1992 Quicksilver Dinghy

Sorry, but I haven't saved pictures of my projects.

So, here is a list of the projects, accompanied by a few comments:

• The Land of Dead Boats
  My old marina had this section for long term storage ... really long term. While walking through it, I came across this abandoned Quicksilver. Through the excellent work of the Ohio DNR, I was able to track down the owner through its OH numbers. The owner had long since stopped boating, and actually thought that the dinghy was lost. Long story short: He sold it to me for $1.00.
• Clean it
  The pictures show how we found it, full of crap etc. But the valve covers still held air, though the inflatible dinghy did not hold air for long. Cleaning took a long time because so much mold had attached the materials (days of cleaning).
• Patch holes
  Dinghies are typically made from one of two materials, hypalon or PVC. Ends up the Quicksilver dinghy is made of PVC. So I picked up a patch kit for PVC materials. 5 patches later, and she holds air for weeks and weeks.
• New Floor
  Surprisingly, the floor of this dinghy is made of wood. Well, it's rotted and nasty, but there is enough there to use as a template. So, I get some "marine plywood", cut out the three pieces that make up the floor, polyurethane the heck out of the wood, and we have a new floor. Lucky for us, there are metal (aluminum) braces that hold the floor together, and they were still in the dinghy.
• Test Drive
  My youngest and I take it down to the Olentangy River, fill it with air, and hop inside for a quick "does she float?" test. And it doesn't. We had some leaks around the transom.
• Transom "repair"
  This was a hard project. It's hard to get the PVC to adhere to the wood of the transom. We stapled it on tight, and used an adhesive. It held and did not leak.

The Quicksilver is a nice dinghy but we ended up with two dinghies, and the other one is nicer (long story). So, I put the dinghy up on Craigslist for barter for a large touring bike. A week later, I get an email and trade it for an 82 Honda Goldwing.

I wish I had 'after' pictures. It really turned out nice.