Maiden Voyage!!

[Blue_Runner]

Does anybody remember that little project boat I bought about 4 years ago for $150? She's about ready but still needs paint and non-skid on the inside. Took our maiden voyage Saturday 2/19.

Full post here: http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...ead.php?t=2875

Well I sold the old 33 Super Seahorse motor for $125 about a year ago. Had to put $50 into a new set of tires just to get it home, bringing my total investment to $75. My buddy Flyfishin had an old Holland grill in need of a rebuild and me becoming a fiberglass guy was not on the horizon so I swapped him the boat and trailer for the grill. He totally rebuilt this little boat with a new foam filled glass over plywood floor and various glass repair work. I had 2 Lee's of Miami rod holders we put on it. Fly even repaired & put the original Salem Skiff emblems back on the sides. I just noticed in my old post I said, "the transom seems shot" but it turned out to be solid..... Check out these before and after pix. The pics of it running were taken last Saturday at High Rock Lake. Fly is going to buy a motor but we wanted to see how it would handle, plus my old 1975 9.9 had sat for the last 3 years so I needed to pull it out anyway. Ended up replacing the impeller and waterpump housing. Housing was SHOT! It was toast from sucking sand at the beach. Also did a compression test and about 105 even on the 2 cylinders after 4 pulls (warm). She's running GOOD now....

Even though my little engine is a longshaft 20" and the transom of the skiff is for a shortshaft the 9.9 pushed the two of us, 3 gallons of fuel and a little more gear 14 mph by GPS. Not bad, I can only imagine if it were a short shaft 15hp....

Note: in the before pics, there were 2 gum tree saplings growing in a hole in the floor.......LOL

[Blue_Runner]

Just found a ton more "before" pics on an old SD card.......

[bradford]

Looks good BR! How much would you say your total investment is? Those before pics look like a few boats I've come into in the last few years. I had one boat with a 6 foot tree growing out of the bilge, had to cut it down to trailer it home.

[Blue_Runner]

Thanks buddy. Asking about total investment on a boat refurb is like asking a woman her age/weight.

Kidding aside. My buddy did all the work on the hull and bought all the materials. The greatest expense was glass & resin. I don't know the final numbers. Maybe he will come on here and give us an idea. One thing is for sure, all those $little things$ add up in a hurry but nothing like the process of completing a project like this. Instead of hauling to the dump this little 1970 Salem Skiff by Amfab is going to kill some fish for many more years.

[fishingwithblue]

That is a re-birth! Awesome! Very Whaler 13 like, looks like a perfect shrimp catching boat to me.

[reelapeelin]

I hate to see anything go to WASTE...which is one of the things I love about this place...seeing boats on the verge of lost brought back to that good of condition and put back into use...tell ya man Fly GREAT WORK!!...

And what a great trolling platform for High Rock...there are guys down here that say phooey to all the live-bait/cut-bait fishin' and do nothing but TROLL...and they've gotten VERY GOOD at putting stripers in the boat when others can't...and w/that lil puppy, yall can troll all day long for PENNIES(I just saw $3.25 gal here)

Ya man Fly looks like he could be the next skools!!...Thanks for the update, Dawg!!...ya'll gonna have a lotta fun w/that...

[Blue_Runner]

Thanks Reel & FWB, yeah Fly is something else with his finish work. He used to do stucco for a living so I'd say picking up glass work was a piece of cake for him. He's sure taught me a thing or two.

Little boat might be all we can afford this season. $3.36 this morning here in my neck of the woods.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Blue_Runner

Little boat might be all we can afford this season. $3.36 this morning here in my neck of the woods.

You know, the (not) funny thing about that is that although the per barrel price surged yesterday morning, by the end of the day it was trading at $97 & change a barrel, almost a full dollar less than the $98 + change of the day before. Isn't it funny how gas prices rocket upward at the pump, but watching the same prices fall is like watchng a clogged sink drain... Cash prices in my neck of the woods are $3.12 for reg, up from $2.99 the day before.

[RWilson2526]

Originally Posted by Destroyer

You know, the (not) funny thing about that is that although the per barrel price surged yesterday morning, by the end of the day it was trading at $97 & change a barrel, almost a full dollar less than the $98 + change of the day before. Isn't it funny how gas prices rocket upward at the pump, but watching the same prices fall is like watchng a clogged sink drain... Cash prices in my neck of the woods are $3.12 for reg, up from $2.99 the day before.

Not wanting to hijack your thread Blue but does anybody know what the procedure would be to get oil off of the commodities market.... Ive read that the purpose of selling on a commodities market is to smooth out pricing of commodities....as a shortage is forecast the price goes up slowly so when the shortage does actually come there is not a huge out of control price spike......but Libya produces less than 2% of worldwide oil supply, Saudi Arabia says they have plenty of capacity to make up for any shortfalls from Libya or any of the other middle east countries yet the price climbs because commodity traders are buying now and selling high which is driving the price up with out an actual shortage....its bull****....Was just wondering if anyone knew if someone could just stand up and say "that's it we are no longer trading oil on this market"

[Blue_Runner]

RW - no please be my guest. Discussion revolving around price of gasoline is "on topic" as far as I'm concerned. The little boat uses hardly any gas, thankfully.

I don't know the answer to your question but will take a guess - maybe it is the person who is getting rich from it that would need to stand up and say "no more." That would explain why it isn't going to happen.