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From: Matthew Woodward
Date: 01 Aug 2003
Time: 03:42:48
Remote Name: 66.102.68.44
Hi Folks...I'm new to the group as well, having recently purchased a 14' vintage 1962 Crestliner Arabian Imperial fiberglass boat, complete with "spoonbill hull" and original 40 hp Johnson. I've found this site extremely informative - thanks to Pamela! Having had experience with only aluminum fishing boats in the past, I didn't know what to look for regarding checking the integrity, sea-worthiness of such an old fiberglass boat. Before buying it I brought along a friend who supposedly knew lots about boats (he's owned several and been a "river rat" all his life) to see if I'd be making a good buy. He declared it sound and a good purchase, so I bought it for myself for my birthday. Moral of the story is that people who own boats and go boating a lot don't necessarily know squat about them. My friend didn't...the floors and transom were rotten, just a mush of end-grain balsa core. I've learned since that there are some simple checks that would have brought these things to my attention, but oh well, spilt milk. Now I know. Fortunately, all of the boats fittings are intact, and came up real nice with Autosol polish. I'd also highly highly recommend Meguiar's Plast-X , which did an incredible job restoring the windshield - this cleaning product works great - I've since used it on the bug deflector on my truck, and it looks like brand new. As well, the motor checked out great at the marina I took it to, and the trailer is also in good shape. At the moment the boat itself is just a hull shell - completely gutted - I'm doing the final prep to replace the floor's balsa core & the transom. Using a grinder I removed the inner skin of the floor so as to expose and remove the rotten core material. What a pain in the you know what it was to remove the transom! But, as with many jobs, most of the work is in the preparation - I anticipate that after the outer skin is sanded, putting things back in order will proceed fairly quickly (although I've probably just jinxed myself). I live in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and expect to purchase the balsa materials and the 'glass up in Toronto at a shop called Noah's, unless someone on the ng tells me a better place to go. I've been documenting each step of the entire restoration to film, which I hope to later upload to the group. It's been a real learning process. I hope to get the boat in the water before Christmas. Here in Kingston it's real hot & humid right now - I'm not looking forward to the hull grinding job I have scheduled for tomorrow! Glad this forum exists, happy boating to all (except me for the moment), more on the repair later. Any advice (encouragement) is welcome... Matthew Woodward