OK, I know... What's THIS doing on here? Well, I'm in the middle of restoring my '59 Traveller, and I thought she could use a companion when we go away for the weekend... PLUS, I haven't met an airstreamer yet who DIDN'T like FeatherCrafts. They're the Airstream of the water! Riveted aluminum construction, VERY buck rogers looking, and made in Atlanta in the 50's and 60s! So since this little project is taking away from my valuable AIRSTREAM restoration time, I thought I'd post the progress pics, etc here for all to enjoy... and hopefully infect a few of you!
David Porter got me into these things about a year ago. Here's a pic of his up at the Spring Airstream Rally in Hiawassee a few years ago... His is a Vagabond 1, meaning it has 2 seperate compartments for the front and rear seats. Mine's a Vagabond 2, meaning the divider has an opening so you can walk between them. The whole boat's only 12 feet or so long, so there's NOT a lot of room to move around either way! ha!
now... use your imagination here! THis is what mine looked like shortly after I brought it home... That's not blue paint, that's annodized! BELIEVE me, there is nothing harder to get off aluminum than annodizing... After trying several different methods, I settled on OVEN CLEANER... 20 CANS of it! It eats through the aluminum, and then you can pressure wash the residue off.. What a mess. You can't really sand it, and you definitely can't polish it! Even today, as I start working the aluminum, I run across patches where the annodized finish is still slightly there... just to keep me busy, I guess....
Julie thought I was crazy for buying it! She's probably right. I believe it was an x-Flying Boatmen boat (from knoxville). They were a bunch of x-pilots who did intricate formations in these little things on the river in TN back in the day. My boat was originally named the "Martha Sue", and apparently suffered a head on collission at some point. I can see how, if you've ever seen a video of the flying boatmen perform! it's cool!
Anyway, the colission damaged the bow. I've since repaired the nose piece and replaced the rusty screws with rivets. Here's some more pics of the mayhem...
OK, I let it sit in the yard for almost a year, until I decided to make it my winter project.. Until I get a barn, there's no sense polishing the airstream to a mirror, and I thought I'd give the boat one last chance to grip me... So inside whe went, and I got to polishing after removing most of the hardware.... Here's Day 1...
You got me inspired for sure!
I gotta get out there and get busy.
Mine has a way too big 60hp on it now.
You could see God at full thottle.
Picked up a 1959 Johnson 35 hp Super Sea Horse in Albuquerque from Ebay of couse.
It will be more timely and look better on my 1956 Feather Craft.
Mine is the dual cowl model. (non-walk thru)
Bringing the Johnson back...the senic route.
Can't wait to cruse together!
Gonna look cool pulled behind a Airstream
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Does yours have a drain plug that faces down?
Mine looks very prone to damage, and very un-streamlined pointing down.
I plan to weld it up, then put one facing rear on the transon like most boats have.
__________________ Your opinion is valued, please not your opinion of someones else's opinion.
My buddy Michael has one just like yours. The later models have a wider arm-rest type area where the deck sweeps back. Does yours have wooden seats? Mine's all aluminum, with no floatation in the bow.
I LOVE that motor! Michael's got that on his as well. I've got a '57-8 Johnson Javelin in the basement, I should probably photograph that, huh? let me pull it out of the heap of junk it's in and photo it this weekend. Got it on eBay from CA. The inside of the motor looks like it's never been ran! Original paint and everything. The cowl is a little faded, though. I'll paint it when I do the trailer fenders so I don't have to mix the gold twice.
My drain plug is just a threaded hole, nothing protrudes below the boat. Well, the spedo pic-up will, I guess. I need to take a pic of that, too.. I have a Vintage airflight speedo with a brass tube pick-up... polished, of course!
I'll see if I can talk the rest of my FreatherCraft buddies into coming up in the spring, too. That would be a hoot!
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