TOPIC: 1962 Shell Lake Sportsman(?) New Life

One of my friends Grandfather gave me this boat because he kept getting it back from everyone else he tried to give it to. They all didn't like how heavy it was. It is heavy for a small boat, but living on a channel it should work fine for me.

It had some damage on the keel, which i figured had rotted out the wood. I went to open it up and found some decent wood, but digging deeper found rotted wood under that. The keel had been opened up entirely once before, but not repaired very well. There is a thick layer of green fiberglass caked on each side of the keel, which is fun to get off.

We carved out a new keel out of an old piece of hardwood with the chainsaw, and finished it off with a belt sander. From what I researched on this site, the wood was probably originally Balsa. So much for making it lighter. We modified the shape some, removed about an inch in height at the rear, and I added a boat tail shape to the back side of the keel. Just need to sand it down to original glass and start fiberglassing it back shut.

On the inside I'll be building new seats, and possibly adding a deck to the bow section. We have an old early 80's Mercury 18 hp to hang on the back. Added a new water pump and all is good there.

I think I heard a saying once before, .. "There is no such thing as a free boat.", .. I have to agree...




Nate

firepinto wrote:

One of my friends Grandfather gave me this boat because he kept getting it back from everyone else he tried to give it to. They all didn't like how heavy it was. It is heavy for a small boat, but living on a channel it should work fine for me.

It had some damage on the keel, which i figured had rotted out the wood. I went to open it up and found some decent wood, but digging deeper found rotted wood under that. The keel had been opened up entirely once before, but not repaired very well. There is a thick layer of green fiberglass caked on each side of the keel, which is fun to get off.

We carved out a new keel out of an old piece of hardwood with the chainsaw, and finished it off with a belt sander. From what I researched on this site, the wood was probably originally Balsa. So much for making it lighter. We modified the shape some, removed about an inch in height at the rear, and I added a boat tail shape to the back side of the keel. Just need to sand it down to original glass and start fiberglassing it back shut.

On the inside I'll be building new seats, and possibly adding a deck to the bow section. We have an old early 80's Mercury 18 hp to hang on the back. Added a new water pump and all is good there.

I think I heard a saying once before, .. "There is no such thing as a free boat.", .. I have to agree...


P.S. Working on resizing pics to attach here

Nate

Per Cy Atkinson, all Shell Lakes build after their bankruptcy (circa 1960) are balsa core except for the open fishing models. Who is Cy Atkinson? Read here: www.fiberglassics.com/library/File:Shell2.gif

Ops, I double posted when I added this link. Sorry

Thanks jimandros,

I did read some of that history, I must of missed the part about the open fishing boats. What was left of the original wood looked like wet paper grocery bags compressed together. I'm sure it's been water logged for decades.