The weather is changing and many families turn their attention from lake activities to memory-making experiences in the garage or shop.
Tony and Kelli Fure have a couple nice Kansas mud lakes within 20 miles of where they live, which is where they mostly boat. They also enjoy Grand Lake in Oklahoma as often as they get the chance. But now the mentoring and skill building of their sons has moved indoors.
Tony Fure sent pictures and this story;
“We found the AristoCraft for sale in Rose Hill, KS a couple hours from us. The lady that had it told us it belonged to her late husband, and she was ready for someone else to restore it. It is a very nice original boat that has been kept inside and was probably fine to use, but we decided we would like to have a pretty wood show boat. So we decided to redo it. It was last stickered in Oklahoma in 1981.”
Varnish Be Gone
removing the hardware
protecting the original upholstery
Tony Fure and sons Logan 13 and Lane 10 begin teardown of 1958 Aristocraft Torpedo.
strip
… and sand
The family already had a 1959 mark 35a Mercury they also plan on restoring for the project. They are hoping to have it ready for next summer.
We’ll be eager to see pictures of the progress as the project is completed and see those kids in their “pretty wood” boat at a show next year.
ACBS Chapters hold many Restoration Workshops, Youth Mentoring Projects, and many small group collaborations to preserve and restore boats of all kinds. What winter activities are you or your chapter planning? Email reports and pictures to kathyparker@acbs.org What you are doing might inspire the rest of us.
This is a nice story and I am looking forward to updates as work progresses. The Sunnyland ACBS chapter in FL has a successful youth mentoring project which many are aware of. The construction of a small boat, probably a Glen L design, is the backbone of the program. During the year folks donate boats needing restoration or ready-to -use boats which can be sold outright in order to help fund the overall program. I am wondering if there is an opportunity for ACBS chapters to be on the lookout for small boats needing some TLC which might mirror the Aristo Craft story. It takes the right circumstances and considerations to be sure, but has the potential to bring some folks into our hobby who may not even be aware of who we are or what we do. At a minimum, the family taking on a project of any sort is stronger for having done so! Restoring a small wood boat would be the frosting on the cake!
I would strip the old finish off rather than dry scrape it – less damage to the wood. Looks like fun.
… right, considering that the mahogany veneer on that plywood is pretty thin and can be easily damaged. A matching repair to that veneer surface would be very difficult to accomplish.
I am the older kid in the picture, Logan. We did strip the boat. We are scraping off the stripper.