcoat, two coats of primer and two to three coats of Perfection. It's all in the prep. I sanded down that much to make sure that I had a good base for the primer and to get rid of the checking in the gell coat. I dremmeled out what I couldn't sand off of the checking and filled with Watertite or Marine tex. Good luck with everything and have fun.
I rolled and tipped mine with good results as well and I also used Interlux Watertite and Marinetex as a filler. I ground out the large and "stress" related cracks and filled them with marinetex. My boat was also covered in very small hairline cracks. These I sanded smooth (removing the rasied edges) and sealed with a penetrating epoxy. I then painted with three coats of Interlux PrimeCoat and three coats of Interlux perfection. If you follow the Interlux directions to the letter, you can get very good results.
Thought I would post an update. I put it on the back burner as it has no hull number, just bill of sale. Hull number had corroded because it had the rub rail covering it. Had to go through the proper channels localy to get a new hull ID. Now that it is all set and legit I can start putting some effort in to it. So much to do! The inside has not been painted, but is beat up badly, so I will re-gel the non skid where it has damage and paint the smoothe areas. I hate painted non-skid and will avoid it at all costs!
The outsides of the hull have gouges where someone took a disk sander to it for its old paint job. Did I mention this was an industrial boat used for construction?
I 'm thinking of having a little fun with this. I may do the inside with bright white and leave the non-skid the off white whaler gelcoat color. I am also thinking of doing the sides in Fighting lady yellow and the rest of the hull in bright white. If I do go original, what color Interlux Perfection matches the original 1980's gel coat?
The interior that is now just pressure treated lumber will be replaced with some nice wood. I am definately going to do the console and seats with a racing stripe of light colored wood. Should look great and be a snap to do at the cabinet shop. Obviously a factory restoration is not my cup of tea. I will set up a photo album soon.
