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Ok. Here's the story. Needed a beater boat to pull towables about 6 summers ago. Found this 1986 CHarger 16DL on craigslist with a 1984 Merc 150 for $1600. Took it for a spin and confirmed 58 with a handheld GPS. I don't have any pics of the boat when I bought it but imagine this: 4.5 foot homemade rusty ski pylon bolted to a 4 foot long 2x12 screwed to the floor board, homemade plywood bulkhead crudely glassed in 6" back from the dash, plywood glassed/ screwed into the gunwhales with stairway handrails running front to back to serve as "oh shit" handles, four plastic folding jon boat fishing seats for the occupants, and all painted with flat grey auto primer. A real beauty, but for $1600, I figured I could use it all summer, junk the hull, and sell the motor and recover most, if not all, of my investment. Well.....I loved the way the ugly little thing handled(I've never had a speedboat before this) and I made the mistake of imagining how the boat COULD look and BAM! Fell in love. So the boat sat for a while and decided last year it was time to make it happen. Found this forum googling "charger 16DL" trying to find pictures of other people's DL's so I could figure out how the boat interior was supposed to look. Yeah, I know, when you look at the boat's current state, the interior seems to be an impossibly distant concern, but it serves as motivation for me. Anyway, Littlecharger was very helpful and obliged me with several pics of his immaculate DL and I was on my way. I call it the snowbird's orphan because how else did a Canadian speedboat get to Central Florida? So I'm off to photobucket to post pictures. When you see them, just don't laugh. I have a vision.......or a maybe a halucination! )))))))

[URL=http://s1356.photobucket.com/user/knobbies_rule/media/original1_zps9ba06903.jpg.ht
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whadya think? pretty bad, Huh?

These were taken just as I had started. The floor has been removed, the plywood from the PO is gone, and I was getting ready to start on the removal of the rear seat support, knee boards, and transom.

Here's some more taken in the beginning:


this is with the seat boxes removed and starting to grind down to original glass:


This is with the rear seat support and knee boards removed:


Closer shot of where the knee boards were:


Other side:


This is the rear factory seat support. Managed to get it out in one piece with no damage:


OK. to remove the transom, I needed to flip the boat upside down.....


....and put on a rack to get at it.


Off to work. More pics tonight.

Steve glad to see your back hard at it...tough to believe a little DL made it's way to Florida.

Lots of help and knowledge on the board so don't be afraid to ask.

Cheers,

very cool. Keep the pics coming.

Can't wait to see the outcome ! Looks like your well on your way!

Very cool! I love a good Charger project. I would say you're right on the money with your assumption on how the boat ended up down there.

I know it looks dirty but the boat doesn't really look that bad. How is the transom well? Cracked? You're in the years of very well made Chargers...but it doesn't really look like there balsa core in there??

Keep the pictures coming...there's a few of us here that have been through what you're going through...don't be afraid to ask.

Would this have been in the years Murph was building these? If anyone's going to know that hull, I'm sure it's him...

Love the "Rack"!!!! Doubles as a covered patio when it rains!!