erikgreen
Captain
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 3,105
Okay, I've mentioned in a couple other posts that I got a "new" project boat, one that I may restore or may part out. I thought I'd post pics here to see what people think of it.
The story on this is that I wanted some steel for building a hoist and extending one of my boat trailers. I could buy new steel, but for the type I needed the cost was pretty high, and given how much I needed it was about the same price to buy a used, junker trailer with good metal. I'd also get some trailer hardware that way, maybe an axle with good hubs, tires, etc. all of which I have room for and can use or get rid of easily.
So I started looking for cheap trailers ready for the scrap heap. I figured I'd also look for boats on trailers, since I am pretty comfortable telling when a boat is completely worthless and when I can make enough selling the parts to pay for disposal of the hull... and again I might get some useful parts in the bargain.
I got this boat on a beat up trailer:
The story on it is that the guy I bought it from does clean-ups on estate farms... basically the owner dies and the heirs liquidate the non sentimental stuff and sell the place. He cleans out old farm equipment, decrepit buildings, etc.
He got it from the estate of an avid auction goer who bought it sometime before 1990 or so. The old fellow may or may not have taken it out, but he eventually passed away and had left it sitting in a barn or something for a long time. He was a collector of stuff, so other things were on top of it - nothing heavy or big, but there's small debris in it from non boat stuff.
It's a Buehler Turbocraft Jet 35, pretty much the first production jet boat. I'm not 100 percent sure of the year on it yet, might be a 1960, 61, or 62. It's 17.5 feet long, about a 6 foot beam. According to sources, the turbocraft were a big deal when they came out. The Kennedy family owned one (different colors than mine though) and supposedly Nikita Krushchev had one on order when the cuban missile crisis happened.
There were some magazine articles about it too... one in popular mechanix, one in the April 1962 issue of National geographic.
Here's more pics of this one:
Jet drive, through-hull exhausts. No sign of a drain plug, although there's a (newer) bilge pump inside.
The hull outside is in ok (not bad for its age) shape. This pic is the transom (it's rotated 90 degrees clockwise from where it should be). Anyone NOT thing I'd have to put in a new transom?
Lots of chrome... it's all there, too. I'd have to have it re-plated for the most part, to bring back the shine. But, sparkly stuff.
This is my favorite part of the boat so far. It's a "Jet 35" model, so it has a chrome jet on each side.
Most of the hull skin looks pretty good from a couple feet away. I like the lines of the boat, too.
(more pics in next post).
The story on this is that I wanted some steel for building a hoist and extending one of my boat trailers. I could buy new steel, but for the type I needed the cost was pretty high, and given how much I needed it was about the same price to buy a used, junker trailer with good metal. I'd also get some trailer hardware that way, maybe an axle with good hubs, tires, etc. all of which I have room for and can use or get rid of easily.
So I started looking for cheap trailers ready for the scrap heap. I figured I'd also look for boats on trailers, since I am pretty comfortable telling when a boat is completely worthless and when I can make enough selling the parts to pay for disposal of the hull... and again I might get some useful parts in the bargain.
I got this boat on a beat up trailer:
The story on it is that the guy I bought it from does clean-ups on estate farms... basically the owner dies and the heirs liquidate the non sentimental stuff and sell the place. He cleans out old farm equipment, decrepit buildings, etc.
He got it from the estate of an avid auction goer who bought it sometime before 1990 or so. The old fellow may or may not have taken it out, but he eventually passed away and had left it sitting in a barn or something for a long time. He was a collector of stuff, so other things were on top of it - nothing heavy or big, but there's small debris in it from non boat stuff.
It's a Buehler Turbocraft Jet 35, pretty much the first production jet boat. I'm not 100 percent sure of the year on it yet, might be a 1960, 61, or 62. It's 17.5 feet long, about a 6 foot beam. According to sources, the turbocraft were a big deal when they came out. The Kennedy family owned one (different colors than mine though) and supposedly Nikita Krushchev had one on order when the cuban missile crisis happened.
There were some magazine articles about it too... one in popular mechanix, one in the April 1962 issue of National geographic.
Here's more pics of this one:
Jet drive, through-hull exhausts. No sign of a drain plug, although there's a (newer) bilge pump inside.
The hull outside is in ok (not bad for its age) shape. This pic is the transom (it's rotated 90 degrees clockwise from where it should be). Anyone NOT thing I'd have to put in a new transom?
Lots of chrome... it's all there, too. I'd have to have it re-plated for the most part, to bring back the shine. But, sparkly stuff.
This is my favorite part of the boat so far. It's a "Jet 35" model, so it has a chrome jet on each side.
Most of the hull skin looks pretty good from a couple feet away. I like the lines of the boat, too.
(more pics in next post).
