Rebuild

The rebuild of Lady Kay will be a “resto mod”. 1982 was not a mind blowing year in boat/car design. One only has to look at Chrysler’s “top of the line” Dodge 600 to know what I mean. A face only a mother could love. Plus, there were a LOT of Starcraft built so I don’t think there’s a lot of historical value here. Now, I do think the hull shape does have a certain timeless beauty to it. There’s a Grand Banks fishing dory in there somewhere, both in functionality and in looks. Although I’ve never been on the water in it, I suspect the deep V will have reasonably pleasant sea keeping characteristics. This was the major draw for me to this boat. So, all in all there will be a nod to the past, but it is NOT going to be a perfectly period restoration. In fact, there will be a lot of modification. The preceding paragraph was written around March of 2020, it is now December of 2022. I’ve done some work on the trailer, but none on the boat. It’s often on my mind though. Ranging from scrap it, to sell it as is, to rebuilding it. Lady Kay V is, alas, sold again as she was too much work to keep up with and still get my other stuff done. This leaves me with this girl as my only connection to the water. So rebuild it is.

There are four options. Inboard or outboard, gas or…… electric. Getting more and more popular these days. And I’ve been dabbling in LiFePO4 battery banks in, of all places, my truck. So electric sounds cool. Inboard or outboard? Well, they make some pretty snazzy outboards these days, up to as much as 80Hp. But there is also an inboard option which allows for more DIY applications. Like a stripped down Nissan Leaf motor. People are doing really cool stuff with those….

TO BE CONTINUED…..