My Dads Boat….the Intro

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guffey

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Apr 14, 2010
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Location
Upstate NY
First let say how much I enjoy reading this forum and hearing peoples stories about their boats and projects. In that vein, I thought I would share my story.

In 1973, my Dad bought a 13 foot, 1972 Grumman flat bottom-V and a 1973 Cox trailer. Both were brand new. The boat was a ’72 leftover so he probably got a good deal on it. I was 11 years old at the time and can remember being so excited that we were going to have our own boat.

Over the years, my Dad and I spent a lot of hours fishing in that boat and we had a lot of fun. I have so many great memories of fishing and just spending time together with my Dad.

As Dads health deteriorated in the 90’s, it became harder and harder for him to get in and out of the boat. We used it less and less and the last time we used it was around 1995. I pretty much stopped fishing when my dad couldn’t go any more. Since then, the boat and trailer have spent the last 15 years sitting in the back of my house.

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I started fishing again after my Dad passed away in 2008. I thought it would help me deal with the grief. Since I wasn’t quite ready, at the time, to deal with using his boat, I fished mostly from shore or in the small inflatable I bought. For the last two years, I’ve been fishing out of this Sea Eagle SE8.

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The inflatable is great for small lakes but it's really not the most comfortable way to fish. :shock:
So I decided that this year it was time to fix up Dads boat and get it back in the water. I know that he would be happy to see me using it again.

And so begins the journey……..
 
Gook luck on your journey. I hope you'll be able use the boat again...no one is gone as long as they're remembered and what a good way to remember. If you have kids maybe you'll pass it on to them and they can share their story someday too.
 
The trailer needed a fair amount of work to just become “road-worthy”. Here’s a link to my trailer restoration thread over in the trailer forum. Thanks to all who responded with help and encouragement. In a nutshell, the trailer got new tires, wheels, hubs, axle, springs, lights, wiring, winch and coupler. It still needs a thorough strip, prime and paint along with new bunk carpeting, but at this stage, its on the road and fully functional.

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The boat itself was in pretty good shape. Dad had it since it was new and we had always taken pretty good care of it. It was dirty from sitting around, but overall, it wasn’t too bad. Here are some pics of the boat after I got it off the trailer and turned it upright.

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With the boat cleaned up and the trailer rebuilt, I took her out on our favorite lake for a leak test. I brought along my nephew and brother in-law in case it leaked bad and I needed help dragging a boat-load of water out of the lake. :lol:

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The leak test went great! I had couple of tiny leaks around a few rivets. I guess you call them weepers. Anyway, they didn’t “weep” very much or very long. In fact, within an hour they were dry and haven’t “wept” any more since.

At the time of the leak test, the new wood for the transom was still waiting for the Thompsons to dry so we couldn’t use the trolling motor. I have since gotten it installed along with the motormount board on the outside. I’ll try to get pictures soon.

My plans for the boat are pretty simple. In between fishing trips I want to build a low floor, get my swivel seats mounted up, rig something up so I can have the battery in the front or the back. I’d love to build a some storage and a rod locker, but I suspect those are things I’ll wind up putting off.

In the meantime, I’m going to go catch some fish and hope that my dad is watching.

Sorry for being so long winded. :oops:

I’ll try to get some more pics up as my work progresses. Any comments or questions are welcome.
 
Thats a really cool looking boat. I dont know that Ive ever seen a flat bottom v other than the old wooden ones. I see a ton of potential in that boat and being dads makes it that much cooler!!
 
I would love to get my hand on one of those. I found a couple on CL but always a day late and a dollar short. Good looking rig, and by the way welcome.

PS: my boat is named the USS Clarence after my father who passed a few years back. Kind makes me feel good, like he's here there in a way.
 
Would clean and refinish the seats, clean and repaint where or if necessary and not do any modifications. That is a great little classic you have. Or, try and do your mods without drilling into the boat so that they can be removed as you wish...then pass that classic onto whoever you are building memories with!
 
Pappy said:
Would clean and refinish the seats, clean and repaint where or if necessary and not do any modifications. That is a great little classic you have. Or, try and do your mods without drilling into the boat so that they can be removed as you wish...then pass that classic onto whoever you are building memories with!

I agree. Jon boats are common and doing modifications to them doesn't matter in this sense. Your boat is special and I'd think about making any changes reversible with no permanent changes to it.
 
bobberboy said:
Gook luck on your journey. I hope you'll be able use the boat again...no one is gone as long as they're remembered and what a good way to remember. If you have kids maybe you'll pass it on to them and they can share their story someday too.


Thanks bobber....I am finally able to use the boat again. The trailer is "road worthy" and the boat is "sea worthy". I didn't do anything with the couple of rivets that leaked during my leak test. They just sort of stopped on there own. So basically, it's functional....not 100% of where I want it to be, but its getting there. :)

I don't have any kids of my own but I do have a 13 year old nephew who "sort of" likes to fish...lol. I took him out in the inflatable a few times and I think he had fun. For the last couple of years, every birthday/Christmas I try to make sure I give him at least one fishing related gift. Trying to fan the interest a little bit.
 
BassBlaster said:
Thats a really cool looking boat. I dont know that Ive ever seen a flat bottom v other than the old wooden ones. I see a ton of potential in that boat and being dads makes it that much cooler!!

Thanks....The only other boat I've ever seen like it belonged to my uncle. I think he probably bought his in the late 60's. I think one of the main reasons Dad bought this particular boat was because it was just a newer version of my uncles boat. I haven't seen any others like it.

BTW - I ran into my cousin a few weeks ago and he said he still owns my uncles boat and uses it every summer.
 
Nevillizer said:
I would love to get my hand on one of those. I found a couple on CL but always a day late and a dollar short. Good looking rig, and by the way welcome.

PS: my boat is named the USS Clarence after my father who passed a few years back. Kind makes me feel good, like he's here there in a way.

Thank you Nev....That's awesome that you named your boat after your dad...very cool!

We had never put a name on dads boat. I had considered naming it after him but somehow I don't think he would like having the boat being called "The Donald" or "The Don". It just doesn't seem to fit :lol:

I thought about something like "Miss Udad" or "Mrs Udad" but I don't know. For now, it's still nameless.
 
bobberboy said:
Pappy said:
Would clean and refinish the seats, clean and repaint where or if necessary and not do any modifications. That is a great little classic you have. Or, try and do your mods without drilling into the boat so that they can be removed as you wish...then pass that classic onto whoever you are building memories with!

I agree. Jon boats are common and doing modifications to them doesn't matter in this sense. Your boat is special and I'd think about making any changes reversible with no permanent changes to it.

It's funny that you guys both said that because that's exactly what I was thinking. My dad never wanted to make any changes to the boat that would require drilling through it. We had a couple of folding swivel seats that normally you would bolt onto the regular benches. He didn't want to drill through the bench though so we had them set up with C-clamps so they could be easily removed.

I remember at one point he had gotten a boat cover. It used wooden bows that would go across the top of the boat to hold the cover up. In order to use the bows you had to install the brackets to hold them on the top of the gunnels. He was none too pleased about the idea of installing those brackets. He eventually did but I remember him saying how much he hated the idea of drilling through the boat.

So basically, removable, non permanent, mods are pretty much all I was considering. It's really nice to hear others suggest the same thing. Thanks!
 
"boat being called "The Donald" or "The Don". It just doesn't seem to fit. "

How aboat "Don Voyage" ?
 

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