Wood is good.

[Torchie]

Brings new meaning to the term "loose screw"

My wife has been telling people that I'm out screwing around on her small....
Torchie

 

[forbigpicture]

^^^^^
[cl[cl[cl

 

[Torchie]

Working at getting my groove back.
Pulled the screws out of the first 7 frames on the PS.
That pic of the bent screw shows yet another reason the bottom is coming off. I didn't bend it. It came out that way.
And just for giggles a pic of what it looks like out my shop door. This is from yesterday. It is worse today.
Torchie

 

[bob w]

Along with your many skills and talents, I admire your patience.

 

[Torchie]

Along with you many skills and talents, I admire your patience.

Thanks bob.
It's kind of a Zen thing with me. Just like sanding......
I was up at 5:30 this morning and out in the shop by 6 a.m. Haven't done that in a while. I only work on it for an hour or so at at a time. It's tough on the back.
I am past the half way point on the PS bottom and so now it seems to go faster.
Just like on a car or truck build somethings just have to be done to move forward, and on a boat like this the bottom removal is probably the most tedious part.
No matter how you do it, there is a lot of screws to be removed. This also points to the reason that having a pro put a bottom on one of these can cost upwards of ten grand depending on the amount of repair work that needs to be done.
I hope to have it fully removed by the end of the week.
Torchie

 

[SkimmerBob]

Awesome project Torchie!!! You must be very patient! Taking your Name and location description I can make a good guess where you live and all i can say is you guys get that white stuf way too early and too often for me. My wife and i visited some friends the first weekend of Nov. that moved up to TC last yearand we woke up to Snow on that Saturday morning. Crazy too early.
Keep up the good work and stay warm!

 

[Torchie]

Awesome project Torchie!!! You must be very patient! Taking your Name and location description I can make a good guess where you live and all i can say is you guys get that white stuf way too early and too often for me. My wife and i visited some friends the first weekend of Nov. that moved up to TC last yearand we woke up to Snow on that Saturday morning. Crazy too early.
Keep up the good work and stay warm!

Busted !!.
We are up to about a foot and a half of snow right now SkimmerBob. I get to TC a few times a month as one of my medical team is there as well as my Daughter working there.
I spent about 2 hours on the boat today and pulled out about 150 more screws.
I am getting to the place on the PS that has the one board that had 105 screws in it on the SB side. Once it is off I am going to compare the sides for screw counts to see how equal they are.
These boats were planked by two people. One on each side so it will be interesting to compare.
Torchie

 

[Torchie]

Todays progress.
Got the chine cap removed from the port side bottom. You all may remember what a PITA the star board side chine cap was with it's 105 screws.
Well this one went a little bit faster as it only had 104 screws.
Getting closer to having the bottom planks off of the port side.
Torchie

 

[Bamamav]

Torchie, were all those screws put in by hand, or did they have some kind of power screwdriver? Did it actually take that many to keep it from warping, or were they just added insurance? Fascinating to see it coming apart, I never knew how they were put together.

I had a wood boat one time, a 1956 Fitts Falcon. Made right here in AL, it was plywood, and somebody covered it with a layer of fiberglass sometime in it's life. Heavy as heck, had a white top 50hp Mercury outboard powering it. It would pull one skier, but even that was a load for it. We just rode it mostly. Got tired of sinking money into it, traded it for a dirt bike. New owner used it a few times, then it sank in a lake! Don't know what happened, just was glad it didn't sink with me as I can't swim!

 

[dutch]

cool project! I can drool over wooden boats like Riva and Boesch and such, but since the stuff can`t be forged or welded, it`s no go for me... also, the crazy money they bring may be a problem for me

 

[DozerII]

That looks like a ton of work, glad you posted the project.

 

[bruno]

Torchie don't you ever get tired of screwing?

 

[Torchie]

Torchie, were all those screws put in by hand, or did they have some kind of power screwdriver? Did it actually take that many to keep it from warping, or were they just added insurance? Fascinating to see it coming apart, I never knew how they were put together.

I had a wood boat one time, a 1956 Fitts Falcon. Made right here in AL, it was plywood, and somebody covered it with a layer of fiberglass sometime in it's life. Heavy as heck, had a white top 50hp Mercury outboard powering it. It would pull one skier, but even that was a load for it. We just rode it mostly. Got tired of sinking money into it, traded it for a dirt bike. New owner used it a few times, then it sank in a lake! Don't know what happened, just was glad it didn't sink with me as I can't swim!

Not put in by hand Bama. In old CC tool manifests it shows Black and Decker electric screw drivers. Even back into the 30's. I have seen pics and they are quite large.
At one point there were hundreds of small independent wooden and fibreglass boat companies in the US. They use of plywood vs planking made those small out board boats much cheaper to produce. Most were usually under 18".
It is not unusual to find old wooden boats glassed over. It was a cheap alternative to keeping them floating.(At least for a while).

The question in regards to the amount of screws in this particular board has been talked about on other forums. Really no structural need for that many screws. In fact, they probably made it weak. The new one will have far less.

cool project! I can drool over wooden boats like Riva and Boesch and such, but since the stuff can`t be forged or welded, it`s no go for me... also, the crazy money they bring may be a problem for me

You are right about the price dutch. This stuff isn't cheap. A lot of the restoration costs in these is ate up in labor hours. Rule of thumb is that for every foot of boat length you are looking at $1000-$3000 in restoration costs depending on the amount of repairs needed and weather or not you do it yourself.
Torchie

 

[Torchie]

Torchie don't you ever get tired of screwing?

[cl [ddd
Torchie

 

[Torchie]

That looks like a ton of work, glad you posted the project.

Thanks DozerII.
Not exactly a car/truck project, but it still helps to keep the juices flowing being able to share my progress. This is all pretty much standard stuff on the wooden boat forums. I thought that posting it here it might give a glance into some of our groups other interests.
I am glad that the gang seems to be enjoying my screwing around.
Torchie.

 

[Torchie]

Getting there....

First row of outer planks pulled off the port side.
Everything marked up for future reference as these old planks will be used as patterns for the new ones.
You can see how little is left of the OG canvas liner between the plank layers.
My goal is to have the rest of the bottom off by tomorrow.
Torchie

 

[Torchie]

Met my goal of having the rest of the bottom off by today.
Time for clean up and to get set for the next step.
Torchie

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Still watching. What's the next step? [S

.

 

[Torchie]

Still watching. What's the next step? [S

.

Now that the bottom is totally off I can get a better look at all the frames Dr.
If you look close at these pics you can see a couple of main frames that were cut away to make room for the Ford big block that was stuffed into this boat at one time.
And many of the frames also have cracks running the length of the fastening edge. All the screws were put in the same (or close too it ) grain line so they cracked.
My thoughts at this point is that all the Frames will have to be replaced so I will be getting my band saw out of storage.
I also need to make the hull stationary so I can level and square it and make sure that it stays that way when I start to remove the frames for replacement.
Thanks for checking in....
Torchie

 

[Bamamav]

Starting to look like Gibbs' basement!