Ongoing Progress

The reconstruction part of the restoration process in officially finished. The hull now awaits the day it can have the border painted with a blue and teal and the deck clear coated. She turned out to be a pretty good 20' boat (for those who don't know what that is - she looks pretty good from 20', a classic car term of endearment). Josephine is a GOOD 20' car (and for those who don't know, Josephine is our '55 Chevy).

 

The journey began April 2007 and our projected first event will be April 2009 @ Moses Lake Washington. Enclosed is a picture that Scottie Harger took down at Don's shop prior to us coming over to pick her up. The other pictures are from today. I wanted to put her up on tilt to make sure it will fit in the shop on the trailer (that is where she will live when not at car shows boat shows and racing events).

 

The cowling is out at the painters as we speak and should be done in the near future.

 

Once the cowling and deck are coated with the appropriate colors, I can install the cowlings, re-install the engine and finish connecting all the wiring to the dashboard.

 

Thank you for your encouragement and support. Who would of thought a wood butcher from Idaho could undertake a project like this.... amazes me and sure makes me SMILE when I go out to the shop.

The last item on my to do list is almost done. There are/were 16 holes in the bottom of the boat that needed new bolts run thru them. They beef up the old frames to the bottom.

 

As of today 8 of the 16 have been completed by my partner (Kathy) and I. The other 8 have been re-drilled (had to move up from 3/16" bolts to 1/4" because they don't make zinc coated 3/16" bolts, nuts and washers.)

 

The first 8 have been siliconed and tightened. Maybe tomorrow I will finish the other 8 if it isn't to cold for my partner to work out in the shop.

 

That would mean the restoration is officially done (except for paint, which isn't be done by me - we wanted it done correctly).