85 cig flat deck restoration

[Wreckdoctor]

bought my first cigarette this fall, its a 1985 flatdeck, came from the chicago area. the motors are built 468's with trs drives. pretty much everything was original on the boat. its in my shop now with interior out, sanded down and getting ready to be all white soon, then get started on the graphics. took some of the stuff off that i didnt like, air horns, front spotlight, center rail, older clamshell vents etc. nothin wrong with the oldschool items just not my taste. i will try to keep the post updated with progress as it gets done.. first project of this size. going to go with newer style graphics, and update the interior with silver carbon fibre look material like the new cigs have. motors are good, just needs exterior cosmetics done...... :eek:

[Wreckdoctor]

in the shop gettin started sanding off the original hockey stick graphics

[Wreckdoctor]

interiors out, man what a pain some of that stuff was!! interior headliners were real fun gettin out that dang little door!! :ack2:

[Wreckdoctor]

stripes , are gone! good times right there sanding those off!! sanded with 180, then 220 then went over the entire exterior hull with 320. fixing any imperfections and filling any holes from exterior items that we took off. the windshield was also a real joy to remove, cigarette really gives you your moneys worth of stainless bolts on these things!!

[POWERPLAY33]

Looks good! I really really wanna paint mine just don't have the facility.

[Buoy]

I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Myself, I like the hockey stick paint-job on that hull.
It's a pretty iconic look, and personally, I could see doing a restore, but I'd go back to original, or at least a variation of original.
But that's my personal preference.
None the less, great looking boat, and I look forward to seeing your work on her.
Please keep the posts up!:cheers2:

[Chris]

interiors out, man what a pain some of that stuff was!! interior headliners were real fun gettin out that dang little door!! :ack2:

A few ratchet straps around them will curl them enough to get them back in.




Myself, I like the hockey stick paint-job on that hull.
:

Cigarette called that paint scheme "Latchkey".

[38flatdeck]

stripes , are gone! good times right there sanding those off!! sanded with 180, then 220 then went over the entire exterior hull with 320. fixing any imperfections and filling any holes from exterior items that we took off. the windshield was also a real joy to remove, cigarette really gives you your moneys worth of stainless bolts on these things!!what kind of primer & paint are you using ?

[redhotsommer]

Was that the Dirty Baby?
I'm so glad somebody picked that up and is giving her the treatment she deserves! Great job!

[glassdave]

A few ratchet straps around them will curl them enough to get them back in.





lol . . . . sounds like experience right there

[Chris]

Yeah.

Reminds me- I have a boat floating around out there somewhere. Anyone seen it? ;)




I'm travelling- I'll come see you next week.

[chrisk]

cool project! - can't wait to watch the progress

[glassdave]

Yeah.

Reminds me- I have a boat floating around out there somewhere. Anyone seen it? ;)




I'm travelling- I'll come see you next week.

according to ancient folklore there is one in the area lol.

just let me know when, i will be in St clair a few days early next week. Not sure which ones but am going up this weekend and spending a few days taking care of some stuff. Should be back by Wednesday at the latest (hopefully Monday or Tuesday though if i can help it).

[phragle]

Let me know when your out here too..we should all get lunch or a barley pop.

[glassdave]

Let me know when your out here too..we should all get lunch or a barley pop.

sounds good. hey what are you doing this weekend? We're heading up to StClair for a snowmobile fun run type thing and we're taking Keelhaulin'.


By the way sweet flatdeck project! What kind of graphics are you going with? I saw 38flatdecks on the run in MD. Pictures do it no justice, it is a fantastic piece.

[phragle]

studying..exams next week

[Wreckdoctor]

Well, on paint and primers I'm using a brand that has just entered the Midwest market recently, parent company is valspar, the automotive refinish division is de beers. So far I love it. I have always shot sikkens on all my boat jobs and been using it in my shop fir 15-20 years. I have had problems in the past with basecoat wrinkling off the sealer if you put more than a light coat of sealer on, even after book flash times. But loved the debeers sealer, no problems whatsoever. Base layer down flat as heck, loved it. The boat is going to be based white, with different shades of candy blues, black, silver, and some lime green highlights, with quite a but of drop shadowing and airbrush work. I'll try to post pics as it develops.

[glassdave]

cool



Wreckdoctor if you need some blank graphic templates for the FD i have them in pretty much any format and would be happy to send them.

[Buoy]

Cigarette called that paint scheme "Latchkey".

Hmmm. Never heard that before.

[Wreckdoctor]

cool



Wreckdoctor if you need some blank graphic templates for the FD i have them in pretty much any format and would be happy to send them.

that would be awsome, ive hand drawn some up but im sure yours are much better than my chicken scratch... lol by chance did anyone see the outerlimits at the miami show? the blue one. anyways im going to kinda base my design on that idea/scheme. really liked those lines they used, made it look really long..

[Wreckdoctor]

38 flatdeck, your avatar looks nice, do you have any pics of the boat in the avatar? like those colors alot!!

[Wreckdoctor]

Was that the Dirty Baby?
I'm so glad somebody picked that up and is giving her the treatment she deserves! Great job!

it was dirty baby, out of chicago area.

[ufix1]

Darn , than you re the one who got it!!!!!!!! We were looking at that!!

You have an awesome boat mate!!!!!!!!

[38flatdeck]

38 flatdeck, your avatar looks nice, do you have any pics of the boat in the avatar? like those colors alot!!yes check on imax images & sharkeys from the cambridge poker run

[Wreckdoctor]

well, progress is slow as it always is in the paint industry.. lol but its comin along, its white, stripes are layed out, you can kinda see the bottom stripes are gonna be rips then straight lines with a fade from blue to white above the stripes., then on to the top deck. interior is done, waitin on the painter... me..haha

[cabana1]

very cool indeed, Sometimes painters are slow; thats why years ago I picked up doing my own custom paint :)

[Wreckdoctor]

lol unfortunatly im paintin this one ... haha only myself to blame..

[cabana1]

lol unfortunatly im paintin this one ... haha only myself to blame..

ha ha well I know that feeliing also, sometimes i drag my feet too

[Offshore Ginger]

lol unfortunatly im paintin this one ... haha only myself to blame.. Cool, keep the pics comeing .:driving:

[TomZ]

Love the old Flat Decks especially when they've been modernized!

Keep the pics comin'!

TZ

[Wreckdoctor]

well its finally done, ere are some in the process pics to show the steps i took doin this one, all in all it turned out pretty cool, looks great on the water. the thing is a wavecrusher on lake of the ozarks. here ya go

[Wreckdoctor]

some more during the paint process, this one took a while. the cig logo was quite the pain, these pics are before the drop shadow.

[Wreckdoctor]

now for some drop shadowing, each logo took a few hours of airbrushing to drop shadow, my wrist were worn out after these. but it really gives the letters depth.

[Wreckdoctor]

now for the clearcoat, this was by far the worst part. four gallons of clear later , im slowly regaining feeling in my arms from stretching and holding the spraygun!! lol

[J-Bonz]

WOW. Looking Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wreckdoctor]

and the finished product,what an awsome ride this thing has, lake of the ozarks has some of the worst water around, this thing crushes 5 footers like they arent there. love the ride, and love the look, my friend blake ended up buying the boat before i was done with it, its hard to pull into a bar or resturant without someone comin over to look it over. still kickin myself for sellin it sometimes!!!! lol

[BBB725]

Thanks for sharing

[Bobcat]

It looks great on the water.

[redhotsommer]

WOW! Looks absolutely awesome! Nice job...and no, you shouldn't have sold it! ;)

[imco offshore]

that thing is awsome,,great job,,my all trime favorite boat,,

[MILD THUNDER]

Great Job! Looks great. Those Flatdeck 38's sure do eat up rough water!

Did you change anything with the engines/drives? I have 3 buddies with 38 Flatdecks i boat with. One of them we are repowering with some 800HP mills coupled to 3A drives. Should be a 80+mph wave crusher.

[rschap1]

VERY nice job on the CIG

[MrCig]

Looks awesome we did quite a few Poker runs with Bill and the Dirty Baby on Lake Michigan in the past. Good luck to your buddy and you should of kept it. LOL

Mark

[MILD THUNDER]

and the finished product,what an awsome ride this thing has, lake of the ozarks has some of the worst water around, this thing crushes 5 footers like they arent there. love the ride, and love the look, my friend blake ended up buying the boat before i was done with it, its hard to pull into a bar or resturant without someone comin over to look it over. still kickin myself for sellin it sometimes!!!! lol

If you enjoyed the ride thru the loto chop, you should bring that baby up to Chicago when we get a nice north wind and really let it eat.

Been in a few fast v-bottoms. My favorite boat ride is still riding in my buddies 38 flatdeck along the western shores of michigan in some real 4-6's. Running with a couple 35 Fountains, a 42 Fountain, and a 36 outlaw. My buddy cruised along side with them around probably 50mph or so for about 10 miles. Then he let it rip and really let the heavy old cig do its thing. Running thru that $hit at 65-70mph in that boat put a huge smile on my face. Its days like that you are happy you have IIIA drives in that boat with blower motors in front of them. Needless to say, we arrived first to our destination that day. :hurray:

[old377guy]

very nice

[poncho]

Very sweet. Hopefully my "project" that took too much money and time this last summer, will return enough that I'll be able to swing something simular this spring! Thanks for sharing!!!

[Wreckdoctor]

The motors were mildly built 468's around 500 hp. Turning tts drives which were replaced with remans, boat ran great all summer. Would love to run Chicago someday, hear it's great boatin!

[redhotsommer]

If you enjoyed the ride thru the loto chop, you should bring that baby up to Chicago when we get a nice north wind and really let it eat.

Been in a few fast v-bottoms. My favorite boat ride is still riding in my buddies 38 flatdeck along the western shores of michigan in some real 4-6's. Running with a couple 35 Fountains, a 42 Fountain, and a 36 outlaw. My buddy cruised along side with them around probably 50mph or so for about 10 miles. Then he let it rip and really let the heavy old cig do its thing. Running thru that $hit at 65-70mph in that boat put a huge smile on my face. Its days like that you are happy you have IIIA drives in that boat with blower motors in front of them. Needless to say, we arrived first to our destination that day. :hurray:

Only cuz I let you! Remember...Leo and I were beating the pants off you guys before we had to stop while the others collected pieces of their boats...

Ryan better have those bigger blowers next year to stay out front of the red hot sommer...

[insanity]

Very impressive indeed. Paint looks glass smooth in a couple of those pictures, and I love the blue/lime green. Awesome job.

[Donskihp]

I like the changes you made. The work on the logo is incredible. What did you do to the interior,how about some pix.

[Wreckdoctor]

i dont have any interior pics, the interior was redone in mainly all white reusing the original seats , cabin was done all white as well. the dash was in pretty bad shape, gauges, trim etc, so that is a winter project, im making custom dash panels out of aluminum that will be ground and painted with transparent candy blue to look anodized with new gauges, wheel etc. attached is a pic of one of my aluminum jet boats that i painted this way, the dash will look like the blue in this picture...

[Dunbar 104]

i dont have any interior pics, the interior was redone in mainly all white reusing the original seats , cabin was done all white as well. the dash was in pretty bad shape, gauges, trim etc, so that is a winter project, im making custom dash panels out of aluminum that will be ground and painted with transparent candy blue to look anodized with new gauges, wheel etc. attached is a pic of one of my aluminum jet boats that i painted this way, the dash will look like the blue in this picture...

Is that the one with the v6 vortec?

Did you polish it before you painted it?

[Wreckdoctor]

Is that the one with the v6 vortec?

Did you polish it before you painted it?

Lol, nope, that one had a 500hp 400 small block with a 300 hp shot of nitrous. Fun little offshore Jon boat!!!! :cheers2:

[MILD THUNDER]

Only cuz I let you! Remember...Leo and I were beating the pants off you guys before we had to stop while the others collected pieces of their boats...

Ryan better have those bigger blowers next year to stay out front of the red hot sommer...

Were you sippin on some sailor jerry that day?? I remember us leaving last in the 38 Cig from south haven, due to us having to load all the coolers (andy...) and we had to play catch up for several miles...then we proceeded to humor you guys for a while....then once Ryan got tired of pu$$yfootin around, he laid in it. Then we took a sweet lead..Now this is coming from a Fountain owner!

It was one of those RARE days where a cig can outrun a Fontane! :sifone:

[redhotsommer]

I LET him go...my crew was scared enough as it was. Next year...no mercy. ;)

Oh...and give the old man a call..he's been trying to reach ya...

[MILD THUNDER]

I LET him go...my crew was scared enough as it was. Next year...no mercy. ;)

Oh...and give the old man a call..he's been trying to reach ya...

I sure hope next year the driver isnt the scared one on the boat! Its gonna get interesting next year with the new 14-71 intercooled 605CI mills going into the Flatdeck..:boobflash:

[Magic Medicine]

If you enjoyed the ride thru the loto chop, you should bring that baby up to Chicago when we get a nice north wind and really let it eat.

Been in a few fast v-bottoms. My favorite boat ride is still riding in my buddies 38 flatdeck along the western shores of michigan in some real 4-6's. Running with a couple 35 Fountains, a 42 Fountain, and a 36 outlaw. My buddy cruised along side with them around probably 50mph or so for about 10 miles. Then he let it rip and really let the heavy old cig do its thing. Running thru that $hit at 65-70mph in that boat put a huge smile on my face. Its days like that you are happy you have IIIA drives in that boat with blower motors in front of them. Needless to say, we arrived first to our destination that day. :hurray:

One of the best boat rides ever. Even running hard the drives hardly came out of the water!!!:cheers2:

[Magic Medicine]

Only cuz I let you! Remember...Leo and I were beating the pants off you guys before we had to stop while the others collected pieces of their boats...

Ryan better have those bigger blowers next year to stay out front of the red hot sommer...


I LET him go...my crew was scared enough as it was. Next year...no mercy. ;)

Oh...and give the old man a call..he's been trying to reach ya...

Come on Mike, lets not talk crazy. That Cig eats up the rough water. I drank beer the whole was there in 4-6's and never spilled a drop. Your boat is going to be fast next year but nothing like a flat deck Cig is big water. I bet the next story your going to tell is that you can pass me on a snowmobile trail:rofl::rofl::sifone::cheers2:

[Magic Medicine]

WOW, love the paint!!!!!! Nice job wreckdoctor!!!!!!!