1962 Chris Craft Sea Skiff restoration

[nedL]

Yes, sorry to hear about your health issues too. Hopefully you are past them. You have been making great progress! she's looking really good.

[Kudzu]

I hate it when people walk away from a thread and don't finish. Now I see why. they do it. In all my 'busyness' I soft of forgot about this.

Quick history. I stopped work on the boat to prepare out house for sale. We bought an RV and moved it to the land we bought. Built a new garage/temporary shop to work out of. Then lots of odd jobs preparing the property ect. Then I was finally able to get back on the boat.

Lots of progress since them. I will just post a few photos to catch up.



Temporary work space. Much smaller and had to put a lot of tools and boat parts into storage. But I do have a space to work!





Started to strip all the peeling paint off the boat. That was what seems like a never ending job!





I tried to organize and clean up the wiring while the decking was off. Looked like a rats next under there and still not great but at least I can trace wires fairly easy.





Then I got lucky and found some plywood locally on Market place. Made my new decks.




Rolled her up on side. Stripped and painted the bottom.

Since I work by myself it was easier than trying to fully roll it over. Made working on the bottom MUCH easier.

[Kudzu]

Jumping ahead to last week.






Taking time to clean up the shop and transition from finishing now. Next step it clean and paint the engine.

Then I get to go back to the fun stuff. Repairing and refinishing all the trim and putting the interior back together.

[Rich Jones]

She's looking good!

[Kudzu]

Have not posted in a couple of while. But the boat is coming together and after all these years I am just amazed watching it look like a new boat again!

Lots of new wood. Learned a lot over the years and impressed with the fit I got on compound angles and rolling bevels.

I polished and installed a proper set of stainless rub rails. thanks to my FIL. When we were cleanup his place after he passed I found these. I think he was saving them for me looking back at something he said once.

Also finished up the bow. I have been SO looking forward to this! I need to order a horn and the chocks but it is essentially done.




Replaced the factory vents or scoops if you prefer. Never liked the look of the plastic ones and I found these NOS aftermarket vents a couple of years ago on EBay. We went back and forth on them but once we worked out the details I am really happy with them.



Really struggled with the transom. The old name on the boat has a 'tan line' around it and it has been really hard to cover it. I stripped it a second time, sanded starting with 50 grit and bleached it. You can still see it but after a lot of work with the stain it much better than it was. It show way more in the photo than in person. Once the name is back on the transom I think it will hidden pretty well.



Finally getting the hang of varnish. Far from a show quality mirror finish but it looks a lot better than my work when I started. I want to go back and redo most of it. The bottom darker section will be painted red and a white water line will be added so I didn't spend much time trying to make that section look nice.

Next week I start on the motor. Check it over and I expect to just have some minor stuff to do then clean and paint and install and install.