Week 13-14

It felt really good to get the salvaged pieces of centerboard trunk re-attached to the new mahogany keelson we put in.  Again, I glued the salvaged pieces together with the added security of 8" dowels and a thickened epoxy mixture.  As the glued dried, I was able to begin fitting the rest of the sole beams and cleats associated with them.  In a few days, I had them all fitted and installed.  The next step was to to bring out all the floorboards and see if I could figure out their order.  It was pretty easy to find where each piece fit, since they are all unique in size and shape and after a little fitting here and there, they seemed to fit pretty well.  They were then removed and the interior was given a final sanding before the first coat of Red Lead Primer was put down.

This was about as far as I got before we were kicked out of our shop space on Bartlett Road, and after an extra week in the shop (thanks Rick!) it was time to bring her outside again.  Bringing her out into the light really revealed how much the boat had dried out in the heated shop.  Some of the seams between the planks under the water line had grown to over a quarter of an inch.  The plan was to put her in the water for a week as soon as possible to see how much those planks would swell up again.

While we debated the best course of action for launching, where we would put the boat, and wether we wanted to wake up at 5am on saturday morning for the high tide, I was able to get a few more coats of primer on the bare sole beams and thwarts.  A new oak thwart was made to replace the one which had broken and an 1 inch cleat was glued onto the top of the centerboard box to take up for the salvaged wood shrinking.

We settled on a 5:30pm launch time on Friday and Alfie met me down at the launch ramp with Mike Pierce's boat to pull her over to the yacht club where she would sit for a week.  She filled up with water right away which posed a small problem for getting her off the trailer, but after a little tug from the motorboat and a little muscle from me, she was pulled off without a scratch.  Alfie towed her to the yacht club with about 4 inches of freeboard and I met him over there and tied her up to the dock where she would sit safe from wind and weather for the next week.  I noticed tighter plank seams by the next day, and after a week, most of the boat had swelled up nicely.  There are a couple areas with some minor gaps, but overall I am very happy with the outcome.

I put her on the hip and towed her back to the launch ramp where Pasquel met me with the trailer.  It was more difficult getting her back on the trailer then it was getting her off, but with the help of 4 bilge pumps and some tricky trailer work, we were able to get her most of the way up onto the trailer and out of the water without putting too much stress on her.

Now that she is out of the water again, we will begin the process of putting new cotton and oakum in her seams and sealing them with seam compound.  I have two more weeks before I leave to go sailing on the IMPALA in the Mediterranean and I hope to get most of the boat put back together and painted as much as I can.

Week 13-14

Gluing up the rest of the centerboard box with epoxy and bedding compound

One side complete with clamps keeping pressure while the glue sets off

The port side gluing up with most of the new sole beams in place

Once the beams were finished, I brought int he floorboards to make sure everything fit.  A little tweaking was needed here and there, but overall it looks pretty good.

Floorboards and beams removed for painting.

I moved the boat out of our shop after getting an extra week to work inside

1 coat of red lead paint below the sheer clamp

A little cleat is added to the top of the centerboard trunk and another to support the new oak thwart.

Here is the new thwart prepped and ready for primer

beams and thwarts getting a coat of red lead primer

The surfboat is launched at high tide with the help of Alfie Sanford on the motor boat

She is floated away from the trailer

And towed over to the yacht club

Where she sat for seven days swelling up

After a week, I hip towed her back to the launch ramp noticing how nicely the planks had swelled!

At the ramp at childrens beach.  She is a little lower in the water after a week.

Here you can noticed how tight the planks seem.

Pasquel offers his help in hauling her out

and in rigging four bilge pumps 

Ready for cotton and caulking!

Week 11-12

While I waited for my new order of mahogany, our new shipment of cast bronze oar locks arrived. There are 10 rowing stations on the boat, but we ordered 12 in order to have a couple extras. They look great!

I also measured for the keel bolts and cut them out of the 3' sections of 3/8 threaded rod I ordered from Hamilton Marine. In about 30 minutes we had 25 new keel bolts cut out.

Finally, the mahogany arrived at Island Lumber and after my pal Ben Moor at Moor Construction planed them down to our finished thickness of 1 1/2" I was ready to go. Alfie joined the project for a few days and helped me measure and fit a pattern for both keel sections that we used to trace a pretty accurate line onto the mahogany for cutting. It always gives me a feeling of apprehension when first cutting into such a beautiful piece of lumber, so I made sure we had all our measurements exact before delving in. All the time spent measure and making the pattern really paid off when we first dry fit the piece in the boat and found that it only needed some minor shaping here and there to drop right into place.

I had already drilled out the keel bolt holes and with the two pieces of keelson fit in the boat, I was able to use a punch from the bottom of the boat to mark the areas of the keelson that needed to be drilled. The lumber was brought back to the shop and the holes drilled out on the drill press. With the holes drilled, the pieces were again fitted in the boat and the keel bolts fit in place. The bottom of the bolt holes were plugged up with bungs and when everything looked right, I set the keel bolts in their holes in a thickened epoxy. The next day, they were hardened into the keel, and I had the most pleasurable experience yet on the project: tightening down the nuts onto the bolts. There is something very reassuring about using heavy tools like socket wrenches to tighten new steel in an old wooden boat.

With the keel set and not going anywhere, I was able to connect the recycled pieces of the centerboard trunk that we had cut out earlier. I set in three 7" dowels into the pieces to add some security and glued them together with thickened epoxy. When dry and sanded, the insides were primed with red lead, and they were brought down to the boat for their first dry fitting. Everything lined up nicely and I look forward to getting those set in place.

This is an exciting time of the project...nearing the end and putting back all the broken pieces that have now been fixed. The surfboat moves out of our indoor shop at the end of this week and the last couple weeks will be spent getting her painted and letting those old planks swell back together.

I received some new material regarding the history of these boats. If you are up for a very interesting read, please check it out here!

Week 11-12 Photos

Our 12 new bronze oar locks arrived this week

While waiting for mahogany to arrive, I was able to cut the keel bolts from threaded rod stock

The mahogany finally arrives!

After building and fitting a pattern and using it with the piece taken out of the boat, I was able to trace a fairly accurate line on the wood.

Alfie helps me scribe the pattern

The STBD piece is fitted in place

Both pieces here are dry fit

They are then taken back to the shop to have the keel bolt holes drilled

Back in the boat, the new keel bolts are put in place

The recovered top pieces for the centerboard trunk are glued back together with wooden dowels in place to give it some strength.

The area under the keel and inside the CB trunk are primed with red lead paint and keel bolts set in the keel with thickened epoxy

The threads are left long but chopped off flush later

Here is a wide angle view of the new keelson in place.

The two recovered halfs of the centerboard trunk are dry fitted into place