TOPIC: Finally Got Started On The Dorsett

timgoodwin,

WELCOME BACK.

yours, satx

Welcome back Tim. Your pics may be too big to post, here's a link that will help understand how to resize them so the forum will accept them;
www.fiberglassics.com/fiberglassics-forums/home/support/how-to-post-pictures

Let's try this. Nope didn't work. Ok I will resize and see what happens.
Ok that worked. I used tuxpi.com and resized to 50%. I will post more later but here she is again. I have a lot of pictures on the external as well as the internal of the boat. Note: All these pictures are before her clean up and strip down. So the fun has not yet begun.

Welcome , you have a cool boat their !! Dorsetts are one of my favorites. I"
've owned three over the years , a 59 catalina , 60 Belmont ,and a 61 Lexington . Good luck with your project . I do have a all glass windshield that mite fit if interested. madbohunk safe boating

Great! What's the going rate on a windshield now? That's a nice boat in your avatar as well. What ever happened to your Dorsett boats? Here's a picture of her Mercury 1000. The prop looks like it's been onto some rocks but a good machining should fix that.

Is anyone here fluent in Dorsett History?

Love the lines of the Farallon. Thanks for the windshield offer.

Tim , I agree the lines of those dorsetts are cool for sure. E-mail me your phone # well talk dorsett. Bob This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

...what this number is?

Madbohunk
Sent you the number. Please don't call before 10 AM Mtn. time though as I'm I'm doing morning work chores at that time. Weekends are ok as well. Later.

Bob, Nice talk. Would like to talk more as time goes by if ok with you. Got a question... Could a person use the registration number on the hull to get more information from the original state of registry? Because the number is still pretty clear. It's either ID 5059 0 or ID 5059 D. The last letter or number is fuzzy.

Tim , nice talking with you also , call anytime . All you can do is try , you never know . madbohunk safe boating

Yeah. I tried and it's like the information has just vanished. Know one knows anything. The records are over fifty years old so are pretty much either archived somewhere or tossed out. I will keep trying. Really like your boat project idea. Another Dorsett. Way to go. Do you have pictures of all your past projects?

Will post more pictures when I have her flushed out real good. Lots of wood rot but glass seems good. Thought about using a marine stain for new wood. Mahogany I think. Gonna put her helm to starboard also. Hope that's not gonna be to much trouble. PS: About Dorsett historical information. Getting a lot from the Library Of Congress and Smithsonian has some stuff as well in thier archives.

Has anyone ever heard of extending thier boat? I know the value would go but I want her for me anyway so why couldn't I add on and give myself more space. I have heard of people going from 30 foot to forty feet.

Do a search in here. Someone just recently did that...

Man o man I finally got her under way. I am cleaning her out and gonna gut the wood over the next few days. Here are some more pictures. The Merc 1000 is gonna need some work but I think it will be ok, it turns so nothing froze up on me. I will have to re seat the rings, etc... Anybody know where to get a manual for an old Merc 100 hp?

Tim, glad you're able to start on her. The pics didn't come through, you may want to check there size.

Bob

Yeah. Sorry bout that. Let's try this.
These are pictures of the rot after I pulled up the deck and some fiberglass work that needs to be done around the drain area as well as the engine. I really need a book on that motor but where do I go to get one? Also she has hair line cracks all through the exterior glass. And ideas.

Tim, nice you definitely have some work ahead of you but shouldn't be too bad. If the cracks aren't real big or deep you can probably just grind them out a little with a Dremel or equivalent and fill them with epoxy, if you're going to paint the boat. Check Ebay for the Merc manual, they come up on there.

Bob

If the Merc is a '65 or newer the .pdf manuals are readily available on line for download. Hard copies are too but a little pricey.

If its older than that they are out there but hard to find. Let me know and I can rummage around and find the link for the pre '65 .pdf.

Good luck,
Gadabout

Waterwings wrote:

Tim, nice you definitely have some work ahead of you but shouldn't be too bad. If the cracks aren't real big or deep you can probably just grind them out a little with a Dremel or equivalent and fill them with epoxy, if you're going to paint the boat. Check Ebay for the Merc manual, they come up on there.

Bob

The cracks are all hair line and so what, maybe just a good sanding and then refinish and paint?

Gadabout wrote:

If the Merc is a '65 or newer the .pdf manuals are readily available on line for download. Hard copies are too but a little pricey.

If its older than that they are out there but hard to find. Let me know and I can rummage around and find the link for the pre '65 .pdf.

Good luck,
Gadabout

Found a site that might be right. Tell me what you think. Look at:
agott.com/glassboat/manuals under mercury. Looks like you can get the pdf for most any year. It looked right but not sure.

Yeah that's Andrew's site, great guy and good stuff there. I'm not sure how much difference there is from the '63 to the '65 so I don't know if that will work or not, sorry. The Merc guys can pipe in here.

As far as the hair line cracks go, it depends on how deep they are. The old gelcoat is probably pretty thick but I doubt it's thick enough to get away with sanding them out. Depending on how bad they are, you can either sand it all off and re-gelcoat, or fill and paint.

If you can post some pics of it we can help more.

Bob

Finally found the link. $5 bucks for the download - can't beat that with a stick. Sorry it took so long, but I'm getting older now and I have CRS. Can't Remember Sh$t.

www.servicemanualvault.com/

Good luck,
Gadabout

Gadabout wrote:

Finally found the link. $5 bucks for the download - can't beat that with a stick. Sorry it took so long, but I'm getting older now and I have CRS. Can't Remember Sh$t.

www.servicemanualvault.com/

Good luck,
Gadabout

Thanks> I will check that out.

Waterwings wrote:

Yeah that's Andrew's site, great guy and good stuff there. I'm not sure how much difference there is from the '63 to the '65 so I don't know if that will work or not, sorry. The Merc guys can pipe in here.

As far as the hair line cracks go, it depends on how deep they are. The old gelcoat is probably pretty thick but I doubt it's thick enough to get away with sanding them out. Depending on how bad they are, you can either sand it all off and re-gelcoat, or fill and paint.

If you can post some pics of it we can help more.

Bob

I think we are going with sand and paint. Some areas may need reinforcement but only because I am picky but overall it appears very solid and only very minor wear. We'll see once the sanding is done and once this rain stops where I'm at.

It's that time of year for us folks in the mountains to batten down the hatches so I had to put a tarp over her for the next few months. Found a neighbor who is real good at boat motors and he is going to work over my old Mercury 1000 over the winter. I will still be visiting the forum though with questions and comments. Decided to build a gantry for the boat in order to suspend her while I do hull work. Someone suggested I sit her down on hay bails but that is a very bad idea. Attracts mice and rats plus it is just plain not logical. Anyway, was also thinking about building a cabin with only one small bunk and leaving the rest open for more move around space. Maybe a fold away bunk. Don't know yet. Until later. Tim

Yes, its that time !!! Mine goes to bed sat. or sun. been lucky was on the water mid april to just yesterday !! 37 tonight !! moving south look better all the time !!!

78 in Charlotte NC today - we have room down here if you want a longer season - and lots of freshwater lakes.

madbohunk wrote:

Yes, its that time !!! Mine goes to bed sat. or sun. been lucky was on the water mid april to just yesterday !! 37 tonight !! moving south look better all the time !!!

Yeah. South sounds good. But maybe Oregon would be nice also. I like the idea of being able to roam long distances. Port to port you might say. A whole lot concerned with this new problem with shell fish down in Calif. though. Wonder if that will extend to Oregon and Wash..

73Crestliner wrote:

78 in Charlotte NC today - we have room down here if you want a longer season - and lots of freshwater lakes.

North Carolina is beautiful. My family is in VA.. We had thought to buy a home in the Carolina's once upon a time but moved west instead. Don't ask why. It just happened that way. Trout, bass and crop are great. Bet you have a lot of that. Later.

Here are pics of what I think are bilge pump holes. Can anyone tell me for certain. (Holes low on the hull and on both sides midway down the boat)

The one right behind the badge looks like its the vent for the fuel tank, the other COULD be a bilge outlet but its a little high...whats on the inside? Is it connected to anything?

The low one may well be an "outlet" for a direct disharge head (toilet). My mariner has one same place - still hooked up to the original hardware. Mine is metal, although i never bothered to check what type of metal.

I agree the one looks like a vent of some sort - at least by todays hardware, other one is a bit of a mystery. does seem a bit high and a bit far forward to be a bilge. I'd think that they would be more likely to be vents for gas tanks, which would leave the other to be ....uhhhhh...I don't know unless a discharge for a sink.

my guess it is an outlet for toilet/sink.

Outlets for a sink, ice box drain probably..

Yes one on port for sink starboard for the head !!! the other is a tank vent !!

I think all of you guys are right. There is a sink on the starboard side and the head is on the port side so the really low holes must be for that. The holes higher up are more than likely the vents for fuel because there is one on either side high up like that and just inside, concealed are the big fuel tanks. There is a large tank on both sides for fuel. Look like ten gallon or better. That really surprised me. My only question is are they still any good. They sat in there for years. Don't know if they are rusted out or not. Kind of chancy. Should I replace them or is there a way to clean them our good? Isn't also against the law to discharge toilet and other black and grey water into the sea or lake? Can't remember which.

Valid concerns on both counts Tim. I would NOT leave the fuel tanks in place and/or use them without a thorough inspection.

I also believe you are correct in that most states do not allow discharge of grey water overboard for any reason, even having the discharge ports in place could result in problems with DNR unless you can prove they are inoperable?