16ft Boesch Design Restoration

[hookster]

Better lock up your shed Damo, you've probably gathered there are a few closet Valiant queens in the club, and they're eyeing off your tow vehicle

[Damo]

Morning Jon, may as well give them the run down on it then to stop them guessing. My proposed tow car is a 1968 VE VIP Valiant that I rescued from under a patio. She has a factory 273 V8,power steering,power brakes,bucket seats and all the bells and whistles available back then.Its a Alice Springs car so it is devoid of any rust except some surface stuff on the roof showing through its originl paint. The plan is to tow the boat with my Charger until I complete a clean up of the Val.

[4541 Andy]

G,day Damon,
My "closet interest" in the Valiant marque stems back to my learning to drive days. I learned to drive in a VE VIP,all the fruit except air con.This particular car was used in my Dads business carrying spare wheels for trucks,44 gallon drums of fuel and on more than one occasion set off for Wagga Wagga with the truck gearbox in the boot seeking some knowledgable person to repair said gearbox. Come winter time, the trailer would be regularly hooked on and firewood would be carted home. A tough old vehicle which served the family well until the old bloke traded it on a new mazda 929 about 1975/6. Must have been something about the old val though because 6 weeks later it was back in the yard and the Mazda back in the dealers yard.Eventually the VIP made way for a VK regal powered by a 360,what a mean cruiser it was.

[piquet95971]

And either an LH or an LX Torana alongside keeping it company. Plenty of projects in the shed there.

We are a mad lot us boaters!

[Damo]

Good eye Peter, Yes that was my sons torana up until about 2 weeks ago as he has just bought a HZ GTS and sold the Torrie, no doubt dear old Dad will be performing any and all repairs to it but at least its registered and a runner. Now back on the boat front ,when I was replacing the centre diveder between the front and rear cockpit I chose to increase the width as it was only about 100mm wide. It is now about 300mm wide which looks great but I am hopeing like mad that the engine is still going to fit without fouling. All of these install were of oregan as that was what I removed and another blander type of timber of which I have no Idea.

[Damo]

Once all the structural items were complete I had to perform repairs to the rotted plywood on the rear of the boat. Being a novice i used the princible of joining rubber and belts together with skives as i was a Belt splicer / rubber liner about a hundred years ago it seems. Well my gamble payed off and I was very pleased with the results, as can be seen below

[Damo]

With the repairs completed I was able to fit the transom. Just a note on the way the grain was running on the repairs on the side of the hull. This edge was always going to be painted an because of the curve I thought it best to run the grain upwards. Please let me know otherwise guys as I am learnig on the run and any feedback is good feedback

[Damo]

In regards to an exhaust system all that came with the boat was a rotten piece of ali tube. In order to keep on budget I started looking around and came up with the following from JPW marine at a cost of approx $200. The answer was a pair of 2" stainless steel fuel flip lock fuel fillers. I removed the locking tab and ground away the mount. I then polished where this had been with pleasing results. I left the tang on the flap for no other reason than I like the way it looks but this can be removed easily if wanted. I also like the oval mounting flange as its more in tune with the boats curves. Here's a few pics

[Ricshaw]

Mmmm Damo,
2 fuel fillers/exhausts ,are they to suit the V8 you will be sticking between the gunwales?
Chrysler's make top boat motors.
Looks like you are doing a great job and are keeping the members well amused .
Ric...

[Damo]

Hey Ric, well being a Mopar man from way back the plan in the long run is to put in the 340 small block I have sitting in the corner cw a 408 stroker kit. In the interim I am playing with a 202 cw triple carbs and twin system but more on that later.

Damian