Boat Buzz

A little trick I used for the hull number; The hull number for my boat is located on the port side engine chock, the existing chocks were severely dry rotted and had to be replaced but before I through them on the fire pile I took the section containing the hull number and cut the number from the chock. Ended up with a piece the width of the chock approximately 4" long and about 3/8" thick, cleaned it and soaked it in CPES, which harden it right up. I then took my new chock, notch the top in the same area that the original number was located and epoxied the piece in place.

It's now April of 2014 and the sanding and varnishing begins, think I lost 10 pounds during this time.

It's now September 2014 and with two coats of varnish still yet to be done it's time to chalk the seams.

In keeping with the campaign to promote the next generation of classic boaters here are a couple shots of my granddaughter helping out and she was helping out. When I was doing my fairing and sanding I used pencil lines for reference, when I started prepping the boat in preparation for sealing and varnishing there were some areas where the pencil lines could still be seen. Since my eyes are not what they use to be I asked my granddaughter to help out, gave her a sanding block and turned her loose and have to say she did an excellent job and was happy to help.

With the caulking done and two more coats of varnish on, I move on to the water line. February 2015

With the painting done I moved on to reinstalling the hardware and putting the engine back in for the last time,,,,I hope. February/March 2015.

Since I opted for a more modern battery, instead of a wooden battery tray I decided to build a wooden box with a lid to hide the battery, so to speak. In doing so I wanted to make sure that the box was vented properly and had planned on cutting some slots in the top,,,,,that is until I came up with another idea.
You may have noticed in the background of some of my pics a banner hanging on the garage door, at some point in time I took a picture of the banner to send to the sign company. When I came up with the idea for the top I printed an 11 X 17 of that pic and as luck would have it it became a perfect stencil. Here are some pics of what I ended up with.

Terry guys like you Amaze me! It has been 20 years since you first spotted your boat in 1995 and have yet to get a ride in her.

I was jonesing when we were approaching the two year mark of our stewardship of American Beauty and she had not gotten wet yet. I can not even fathom the time you have endured.

She is a real beauty and I hope you get someone to take a video of her launch, put it on youtube and link it to this thread.

BTW I Love the personal touches that make her unique. IMHO those thing add far more to a boat than one that is "as came out of the factory". Does that make me a Hot Rodder?

Thanks tkhersom, it has been a long time coming but well worth it, on the very short rows now and looking forward to an unofficial launch tomorrow. It is pretty wild to think about how long it's been since this boat was last in the water, and since I know nothing about it's history, no telling how long it had been out of the water before I purchased her but she gonna get wet tomorrow...

Official launch is set for June 27th, you all are welcome to come..

A few more pics of some accessories that had to be made.

Interior almost complete, upholstery being worked on as I type.

This past Friday (6/12/15) I made the big move from dolly to trailer in preparation for the unofficial launch.

I know those are lifting rings and it is what they were designed for, but it still freaks me out to see boats hanging like that.
I still remember the first time I saw it, I was a kid at a the Winnipesaukee boat show and I had no idea you could even do that.

After almost 20 years since I laid eyes on her, today is the day guys, she is going back in the water, wish me luck...

YAHOOOOOOO!

To Terry!

Best of luck, and don't forget the champagne!!

Denis D

The anticipation is killing me! How did it go? We want, no we DEMAND, pictures!

Thanks guys.
As I said earlier, today was a pre-launch, beautiful day (hot as hell), perfect location (no one around to get in the way), and the boat ran great. A few glitches but nothing serious (a ground problem on the starter), got the packing around the shaft adjusted properly (that was trickier than I thought it would be, luckily I made two wrenches for the adjustment that worked out well) and tweaked the carburetor a little.
Have just a few more items to tend to and waiting for the upholstery to be completed but should still be ready for the official launch next Saturday the 27th.
Here are a few shots from today.

Oh yea, here is a pic of the wrenches I made for adjusting the packing nut.

Congratulations Terry Looks like it was worth it.
It does look naked without flags tho.

Funny, in all the excitement I forgot to put them on and didn't notice until we were taking out.

It will be all dress up Saturday

We'll need "Full Dress" photos posted then.

Something I thought worth mentioning about the shaft packing, first it is a little dangerous on my boat because the flange coupling is very close to the packing nut (like within a 1/4") and the only way to adjust it is while the shaft is turning. When I set things up initially I ran the nut down hand tight and then turned it another quarter turn and locked it, as it turned out that's too tight, could probably get away with hand tight and locking it for the initial start. The next thing is you have to be very careful when you loosen up the jam nut that you don't let loose of the packing nut (make sure before you get another grip with your wrench that you lock it first), it will run it self off and you end up with a boat full of water. Ended up that my packing nut only needed to be finger tight for the right drip,,,for now.

Took twenty years to GETERDONE but I'd be willing to bet every time you take the helm of that beauty you'll feel thirty years younger. Great life experience and accomplishment. I'm sure your grandchildren will remember the time spent helping fondly. Congratulations and thank you for sharing the adventures of Miss Dot.

Getting close to that day and as typical of most builds we are still thrashing, that we be me and my upholstery guy. Speaking of which, I thought I would share some of the pics of that process, watching a craftsmen of another sort doing his thing and even got to help out which was kind of neat. Just proves that we are never to old to learn something new.

BTW, if ever in the Charleston area you should make sure to stop by and visit Coastal Cushion and Canvas on Shem Creek in Mt Pleasant, they do some great work and they also have a nice gift shop next door..

Are you bringing it to Algonac this weekend?

I wish but afraid not, this weekend I'm having the Launch Party on the Edisto here in good ole SC.

Well guys, it's all legal now and hopefully all good with Poseidon and Neptune the boat gods.
Had a great turn out, a good time was had by all and the launch went off without a hitch. Since I was busy with the launch I had to rely on pics from all my great friends some of the pics are not great quality but I think you will get the gist, I did have a professional photographer taking pics and video and as soon as i get those shots and video I will share with you.

The Edisto River is my second home, it is where my family was spending there weekends camping on the sandbars when my mom was carrying me I'm sure. It's where I learned to swim, ski, and I'm sure it is where I took my first wood boat ride, so with that said, it was only appropriate that I launch her here. Sadly mother nature didn't cooperate and the river was very low so was only able to idle around and boat rides were limited to just my family but in three weeks me and my family will be vacationing on Lake Joccasee and I'm sure we will burn up more than one tank of gas.

And one more thing, if you haven't already guessed it, Dorothy is my mothers name and Ms. Dot is what most of mind and my brothers friends called her, god rest her soul.

Yahooo!

That is AWESOME!