Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Interior Sleuth

One of the intentions of the Michigan trip was to purchase lumber, but quality supplies were low.  After some discussion, it was suggested we buy the interior kit.  Two ladies who used to sew the original interiors for the factory now make the kits sold thru A&A Marine.  When the Century plant closed in Manistee, the ladies were able to acquire the original Century patterns.  They also have access to the original die-electric stamping machine to make the embossed Century logo on later model boats.  With the kit purchased, we just needed to figure out the original interior colors if possible.
The interior was redone and “re-styled” in mustard yellow and white.


The stripe in the center should be narrow and vertical, matching the king plank as shown in the drawing from the original sales literature.  Also, the seat bottoms should be three individual cushions, not one-piece bottoms, and some sort of end cushions possibly?



Careful removal of the coverings revealed the original tan and cream colored upholstery still present under the incorrect recover job.


The original covers were dirty, stained and faded, but a protected area of the front seat back was found and sent to A&A Marine to match for the kit.  A noticeable color change between the exposed and un-exposed area is clearly evident.



Also, piping is not evident in the seam between the colors, nor was it removed during the recovering.  The original seams are tight and the backside of the seam reveals no remnants of piping being cut off.  The ceiling panels and crash padding are the original material that has been painted and are originally tan as well.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Traveling

I visited a friend in Michigan Oct 28 thru Nov 5.  It was a working vacation, learning from the best in the boat restoration business.  It was a great trip and I learned a lot about wooden boat restoration.  While there, I got to visit A&A Marine and rummage thru the parts storage area.  I purchased the self-bailer assembly, missing from the Sea Maid.


The thru-hull fitting has a flapper that faces aft.  When the boat is moving forward the flapper opens and allows the siphon tube to draw out water from the bilge.  When moving slowly or backing up, the flapper closes to keep water from entering the boat.


The siphon tube sits just above the inner bottom and is held off the bottom by four feet cast into the end fitting.


Even though when restored the boat will have a true “5200” bottom with an inner ply and planking, the self-bailer will be installed for originality, along with a 6-volt Lovett bilge pump just in case of an emergency.