New member here with a tin gem I rescued earlier this week, 1956 Feathercraft Golden Rocket, serial number RR 1 98 56. I had been looking for a 50's aluminum runabout to restore. Had just looked at a '57 Lone Star Malibu a couple of days before hand.
I say rescued because this boat was used for four years as a duck boat before being sold to the fella I purchased it from. He and his son were going to cut the top metal out of it to make it more roomy for a fishing boat. Luckily, his manteligence kicked in and he decided to list it on craigslist. At $250, I don't believe he appreciated what he had. No trailer, but it tucked into the back of my pickup rather nicely.
The boat's original gold anodizing is showing in a lot of places. It was repainted gold at some point, then of course there is the left over camo job.
Restoration will start as soon as I can build a dolley for it to sit on and move in and out of my garage. The back deck will probably have to come completey off to repair some of the formers that have be bent at the top and to straighten the top deck surface. I'm sure the duck hunters walked and sat on that deck quite a bit. What I believe is the worst damage is the keel starting just above the curve. It is rolled to one side slightly and pushed up. It also appears it may have split and repaired with a weld. I'll need some ideas as to the best way to approach this repair.
Other than that and a good cleaning, it has the usual scapes, dents, and rotten transom as any boat that's 54 years old.
Looking forward to picking some brains here and posting some progress photos, though they may be slow in coming. Oh, I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade and have friends who are well versed in structure repair, so I'm lucky in that respect.
I say rescued because this boat was used for four years as a duck boat before being sold to the fella I purchased it from. He and his son were going to cut the top metal out of it to make it more roomy for a fishing boat. Luckily, his manteligence kicked in and he decided to list it on craigslist. At $250, I don't believe he appreciated what he had. No trailer, but it tucked into the back of my pickup rather nicely.
The boat's original gold anodizing is showing in a lot of places. It was repainted gold at some point, then of course there is the left over camo job.
Restoration will start as soon as I can build a dolley for it to sit on and move in and out of my garage. The back deck will probably have to come completey off to repair some of the formers that have be bent at the top and to straighten the top deck surface. I'm sure the duck hunters walked and sat on that deck quite a bit. What I believe is the worst damage is the keel starting just above the curve. It is rolled to one side slightly and pushed up. It also appears it may have split and repaired with a weld. I'll need some ideas as to the best way to approach this repair.
Other than that and a good cleaning, it has the usual scapes, dents, and rotten transom as any boat that's 54 years old.
Looking forward to picking some brains here and posting some progress photos, though they may be slow in coming. Oh, I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade and have friends who are well versed in structure repair, so I'm lucky in that respect.
