TOPIC: 1960 Magnolia - The Second Life

Might as well start the journey neck deep in the action. True to the stereotype, about half an hour in and I look around and have a come-to-jesus "wtf have I gotten myself into" moment. All it did was make me grin, which I guess means I've officially caught the "bug".





More Images - Day 1 Project Photos


I started by cleaning out the trash, and boy was there a lot.




If it wasn't nailed, bolted, or fiberglassed into place, I took it out of the boat. The boards in the gallery with the astroturf were just laid into place, and came out easily. The bow piece hid a nice big rats nest, thankfully he wasn't home.



Somewhere along the way, someone fiberglassed in the humps in the image you see that support the seats. Between them, the fiberglass has broken through. I can see some rot down there.



In the back, I took out the completely rotted box, and revealed a lot more water on the right and left channels.





The stringer? looks like it's ok, I'll core some samples out to check if they've started to rot.

Question 1- in the center channel, there is a drain plug. however, the channels on either side, as you can see, are holding water. how do these drain? Are they meant to be sealed so they never get water in them?




The plan is to cut out the "boxes" that were built to support the seats, replace or re-enforce the stringers beneath with fiberglass, and then lay a new "floating floor" in 3 sections that can be installed/removed as needed. I'll come up with a better way to install the seats than those boxes, which are flimsy at best, and take up a bunch of foot room in the boat.

The seats are in good condition, I'll get them re-upholstered and they'll be good to go. Bonus is they fold down into a "bed" of sorts. Girlfriend will like that.

I pulled off all chrome pieces, speedo/tiedowns/trim that I could. I have a friend that can chrome them for me.





Question 2: What kind of sanding methods do you guys use to work on this fiberglass? Circular sander/palm sander... Grit size?

Question 3: The paint is terribad.


Someone laid the red on thick and sloppy. Whats the best way to remove it? That's a whole lot of sanding... scraping? Will that mess with the fiberglass beneath? Some kind of paint stripper?


...this is only the beginning....

i have a 1965 i just got here is soem pics, and my box to is glassed in on the front side. in the rear the side dont drain to center channel (bad stringer design) everything needs to be cust out the chair box and all 4 stringers....yes what a job....mine came with fiberglass top as well....i took everything off for transport storded in barn 30+ years

sorry last post was bad, cant get used to the phones. here is my 65 i just picked up,

i have alot more pictures. this was my grandfathers boat he purchased it new.