1972 Caravelle Tarpon Restoration Project
A typical Cathedral Hull design of the 70's. This is a 15.5 foot bow rider with a built in fuel tank and mono cable steering. Originally outfitted with two folding lounge seats it will carry 6 adults seated. This boat is not rare, there is another one just like it in the water less than a mile from where I live.

The hull of the '72 Caravelle Tarpon in the front yard - June 1996.
Nearly a year into the project the top has been removed and the transom replaced.

I was given this boat nearly 10 years ago. It was a cast-off from another restoration project being done by my brother in-law. He purchased the boat only for the trailer and motor. Once he had removed the motor he made a gift of the hull to me. It is cheaper to give a boat away than to scrap one! I was not particularly interested in putting it in the water at the time so it sat neglected in my back yard for 5 or 6 years. At first it was covered with plastic but after a few years the ultra-violet in the sunshine disintegrated the cover. By the time I paid any attention to it again it was part of the overgrowth from the vacant lot next door.

Project Year 1 - 1995
I needed to move the boat from it's parking place in the back yard so that new septic fields could be installed. We trailed the hull to our community marina, still complete with floors and two sets of seats, put it in the water and tied it up in a slip to await the completion of the septic construction work. A small mounting hole in the transom under the water line went unnoticed to us, but not the lake! By the next morning the hull was sunk, being held off the bottom only by it's flotation. A small submersible electric pump was used to raise her and the hole was plugged. The seats which were already in bad shape were a total loss and discarded. The Tarpon sunk one more time that summer before she ended up in the front yard where she sits in the pictures below.

That fall we decided to repair her. I began removing rotted wood from the floor. My initial estimate was that only about 1/3 of the floor deck needed replacement. It had been repaired before but the job was not done well. As I removed more and more wood I realized the entire floor would need replacement. By this time it was time to quit for winter. I built a beautiful blue poly building smack dab in the middle of the front yard to protect the hull from further damage. It's a good thing I live in a lake community where covered boats abound in the winter.
 

Project Year 2 - 1996
Early in the spring of 1996 I decided to split the hull and remove the top after discovering that the transom was also rotten. My son Matthew, then 5, had a great time operating my electric screwdriver as we stripped her of all of the rub rail, hardware and windshield. Soon the top was removed and placed on horses in the back yard while the hull remained out front. I began a serious campaign of removing all of the wood from the hull. Some came out in handfuls while other pieces required a crowbar and muscle! I was able to salvage enough of the wood to make patterns for the new parts. The fiberglass covered transom, floor and stringers were cut back using a Dremel Tool with a fiberglass cut-off wheel leaving a flange of fiberglass to attach the new parts to. All of the wood with the exception of the keel was removed from the hull.

These pictures were taken just before the new deck was placed.
The new transom, stringers and floor braces are in place and covered with resin.
The new transom has been attached to with fiberglass mat and resin.

Stringers and cross braces are 1/2 inch marine plywood. 1x2 Pine is attached to thicken the edge.
Center beam is 2x2 treated pine. Two sections are spliced together to create the length.
Decking is 1/2 inch marine plywood. Transom is laminated from 1 inch and 1/2 inch marine plywood.

The deck is composed of six sections of 1/2 inch marine plywood.


All of the deck sections are in place and screwed down. My son Matthew (5) supervises.

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