adrewery87
Recruit
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Messages
- 5
I recently bought a 1953 J. Studebaker 22 from my neighbor. All together I got the boat, trailer, tiller outboard (1981 15 HP Johnson), tiller trolling motor (50 lb thrust, don?t remember exact model), and fish finder for $800. I bought it from a neighbor who has fallen on hard times, and, even better for me, he?s helping me with some of the repairs. Unfortunately, he?s more of a jerry rigger than full on repair guy, so we?ve butted heads on a few things already. I believe it sat unused for several years after his nephew broke his outboard. I have been looking around the iBoats forum for tips and pointers which has proven to be a big help. I figure the only way you guys could be more helpful would be to post my plans and progress in restoring her. So, here goes.
I also wanted to include this for those who are interested, a little history on these boats can be found at this forum post. Several catalog pages can be found there as well. I believe I saw another old J. Studebaker on these forums at some point.
http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?71064-Did-Studebaker-make-Aluminum-boats
- Fix crack on gunwale and holes in the bottom of the boat. After calling almost a dozen welding shops in the KC area, I finally found someone who?s fixed aluminum boats before, and seemed happy that I even called them. Weather permitting, I will be able to finish re-wiring my trailer tonight and take it to the shop tomorrow morning. There are some JB Weld repairs on the bottom, and they have been there almost 20 years. Is it worth it to remove this or stick with the adage, ?If it ain?t broke don?t fix it.?
- Replace transom boards. The guy I bought it from added a board for support to the outside AND inside. This is the first I have seen something like this. The interior board was rotten and has already been removed. Perhaps I have missed a thread about it, but is there a thread already concerning transom repair on aluminum boats? Will outdoor rated silicone be sufficient to seal around the edge of the transom board?
- Dress up or redo cabling. I can?t really decide whether to dress it up or just redo it all together. Any thoughts on this? Should I run it below the deck or along the side?
- Addition of foam for floatation. This is something that never really occurred to me until I saw it on several threads here. I plan to put a deck in so it would not see much sun on its own. Should I be concerned with this getting waterlogged? Which type of foam should I use? I?ve seen two-part spray-in, regular foam insulation, and several others suggested. Should I just not even worry about it for such a small boat?
- Add a deck. I plan to strip down some oak pallets, sand them down, and use them for the deck. The plan, as of right now, is sand them down and seal them with polyurethane. Lastly, when the decking has been installed use another layer of polyurethane over the top. I should also mention I would like to install the decking with a small gap (< ??) between the rows. The only downside I can think of is weights and lures may fall between them.
- Add swivel chairs on benches near the back of the boat, and on the front-most bench.
I also wanted to include this for those who are interested, a little history on these boats can be found at this forum post. Several catalog pages can be found there as well. I believe I saw another old J. Studebaker on these forums at some point.
http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?71064-Did-Studebaker-make-Aluminum-boats
