Don Thompson's 1986 2001 SN

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Hey All,So to get you up to speed, two years ago, I started this thread:

https://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49507&KW=&title=spare-bumper-don-thomson

Somehow my pics got canceled because apparently the photo hosting site I was using thought I was a vax denying insurrectionist, but the bottom line is Don and Connie and I went to Missouri to get Don's car and his 1986 SN. The story on the boat via Don, is that while skiing and being part of the Cypress Gardens Ski Factory, and also being a US Navy Reservist (and at some point along this time frame, transferring to the Army National Guard to continue flying helicopters) he was aware of an "off season" program Correct Craft had. Apparently, if you ordered a boat in CC's off season during the winter, you could get substantial savings. Don was also acquainted with the Meloons so he just says he got this boat for a really good deal in 1986.

Don was (and still is) a real world traveler, over the last 10 years or so, and his boat was parked at a buddy's house while Don downsized and traveled. When he left it, it was covered, and Don thought all was well. Time catches up to unattended boats. Don was trying to clean up his affairs, and he really wanted to get that boat sold and preserved. The plan was to haul it to Florida, fix the transmission, buff it up and sell it. Since it was freezing and snowy when we went to get it, I took his word that all we needed was a transmission, and we checked the bearings and took off for Florida. I did not like the look of the collapsed cover and the moldy smell, but at that point there was nothing to do but haul it back.

Of course when we finally (see link above) got the boat to Fl and in the garage, we found the outer stringer encasing fiberglass split, the upholstery cracked and damaged and of course found rotten stringers. Amazingly, the engine stringers were fine. 

At this point, I asked Don what he wanted to do, and I suggested he sell it as a project and take a loss, but he had a real attachment to it, so he wanted to fix it up and get it to someone who would use it. Of course, that meant............sigh.......I would be taking on a long term project!

I decided to not get too crazy on accomplishing the task. The transmission was already out, so I found a rebuilt one, and mothballed it until I could get to the stringers. We started the motor on a hose and it ran great so we are keeping our fingers crossed on that one. 

I decided to use The Rot Doctor method to fix the stringers. 
https://www.rotdoctor.com/

I know that is not the approved method on this site, but where the rot was, and how strong the hulls were made, it was the job I could do. I just was not going to strip and remake the stringers. Anyhoo. I cut the tops of the stringers off with a master tool, dug out the rotten wood and found the damage to be medium. There is nothing good about rot, but I was able to get to all of it. I then let that dry for months and continued to dig. After about 6 months of drying (mostly out of sheer laziness) I mixed up the CPES and drenched the bad areas using everything available. I used syringes for the hard to reach areas. I was really impressed with that product! 

I then used fiberglass cloth to build up the sides of the stringers that had cracked, so that I could pour the "System 3 slurry" epoxy mixed with fiberglass cloth fine shavings into the mostly empty stringers and have it adhere to the CPES treated wood. it was a bit tricky, but it was a slow set up so with a little mess and overflow, I was able to drop the tops I had cut off into the resin, then do a little top cover, and I know you guys will laugh at the results, but I am about to move onto putting the boat back together. 

I pulled out the rotten carpet, scraped the floor and threw down some Total Boat non skid paint and threw Rustoleum paint chips in it and hit the repairs with Total Boat bilge paint. Carpet or Hydro Turf can still go over it, but it is a usable non skid surface for now. 

So as it turns out, both my boys ended up in Oklahoma City in the Air Force at Tinker AFB. They have been gone for a couple years for all their training, They are now past all the training, and ready to settle into normal fun life, and they were looking for a boat. Don was really glad to sell them the boat (for a really good deal) and they are on their way home to Florida for a Christmas break, and they are going to spend some time throwing the transmission in this week, and firing it up and hopefully giving Don a few ski runs behind his boat before we make yet another classic boat hauling adventure out to Oklahoma. What could go wrong?

Don Thompson's 1986 2001 SN

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