1957 FeatherCraft Ranger III / Tee Nee Trailer / 1956 Johnson 30HP

Tim

Administrator
Staff member
Long story short, we bought a cottage and were in the market for a boat. I wanted an old aluminum runabout, for practical reasons. I was drawn to the mid-60's Springboks etc, with 30-50hp motors.

Anyhow, in my searching, I stumbled across this little gem, and fell in love with the shape. I had been looking longingly at wooden boats, but of course that's about as practical for us as a birch bark canoe.

So when I found this aluminum boat that shared so many lines with the classic wooden boats, I had to know more. Found Feathercraft, and went and bought the boat today.

$400 for the boat and what appears to be the matching mid-1950's Tee Nee trailer. Both need some serious TLC, but I couldn't be more pleased with the purchase. I just learned what the trailer was in the last 10 minutes, and I'm guessing it's not often you find a 1950's boat sitting on what might be the trailer it was originally purchased with.

No history of the boat - no idea where it came from. The boat is missing some bits - notably the back of the rear bench. Couple of oddball patches right on the underside, no 'loop' for the trailer hook... but it's straight and seems solid.

More to come. Need to find an engine. Perhaps a 30HP good motor that happens to be attached to a boat I can use in the meantime ;)

20130910_194401_zpscfac6a37.jpg

20130910_194458_zpsb757d868.jpg

20130910_194503_zps00c85146.jpg
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Similar, restored versions of my boat

P1010002_zps60e486a4.jpg

P5090220_zps825b2de5.jpg
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Seriously seriously cool. So, Yamaha R1 motor?
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Turns out the 1950's Tee Nee trailer could be worth $1500+ on its own.
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

sweet pick up, been snooping around for something similar too. 8)
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Nice project, Tim. I love the tail on that boat! Are you looking to go polished like the "after" pics you found?
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Yep - first step is getting all the paint off. So I'll likely haul it to Soda Pro in Toronto to be soda blasted inside and out. Then I can turn attention to making it water tight. Needs a couple of patches, so I'll likely get in touch with Adam who has welded for me in the past. His shop does aluminum welding and is close by. I think there are two 6 x 6 inch or so square patches on the underside where it might have sat on the trailer. Cut those out and weld in proper ones - they're in an unseen area so no big deal.

Then I can put some water in it and see which rivets leak, if not most of them. There are different approaches to sorting that out. Thankfully we have fancy modern epoxies which you can apply to each rivet and get good results.

Polish the exterior, to a degree anyhow, and if the interior is not able to be completely cleaned, I'll paint the floor etc. and maybe just polish the dividers. Replace the transom wood, engine/throttle linkage, new steering, some lights....

All in all not a massive project, and I'll be doing it on the cheap. Will have to do some work on the trailer too. It's not very useful the way it sits. The boat isn't sitting properly on the rollers or anything. It might be that I have it soda blasted here, then haul it up to the cottage and do all the restoration work there in the spring.
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Nice score Tim, this will be a great boat when you finish it.
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Tim that thing is awesome! Should be a blast, I've always wanted to do a boat project.

So where did you guys get the cottage? Close-ish to home or a good trek?
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=111164992006

Bet one of our NC members would pick this up and bring it to Barbers for ya... ;)
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Very cool tim!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Sweet boat Tim. Really cool trailer too. That engine Yinzer posted would be awesome on it.

CC
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

that boat style is just wiked sexy and 57 a very good year 8)
you know you can find those ole motors at the scrapyards all day long, how cool would it be tho to use a modern, powerful, litewaite outboard and just put an ole time cover onnit
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

That motor is 20 min from me.
If you want to pull the trigger, just ask...


I'm not a real big boat person, but that is really sharp!
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

xb33bsa said:
that boat style is just wiked sexy and 57 a very good year 8)
you know you can find those ole motors at the scrapyards all day long, how cool would it be tho to use a modern, powerful, litewaite outboard and just put an ole time cover onnit

This is what I'm thinking, toss a 115 on there and scoot ;D
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Mine is older ;) but in all seriousness, that is a VERY cool boat, I love the lines on the hull. I hope to find one like that for my next project. It still looks in good shape for what it is, just make sure the rivits are not a source of a leak.
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Need to post some updates. Got a 1956 Johnson 30HP for it :D

2013-09-14141926_zps67b388f8.jpg


2013-09-14141805_zpse5f14fd9.jpg


2013-09-14141631_zpsfe68c28d.jpg


2013-09-12180949_zpsc16ffed0.jpg


2013-09-12172344_zpsc58bc57f.jpg


2013-09-14161842_zps8843ada1.jpg
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

Dude, if that boat turns out half as nice as your 650 and the bmw I have seen. And, knowing you ...I know it will.
The thing will be freakin epic.

At first look I was like WHAT THE....? But, Seeing the pics of the others all shined up...You truly have scored a diamond in the rough.
And Im the guy that could give a rats ass about a flippin boat. However, I would own one of those.

Wangofree has hands on experience using a product called "shark hide" it a clearcoat for polished aluminum. I think he uses it on trailers. But they also advertise "marine use". So you may ask him for a personal review/testimonial of the product and how it weathers.

Its available through eastwood.com

http://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html
 
Re: 1957 or so Feathercraft Ranger - model to be determined

I'm a LOOOONG way from worrying about keeping the aluminum polished :) Hoping to get the boat in for soda blasting this week. I don't have time to strip the paint by hand, and I'll end up spending a ton on stripper and associated materials to do the work anyhow. It's getting cold here and I need to get this thing to the point I can put it away for the winter and comfortably finish it off in the spring.

Ideally I'm just putting the engine on and rigging up the boat in the spring - throttle, lights, steering cables... that stuff. The 'light' work I can do at the cottage with reduced available tools and power (generator).
 
Back
Top Bottom