Higgins

I finished the restoration of a rare Higgins Mandalay (17'6") wood boat in late September 2016. Less than 50 Higgins are known to exist and fewer than ten Mandalays have been restored. I took photos during the restoration to document the work done to the Higgins.

This Higgins was owned by one family in Seattle for 50 years or more. They used her for water skiing shows, such as pulling a pyramid of skiers. The Higgins was is pretty good condition when I bought her. It has all the original hardware. Only of couple of pieces need to be replated. The original gauges work perfectly. I replaced the original plastic windshield (cracked) with a vintage glass windshield. I stripped sanded the bottom and sealed it with West System's epoxy and fiberglass cloth, before priming with Tuff Stuff. I painted the bottom with Pettit Hard Copper Racing paint. I replaced all the old deck veneer by vacuum bagging new mahogany veneer, using West Systems epoxy. The decks and interior pieces are primed with Tuff Stuff and painted with Pettit Sandstone. The hull sides are painted with Pettit Bikini blue. These are the original colors! I used polyurethane spar varnish on the brightwork.

I degreased the bilge, cleaned and sanded to remove the old bilge paint and gave her three coats of paint. I replaced the engine beds with black locust and replaced the plywood stringer plates with new okoume marine grade plywood.

The original upholstery is in great condition.

The 1960 Chrysler 318 Polysphere engine (265 horsepower A-block) has been completely rebuilt and runs very smooth. The Velvet drive transmission is in good condition and it has an oil cooler. The engine was bored, boiled twice and all water passages thoroughly cleaned and descaled. It has new pistons, rings, bearings, pushrods, oil pump, oil pressure sender, starter solenoid, fan belt, timing chain, valves, rocker assemblies, valve springs, spark plugs, thermostat and gaskets. The crankshaft was polished by a company in Spokane and the head/block work was done by G&G Machine in Walla Walla. The Carter AFB carb was boiled in a sonic cleaning tank for three hours before getting a new rebuild kit. It has new dual Volvo water pump impellers and new fuel pump (Conservative estimate for the value of a quality rebuilt Chrysler 318 Polysphere is $6000). The exhaust manifolds were disassembled, descaled and inspected.

The original 30 gallon stainless steel fuel tank was thoroughly cleaned with a new fuel filter. It has a new transmission shift cable.

The trailer is a bunk style Shorelander with working lights and new tires. The bearings were serviced in Oct 2016.