My Little Project - 1957 Arkansas Traveler 14' Fiberglass Boat

How is everyone doing today? Hope youre doing a little better than I am. As you must have read from the title, I am in the middle of a nice project that I have put myself up to.

Just very recently I have picked myself up a little boat off of the local online classifieds for a steal of a price. Ive been very eager to pick myself up a boat and get out boating/fishing as soon as possible. Therefore, I had jumped on this steal of a deal I found on the listings. I found a 1957 Arkansas Traveler Fiberglass boat. The shell itself is in immaculate condition. It had this tingy yellow colour to it, looked great from the pictures I saw on the ad.

As you can see from the picture above, this is the exact picture the gentleman had up as the only picture on the ad. Saying "Selling my fathers boat"

From there I was unsure if I was dealing with another youngster like myself (20s) or someone my father's age talking about their father. This boat is aged and has collectors value if in prestine shape. So the price of the ad said 150$. I had emailed the seller on the listing, no response, then a week later I had gotten a response : "I am pending pick up from someone else who wants to buy it tonight". I had then replied, how much is the guy buying it for, is he paying 150$? If so I will give you 200$ and take it myself right now. He further responded saying that he was promising this buyer the boat, so then my ambitions and hopes of getting this beauty were over! I had then responded back, "I understand this buyer is really interested in buying this boat. I am a 23 yearold who has been itching to get his hands on a nice small runabout, and this one just had caught my eye instantly for age and shape of the hull, as well as the collector value of wanting to restore it and bring her back to her beauty days. Like i said I will give you 200$ cash right now and pick it up". I had not heard back from the seller for a following of 2 days. Then I had finally gotten the notification on my phone from gmail saying he had responeded. Last thing I wanted to do was open up that email and find out it is sold. Just the luckiest email ever saying, "Sorry for the late response, I have cancelled the sale, and it is yours". That very moment I had gotten up out of my seat, paused my movie, told the girlfriend ill be right back, movie can wait, I need to go get my boat. I then drove down 2 hours to go pick it up from his house. I get there, take a quick look, chit chat with the old fella, and dont even second think it. Hitched it up, and left... Yes I already gave him the 200$ the moment I got out of my truck aha.

Now I have this boat. The motor doesnt run, it turns over. I am the slightest mechanically inclined, so I tackle the cosmetics first. Pick away at those. I gut everything, and prepare for paint. I could not stand the BANANA colour. Took the motor off, built a stand, put it in my garage. Keep this in mind, I did not get to keep the trailer that was in the ad. This is how the boat was left when I brought it home.

Following week, this was the progress I had made:

I ran out of paint, and just to find out that Canadian Tire had limited stock of the colour I had decided to go with, I bought them out the next day. This is how the boat currently is:

I also improvised and kicked into my excitement for fishing, and jimmy rigged up my own rod holders :

All in all, I am very excited and work every day to put a bit aside to my B.O.A.T funds aka (Bring On Another Thousand) so I can sit in my drivers seat and coast through these beautiful lakes teasing me every day from shore.

I hope you all enjoyed where I have gotten myself currently with my little project, with the story behind it all. Thank you to those who have read, all feedback and comments are welcome :)