A “gray” boat is a boat that is suitable for patterns, hardware, or complete restoration. “Almost Gray” was a boat that was on the border. Here’s the result on the dock at Clear Lake Iowa. Starting with the almost gray boat, I spent a year working inside and out, fully revarnishing everything, putting on a new deck and deci canvas, and restoring all hardware and systems to working condition. WIth a 327 “Corvette” engine, it was my first V-8 boat which took some working on.
While fully restored, we never really got it fully sorted out or had any extended use. Kathy wasn’t really fond of it, and I didn’t really have a place to store it given the rest of the boats we owned, The month after this picture, we towed her up to the BSLOL Annual Boat Show in Red Wing with a for-sale sign. With two prospective buyers on the boat at the same time, we returned to Clear Lake sans boat.
While it was never my favorite, it remained a strong boat and restored up nicely as you can see. If I ever find the “before” pictures, I will post them here.
