TOPIC: 1959 Crosby Seaquin

Hi all. Just bought a 1959 Crosby Seaquin and I have a couple questions about early fiberglass construction. This boat was restored in the late 2000s and the previous owner did a great job. I know I 'm pretty fortunate to have things in turnkey condition, but it's time to re-restore a few aspects of the work and I'm starting to plan my off-season chores. Structurally things are in pretty good shape. One question is about the decking above the bow. As I understand it, they generally didn't do gelcoat back in those days. So the decking between the windshield and bow is just fiberglass and paint. But is it supposed to be as seemingly fragile as it is? For example, I don't think it would support my weight and has a bit of flex. Is that to be expected? I've never had a boat of this vintage. My previous boat was a 2005 Sea Fox cuddy and you could have marched a herd of elephants across the similar part of that boat. I'm just curious if there's supposed to be some ribbing or other support from underneath that has disappeared over the last half century. If not, what gives the deck its convex curve?

The other question is what to use to paint the inside/bilge area. The previous restore used Interlux BilgeKote and it looks okay, but there are some really neat interior coatings around these days. I went to the ACBS show in St. Michaels, MD a few weeks ago and some of those boats had what looked like a thicker, more rigid product. Some of the fancy stuff looked almost like a textured garage floor or truck bedliner. What is that stuff and how is it applied?

WELCOME ! you came to the right place !
first off. that is a nice little boat you have there !
I'm no expert and I'm sure others will chime in, But a lot of the molding process put the arc in it when the fiberglass was laid up. You'll have to crawl under the deck to see what's up there ? If you want to stiffen it up you'll have cut your own wood ribs and fiberglass them in. (lots of folks can walk you thru the process)
As for the interior paint ? Someone here used a spatter paint that looked great, Maybe it was Eric Z ?
If I find the thread ? I'll post it to see what you think ?
Enjoy your boat, and your restore !!!
It was Eric Z, and he used Zolatone spray
His entire thread is awesome, check it out:
www.fiberglassics.com/forum/member-projects/132759-64-custom-craft-sunray-cont-from-coosa-transoms.html

Nice rig! Chuck covered some good stuff. My 1958 Wilson is a 13’ polyester resin and fiberglass boat. The experts can confirm this as this is what I remember from reading. Boats of this vintage were using the polyester resin and you can use that for repair to match. You also can use epoxy resin for any re-work as it will bond to the older polyester resin. However, I read where you should not use the polyester resin if someone has already used epoxy resin where you are joining work. Regarding the deck. I have been around many boats including mine, that I would not walk across. The mold where they laid the initial glass in combination with the arc of the dashboard wood allows for that arc to remain in this arced or bowed position as its natural relaxed state. My friends dad walked the deck of a 1962 boat and broke through the 16 footer… he was about 165. I am 240, so I won’t try. My particular boat was designed with 2 half inch half round ridges on the top side of my deck running forward from the windshield line to about 4 inches short of the front for a little extra support… but not enough for me to walk on. A small adult or child could. I am wondering since these decks are so short and it is not so easy to step on a seat and then over a windshield to walk the deck, that maybe it was figured it typically would not get walked on. My other boat is 15 feet and has a center section that has a recess and the center of the dashboard has a support to the floor. It also has under deck half round fiberglass laid sections like upside down stringers that are glass only… the center line has plywood laminated fiberglass under the center walk section…!this deck is a foot or 2 longer and strong enough for me to walk it without hearing stress cracking. Likely different boats and different years built for different uses. I am thinking these 14 foot and smaller 4 seater short decks are so small and light that a person could usually get to shore without a pier and without walking the deck if you pulled to shore at an angle… all of that is just my guess and assumptions from boating during the early 60s and seeing many boat types and brands. If you wanted yours stiffer, others here could likely share several methods to do it to your liking. Best of luck with your pursuit of further information by others. Disclaimer - I am a lifetime boater, but NOT an expert… just my experiences.

Yes it was Zolatone or something similar! Thanks for the tip. It had that neat spatter coat technique and really made things look nice. I also bet it would do a good job hiding stains and other gunk that builds up on the interior flooring.

One more noob question:
What do you call the windshield bracket parts that typically attach in the middle of the windshield?

Like a lot of runabouts of this era, this windshield attaches to the deck with hardware at both ends but also is supposed to have two smaller “button” like brackets in the center. It’s easy to find the end brackets but the center brackets are much harder to find. Am I using the wrong search term?