TOPIC: New to boating - love this project boat!

Hello all, I come to the forums seeking advice and knowledge! I picked up this boat almost 9 years ago, which (based on advice I got from this site at the time) I believe to be a 1961 MFG Edinboro Deluxe, although it looks very similar to a fee Westfields I've seen. I do have a serial number after some serious cleaning, but no way to use it for identification that I know of...yet!

Anyway, I finally have a little time and money to put into it, although not a full restoration budget. I'm looking to get a good enough floor in with some budget seats so that I can take it out a few times and make sure it's worth a total restoration in a few years when Im finally ready to do it with my sons.

Because the floor was already a soupy mess when I got this thing, I've very little idea what it originally would have looked like, and want to get it close. The boards in there now were to make walking around cleaning easier, but may end up staying to provide support for the floor. The aluminum framing inside must have had a VERY shallow bilge area, and I'm wondering if I leave the area below the splash well open, or try to put the floor high enough to go over the bilge pump.

Also, was the drain at the bottom below the deck line, or did the floor originally scoop down to allow the water to run off deck and down and back? That seems less likely, but I saw a nice looking Westfield on YouTube with that set-up.

I also need to replace the transom, as there is almost nothing left inside but ants..

It's currently holding a 1970 Johnson 33hp outboard, but definitely makes a "squish" if you try to move it around. The skins are in great shape, so i hate to rip one off to fiberglass new wood in place, plus there's the issue of the transom being curved slightly by design.. I'm not liking the cost of the sea cast, although all said and done that may be the best option. The floor I'm prepared to do again, with fiberglass and the whole nine yards, but the transom is rather important, and a "get it right the first time" deal!

Any flights thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated!! Sorry the first one was SO LONG.

Thanks for posting the pictures and welcome aboard!

You're looking at a pretty significant restoration project. MFG Edinboros from 1959-1961 had plywood floors, with a gasket running around the perimeter of the floor where is meets the hull. In 1962, they switched to a fiber-glassed in floor with fiberglass stringers, rather than the aluminum stringers and the little glued-on fiberglass ribs. The Westfield, when introduced in 1961, had the fiberglass floor and stringers from the beginning.

You can always measure the length of your boat to know for sure what you have. If 16' 6", then it's an Edinboro. If 15' 8", then it's a Westfield. You may have a 1960, as most MFG models had a glove box in the center of the dash in 1961. Looks like an Edinboro to me.

The first issue to tackle is the transom. If you don't have a solid transom to mount the outboard motor, you don't have a boat. Using a poured transom material is best, like Seacast or Corbon-Core CarbonBond. I used the latter for my 1962 Edinboro while my brother used Seacast for his 1965 Edinboro. Both work, but the cost of the material is the least of your concerns. From your picture, there is a lot of fiberglass work to be done on the skins before a transom can be poured, along with a ton of work cleaning out the old wood in the transom. Mine was so bad is was not even like mulch - more like peat moss, with major damage to the fiberglass due to the motor hanging off this severely weakened transom. I decided to have it professionally done. It was much more expensive, but it was done right and even had them re-gelcoat the transom on the outside and repaint with hand dabbed splatter paint on the inside. Overkill, I know, but it's what I wanted. One piece of good news is that on models with the fiberglass floor, water often infiltrates between the floor and the hull through the holes in the well nuts that hold the seats to the floor. On yours, the hull is open and can be cleaned out and a new floor installed. Also, in a fiberglass floor model, there is foam flotation under the floor than can get water-saturated and add a lot of weight to the boat.

I would recommend cutting out the interior skin, leaving a 2-3 inch tab all around, fixing all the fiberglass skins, then re-fiberglassing the inner skin to the tab. To get the curve just right, we found a particular deck rib from a 26' Lyman perfectly matched the curve of the Edinboro transom, and used that as a form to get that proper curve. My floor did not need work, other than filling a hold the was inexplicably drilled into it The keel and hull had a total of four small holes in them, the windshield was bent, the white deck hardware needed stripping and powder-coated with semi-gloss white. The deck was pink from oxidation and took nine steps to bring it back. The seat boxes needed work, I ended up getting a new trailer, and I put significant effort and money into getting the 1984 Evinrude running right. Bottom line, it took almost two years, and a lot of money to get it back to looking like the attached picture. The seats upholstery is original - I got lucky there.

I have have lots of pictures and have posted some here:

www.fiberglassics.com/forum/mfg-owners-group/123205-1962-mfg-edinboro-with-original-sun-n-fun-seats.html

The attached picture shows how it looks now - about 95% done, but very usable.

I've been reading a "runabout restoration" book and it's been recommended several times to do the floor first, hence my concern with cost before I've tackled that transom. It's 65% ants, 20% moss, 15% water in there.. So I know that's a big job.

Do you think I should just jump right to the transom? If so, is there a way to use wood layered up despite the curvature of the skin? I do plan to only cut the inner skin if that's the way I go, even though all the help videos I've found are cutting exterior, or even both skin's

So in my measuring of the floor, I've also been comparing those numbers against the chart on the site. I think I may actually have a 1962 based on the transom width. It's definitely not 80" - and if I measure the outside width (hoping that's correct) I get 66" which looks to be a 1962. How is beam length measured? I'd like to be sure on the year and model.

I also am curious on the color. Was this sparkly blue gel coat original? There's a few significant chips in one spot and it's a light robin's egg color under there. Is that a primer or base, or the original color?

Last question for the night.. Would there have been side panels originally?

Thanks again for your time and advice!!

I would do the transom first. You have to have a solid transom to mount an outboard. I would not use wood. Why use something that will just rot again?

You have a 1959-1961. Definitely not a 1962. The beam is measured at the widest point of the width of the boat. The transom width is almost always smaller than the beam.

Your boat deck was painted at some point. MFG did not use any metal-flake or other metallic gel coats, and the fact there are layers shows it was perhaps painted several times. It looks like your deck was maybe a light blue from the factory. MFG did not use paint, but only gel coat at that time. There is no base other than resin and fiberglass cloth.

There were no side panels. My 1962 has no panels, either, with ski racks and storage cubbies introduced with 1963 models.

Thank you, SO MUCH. you single handedly answered so many of my questions! I've been researching with little success for weeks!

I do have the serial and model number from the transom sticker and aluminum stringer stamp. Anywhere those can be used to identify my boat versus others? It hadn't been registered since 1990 so the history of it may prove helpful at the DMV too..

Would this have been a single set of back to back seats d'ya think?

The Edinboro used one bench-type front seat, with backs, with a second seat like it as an option from 1959-1961. It used Sun 'n Fun seats, an MFG exclusive design, from 1962-1966. The first year for regular back to back seats was 1967.

There is a "hidden" side to the FiberGlassics site that has a lot of info from Jim Coffman's old MFG web site, now defunct. It has some info that the regular library part of FiberGlassics does not have, including how to pour a transom. My brother used that section to learn how to do it on our dad's old 1965 Edinboro transom about 10 years ago. (He sold that boat this past spring). It's missing the 1961 brochure, however, so look closely at 1959 and 1960 info. Click around and enjoy at:

forums.fiberglassics.com/mfg/

If you can, post pictures of whatever serial number and model tags you have and we'll see what we can do to help.

Okay, so I got a little spooked and stepped away from the boat for far too long! I threw in a quick floor to walk around inside, get measurements etc, without damaging the hull by putting too much weight in any one spot.

I'm "ready" to rip into the transom now, but am still unsure best way to go. Someone mentioned the skins were in need of lots of work a few posts back...so I was wondering what I missed? I was ready to duct tape the holes and dump some compound. If there is fiberglass to do, I might as well cut the inner skin and just do wood layups and save some money.

SeaCast is well reviewed, but I also read a forum on here somewhere with some great results from Carbon-Core. Amazon now lists Arjay too. Any thoughts? I need 7-8gallons and really dont like the price structure for SeaCast. The Carbon Core only comes in 5gal buckets, but they are $189ea plus $10 catalyst ea so I come out $100 ahead.

Thanks for any and all advice!

Just an aside. My boss, Lysle Gray, at Coast Guard HQ in the 80's, was chief engineering at MFG in the 60's. Nice to see his boats outlived him.

Ive scoured the hull of this thing and the only number is on a sticker under the splashwell, which I've removed to start the transom soon..

Its attached below, but I think it reads :
"Serial S9 No. 2852"

After a LONG summer, I've finally got the NEW transom in!

I ended up going with Arjay 6011 - long story to it, but in the end, there was a youtuber with a multipart video with the EXACT same boat I have as the specimen, and even though I commented on a 5 year old video, I got an immediate and personalized follow up video, which gave me a little more confidence after watching each one at least 5 times.

I took his advice, used polyester based products, just like the Arjay, and it turned out great. It was less expensive than the SeaCast, which ended up being a big deal as I was 2 gallons shy of what I had calculated using the online estimators.. All said and done, it is very strong, and looks great for a DIY job. The bulk of the time was spent fairing the waves out of the outer skin at the end after decades of sitting with a peat moss middle. I must have spent 15 hours our there with my 5" orbital and 3M fairing compound. The fiberglass putty was such a good product as well I ended up not having anywhere near the true fiberglass work I expected, although we'll see for sure in a couple more decades I suppose.

I used a 2-part super stinky primer from TotalBoat called TotalProtect, which covered very nicely and seems to have done a good job to protect against water. The 3M 5200 was a must on all the through hull fittings and around the bolts at the bottom for the aluminum rails. We did a leak test this weekend, and she floats! Good news too - because the wife was getting really close to shutting down the project..

After a few hours out there messing with the damn outboard there wasn't a single drop that had made its way into the boat, and she gets an A+, which was not expected if we're being honest...everything else though, outboard, especially trailer - total failure.

Now I've got to get the forum fired back up so I can get some advice on wiring, seats, a windshield, etc.

I already figured out the cable steering and have my new cable run smoothly.

Anyone have advice on a transom plate? I dont need anything for stability, just to protect all the work I've done. Is one even necessary? How does it attach? Did these boats have them originally?

I've got a 1970 Johnson 33hp, and it just has the c-clamp style mounts

You don't need one. They were almost never used by dealers when selling a new boat. They are usually used by a boat owner trying to get a little more life out of a rotted transom.

I don't use one on any of my three classic outboard boats. Modern motors bolt on and even my 1963 35hp Mercury and 1984 Evinrude 70hp motors are bolted on, with clamps and 2 small bolts for the Mercury.

What about on the inside? Where the little screw pads go? Is there a little aluminum plate or anything for that to keep them from scratching up the paint job? I took one off before starting my work, but it didnt quite look original..

I'm also wondering about temp light. It looks original, but no idea for sure. My 1970 johnson 33hp doesnt have any lead or sensor for one, so is there a way to hook it back up with a generic temp sensor?

Nothing came from the factory. Sometimes dealers would add little transom plates with holes or indentations, but it's not needed. On my Edinboro, holes were drilled and the 1984 Evinride 70 was bolted (4 bolts) to the transom. If the motor has clamps, there are usually holes at the bottom of the bracket, so drill your new transom. My 1966 Niagara's 35HP Mercury is clamped at the top and two bolts at the bottom of the bracket. Use 3M 5200 to seal. Don't work about scratches. Just put it on carefully and you'll be good to go.