1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

It has been a very busy weekend here! My wife & Daughter are out of town, so other that the dogs, I have the place to myself.

I decided to tackle the steering and electrical. The steering was first- It wasn't TOO bad, but it took me some time to get it all right... I can see why Teleflex systems are so popular! The cable system was a bit of a pain, but it's working very well now-

I also got the shift box and cables rigged... Still need to adjust them, though.

The electrical system is a bit of a project. First, the original wiring from the box to the dash was long gone, luckily I still had the wiring from the box to the motor. So, I looked up the wiring diagrams, and made a new harness-

I found the best place to mount the electrical box, then wired it all up-

Under the dash, I installed a modern fuse panel. It is on a hinge so it swings down for easy access, and up out of the way. You can't even tell that it's there, but it provides the convenience and safety of a 'modern' electrical setup. All the switches, etc are in place, I just need to do the final wiring-

Next week will mark ONE YEAR from when I stared out on this project- With luck, She'll be wet!

-Andrew

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

sweeeeeeeeet!!!!!! fingers crossed.

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

sweeeeeeeeet!!!!!! fingers crossed.

What he said.

I like the hinged fuse box idea wish I'd thought of that. Would certainly beat laying under the dash looking for a bad fuse.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Great idea to hinge the fuse panel! How do you 'lock' it in the up position? A slide or barrel lock:

Or there abouts?

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I've used similar hardware, but they tend to rattle a lot- The BEST solution I've found is that strong 'industrial' self stick velcro- It does a great job of holding it all in place.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Next week will mark ONE YEAR from when I stared out on this project- With luck, She'll be wet!

With everything on your plate, this may be the most remarkable restoration in your collection. Well done, Andrew!

 

[greenbush future]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Very inspiring thread and effort on your part, I went through a small lull on putting my project back togeather, but plan on getting back out in the garage tonight. You have done an outstanding job on this boat. Let us know how the splash goes!!

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

SPLASH!

It was a great day here- Perfect weather, and I happened to have the day off. Plus- The wife was at work, and my daughter at daycare. So, Although there are still some little things here and there to fix and install, I decided to take the Lake N Sea down to the lake, 'N see if it would float (sorry!)

Well, it DID!

Originally, I was just going to put it in the water, float it, and fire up the motor to see how it ran. It started right up, and ran well-

It purred like a kitten... Since the wind was blowing back to the dock (not that I don't trust my mechanical ability!), I decided to leave the dock and take it for a spin! Sorry about the really crappy video quality, I was holding my Iphone in my hand, steering, and working the throttles at the same time- (Video posted in next post)

She did really well. I ran around a bit at about 50% throttle, did some turns to test the steering out, then opened her up a bit to see what would happen. I was pleasantly surprised at how it handled! VERY responsive, and jumps right up on a plane.

This boat REALLY turns heads- On the way to the water, and on the water... Everyone has to stop to take a look.

These are the days that make all the hard, sweaty, itchy work worth it!

-Andrew

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

 

[Trooper82]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

WHOOHOO! ...Congrats Andrew.....looks great in the water.....

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

AWESOME! Congratulations on a superb restoration! You have made the world of boating that little bit sweeter!

Be sure to post up on here... http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=568781

You get my vote for calendar boat of the millennium!

 

[southkogs]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Congrats Andrew!! It's a great looking boat.

Watch those turns ... we used to be able to dump a gunwale with that boat even with the 35HP. Never swamped it, but elbows got wet quite often. Very responsive boat tho, you always feel the drive.

So cool!

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Thanks!

She'll look even better once the upholstery and things are done, but that's probably not going to happen all that soon.

I took it super easy on all the turns- especially at first. I found that I could throttle WAY back, make the turn, then put the power back on without loosing that much speed. It really turns on a dime, too. I'm going to have to get used to using the two lever throttle/shifter- It's been a while. All the ships I work on, as well as most of the boats i've owned, have had single levers.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Congrats on the splash....

Not that we had any doubts whatsoever with your skills, but I'm glad the Lake N. Sea didn't Leak N. Sink :facepalm:

 

[sphelps]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Congratulations Andrew !! She looks so sweet in the water! Can't wait to see the interior all complete .

 

[roger56]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

After reading all of the thread posts and looking at all the pics what an amazing job you did. It looks showroom ready from the 50s. Had one a few years back that had to be put down. You must have great passion for restoring boats. Great Job well done.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Looks great! Head turner everywhere for sure!

Congrats on a successful splash.

Yep, definitely gets my vote for calendar cover!

When you get time to flesh out the rest of the windshield trim fab thread, details of it need to be in the thread GT posted, as well

 

[ben2go]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Beautiful,just beautiful.Feels like the 50's all over.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

AWESOME!!!!! She's a Duesy! Keep the vids coming, but maybe loose the auto-stabilize function. I thought I was back in my drinking days Amazing work. She'll be the belle of the ball next Spring. Vroom-vroom.........

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Thanks!

I hope to get more of the 'detail' work, such as cushions, etc done this winter before I head to Germany (in Jan) for a 6 month 'stint'. She'll be in the basement until then, and probably won't see much daylight for a while, I'm going to be SUPER busy opening the new plant here next summer. I wanted to see her wet before I left- And that goal was reached with some time to spare, despite my somewhat hectic schedule.

-Andrew