Good afternoon,

I have just become the lucky custodian of Simmonds Ski Boat No.55 which I belive is an origonal Donald Simmonds built boat.
It appears very complete and origonal with its trailer and 1700 consul engine.

It does however need full restoration with some corrosion to cure engine to rebuild and interior to make.

I plan to restore it as origonal as possible with a possible addion of a small electric motor to work as a hybrid for river trips leaving the engine for more speedy trips and skiing.
I'm new to alluminium boat ownership having owned a couple of Glastrons in the past, but used to 50s engineering having not long restored a series 1 land rover.

Looking forward to getting started on it and will keep you posted with pictures as I go along and no doubt lots of questions which I thank you in advance for helping with!

Keen to hear from any other Simmonds owners especially locally to me in North Bucks.

Thanks

Simon

Welcome, a few members have Simmonds, so someone more knowledgable might pop up here. Yours looks unmolested and has all the 'bits', if tired, so looks like a great project very worth saving. The worst issue may be making it watertight, most are 60ish years old and have been well used. Ours was terribly hacked about by someone wanting to put a Rover V8 in it, but resourceful CMBA member saved it. Worthwhile joining the association too - if you haven't already.

Thanks, I have joined CMBA just waiting for the bits to come through.

Though the flaking paint makes it look bad the hull is very straight and barely a gouge or dent on it. No sign of any cuts or mods either. There is a few rivits to sort, one dent from the trailer and a little corrosion but that is limited to two spots that I have found and around them is solid.

I guess I'll get the true view of it once stripped down to the bare hull and all the paint blasted off.

Suggest that you don’t blast the paint off.
You can buy professional grade stripper which works well but please use proper care, protection and ventilation.

Why don't you reccomend blasting it?
I had my land rover alluminium panels carefully blasted by a professional and they came up really well, they are also thinner aluminium.

I’m just passing on the advice of an expert if aluminium boats.
He believed that there is always residual grit, either the oxide or soda.
If you have experience to the contrary that’s fine and,of course, up to you.

I'm not a fan of blasting ali boats either, for the same reasons.

Thanks for the advice on not blasting, I'll have a think and see how I get on with the stripper, I bought what was sold as industrial quality before for the land rover but it wasn't great so I'll try that one on eBay, there aren't too many layers of paint on this one so hopefully it will be ok.

Synstrip is good and strong. Retail/consumer strippers have been made safer = less nasty chemicals = don’t stop so well so avoid them.
Professional strippers still function but you may need to make a declaration to the seller which is fine but you should ensure good people and use in a very well ventilated space. The active chemical, typically dichloromethane is nasty. Years ago I used it to eat though epoxy glue, it will go though floor tiles etc. Spread it on, cover with film or foil to keep the vapour in and contained then use a blade to scrape off the residue and plenty of water to clean the surface. Abrade the surface with say 400 grit, get it really clean with panel wipe. I use acid etch primer,a gain professional grade to key into the surface, epoxy primer and top coats.
Sounds easy and you may need a few attempts to get a good finish, correct materials, temperatures etc all contribute.
Good luck!

Made a start stripping it down tonight and got the engine out with my little engine crane and then on my car ramp so I can sort the trailer out. (Thought it was sensible to get the trailer usable first so I have somewhere safe to set the hull down) took the engine out to save some weight while its sat on the ramp.

Sadly found the P bracket has a crack in it,looks like it has corrded around the cutlas bearing and split it
Any Ideas if the albatross one fits as I note they have them on the shelf or is it a remanufacture job?