Retro Crestliner Discussion Forum

dcbeef · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 8 Location: Kansas City, MO

Hello everyone. I recently aquired a Larson Watercraft Ply-A-Lume from my Grandfather, who had bought it at a sale near Quincy, IL. I've started the restoration and thought this would be the perfect place to post some pics and ask questions as they arise.

David Borrowman
1952-53? Larson Watercraft Ply-A-Lume
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dcbeef · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 8 Location: Kansas City, MO

Here is a link to all of the pics I have taken so far.

http://s877.photobucket.com/albums/ab334/dcbeef/

As far as the restoration goes, I have removed the splash rails and trim around the top. I'm in the process of removing all of the broken screws from all of the pieces I have removed, and am planning to strip and sand them, and then epoxy coat, since there are some places of dry rot. I was going to epoxy coat the whole boat, but I am leaning towards varnishing all of the plywood.

Any thoughts?

Chris · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 270 Location: North West

Very interesting boat. It would be great to see it completely restored. Hoping you don't give up - it's quite a challenge.
_________________
Chris
1956 Commander 520
1956 Viking
'55 Johnson 10,'57 Johnson 18,'55 Johnson 25
1958 Evinrude Lark 35

http://www.retrocrestliner.com/viewerphotospage53.htm

http://s127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/7car7/Aluminum%20Runabouts/My%20Boats/

scotty1957 · Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 195 Location: Ames, IA

Very nice find. I don't think too many of those survived intact. First one I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing. Good luck with the resto and keep us posted on the progress.

~scotty
_________________
'55 Commander 12'
'55 Admiral 16'
'57 35HP Evinrude Big Twin
'57 18HP Evinrude Fastwin

dcbeef · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 8 Location: Kansas City, MO

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Spent part of the weekend working on the spray rails. Got them stripped, sanded, and epoxy coated. I can't believe how much epoxy they soaked up. Will hit them with another coat tonight, and try to have them varnished this week.

scotty1957 · Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 195 Location: Ames, IA

It's interesting to me that they actually put a max HP rating on those. I didn't think they started doing that until later in the '50s.
8HP wasn't much even for early 1950's standards. Smile

Thanks again for sharing the pictures.
~scotty
_________________
'55 Commander 12'
'55 Admiral 16'
'57 35HP Evinrude Big Twin
'57 18HP Evinrude Fastwin

OutBdNut · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 593 Location: Minnesota

There can't be many of those ply-a-lumes around any more! I would guess it dates to the late 1940s.
There are some message strings quite a ways back here that deal with wood replacement and refinishing - if you click on 'search' at the top of the page, you should be able to find them. For the right look, you will want to stain and varnish. I would advise against epoxy coating the aluminum. It will add weight, detract from the original look, and may go to hairline cracking over time as sun and flexing do their thing - it can also make the floor very slippery when wet. There are products made for cleaning aluminum air conditioner coils that I've heard work great for getting the aluminum looking new again - then you can wax it to keep it from oxidizing.
Dave
_________________
57 Commander 12 Custom Deluxe 550
58 Commodore 14 Speedster (modified)
58 Cadillac Riviera 14 split deck
Dozens of old outboards

dcbeef · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 8 Location: Kansas City, MO

Scotty and Dave,

Thanks for the input. I'm with you guys and have decided to only epoxy the oak trim that has dry rot. The mahogany plywood seems to have held up extremely well after almost 60 years. I did some extensive searching when I first got the boat and found out some history. Thanks to this great site, I have narrowed the years down to 1952-53. I am deducing this based on the fact that it has the Larson Watercraft name. It is found in the 1954 Crestliner catalog posted on the retro crestliner site.

"The “Ply-A-Lume” model was introduced in January 1952. It was made of sheets of marine grade plywood that were joined by aluminum strips. The wood-aluminum combination boat was in response to material shortages due to the Korean War. In March of fifty-two, Larson Watercraft employed sixty workers; as many as were on the payroll of Larson Boat Works. By the spring of 1953 about fifteen percent of their production were Ply-A-Lume models." "By 1954-1955 the trade name Crestliner was adopted for all products. On 16 September 1957 the company name was unceremoniously changed from Larson Watercraft to Crestliner, Inc."
from Larson Watercraft & Crestliner
by Andreas Jordahl Rhude

mak3r0fth1ngs · Joined: 05 May 2009 Posts: 41 Location: Alexandria, KY

David,
Given the age and relative dryness of the old wood you may want to look into using CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer) on the outside wood hull. I'm also on another forum about wood Lyman lapstake boats and many of the restorers over there use it after they've stripped all the old paint off the laps. It's a two part epoxy, thin like water, with a high creep factor that allows the resin to get deep into the pores of the old wood, sealing in against future water damage and rot. Many on the Lyman forum suggest you only coat the outside though. You can put varnish right over it after it has cured. You can find it at Jamestowndistributors.com

I'm going to use it on my new marine plywood transom once it's dry fitted in place. I'll fit the transom, drill all holes, then remove, coat with CPES, then several coats of varnish, then reinstall.

Good luck, that's a rare and beautiful boat!

OutBdNut · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 593 Location: Minnesota

I hadn't heard of 'Larson Watercraft & Crestliner'
by Andreas Jordahl Rhude before, but a quick search at dogpile.com gave me this link to it - interesting reading! Thanks!
Dave

http://www.acbs-bslol.com/Boatbuilders/LarsonBWPt4.htm
_________________
57 Commander 12 Custom Deluxe 550
58 Commodore 14 Speedster (modified)
58 Cadillac Riviera 14 split deck
Dozens of old outboards

dcbeef · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 8 Location: Kansas City, MO

Yup, that is where I found it. Other than that site, I could not find any other google hits for ply-a-lume. I must have read that 5 times before it dawned on me to search crestliner for info.

scotty1957 · Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 195 Location: Ames, IA

I think Andreas is a member of AOMCI. He's up in the Twin Cities area - your neck of the woods, Dave.

~scotty
_________________
'55 Commander 12'
'55 Admiral 16'
'57 35HP Evinrude Big Twin
'57 18HP Evinrude Fastwin

OutBdNut · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 593 Location: Minnesota

Thanks Scotty - I've got to find time to get to some local AOMCI chapter meetings and get to know more of the people.
-
Also hope to find more time to spend with my old boats/motors. Life seemed to get a lot busier somehow when I retired - have hardly had a chance to do much beyond an occasional ride in the old boats for the last couple of years, and a few motor tweeks to keep them running - have about 30 project motors waiting to be either restored or designated as parts motors.
_________________
57 Commander 12 Custom Deluxe 550
58 Commodore 14 Speedster (modified)
58 Cadillac Riviera 14 split deck
Dozens of old outboards

dcbeef · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 8 Location: Kansas City, MO

OutBdNut,

I may be looking to you for expertise when the boat is done. My dad has an old outboard he promised to give me if I finish the boat. All I can tell you is that it is a light blue color. I'll let you know what it is next time I make it back to Illinois. We used it to push a floating dock around a lake back in '97, but it never ran right, and hasn't been run since.

OutBdNut · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 593 Location: Minnesota

I'll be happy to help you with your outboard questions, or, a great place to go is the "ask a member" board at www.aomci.org
-
That is the international antique outboard club. There are retired guys on that board that repaired motors for a living back in the 1940s and later. If you get into old motors, it is worth joining the club just for their excellent magazine.
When you said the motor is light blue, it could be an early to mid-1950s
Evinrude, but there were other blue ones back then too. Get a make and model number and I'll do my best to look up the year, HP , and other info.
You can E-mail me direct at:
[email protected] if you like.
Dave
_________________
57 Commander 12 Custom Deluxe 550
58 Commodore 14 Speedster (modified)
58 Cadillac Riviera 14 split deck
Dozens of old outboards