My new boat, please help?

Ive just purchased a Fletcher 160 gto for a snip as it needs a new interior.

That is it has no interior. The shell of the boat is in fantastic condition, as is the 115 mercury outboard engine and the trailer. All mint, but you step into an empty boat. On a tight budget, just how do you go about getting a new interior, or even making one. Where do you get materials and what materials should be used?

Im in Glasgow, Scotland.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

Stan

 

I recently restored an old Fletcher Arrowflight 15, which needed a new interior. Luckily the seats were there, all be it not fixed to anything and ripped to pieces, had to frabricate a new rail to mount them on, as the old one had rusted away and just left with a few bits of resin and a rusty bar. But since you dont have any interior, your a bit deeper than i was. Getting the seats is near on impossible so i wouldnt count on that, unless you get lucky and find another one for a steal with seats in it. oonly place you can get the seats from is Fletcher themselves, and well it wont be a snip after you pay them. wanted around £500 just for the windshield on mine, i ended up making it myself from macralon (sp?)

making is your best bet. Most interior panels are just plywood, covered with foam for padding then vinyl. Panels are just a case of cutting plywood and using staples or glue to attach vinyl. Seats are somewhat harder though. Im not sure if the GTO had the bucket seats or not, but i do know those seats took me days to recover, as the shape was complicated. Id shop around and see if you cant pick up some premade seats. many companies make boat seats which would be quite easy to fit.

Dashboard again is just plywood, covered in foam and vinyl, just make sure you cut out any holes for guages etc before you cover it! a mistake i have made. something you only do once..

materials can be purchased from anywhere really, as its just plywood. If you want to make it a bit stronger and probably last longer, coating panels in resin would be wise, to help protect them.

Carpet will have to be purchased either online, or ask a local boat shop if they can get it.

I purchased mine for £300, spent £250 in restoring it, and sold it for £1500 3 months later. most of the work was on the hull, and retrimming. great boats and if in good condition, have quite a good resale value, especially if you get it cheap to start with.

 

Thanks for the reply Bobber, I now have the original seats and i can retrim the interior using the ply/foam/vinyl you mention. What do I use to stick the newly fabricated panels on? No nails or glue? You mention resin...sorry m8y...what is resin?

My engine is a Six Cylinder 115 Mercury, im not sure if its a two or four stroke(praying its a four) Does anyone know where I can get more info on my engine, it needs a wiring loom.

 

oook. Resin is used in fiberglass construction. for this, you can just use polyester resin. You have probably heard around here of epoxy resin, but thats not needed here. A trip to your local boat shop should sort you out with some polyester resin, but if you have never used it before, might be more trouble than its worth for you, i only mentioned it as an idea.
A good quality exterior ply, only needs to be around 6mm thickness, as its not structural will surfice, since it isnt actually in the water, and hopefully wont come into contact with any water. if it does, the trim panels will be the least of your worries anyway.
To stick the panels on, i used stainless steel screws, with mirror caps over the ends to just make them look a bit neater. You should find mounting points where the old panels used to go. Might find holes already made, which means you will need to use bolts. Id go stainless, they look nicest, and wont rust. www.seascrew.com is a very good source for fittings like that, and very well priced i found.

as far as the engine goes. it depends how old it is. id say it is 4stroke, but you should find an engine number tag attached to the swivel bracket of your engine, that should give you the engine number, and year.
armed with this number you can usually go to a local marine repair shop who will be able to tell your more about the engine.

if you look at the engine. if it is 2stroke it will either have an oil tank inside the engine cover somewhere, or there will be a seperate hose comming from it to an oil tank.
It may well be premix if it is very old.
Another way to figure it out is if it has any place for motor oil. 4stroke will use normal oil, not 2stroke oil and so will have a sump and oil fill cap somewhere, but a mercury dealer will be able to inform you for sure, but im 99%sure it is 4stroke.

Remotes will be quicksilver, as will the wiring loom usually. again, your local mercury dealer will be able to supply that for you. Not cheap things usually, but so much easier than trying to do it yourself

 

I'd be well chuffed if its a 4-stroke bobber cause my old 2 stroke mercury 50 was expensive to run!!! Like running a Ferrari, but hey, lets face it, boating isn't the cheapest hobby anyway.

Funny you mention 6mm ply cause I just went and bought that very stuff for my side panel cuts.

My engine is definately not the youngest but hey my 2 stroke merc 50 ran like a puppy and she was about 20 years old. I did however notice that this six cylinder 115 has a distibuter cap which my old engine never.

Hey once i get stuck in and get my hands a bit more grubby im sure i'll figure it out.

I have a slight problem with my trailer, i notice that the rubber V-pole where the bow normaly docks has been snapped off , I have no idea how but will have to investigate where to buy a ne wone and have it welded back on.

It's all good, im well excited about gettin back in the water this year!!!!

Many Thanks

Stan

 

Most interesting. I would like to see some pics guys! Would you post a few?

 

I have some pics but how do I post them?

 

I have now established that the boat is a two-stroke I hear good things and bad things about them but its the economy im most worried about. I ordered the manual for it over the net so ill see that in a week or two. My floor is completely rotten and will need replaced. Any help with designing or information regarding materials would be greatly appreciated.