How close can you be?

Greg and I busted some more hump on the boat and pretty much got her done. Got the carpeting in, lights and guages and such done. Just gotta do the seats and windshield, a little touch up on the engine cover and she's history. My very good buddy Rene stopped by with her camera so I could take some quality pictures of it.

Lookin good!

Okay, It's painted. The trim is on. It's on the trailer. The fenders on the trailer are painted and installed. The wheels have been painted and trimmed with baby moons and trim rings. Greg stopped by this morning and helped me with the side moldings and installed the aft cleats and anchor light. All that is left is carpeting, reinstalling all the hardware, front seats and fabricating a rear seat. Greg and I also have to shape some Lexan for the windshield. Expensive hunk of plastic to screw up. Gotta be at our best that day! Of course there's the engine. That has already been degreased and cleaned and just awaits paint. I'll take care of that this week and probably hang it on Friday night. The engine cover does have some road rash I'll have to repair first, but it's not all that bad. Might take a couple hours max to repair. Here are some photo's with out all the hardware or interior work completed.
Moons and rings
Side moldings on
Great color combo
59 getting close!

Light at the end of the tunnel

The end is near! Me, Greg and James busted hump Friday afternoon to get the boat prepped, inside the shop and off the trailer by five. Couldn't have done it with out Greg and Jame's help. Thanks again guys. Try to run a business and have a project going at the same time! Jake came by at five thirty and painted the rest of the boat. We had a bitch of a time getting the boat to hang properly so he could get it done. Of course being from New England we knew we would figure out something that would work, which we did. Finished painting the bottom at about nine. It took two weeks to complete, but that was because of logistical problems. Jake did a great job of spraying the color, but it sure shows I didn't spend enough time on prep work! Our spray booth was the brain child of Greg. His own copy of the Eisenhower Tunnel! The boats got some spider cracks in the fiberglass showing through ( my fault, bad prep ) so I'll have to sand them out and kiss Jake's butt to have him shoot it again. I'm thinking of changing the name of the boat to " Ship for Brains ". What do you think? Here are some photo's.

Jake ordering four beers
In a cloud
Top color

In the beginning.....

This is how the 59 looked when I got her. I also forgot to mention Greg and I have been experimenting and believe we can form a new windshield ourselves. We found we can work 1/4 inch Plexiglas with a heat gun and a lot of patience! This should be interesting!

Progress update

Just a shell

Well we've been bustin butt on the 59 glass magic. She's all stripped, filled and sanded and ready for paint. We found two leaks in her, one on the keel and another on the starboard side of the bottom. ( See Photo's ) After a fair amount of fiberglass I'm pretty sure she'll be dry as a popcorn fart! We want to paint it in a nostalgic style with cream on the bottom, biege on the top and chocolate where it is red right now. Same sceme on the trailer. I picked up the trailer this afternoon from Greg's shop where we've been getting it ready for paint and dragged it to my shop where my buddy Jake got it all painted up nice and pretty. I'll put new carpeting on the boards tomorrow, then I can retrieve the boat from Gregs. We plan to start painting the boat Sunday. We'll paint the wheels and fenders at the same time. It'll be a two or three day process because of drying time. I almost forgot to thank Neil for all his help on this project. Besides helping with this project he's juggling work and school! How in the hell he finds time for Erin I'll never know! I love ya buddy!

Greg and the 59

Holes on the starboard side

Repaired keel

Here's some shots of the trailer with the fresh paint.

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