TOPIC: New to the scene!

I just purchased my first boat this last week. I bought a 1956 Blake Craft 14ft fiberglass. It has an older Evinrude Seahorse 18 attached to it. It also came with 3 or 4 hornet nests! What a deal!

Seriously though. The boat itself appears to be ultra solid, just in need of a good cleaning, and some new paint to make it pretty. The floor looks to be redone in the last 20 or so years, and there also appears to be some additional bracing that has been glassed on the transom. I have big hopes and dreams for this thing. I need to dig the pressure washer out and clean it up and hopefully the wasp/hornet nests are dead now (Turbo bug killer applied).

After I get it cleaned up I want to take some pictures of it and hopefully pass a visual inspection of the experts. I am trying to figure out what to do for a motor, but I honestly have NO idea what the boat is rated at, what speed it will reach plane (with an 3/4 load whatever that may be) and what type of motor I need to buy to just exceed plane. I'm not concerned with going 100 mph, but I would like to see it plane and zip wherever I need it to go respectfully.

Some basic things I measured. the transom height where the motor mounts is about 16 - 17 inches. the widest part of the boat hull is 62 inches at the top. and it's 14 feet long plus or minus a few inches because the tape measure wasn't being cooperative. This one I have does have a windshield (Has a small crack, but it's not bad) and a steering wheel with cable pully clothesline type steering mechanism. It also has the 2 lever throttle and gear control. (I was planning on updating the throttle and steering with the motor)

I'll get a few pictures of it up here tomorrow, but I don't know the lingo, but I'll give it a shot. Should I cut the transom apart and replace it, should I try and seperate the cap from the hull to do my cleaning. The floor doesn't look pretty at all, but it seems to be "mostly" solid. What are the things that I can look for to identify any issues. I wanted a summer project and this to me sounded like a great idea and a lot of fun. I never worked with fiberglass, so it's all a first for me.

I know this is like asking what everyone thinks I should make for dinner, without telling you what I have in the cupboards, but I am hoping for some direction. Maybe with some help knowing what to take the pictures of, I won't destroy this little boat and I can restore it for another good 50 years of fun.

Thanks

Bradley
Coos Bay, Oregon
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Bradley,
Welcome aboard and nice find. She seems to be in good shape from the outside pics anyway. To check the transom you can drill a 1/4" hole toward the bottom inside but don't go all the way through. Look at the shavings coming out, if they're black, not good, probably rotten transom, if they're bright colored you may just be fine. You can always mix up a little epoxy resin and fill the hole you made.

Nothing wrong with cable steering, I have that on mine but I wanted to keep it original. If you don't care about that then change it out, just know that you'll probably have to change out the steering wheel if you change to say a Teleflex system.

As far as motor size goes, I'd say 35/40 hp max probably but I'm just guessing, other more smarter people than me will jump in here.

Bob

Welcome to the group Bradley;
Judging strictly by the pictures I'd suggest that the boat is actually from the early mid 60's. A 1959-1964 35-40hp OMC would be a good choice for power. The 2 stick controls will work fine with any of those. As far as the cable steering I'd simply re-do the cables, make sure that everything is well anchored and stick with it. I just installed the cable steering in a plywood boat project I've been working on and it just looks so much more correct in an old boat.

Brad, Ditto to what Bob and Al said.
Welcome home.
The two lever OMC will fit with a zillion Evinrude or Johnson motors for a large spread of years. I like the cable steering setups, their easy to maintain and won't rust up as some of the older push/pull cables I have seen. I would suggest you get on your back under the bow deck and check out the pulleys and cable. The pulleys sometimes when they get old will chip on the edges and gnaw away at the plastic coating of the cable. Make sure the pulleys are attached to the hull solid, most systems are actually bolted through the side of the boat with a small "U" shaped thingy and then the pulley is hooked onto that. Don't forget the transom end pulleys also. Last thing you want is to lose your steering while on the water doing a hundred mph. That 18 Johnson you have if running is a workhorse, take care of her. I actually learned how to ski behind one of those back when they were new....no comment. A mid 60's 40hp Rude or Jonny would match that boat perfect.
Glad to see you have a sense of humor, you'll need it going forward.

Forgot to add...love your choice of tow venicles!
Any questions just ask, there are people here that are bubbling over with help and info.

Hi Brad,
I agree with all said above.
But before you spend the money on a different motor, if the boat checks out to be sound, put that 18 in a barrel of water and give it a try. Check the inside of the fuel tank for rust and flush if needed. If you do not replace the dual fuel line at least flush it buy pressurizing the tank a couple times and depressing the small brass end at the engine fuel connection (side marked fuel) with a small flat screw driver being careful not to nick the O ring.
WARNING NO smoking The old fuel will exit with some force.

Those ole 18's are great motors easy to work on and will last for ever if taken care of. The engines cooling water comes out with the exhaust at the back of the engine, there should be a fair amount of water coming out even at idle if the pump is good. The water pump should be replaced if you don't know it's age. (easy job on these motors)

If she checks out in the barrel you may want to put her in the lake and give it try. I too learned to ski behind a 18 on my grandpas 1955 shell lake G45 that I still have today and she will out run most of the newer 25hp motors out there. You may be surprised that your 14' boat planes rather quickly if not loaded to heavy.

Keep us posted on your progress, Gene

P.S. Before a long run the lower unit oil should be changed and the gas oil mix is 24 to 1. I also would add some sea foam.

bradley1978,

WELCOME ABOARD. - NEAT boat too.

A few comments from "the friendly local fanatic":
1. KEEP the cable/pulley system, as they are perfectly suitable to the use, the CORRECT system for the period & cheap to repair.
2. While the 18HP Johnny is perfectly fine for fishing/"messing about", I would look for a 1956 Johnson JAVELIN or an Evinrude LARK (both are 30 HP) engine as they are NOT all that hard to find, correct for the year of the hull, have plenty of power, are simple to work on yourself & the OMC BigTwins are so over-engineered that they will outlast you if properly cared for.
3. ALL of the "usually needed" maintenance parts for the BigTwins are available from Sierra Parts from your local NAPA store at a LOW price.
(I regard buying "NOS parts" at 2-5X the price of Sierra's parts as a SILLY venture.)
and
4. Get a copy of CHEAP OUTBOARDS: THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO MAKING AN OLD MOTOR RUN FOREVER from the public library or from a site like amazon.com. (I paid 5.oo for my used copy.), read the book from cover to cover & then do all the recommended work on your OMC. = The cost of all the necessary parts should be about 100.oo.

just my OPINIONS, satx

Sorry, had to take some time out of the boat scene for a few days. Currently in school full time working on my degree. I got the chance to take it out finally and make sure it floats. and.... it does just fine!!! The engine runs okay, but needs some work for sure.

Now for the bad news. The transom is most certainly rotten, and the deck is similar to a squishy trampoline. Which leads me to my next thought. I'm personally not much of a purist as far as the restoration aspect goes, but I'm looking more into functionality and useability. (I know some of you just had your heart leap into your throats anticipating the horrible things I'm going to do) I have some more pictures I need to resize or put up on a posting site, but I'll get them posted here shortly.

So first thing is first, I guess I need to tear things apart. Since I am looking at a complete gut, should I consider separating the cap from the hull? It seems to be glued on pretty good, but I'm thinking about cutting the bench seats out completely and redesigning the spurs and structure support to compensate for the loss. I have a pretty good sense of logic, reasoning, and an understanding of BASIC engineering concepts. Electrician, woodworker, yadda, yadda, you get the idea.

Fiberglass is however new to me, completely. I've decided that because of the cost I am going to use marine grade plywood instead of other core materials for the transom and decking. I guess I need to figure out which liquid foam to use (Unless there is a better option). I found a newer 2 stroke Mercury for sale (A little 25 horse) with electric start, and all the remote hardware for throttle. I want to switch to a new style steering cable.

Now for the things I am having trouble figuring out. Since I need to anchor from the bow, should I try to cut out the whole front section to allow passage to the front. And would it be possible to even design a structure to reinforce the bow section that would be sufficient. I think I'm going to remove the windshield completely, since it appears to be useless, my head is over 2 feet beyond the top of the windshield when driving the boat.

My primary design for this boat is going to be a fishing boat only. I decided after running it, that if I want a speed boat, or a fun boat, I'll buy a much larger boat that I can put some serious horsepower on. This one just needs to be functional. I think on the inside I want to use a line-x type of product and coat the whole inside. I also found some 1 part epoxy marine paint, that I can put on the hull and cap that will give it a little flash and look nice. Needs to be easy to use for my wife mainly. She's the fisher, not me.

I've said a lot of I'm going to do this or that, but it's just my thought process at this time. If any of this seems like a horrible idea, let me know. We haven't started cutting anything at all yet.

Thanks for sticking with my long winded post,

Bradley
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Coos Bay, Oregon

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Hi Brad, to get to the transom you'll need to take the cap off but don't worry it's not as bad as you think. I just removed mine and it went a lot easier than I thought.

Remove the rub rail and cut away any areas glassed to the cap or floor with an oscillating tool (check for fiberglass tape on the inside of the hull in joining areas as well). I also used an oscillating tool for some screws that broke while removing the rubrail, but for the most part I found a loose spot between the cap and put a flat pry bar in there and pushed/hammered it around the hull. The glue on my hull was pretty weak so the separation process didn't take much effort. (see my thread here)

For the anchor, I would leave the deck intact and put it in a box under the deck/dash. This way it's easy to get too and if you remove the windshield there won't be any obstacles in your way when you need to tie it off.