V.O.M.A.D. and Fishing Boat Project

[bird dogger]

V.O.M.A.D. Meeting (Vintage Outboard Motor Acquisition Disease)

Hello, my name is bird dogger and I haven’t bought a vintage outboard motor in over 5 months! I found out I had this common disease after my dad died and I rescued his old fishing boat from the barn where it had sat unused for many years. The siblings said “Throw it out!” but there was potential in the still good hull and sound trailer. All the duo needed was just about everything. There’ll be a few pics of the process for your amusement!

 

[NHSleddog]

That is awesome. I know a guy who says he as the largest vintage outboard motor collection in New England. He does have two barns full and a bunch on display so he could be right.

I have done a bunch of welding on them for him over the years. Mostly old tin and aluminum tanks.

 

[NCL4701]

If you had a couple dozen boats to hang those on you’d really have something there!

Actually, those are really nice. Most of the vintage outboards I’ve seen in this area are either extremely rough walk hangers or they’ve been “restored” with a light wire brushing followed by Krylon. Once in a while I see an actual restoration or nice original and some bring good money people get so sentimental about them.

If you can find the parts, those old 2 cycles are fun little things to work on (so long as you’re not in the middle of a lake while you’re doing it). Their simplicity and reliability is impressive.

My Dad has an old Crosby tri-hull with a 25hp Mercury from the mid-60’s stored in his basement. We got the motor running for virtually nothing and considered rebuilding it a while back. It did run OK but compression was a bit low and one cylinder wall had some scoring. Looking into the project found most all the lakes around this area prohibit 2 cycles which takes out most, if not all, of the vintage motors for anything but wall hanging. Kind of sad they’re not on the water any more.

Abandoned the potential project as the only option was re-powering with a 4 cycle and not only was that expensive, it pretty much obviated the impetus for the project.

 

[bird dogger]

After hauling the “duo” home from Wisconsin it became quite a project from start to finish. It’s a little beyond getting by with just using Rust-Oleum’s Wipe New products. Here’s the “as found” pics. You can see the wooden seats were completely rotted. Same for the gunnels and the wood transom motor mount. The seats and gunnels appeared to be made from mahogany. The task looked daunting!

 

[bird dogger]

That is awesome. I know a guy who says he as the largest vintage outboard motor collection in New England. He does have two barns full and a bunch on display so he could be right.

I have done a bunch of welding on them for him over the years. Mostly old tin and aluminum tanks.

Wish you lived a little closer, NHSleddog!! LOL!!
david

 

[bird dogger]

If you had a couple dozen boats to hang those on you’d really have something there!

Actually, those are really nice. Most of the vintage outboards I’ve seen in this area are either extremely rough walk hangers or they’ve been “restored” with a light wire brushing followed by Krylon. Once in a while I see an actual restoration or nice original and some bring good money people get so sentimental about them.

If you can find the parts, those old 2 cycles are fun little things to work on (so long as you’re not in the middle of a lake while you’re doing it). Their simplicity and reliability is impressive.

My Dad has an old Crosby tri-hull with a 25hp Mercury from the mid-60’s stored in his basement. We got the motor running for virtually nothing and considered rebuilding it a while back. It did run OK but compression was a bit low and one cylinder wall had some scoring. Looking into the project found most all the lakes around this area prohibit 2 cycles which takes out most, if not all, of the vintage motors for anything but wall hanging. Kind of sad they’re not on the water any more.

Abandoned the potential project as the only option was re-powering with a 4 cycle and not only was that expensive, it pretty much obviated the impetus for the project.

Minnesota is still full of old fishing motors hanging out in sheds and barns waiting for a new home. Too bad those restrictions put the kabosh to your dad's Crosby restoration! Other than Mn's Boundary Waters area there isn't too many restrictions around here.....yet. And parts for the Johnson/Evinrude and Mercury's are still fairly easy to come by. If you keep them tuned up they're pretty reliable, too.

david

 

[Lil Foot]

Nice collection.
I caught my fascination for outboards when I was a wee one. My dad was a Tool Designer for Kiekaefer Mercury from 1960-1965. He always got us kids small boats with battery-op outboards for Christmas every year. The house we lived in used to belong to Kiekaefer himself, so the basement had stashes of experimental & prototype props & castings and such that we played with.
There are practically no old outboards out here, and that's probably a good thing, or else I'd have another collection to spend inordinate amounts of money on.

 

[Ping]

David,
Nice collection and thanks for jogging my memory.
When the kids were young, they used to have a ball "skying"! i used to pull the them with a 5hp Johnson behind a little 10 or 12" V hull on what looked like a small surf board tied to the stern. Those were some fun times!
thanks.

 

[bird dogger]

Nice collection.
I caught my fascination for outboards when I was a wee one. My dad was a Tool Designer for Kiekaefer Mercury from 1960-1965. He always got us kids small boats with battery-op outboards for Christmas every year. The house we lived in used to belong to Kiekaefer himself, so the basement had stashes of experimental & prototype props & castings and such that we played with.
There are practically no old outboards out here, and that's probably a good thing, or else I'd have another collection to spend inordinate amounts of money on.

That must've been FUN growing up in that house!! Hope you still have some of those childhood boats! I surely don't need any more projects but I'd love to stumble onto a nice Kiekaefer outboard from that era. Some of those were just plain gorgeous!
David

 

[bird dogger]

David,
Nice collection and thanks for jogging my memory.
When the kids were young, they used to have a ball "skying"! i used to pull the them with a 5hp Johnson behind a little 10 or 12" V hull on what looked like a small surf board tied to the stern. Those were some fun times!
thanks.

Hi Ping! Yup, those are good memories!! Stay tuned.....
David

 

[bird dogger]

First up was completely stripping and rebuilding the trailer to allow moving the boat in and out of the workshop for its refurbishing. New tires, rims, bearings, hitch and lights were purchased. All other parts sand blasted and painted. For a 70 year old boat trailer it looks functional again.

At least now the boat can easily go in and out of the shop when working on the boat itself.

 

[bird dogger]

Stripping the hull of old carpet and multiple layers of paint uncovered the original data plate. The boat is a 1953 Starcraft Speedster, 12 foot. And what first impressed me to keep and redo the boat was its “deep vee” hull, especially for such a short boat. Also revealed was the outline of the missing Starcraft logos that were apparently pop riveted to the rear sides of the hull. All the wood (seats, gunnels, and transom) was completely deteriorated from pigeon and raccoon droppings, moisture, and whatever else ended up inside the boat while sitting in the old barn.

Things always look a little better and the project doable once all cleaned up so you can see what you have.......or have not!

 

[Lil Foot]

Hope you still have some of those childhood boats!

Unfortunately, no. When we moved from Wisconsin to Arizona for my Dad's new job, the new company, Sperry, was paying for the move. My parents didn't think the company should have to pay to move kid's toys, so we donated or left every toy. (and I mean every toy)
Rare bicycles, huge Lionel train sets, (multiple sets) rare pedal cars, and I left my my toy robot collection, which alone would have been worth over $100K.
Sigh.

 

[bird dogger]

Unfortunately, no. When we moved from Wisconsin to Arizona for my Dad's new job, the new company, Sperry, was paying for the move. My parents didn't think the company should have to pay to move kid's toys, so we donated or left every toy. (and I mean every toy)
Rare bicycles, huge Lionel train sets, (multiple sets) rare pedal cars, and I left my my toy robot collection, which alone would have been worth over $100K.
Sigh.

Oh boy! What can a person say except, "That sure sucks!!". Like a lot of things.......if only a person had known. When my sister and I were in grade school, one summer we hand picked wild oats outof farmer's fields for weeks on end. We then spent all our money and each bought a new model Schwinn bicycle. They were the new 5 speed Schwinn "Stingrays". Fancy as all get out back then. I don't even remember what happened to them but sure wish I had mine now.

 

[bird dogger]

Masking off and lightly sandblasting the formerly painted areas prepared the boat for a final cleaning, aluminum acid etch primer and top coats. Here's pics of the start of that process:

 

[bird dogger]

Next on the project list: fabricating new mahogany gunnels. Each gunnel was made in two pieces with one piece rabbeted out for the thickness of the aluminum hull It took lots of clamps and figuring out a new screw pattern to avoid the old gunnel holes during the gluing/screwing of the gunnel installation. A trimming router put a nice corner round on the edges and a final sanding prepared them for stain and varnishing. A leftover piece of Permanent Wood Foundation 2” x 10” plank found use as the new motor mount transom material.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Cool! And so glad you are well stocked with clamps!

 

[Lil Foot]

Of course, just when I say that there are practically no old outboards out here, I find one in an antique mall.
Didn't have my phone with me, but I found a pic on the net. It was this model, but dark blue instead of the red on the engine cover. It appeared to be cosmetically restored, but someone in the mall said it didn't run.
It was very cool, but With the caregiver thing I just can't take on anything else. (Hell, I don't even have a boat anymore)
I think it was $395.

 

[bird dogger]

Cool! And so glad you are well stocked with clamps!

A person can never have enough clamps at their disposal, can they?

Of course, just when I say that there are practically no old outboards out here, I find one in an antique mall. Didn't have my phone with me, but I found a pic on the net. It was this model, but dark blue instead of the red on the engine cover. It appeared to be cosmetically restored, but someone in the mall said it didn't run. It was very cool, but With the caregiver thing I just can't take on anything else. (Hell, I don't even have a boat anymore)
I think it was $395. View attachment 52162

If I remember right, Sea King was basically a Johnson/Evinrude made and rebadged by an offshoot manufacturer. Common parts mostly available. But without a boat to use it on it'd be hard to justify the $395 in a non runner. However, I have a buddy that collects or did collect the very old outboards under 5 HP and has them hanging from his shop ceiling. They look pretty cool hanging there with their polished aluminum uppers and the polished brass tubes, lower units, and propellers.

We also went through the caregiver stage with my wife's parents and shared the job with my siblings for my parents. It's been a few years already but still feels like it was just yesterday. Much respect for you, Lil Foot!

 

[bird dogger]

Seats were made from glued up mahogany boards to the proper width and installed. The bow and stern corner fittings were cleaned up and reinstalled.

A session at the drafting table produced an acceptable paper template for the missing “Starcraft” logos. I cut the logos out of some scrap aluminum plate and mounted them using their original holes in the hull.