the Mckee

[spareparts]

I finnally have gotten some work done on the McKee, and I got a new camera thanks to selling some parts I had. My Fuji finally fell apart, it was a good one, I've been shopping cameras for a while, I was figuring on buying the Olympus 850sw, but I came across the 1050SW at Costco for $20 more than the best price Ive found on the 850, so I went ahead and picked one up. Its the waterproof and shock proof camera, so hopefully it will hold up to my daily routines. So far, its seems to be working good.
Back to the McKee. First off, McKee has closed its doors, sound like its getting pretty ugly between the owner and the McKee family, too bad, they built a decent boat. theres a thread over on THT if anyone is interested. I was lucky enough to order and receive a new fwd hatch, my hatch was MIA, and any used one found was in pretty bad shape. I took a brand new virgin gel coated hatch, and sanded it down with a 40 grit disc, to prep it for Durabac to match the rest of the boat. Oh, I forgot to mention that I rolled the entire inside of the boat with Duraback. I ran into an issue with the original type rubrail( it cost more than the boat is worth), so I cut the lip at the hull to deck joint off, and glassed the two together so I could use standard type rubrail. I mounted an 18 gallon tank in the rear, built a tank cover that will double as a casting platform, and rounded up an extra seat to make this a four person boat(Me, the Wife, and the girls). My buddy up in Scranton, SC fixed me up with a fresh power head for the 60 Merc, I'm waiting for a fresh water mid before I bolt it all to gether. So here's some pics for ya'll.

hull to deck joint(yes i had allready painted it before I went back and glassed the two together, who said it had to go togther in a reasonable order)






this is part of the lip I cut off, you can see how wide the lip was, you have to use a special t shaped inner plastic piece with a c section type rubrail to go over it to go back factory. It was going to cost close to $500 to put it back like it was.



after rolling duraback over the repaired area





new rubrail installed





fuel tank mounted, used two aluminum yardsticks from Walmart for mounting straps



here it is with the seats sitting in the boat, with the tank cover in place




thats about it for right now, I'm going to piddle with it a little tomorrow, I've got enough done for this weekend. That little boat has been my escape here lately, I've gotten a lot of frustration out on it, but its coming together. My goal is to have it done by Christmas, then I'm going to get back on the V.