Restoring a 63 Chris Craft

[Kudzu]

Shameless bragging.

Been working on this for a LONG time.  A couple of surgeries got in the way but just so happy to finally get to this point.  The point where all the hard work starts to show!

Started with this.



Needed refreshing obviously and a leak fixed.  Turned out the damage was much worse than we thought.

Bumble bees had built a nest under the floors. There nest was extremely damp and had caused a lot of damage. Quick repair turned into a major project.
Replacing planing and sister framing several ribs.














About this point we sold our house and I had to build a new temporary shop.   Had to move all the tools and then the boat.  Needless to say that set me behind several more months. 

But have been busy working on it the last few months and make some great progress!


 
Here she is rolled on her side so I could strip and paint the bottom.



Then moved on to the hull  sides.


Then finally after all the sanding and sanding and sanding, get to this point!!





Still a lot of work left to do but  now it is down to the more fun stuff!

[Tapper]

Very nice work, Jeff! Nothing like saving a piece of classic old nautical history. There was a time when Chris Craft was THE name in pleasure boats. Did you use cypress for the repairs?

BTW, what kind of power?

Thanks,

Doug

[Kudzu]

It has a 283 Chevy.  It ran perfectly and just about to check it out and repaint it in the next couple of weeks.

[Tapper]

Very nice work, Jeff! Nothing like saving a piece of classic old nautical history. There was a time when Chris Craft was THE name in pleasure boats. Did you use cypress for the repairs?

BTW, what kind of power?

Thanks,

Doug

???

Doug

[Kudzu]

???

Doug

No cypress.

[fredhargis]

I remember snippets of your past posts about this boat, it's so awesome i don't have adequate words to use. Really (really) cool.

[Kudzu]

I remember snippets of your past posts about this boat, it's so awesome i don't have adequate words to use. Really (really) cool.

I thought maybe I had posted something but couldn't find it.  I did look.

[Bill Holt]

Holy Cow!  So much Work!  

We had a 16' Chris Craft from 1974 to 1980.  I wont get this correct but you will get the idea.  The motor built by Chris Craft: Chevy 283, Chrysler starter, Ford distributor, and cooling system by MerCruiser.  The mechanic we used to "repair" the motor, said it had 303hp.  When I had to repair damage to the bottom, it fit in the garage.  I was oh so much younger!  I cannot imagine taking on all that work now.

Oh, the joy of launching and firing up that motor!!!

You have overcome a lot of obstacles and the hull is looking great!!!!!!  Good luck on the rest of the restoration.

[iclark]

Great progress! It looks like you have a good path forward to getting her back in the water.

The pics bring back memories of learning to water ski behind a Chris Craft speed boat. Low tide in Back River had some of the oyster beds peeking out of the water. That was serious incentive to learn how to control where I was going.

[brianwelch]

A true labor of love...
Looks great...