Small boat restoration

Small boat restoration. Back in the early 60’s when I was a small boy my dad bought a new 12ft. Sea King aluminum boat from Sears. He also bought a new Evinrude 15HP Fastwin to go with it. We used that boat to death throughout the years.

Small boat restoration

Now as an adult I wanted to re-create those memories so I searched and finally found a boat and motor combo that was identical to what we had back then. The boat was in rough shape, but I was going to totally rebuild it anyway so it was an easy decision to get started.

This was the boat the day that I bought it. Someone had apparently used it for target practice and it was in sorry shape.

After stripping the boat down and patching all of the leaky holes and rivets, I primed and painted the boat. Then I began to customize the boat the way I wanted. I use the boat almost exclusively for river fishing trotines, limb lines, and crappie fishing. I usually fish alone so I removed the center seat bench for more space.

I also built a front deck out of plywood and encapsulated all of the wood in West System epoxy. This was rather time consuming but turned out well. I have my battery and gas tank built in to this area for proper weight distribution.

The battery lives in a box ahead of the fuel tank

I’ve since added a bungee cord across the rear of the fuel tank to keep it in place.

I mounted the depth finder down low below the gunwales to keep it out of low hanging tree limbs when fishing limb lines.

A view of the Evinrude and the seat area.

I custom built my own boat trailer with a center walkway to help with launching and loading the boat. Not a bad looking little rig for being 50 years old! Small boat restoration can be economical and a fun project.

I’ve used the boat pretty hard for one year so far with no problems. The Evinrude was totally rebuilt before installation on the boat and has ran flawlessly. With me (225lbs) and a full tank of fuel, the boat will top out in smooth water at 27mph!

If you happen to see me in the Riverside area or on Lake Livingston, stop by and say hello. I’m the guy zipping around with a big smile on my face.