Attempting first restore

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Hi everyone, I'm Cooper and I know nothing about restoring boats and am glad I found this forum. I was driving to Lowes last fall and passed by this old boat on the side of the road selling for $500. No engine, no windshield but other than some delamiation everything looked salvageable.  I have a 24ft pontoon and have always liked the idea of having a smaller older wooden boat so drove home, got my trailer and brought it home. I figured how hard can it be, i'll have it sanded and stained in a couple weekends, then buy a motor and be ready for the spring - that was 7 months ago.  
I'm not sure what year it is, the guy said it was a 1963 atom skier but I haven't been able to find any pictures online that match, does anyone have any idea what year this could be?  

So far I've applied varnish/paint remover, sanded the whole thing down, put in some wood filler in some of the bad spots, bleached the wood and have added a couple coats of Interlux wood filling stain, I saw some youtube videos from a place called snake mountain boatworks that used it so I figured i'd give that shot. Today I applied some Max GPE A/B Epoxy Resin injectable glue for the delamination, I know the smarter move was probably replace the wood but since I don't know what I'm dong I thought I'd give this a shot. 

I have a lot of questions, but to start I'm wondering after I get a few coats of stain on there and repaint the bottom what's next, varnish?  Also I don't think the joints are going to be water tight, how do you fix that, it seems like fiberglass is a big no no. There will be a lot more questions but I would appreciate any help, suggestions or ridicule for what I've done so far you can offer.  

Thanks for reading and having me in your forum, Cooper. 

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Coop26 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: May-05-2024 Location: Greenville,SC Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Coop26 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Attempting first restore Posted: May-12-2024 at 7:50pm
	Hi everyone, I'm Cooper and I know nothing about restoring boats and am glad I found this forum. I was driving to Lowes last fall and passed by this old boat on the side of the road selling for $500. No engine, no windshield but other than some delamiation everything looked salvageable. I have a 24ft pontoon and have always liked the idea of having a smaller older wooden boat so drove home, got my trailer and brought it home. I figured how hard can it be, i'll have it sanded and stained in a couple weekends, then buy a motor and be ready for the spring - that was 7 months ago. I'm not sure what year it is, the guy said it was a 1963 atom skier but I haven't been able to find any pictures online that match, does anyone have any idea what year this could be? So far I've applied varnish/paint remover, sanded the whole thing down, put in some wood filler in some of the bad spots, bleached the wood and have added a couple coats of Interlux wood filling stain, I saw some youtube videos from a place called snake mountain boatworks that used it so I figured i'd give that shot. Today I applied some Max GPE A/B Epoxy Resin injectable glue for the delamination, I know the smarter move was probably replace the wood but since I don't know what I'm dong I thought I'd give this a shot. I have a lot of questions, but to start I'm wondering after I get a few coats of stain on there and repaint the bottom what's next, varnish? Also I don't think the joints are going to be water tight, how do you fix that, it seems like fiberglass is a big no no. There will be a lot more questions but I would appreciate any help, suggestions or ridicule for what I've done so far you can offer. Thanks for reading and having me in your forum, Cooper.

81nautique Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Grand Poobah Joined: September-03-2005 Location: Big Rock, Il Status: Offline Points: 5775	Post Options Post Reply Quote 81nautique Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May-13-2024 at 11:23am
	Cooper, I think you may have a Compact Skier. If you were asking the questions before you did any work to this boat my advice would be different but I think this is a case where you flip the boat over, strip and refasten the bottom as best you can and apply a fiberglass skin from waterline to waterline. No one in the wood boat world recommends this but if there was ever a case for it this is it. It may buy you a few years of use but it will eventually fail. You should try to treat all ends/ seams of the plywood with several wet applications of CPES. Seal any open seams with 3m 5200 and then wrap it fiberglass. I personally would not put that boat in the water without doing this. It will leak, soak all your plywood and fall apart. The fiberglass bottom is a bandaid but a viable short term fix. A typical restore on this boat would be to remove all plywood, repair any rotted frame, keel, transom and stem then reskin it. Usually once you start taking these old plywood boats apart you have to go all the way down and you’ll find a rotted stem and transom frames. The cost to do a full restoration will be far beyond the value of the restored boat. Good luck, don’t be afraid to ask questions
	You can’t change the wind but you can adjust your sails

Coop26 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: May-05-2024 Location: Greenville,SC Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Coop26 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May-13-2024 at 10:51pm
	Thank you for the reply, so it looks like I’m dealing with a rental on this one until it eventually falls apart. But I’m ok with that since I’m enjoying the process. I’m probably a few weeks before I’ll have a chance to flip it, strip it and refasten but I’ll move forward with your plan. I’ll do a little research on fiberglass skin and how to apply the CPES and keep you posted on the process and follow up with a few more questions. Thanks again for your help.

Attempting first restore

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