1962 Cruise Liner.

This section documents the restoration of a 1962 Lone Star Cruise Liner I boat.

The Cruise Liner is, tentatively, named the "носорог" (Rhinoceros)

After driving for four hours to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I met the man who had this boat for sale. (This time I got a registration for it.) One picture shows how it looked when he bought it from a man in Iowa.

He'd already torn off the wood cabin on the rear and started taking things apart. Someone had replaced the original Eaton Interceptor Inline 6 cylinder motor with a Mercruiser 165 Inline 6 cylinder motor. Nice motor, but roughly 250 pounds heavier in the rear. The added weight made the trailer balance improper for towing. Just a little squirelly going down hills. But, not too bad. I'll probably replace the inboard with an outboard later.

First things first... Everything has to be taken off the hull so that it may be restored to its original shape. Screw holes from countless drink holders will have to be filled. The motor will be taken out and rebuilt and the drive system will need to be gone through.

After a bit of research we've decided that converting to an outboard set-up may be the way to go. A 115hp Mercury would be a little less weight than the original and 35hp more.

I've taken off the plate of Aluminum that was bolted to the old transom. The old skin (underneath) looks like swiss cheese! The old wooden transom was rotted black and was removed. Instead of replacing it I'm considering building a transom of Aluminum square tube, putting new skin over it all, and adding a motor bracket to the back. This would give a little more floatation and make a nice swimmers platform too.

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