1957 Elgin for possible restoration

Discussion in 'Wooden Boat Building and Restoration' started by tlboat, Jun 30, 2014.

  1. tlboat
    Joined: Jun 2014
    Posts: 2
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    Location: Carbondale Illinois

    tlboat New Member

    I have recently become the owner of what (I am fairly certain) is a 1957 Elgin.

    This boat was last in the water 20 years ago. At that time, it did float and the engine did run. It has spent the last 20 years in a carport.

    I am beginning to explore my options of whether to try to restore or sell this boat.

    I've included a link to pictures of the boat below and I would very much welcome any observations, suggestions, warnings or admonitions you may have.

    Pictures of the boat (copy the following link into your browser to see the pictures):

    http://1drv.ms/1oj0ZXS

    http://1drv.ms/1oj0ZXS
     
  2. Ike
    Joined: Apr 2006
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    Location: Washington

    Ike Senior Member

    Sounds like you have a real project ahead. I did the same with a 1972 Sea Ray. The best suggestion I can give is also post this on the Fiberglassics forum http://www.fiberglassics.com/ You will most likely find some one there who owns one of these.

    My project took a year (but I am retired and can work on it almost full time) and cost about......... uh lets just say a lot more than the boat is worth if I sold it now. If you are not a real DIYer sell it. If you like projects where you will learn a lot, have the money and the time, go for it. This forum can give you a lot of help with how to do things and how to check that engien to see if it is worth restoring.
     
  3. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    Location: Eustis, FL

    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Welcome to the forum.

    Is this the boat?

    [​IMG]
     
  4. tlboat
    Joined: Jun 2014
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    Location: Carbondale Illinois

    tlboat New Member

    I am not sure that it is exactly the boat in the advertisement. The shape of the bow and the seating divider don't seem to match precisely.

    Here are some pictures:
    http://1drv.ms/1oj0ZXS
     
  5. SamSam
    Joined: Feb 2005
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    Location: Coastal Georgia

    SamSam Senior Member

    It seems to be a cold molded mahogany boat covered with fiberglass. The glass should probably come off.

    In the picture showing the bottom sitting on the short trailer bunk, it shows the bottom is deformed a lot from improper support. That might be a problem to get rid of.
     
  6. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
    Posts: 19,126
    Likes: 498, Points: 93, Legacy Rep: 3967
    Location: Eustis, FL

    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Back then there were a lot of hot molded boats around. Several companies supplied these hulls for all sorts of builders. This boat looks to be one of these. Some where mahogany, but many more were birch, which was cheaper. This one looks like one of those Ashcroft planked, hot molded hulls that came out of Nova Scotia in the late 50's.
     

  7. pungolee
    Joined: Jun 2004
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    Location: north carolina

    pungolee Senior Member

    Looks like a great candidate for restoration, its been kept dry, all the hardware and parts are there, no obvious signs of rot. If you intend to re-sale the Elgin name will not carry much weight unless you run into the right person that is looking for one. The Johnson outboard is period correct to the boat and will probably run, however these motors were underpowered and sucked gas like a sieve so unless you intend to show it I would replace it with a cleaner, more fuel efficient 4-stroke in the 25-40 HP range.
     
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