New boat - Steber craft beaver

[Restyle]

Gday raiders! I have acquired a new boat, its a steber craft, a quick google shows it probably is a bever. I picked the bad boy up for free of a mate this afternoon who's had the boat for 10 years and its been used a hand full of times and stored under a carport. and besides it being a freebie it doesn't need that much work by the looks of it.

 

Some basic specs,

- fibreglass hull

- Motor is a 25hp Johnson looks in very good condition & clean as, probably going to throw it on market place and get a 4 stroke 15/20hp

- Transom is stiff like a tree

- floors were apparently re glassed in 2015 & feel hard

- Steering cables, and controls seem a bit flimsy

 

I'd, like to completely refurbish the boat and make it like new and add some modifications to it a brief list of stuff I've thought of so far:

- sanding the hull + new paint

- a small windshield at the front

- electrics (sounder, new nav lights, deck lights

- relocate to a centre console at the front

- carpet/rubber floor mats,

- bait board & a esky

- new motor

I'd be curious on getting a opinion from those veteran boat owners who have done up plenty of boats in the past at what they would do to it & what they think of it, is it a good hull? etc. It'll be a fishing boat and mostly used with 1 other person, If anyone would like the kayak with a paddle, any anchors (theres 4 of them) or the motor let me know!

Edited May 19 by Restyle

[Restyle]

Gave the boat abit of a clean a couple days ago and also removed the old boat controls, steering cables, old fixings, rod holders etc & today I removed the 2 bench seats and began sanding back the old paint and glass on the floor. Tomorrow ill finish off sanding the floor, clean and reseal the floor and possibly patch all the small holes where rod holders and other crap screwed into.

the benches despite being bare wood were in ok condition and the floor seems in good condition too. Might drill a small 3mm hole in the transom to confirm if its good or not but from all assessments so far it looks to be in good nick.

I also picked up some new marine ply to install the new benches and a small box section for the 25l fuel tank & battery in the future.

 

Id like to move the steering into the centre but the only thing holding that back is how id go about mounting the motor controls. Sourcing a windshield looks to be a royal pain in the rear too.

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[Restyle]

I should also add, I'm not going to bother redoing the gelcoat on the hull, instead ill flip the boat over when i get the trailer fixed up and give it a clean and polish. Id like to do re gelcote the blue section though as i think colour matching the blue might be very difficult. if it can be done ill defiantly just leave it and gelcoat the patches.

A anchor well at the front will also be difficult due to the corrugation detail in the front white section and there's also 2 supporting brackets on the underside there so I'm abit lost on how to tackle that as of now, but that's still quite a ways ahead 

[BaitDropper]

Looks like a cool wee project, or something to tinker with, right there.

Make sure you put up some progress Pic's, I luv a good project.