week 6-7 pictures

New Spar and Sail plans

Removing part of the old floor member to access the rusty keel bolt.

The old floor is gone with the remaining keel bolts in place.

The old, very rust worn, keel bolt.

Marking the keelson.

Using a Japanese saw, the aft 3.5' of the keelson is cut out, with it come 4 keel bolts all broken.

The Mahogany keelson.

The space where the keelson attaches to the horn timber all cleaned out and the old keel bolts removed.

A new floor is made and cut to fit.

Some epoxy repair on the STBD side hood ends.

Some areas noted here where there was fastener failure. Another 100 new Bronze #12's were put in the boat over the last two weeks!

Pasquel stops by to help reef out the old cotton and caulking (in most cases 5200!) under the water line. Some of the exposed seams are very wide.

The new Sitka Spruce mast and gaff boom that Eric found at Beetle, Inc. on the cape.

Three new backing blocks are made and installed. The final frame station is finished in the background.

Some epoxy cap rail repairs.

And some wooden cap rail repairs.

Week 5

This week was spent focusing on the broken frame repairs and cleaning up the floorboards. We've decided to sister the frames that are most seriously needed repair and choosing to neglect those that dont pose an immediate threat. There are 12 frames out of the 16 I had originally said need to be repaired that I will focus on this and next week.

A pattern is made out of 1/4 plywood to the shape of the hull next to the frame in question. This pattern is transferred to a beautiful piece of white oak and cut out on the jig saw. After a few fits here and a few cuts there, the new sister begins to take shape. Some of the more baldly broken frames will require two sisters. You can see a couple of these in the photos.

While waiting for some oak to arrive from Boston, I got busy cleaning up the old floorboards that Eric Holch had removed prior to my arrival on this project. Most of them are pretty badly weathered, but once scraped and sanded down, they dont look too bad. There are a lot of parts and pieces that go with them, and some of these smaller pieces, such as the adjustable foot rest brackets (we're not sure these are original) will need to be replaced.

As a small side project, I began inspecting and cleaning up the seams around the hood ends that are popping out as well as the broken plank section on the STBD side. There is one hood end AFT on the STBD side that is going to require quite a bit of pressure to get back in place, and I think a wedge will need to be driven in to hold it in place while new screws set in epoxy. As for the broken plank, I should begin work on cutting out the broken piece either next week or the week after. Stay tuned.

Week 5 pictures

Beginning to strip and sand the floorboards

All of the sole beams are removed

And labeled

A shipment of White Oak arrives from Boulter Plywood

Frames are cut out from patterns made earlier

The sisters are cut and fit to shape.

This frame was broken outward and holding the planks out. It was removed so the planks will suck back in.

This one got out of order and is the frame in question in the above photograph.

P4 gets new #12s!

Weeks 2-4

A lot of time was spent finishing up the scraping and sanding of the old paint on the interior. This time I was sure to remove all the floor board so I could get into the space in the bilge. I was then able to step back and get a clearer idea of where we stand with the boat. In the photographs, I added pictures of the areas of concern, namely the hood ends, the broken plank. We will get into the frame repair on the next post.

As we turned into 2012, we were lucky enough to secure a bay in Rick Kotolac's shop on Bartlett Farm Road. We moved the boat there with the help of Eric Holch and Alfie Sanford on the 4th of January. The next day, I had the trailer out from under her and used jack stands and keel blocks to stabilize her. Its wonderful having her inside a heated shop! Regardless of temperatures outside still reaching 55 degrees.

Not pictured is the work started on frame repair. A list was made of each frame that needs attention and exactly how its going to be repaired. The frames with minor breaks and cracks are going to receive a sawn sister spanning the length of the next plank up and down plus 3/4". The frame (which I believe there are 4) that are badly damaged will receive multiple sawn sisters alternating FWD and AFT of the original frame. In some cases, the old frame will be removed and a new one will be scarphed or butt joined in its place.

As a side project, I began sanding the old floorboards and getting them cleaned up and ready for painting.

The project is really moving along and I expect to have all the frames dealt with by the end of next week.

Week 2-4 Pictures

Eric Holch found the rudder and brought it by. It fits nicely.

A section of the port side was replaced some time ago. It is clearly seen here.

Hood ends at the stern popping out.

...and at the bow as well.

Here is an indication of an underwater impact that has cracked a plank in half.

The surfboat moves to an indoor shop for the winter!

Here she is properly set up on jack stands and keel blocks.