Hard being in competition with the Bikini girls on this thread!!!

Spudz hand

 

Here's an old 68 Stevens that just got picked up from the original owner...

First boat '68 Stevens

 

Well it's been a while sense I'd done much work on the Stevens after pulling the the engine and v-drive, the Hallett's been my priority! I dragged the O'l girl down to the shop this weekend and started gutting it out for repairs and paint, etc.

We all know when buying older boats there are always things that jump out an nail ya! I guess I needed another reality check and I got one today! Once I had removed the Buick nailhead from the boat I knew there was a problem with the floor underneath the engine mount which incorporated a bracket attaching two bolt on the prop strut, problem being that they should have picked up the whole strut and not just the tail end bolts!! :notsure: See the results!?!?

:airplane:

 

That sucks John... sorry to see that!

 

Your right Pat, now I've got to repair it properly! By the way, good win on Saturday its about time, good job!

 

Thanks John... Yes it was a nice win. Fun to come back after taking time off and kicking some butt...

 

A couple more shots! What a mess, I've dealt myself!!

 

Now that there is a challenge!! Is an old Stevens worth it? In reality,,probably not. Do you need the practice? I doubt it. When you turn it over and get the whole picture of the bottom, I bet the strut deal won't look so big. The overall shape of the bottom is probably worse than that nasty crack, hand I hope not!!but I speak from experience. I am in the middle of a Stevens rebuild. I have more hours and labor in it than any restore I've ever done before. (years) This is the first boat I've restored so I need the practice and don't mind the effort as the boat is part of my life going back over thirty years. But your case is different I believe. If you forge ahead I would be very interested in the final blueprint of the bottom on your hull. Also, there are some details of the construction of my hull that I am curious about as well, and if yours is similar or not. My Stevens is a "Sportster" model not an SK or "Silhouette".More of a family ski than a drag boat. I am refer to my hull as a "Leap Lander" model because that describes it's behavior when running full tilt, uh, back then. When it gets wet next time I hope to apply some tuning knowledge gleaned from v-drive set up folks much wiser than myself. It has fixed cav now, but I doubled the thickness of the transom in anticipation of adjustable cav in the future if required. I don't want to run faster than fifty but if it hops and flops like it used to then a down peddle will go in. I hope you post more pics of your hull so I can pick through more of the original nuance's of factory construction as my hull was not in "original" trim when I bought it. My avatar shows how it looked when I bought it. Here is a pic from a month or so ago shooting gel coat. Sorry if I have jacked your thread with this long winded post but I am strangely afflicted with "Stevens rebuild fever" and your deal winds me up even more!!
Paul

 

Ouch..
And did Pat run down at Irvine?

 

Pat and Lou went to Irvine but they didn't run Pat's boat, it's not quite back together!

 

Well, the boat was delivered to RCL's yesterday for repairs, I'll try and keep an up date going on the progress!

:airplane:

 

Well it's been a while since I posted up dates, so here we go! First as you know I delivered the boat to RCL knowing it was going to need major floor work, plugging the stringer holes, glass filling the prop shaft hole, repairing the bottom, sanding and repainting!!! After removing all of the running gear and cleaning up the floor before delivering I discovered the crack was much worse than first thought (where have we heard this before) see photos.....................................

 

Here is a Stevens thread that has been going for a few years, Spike seems to contribute quite a bit.
stevens drag boat

 

Well here we go again with the Stevens!! Bottom and floor repaired over at Chip Chapman's and delivered back to RCL's shop for more repairs and paint! A decision was made as to paint the over-all hull a "Bright White" and do the retro target stripe down the side in light candy green metal flake with the simulated painted wood deck. I hope that's not spilling the beans too much, we'll keep you posted!!

Thanks for looking, Spudz

 

Looks good John, I like the green targets on white paint scheme..should look great!!

 

More photos RCL sent of the progress as of today! Bottom gets the first coat of primer this afternoon and first coat color on Friday!!

Cheers, Spudz

 

A prop strut problem deciphered and hopefully a fix! Look at the epoxy spacer some fine craftsman came up with attached to bottom of the boat and base of the strut!!! I don't know what it is about these prop strut problems I've inherited with both projects had simulator problems, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!! We're going the use the old cavitation plates (.250 thickness) over again, so clean up and polish is in order! Oh, I forgot to mention the cherry fiberglass tanks removed For Sale to highest bidder........Tee....Hee!!

Cheers, Spudz

 

Fools Gold pic

This pic brought back some good old memories. Growing up in a water skiing club at Lake Berryessa in the 60's across the cove from our camp was a gold metal flake flatbottom (looked identical to this boat) with a 389 Pontiac that had 3 deuces. Every morning the gal, yep it was HER boat.... she'd fire it up to go out on the flat water looking for a race. That thing would backfire and shoot flames.... great entertainment for a us 11 and 12 year olds... thanks for the pic

Side note, my first flat was a 1964 Stevens with a 427 Holman Moody low riser, according to the factory it was 510HP. Beautiful boat, wish I still had it :-(

 

More from RCL!!

 

Explain please, were those stringer areas just the high spots or did someone drill and screw them in? Hi Lou Louartyguy:

 

These people were so much fun that owned that boat..Al and Mary Lou Clewett..man could she drink beer. When my Dad would build a boat back then...you also became close friends with the people...then you would end up boating together all the time..what a great time to grow up..three brothers and flatbottoms and great friends...it's the same today..when you really think about it..

I remember one time my Dad and Mom had some close friends that went boating all the time with us..Larry Glenn was his name and his wife was pretty smoking hot...they had an early Sanger Dragster flatbottom with a wood deck...they took off one day and were gone forever..my Dad said we better go looking for em...we found the boat beached and nobody to be seen...then we look up the hill and 'ol Larry was doing the "wild thing" with his wife...my Dad just started laughing and I was like...."Daaaaammmmnnnn"...I thought about that lucky bastard for years...I was probably 14 or 15..

the white boat in the background was Larry's Sanger Dragster..

 

These people were so much fun that owned that boat..Al and Mary Lou Clewett..man could she drink beer. When my Dad would build a boat back then...you also became close friends with the people...then you would end up boating together all the time..what a great time to grow up..three brothers and flatbottoms and great friends...it's the same today..when you really think about it..

I remember one time my Dad and Mom had some close friends that went boating all the time with us..Larry Glenn was his name and his wife was pretty smoking hot...they had an early Sanger Dragster flatbottom with a wood deck...they took off one day and were gone forever..my Dad said we better go looking for em...we found the boat beached and nobody to be seen...then we look up the hill and 'ol Larry was doing the "wild thing" with his wife...my Dad just started laughing and I was like...."Daaaaammmmnnnn"...I thought about that lucky bastard for years...I was probably 14 or 15..

the white boat in the background was Larry's Sanger Dragster..

View attachment 134918

Awfully racy photo for1966 ain't it? Photo must have been taken after a few Oly's:wink2:

 

Nice Story Lou, I can only imagine being 14 or so and thinking she was smoking hot at your age.... :knockout: Good WOOD!!!

Great pictures.....................too!!

Spudz:airplane:

 

Fools Gold pic

Good story .... :thumb:

Forgot to mention in my last post, the boat with the 389 Pontiac that looked identical...... was also named "Fools Gold". When I first saw the pic I thought it was the same boat. The gal who owned it was pretty smokin hot herself....... she was the topic of a few of our conversations LOL

 

We were all pretty naive in those days and at our age.........she was just trolling for some young stud..........they call them cougars today!

I love how these threads get turned into some mushy stuff, to bad we didn't know what was going on in those days, I'd love to take my 64 year old mind and put it in my 15 year old body..........YAH )THumbsUp

Cheers, Spudz

 

That's my 80 year old (now) Mom with her ass to the camera...nice huh?..Oh well..........ya wonder why us Minegar boys are a little weird..there ya go..

And LOLYFE..quit pervin on my Mom...

 

Not back up LOLYFE, but your Mom is a knock out today, what a cutie!!

I love ya Mom Minegar and the Ol' deer-slayer Papa Don, you guys are a class act!!

Cheers, Spudz

 

I call it "stringer transfer"...I have no idea what causes it..but these old boats seem to do it. Spudz and I were talking about it the other day and think maybe it could be trailer related..but I don't think so..I think it's old age..

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