my shipwrecked '63

[shipwrecked]

Had this giant plan for today.... I sanded and stained the floor... "gun stock"...



Installed removeable tie down eye bolts in the floorboard too.



Then got the bright idea from Uncle Skip's truck, with the thin backboards on the truckbed wall.
This is his truck.


So I was inspired by that and decided to use boat oars.


I sanded them down so I can stain them.. I wanted to engrave them but they are too big for our laser engraver at work.

Then I remembered I had this Driftwood board I bought years ago. Was supposed to be a shelf cause it's flat on one side.

We may be able to engrave this.... or I can burn stencil into it....





It's mounted via two 1/4-20 bolts in T nuts that are epoxied into the wood.

I am going to stain the wood that gunstock color. Not sure about the Driftwood piece. It's mounted... may be over the top but it's there.

[Hunter's 64]

you could put a USCG throw ring buoy where the drift wood is... as a bumper to protect back wall and window

Danny

[shipwrecked]

I'm still sanding,,..

Exterior bed panels in 180. Interior bed panels in 180 but I put some glazing down on some low /pinhole areas.

The first cut is the slowest going. Once you get it in 120, 180 breezes thru.

My hands feel like I exfoliated 3 layers of skin off,

I'm taking the driftwood to work in morning to see if we can engrave it. I'm still not 100% sold on it being where I mounted it.

I could make an upper bed rail in wood and mount it on that.

Stained the oars first coat this afternoon. They look good.

[shipwrecked]

So I took the driftwood o work and used our laser engraver.





Sanded and put the same stain on it,



That's only one coat so I think it's an oak plank. The rest of these wood pieces are maple.

The name plate is too nice to put on the truck... I am gonna fill those two holes in the front panel.

[shipwrecked]

Guess what I'm up to.....



I got home yesterday at around 2pm... slept till 4am today and did a AM shift. Got home at 4pm and put a coat of varnish on the underside of the deck floor.



Put one coat on the front of my name plate too.

[shipwrecked]

Sanding never ends!

I sanded the deck, a bit to harsh on a few spots... oops...



Thinned the varnish and used a horse hair brush with even strokes,



Had an idea... around here, all the boat oars have numbers or CMCH(cape may court house- it's a town called that for real) or CMP(cape may point) or something similar on the old oars.





Lightly distressed it..



Varnish.



And a varnish coat on the floor.




Will let that dry and knock it down a little with 320 and do another thinned coat.
That's all for today folks. I am sick as a dog again for these kids coughing in my face.

[shipwrecked]

Sanded bed sides some more... more pinholes I wanted to fill so I filled them. I'm out of control...

I got tired of that around 8pm, so I sanded the bed floor a little and then recoated the varnish to smooth it down.

That's the third coat now.

[orangeRcode]

Looking good.

Gonna be so nice you won't want to put anything in the bed!

[shipwrecked]

True..... I did not dado the metal strips into the plywood cause this is only temporary.


I ended up working a 15 hour day today and when I got home, I just was sick of looking at the bird poop on my F150 FX4. Washed the cab of the 63 first and saw a few tiny rust looking dots in random spots. Will try to claybar those when I get off duty on Wednesday.

As for the truckbed sanding... it's waiting till Wednesday now. I have a few hours of work left and sealant to do. And scrub down of my garage....

80* on the forecast Wednesday and Thursday.

[shipwrecked]

I'm still sanding in what little free time I have.

Inside the bed is at 400.

Outside the bed is at 320.

[shipwrecked]

Slow going with the project the past few weeks as you know I'm in company again.

I had a few hours Friday to work on it, and start d wet sanding with 400. I previously dry sanded 400, but choose to go wet 400 instead of going to 600. I want to make sure I get enough of the sanding scratches out before sealer and color.


Got most of the inside bed done before I got shoved inside the house with a pop up thunder/lightning storm. Fell asleep on the couch cuddled with the two terrors and Saturday was a wash for me.

Today, finish wet sanding and spray sealer. I may be able to paint..... depends on my motivation, speed and the weather. Lots of wet weather headed this way.

[shipwrecked]

I got sanding and sidetracked in a good way. I decided to get my tailgate on to check for any issues and glad I did. When I bought the bed, it had a tailgate that was bent so I bought one from Dennis Carpenter and put it in primer. Looked identical down to the inch.

Sat and sat in the garage for months now and I got new hinges which were identical.



When I mounted it, it pinched and just fit terrible.



Things rubbed and pinched and chipped.

Looked at it all again from a different angle and decided to lower my hinge holes to be able to mount it correctly.

Lined up and drilled new holes.


I don't know if it came from the factory like this wrong or if previous owner did that.

The old tailgate had a half dozen washers as spacer(I completely forgot about it but pulled this pic up.)



This time around I put 5 in there since the stake pocket is far enough forward I still need a spacer.



Should I weld a close off patch or leave it?

[shipwrecked]

In sealer








Mmmm smooth!




Sanded so much my Fitbit thinks I walked 8 miles today.

Next stop..... paint... I have 5am shift so no staying up tonight to do it.

[shipwrecked]

It's a crappy wet week here in south jersey. I went out to the garage yesterday morning to get some work done, but after an hour of messing with my tailgate, and realizing the epoxy still hasn't fully cured(cause it's humid out), I just got annoyed and walked inside to surf the forum... as soon as I sat down, power went out. It stayed out for 4 hours.... I was unable to do a damn thing. The entire township lost power.

Layed on the couch with the terrors and went to work by 1pm.

Today... again really crappy out and I need to be at work by 12. Probably nothing getting done.

I walked into the garage at 0600 took one look at the truckbed sitting there and just flipped off the light and walked out.

[shipwrecked]

Here I see where my problem is with the tailgate.



Original holes were way off... used one of those holes and re drilled a lower hole to hold the hinge.

But I still hit where these red lines are.



I could weld up the current holes... taking an extra few days for that... or.... elongate the hole upward a tiny bit with my Dremel and see if that helps lift the curve of the lower tailgate upward. I could add a spacer between the hinge and the rear sill too.. that will kick the tailgate aft a little. I already ground down a few pinch areas but it isn't enough.

Frustrating.


I'm going to go sand some rear fenders or wet sand the front ones now... I need to step away from this part or I'll not get back to it for a week. Night shift today.... morning/long shift tomorrow.

[longcabjohn]

Put the rear cross piece under the side panel, should gain the space needed.



Johnny

[shipwrecked]

Put the rear cross piece under the side panel, should gain the space needed.



Johnny

. Tried that too. Still pinches in the same spot. I just tried it.

[shipwrecked]

I don't have an answer now... it got pissed, pulled the small washers I was using as a shim, reinstalled the brackets, put on the lock chains and forced the tailgate closed. Something must have been aligning the stars and moon with the purple pancakes on my roof....



It fits.... it rubs a tiny bit on the driver upper side where there is a weld hump from manufacturing, but it fits.....


But now my motorcycle won't start... trickle charging it today while I'm at work and will try tomorrow. Thinking of selling it so I have some cash in the bank when I go to move in July. Then pay off the F150 by December.

[shipwrecked]

Today just might be the day I paint the bed... time to turn 2!

[shipwrecked]

Got one coat of color on so far. No drips or runs.





Nothing's perfect but it looks good!