Chrysler 1969 Charger 151 Refit

This really isn't a "restoration" to make this old Chrysler boat just like it was in 1969. It is a restoration to bring it back to safe standards for service, making a secure, REASONABLY nice-looking boat for the use of our family for fun, fishing, and travel on vacations.

We bought the boat for a "pretty good deal" (we paid in small payments), at the beginning of August 2005, but obviously being rookie boat buyers left us open to some pitfalls that otherwise could have been avoided by someone more experienced. The engine does not run, which we knew - it is an electrical problem, however, and one that I can resolve - at least I HOPE so. What we did not know was that in addition to refinishing the interior of the hull and refurbishing the seating, refinishing the exterior of the hull and replacing a section of windshield, we were going to find a soft, water-infiltrated patch in the transom near the water line where a previous dipstick... er, I mean owner had put outboard motor mount bolts through the hull without applying sealant.

The truth is, it is probably the only boat we will ever be able to afford, so even if it has a lot of work to be done, it is worth it to our family. My daughter asks every day when we can go out in the boat.

We'll start with a transom/floor fixup and go from there. Optimistically we'll be able to pop it in the water (after painting the outer hull) for a quick test before things freeze up around here. Over the winter, we'll redo the seating indoors and remount it in the boat in the spring when hopefully all the get-it-going-again work will be done.

We don't have a garage and I only have the basic tools, so working on the hull in the winter is not going to happen. We're also working on a very limited budget - only a few hundred dollars is available to do the whole works and that has to be spent in "small doses" over a few months.

Possible future projects will be making a boat top and installing some other parts and hardware as we can afford them, to make this boat capable of being something we can explore Canada's Historic Canals & Waterways with.

Hope you enjoy seeing me make lots of errors, and stupid predictions about how soon it will be done, as well as possibly get some ideas if you have to do something similar someday - and hopefully we'll end up with an operating runabout. I'm picking the brains of everyone who will listen, especially The Chrysler Crew guys, iboats.com, the message board from Noah's Marine in Toronto and anyone else crazy enough to tackle these things themselves.

**Just Added** An image of what we would like the boat to look like after the pics of what it looked like in the factory brochures.

One note - this is likely to take a lot longer than most people would take, even a weekender. I have a health issue which causes extreme fatigue and poor stamina. Working for an hour for me is what it is like for most people to work for 12-14 hours straight. So, if it seems to be taking a long time and there are a lot of gaps between getting stuff done - that's why.

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(Chrysler 1969 Charger 151 Refit)
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In The Meantime	Removing Finish	One Side Getting There

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