Well, last summer a horrible upstate thunderstorm tried to destroy my 1984 17-foot McKee Offshoreman, but after 10 months of weekends, late nights, and a considerable chunk of my student loands funds I’ve finially got her back on the water, better than she was before, so I thought I’d post the story.
First off, I want to extend a big “THANKS” to everyone here at CF.com, y’all have really been a huge help getting this project completed, as it was a substantial undertaking.
Anyhow, the story goes…
Last July a handfull of us went trout fishing on Lake Jocassee. We wanted to go again later on in the week, so a friend of mine let me leave the boat at his dock for a few days, just as I’d done plenty of times before. As luck would have it, one of the worst storms of the summer came rolling through late Tuesday night (it was the same storm that blew the roof off some buildings at North Greenville College, if anyone remembers). Our friend called to tell me the boat was “swampped” and that we should probably head on up there. What we found was much more than swampped. The aggregate of the water being low, which prevented me from backing the boat into the slip thus exposing the back end ot the preveiling winds & waves) and the severity of the storm trashed the boat. Lots of woulda-coulda-shoulda’s and cussing later, we towed it to the ramp and put it on the trailer. Here’s what it looked like when we got it back home:
Everything, I mean everything that was bolted, screwed, or glued down was broken loose. The console, cooler seat, gas tank, floor, rear seats, anchor locker–you name it–was ripped up. The storm broke one dockline, ripped one cleat out of the dock, and ripped one cleat out of the boat.
When we found it, the console was actually laying over backw
sweet rebuild on the McKee did a great job brought her back to life in style. I am rebuilding a 14’ McKee almost done hope it turns out nice as what you did. Where did you find the McKee switch panel on the console? I can’t find one for the 14
You deserve to be proud of that job. Nice work, and now having rebuilt it all yourself you’ll understand better how everything works and where to look if you have problems down the road.
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
Great job. I always loved the look of that style of mckee. Looked for one in 1990. It was either that or the 18 Privateer. Found a privateer and have loved the boat ever since.
I’ve finially got her back on the water, better than she was before, so I thought I’d post the story.
“sweet, refurbished McKee 17”