In some of my posts, there have been partial shots of my 14' Sylvan Aluminum Boat. I haven't always had a boat like this to fish from, or at least one that I own, and that has a motor on it. I had been in the market for something around this size for a few years, but always budgets, school, buying a house, a car, etc. came first (As they all should). I did mention the idea to my friends that I was looking for a boat, and told them to keep open ears and eyes for any potential for sale signs. Craigslist and E-bay were daily staples of my online diet, looking up countless boats, looking at ones out of my price range, looking at the same boats over and over again. Yet I only saw a handful that somewhat fit my idea of what I was looking for.
My friend Evan and I had gone to a fishing expo in Hartford, CT early in 2011. At the show, we talked to a sales representative from G&R Marine out of Windsor or South Windsor, CT. He had some awesome looking aluminum boats by Sylvan in the 14 to 16 foot range that were beautiful. The rep. reminded me of how these types of boats rarely even make an ad in the paper, craigslist, etc. because they are sold to a friend first. The price tag for a new boat, motor and trailer was in the 5 to 7 thousand dollar range, which simply was too much for me to spend.
A few months passed after the Hartford show, and Evan called after work one day and said he was telling one of his co-workers about how we saw a nice aluminum boat at the show and that I was looking but not having much luck. Turned out, his co-worker had been thinking about selling his 1987 aluminum 14' Sylvan, which had a 25 horse Johnson outboard. Evan told me that the floor was rotten and needed to be replaced but that the motor ran and he wanted 1500 dollars for the boat, motor, and trailer. The next day I grabbed my checkbook, got in the truck with Evan and I said if I like it, I'm buying it. When I saw the boat, I couldn't believe how closely it resembled the one I saw at the show. Obvious differences were the age, the hull design, but only minor interior differences. All I could see were the possibilities and a vision of a restored/refurbished boat. I bought it on the spot, and Evan was obviously as excited as I was because we eventually drove it to his house.
This is the boat I purchased, not beautiful or over the top, just a simple tool to get me on the water. And the means to reach and fish places I haven't been able to in the past. In my eyes, it was only faded glory. Nothing some blood, sweat, and beers can't fix.
We moved the boat to Evan's house because not only did he have all of the tools required to refurbish the boat, but an empty garage bay to store it in. The first step for any project like this is to strip everything out of
the boat. We started with the carpet and the rotten plywood decking. Peeling strips of the old marine blue carpet out with our hands, and to our surprise most of the plywood too. The original decking was secured to the boat with rivets that either went into thin aluminum strips that run side to side (pictured left), two "C" channel aluminum structural beam that run bow to stern located about 16" apart in the center of the boat, and to four of the main cross ribs as found on the bottom of all aluminum boats. We used a saws-all reciprocating saw or a drill to separate the rivets from holding the plywood decking. Most of this work went fairly easy with the exception of the wood located under the seats and the live-well and storage boxes. Since the boat had been stored outside without a cover on it the factory installed foam (under the plywood) was very wet but would dry-out during the restoration process.
Pictured to the right, Evan is removing the seats the last screws holding down the seat mounts, plywood lids, hinges, and any hardware from the boat. We also saved all of these parts as templates, and all of the hardware for reuse or as a gauge for replacement parts. Also in this picture, I have removed the old decals, lettering, and old registration stickers using a razor blade set-up like a putty knife. Additionally, in this picture I have also used a solvent by Interlux (Company that makes boat paints and products) on the side of the boat that removes glue, grease, etc in preparation of a new paint job.
From the picture (left) you will notice this is the boat pre-solvent, and just after removal of the lettering. The picture above illustrates nicely how much grease, scuffs, and glue actually came off of the boat. After removal of the glue and grease, on all sides of the boat and the interior, the boat would get an exterior sanding. The sanding is done to create a surface on which the new paint can adhere to, and removes areas of the old paint job that had cracked over time. After sanding, I made a second pass with the solvent to remove any other possible contaminants before applying paint.
Once all of the prep-work is done, and the boat has dried, and border areas have been taped for neat lines, we painted the first coat on one side. This goes quickly maybe ten to fifteen minutes, and depending on how hot it is outside use of a paint thinner/brushing liquid is a good idea. The detail areas of the boat were done ahead of the roller with a 3" to 4" brush. Once an area of about 5 feet has been detail painted the large area in-between can be rolled (not worrying about paint thickness, you want it to be thin) and then brushed over to get rid of bubbles. I used a cross-hatch pattern for brush strokes to spread the paint, finishing with horizontal strokes. The brushing liquid allows the paint to smooth-out making the brush lines disappear. One important thing to keep an eye out for are paint runs (also due to brushing liquid), retouch these areas to remove runs as long as the paint is not too tacky, also keep in mind that it is the first coat of paint and minor runs can be sanded out before the second coat.
While allowing the paint to cure, usually at least 24 hours before a second coat, we went back to the drawing board. Pictured to the left is our front cut in new AC plywood, which is slightly more expensive than regular plywood but not even close in price to pressure treated. The reason I didn't use pressure treated came from talking to the salesman at the local lumber yard. He said, the pressure treated plywood would not really provide any better results than any other plywood. The reason being that if water finds its way into the layers in the plywood, it will still separate the glue holding it together. He suggested AC because it is slightly treated, but that we make a trip to a local boat shop and purchase fiberglass resin and coat it multiple times to prevent water getting into the layers.
Pictured to the right shows the fiberglass resin coated plywood installed from the front to the middle of the boat. A couple notes here. 1. The front section was a very good cut, because the original piece stayed 99% intact and acted as our jig. My note is that because it was so old, it had shrunk by about 3/4 of an inch so make a cut slightly larger if you are doing the same. 2. The center piece of plywood would be easy to put in, if the live-well and storage boxes were not already welded into the boat. My note is that we had to make a cut down the middle running side to side of it in order to get it to slide in since it was too long to fit underneath the storage compartments. Because of this, make that cut ahead of time, just in front of the screw tabs as seen at the lowest portion of the center storage boxes, and use the fiberglass resin to also seal those cut edges. 3. We used 1-1/4" self tapping screw, counter-sunk to sit flush with the top of the plywood so there would not be lumps under the carpet once that step would be reached. 4. Also, if the live-well plumbing needs replacement, get those parts before installing the floor. We had to stop half-way with the decking install, to make another trip to get those parts before we could finish.
Style: Adding Attitude. I had seen some boats online with the G. Loomis skeleton fish decals, and they looked sweet. I found these at Cabela's, a 9"x16" decal set of two for 20 bucks. I couldn't resist the white on black to give the boat some contrast.
The decals come on double sided sheets. One side protects the sticky backing. While the other allows placement of the decal. My tip for application is to start in one of the upper corners, working across the top using a credit card to work the decal onto the painted surface of the boat. Spoiler Alert, yes, this is the second coat of paint (If you thought I jumped the gun). Any remaining air bubbles that cannot be worked out with the credit card, can be punctured with a pin to allow the air to be pushed out the pin hole. Because of the rubbery material of the decal the puncture hole with virtually disappear. The most difficult thing about this step on this particular hull is the fact that there are horizontal ribs running the length of the boat. Despite the trouble the decals look sharp.
.... To Be Continued.
This is the boat I purchased, not beautiful or over the top, just a simple tool to get me on the water. And the means to reach and fish places I haven't been able to in the past. In my eyes, it was only faded glory. Nothing some blood, sweat, and beers can't fix.
The decals come on double sided sheets. One side protects the sticky backing. While the other allows placement of the decal. My tip for application is to start in one of the upper corners, working across the top using a credit card to work the decal onto the painted surface of the boat. Spoiler Alert, yes, this is the second coat of paint (If you thought I jumped the gun). Any remaining air bubbles that cannot be worked out with the credit card, can be punctured with a pin to allow the air to be pushed out the pin hole. Because of the rubbery material of the decal the puncture hole with virtually disappear. The most difficult thing about this step on this particular hull is the fact that there are horizontal ribs running the length of the boat. Despite the trouble the decals look sharp.
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