Thread: Advice on Buying (what to look for)

Start searching out your local wooden boat shops (not other sorts of boat shops) and cultivate a relationship with someone who knows about clinker boats. You can also look up your local wooden boat association. There is a vintage speed boat association on the net so search for them.

My reasonning is that you NEED someone experienced with clinker restoration to look at this boat - you can't do it on your own unless you're prepared to make mistakes and wind up with a bigger repair than you expect ... it can also go the other way of course ie, it's an easier fix than you expected but that route doesn't hurt as much.

Your expert will give you good advice on the purchase but, more importantly, once you've got the thing, he'll be able to help you fix it so either way, you need that expert.

Whatever the condition of the boat, you're looking at a big job because there's just so to play with on these old boats. However, the rewards can be wonderful so it's worth going for. Don't get into it unless you're prepared for a labour of love though - the boat's better off being left for someone else in that case.

Richard

Thanks for the advice.
Get someone who knows what to look for.
Too risky for novice?
Will try to find boatbuilder with experience of wooden boats in Warnambool.
I'll start new thread to see if any one can recommend.


Nick

Clinker wouldn't be the type of boat I'd recommend for a novice to cut his teeth on, as it's one of the more difficult construction methods to repair.

Just learning how to remove a plank, without damaging it's neighbors can be daunting, particularly through the "gains" at the hood ends of each plank.

To give you an idea of the tasks involved, most are either clenched (bent over copper nails) or roved (a sort of rivet). Between each frame bay, you usually have two, three, or possibly four of these fasteners. To remove them without damaging the adjacent planking, you have to carefully center punch their heads, drill the heads, until they fall off, then using a scratch awl (or punch if the shank is thick enough) and gently push them through the planking, where they can be pulled from the inside with a pair of pliers. This just relieves the lap fasteners, not the plank to frame fasteners.

The plank to frame fasteners are usually screws or bigger roves. If screws, you can try a screw driver, but trust me it's a lot easier and faster, if you just accept that the years of paint and putty have clogged up the screw slots too much and don't even bother to try. The least damage method is to again center punch the head, drill for a bolt extractor, then use the bolt extractor to remove the screw. Roves would be removed the same as previously described.

With a plank removed in this fashion, you can use it as a template for a new one.

Another dirty little secret I've learned over the years is to skip the above steps completely and just admit I'm going to screw up the planking too much to use it as a template and cut the fasteners wholesale. The easiest way to do this is use a hacksaw blade (yep, just the blade), wedge open a lap seam slightly, enough to wiggle the blade up, through the lap. Moving along the lap with the blade you'll encounter the clenches or roves. They're thin and easily cut through by hand and this makes quick work of the planking removal. Unfortunately, it also tears up the plank to plank (lap landing area) interface pretty good.

I always assume I'm going to have to "line off" a new set of planks anyway, so I skip the delicate work.

This said, if you have many broken frames (not uncommon) which can usually be found at the tightest curves of the hull, such as the aft sections at the turn of the bilge, you don't want to remove all the planking. In fact you wan to keep as much of the planking in place as you can, because this is probably the only thing holding the boat together.

In short, make the structural repairs first (ribs, floors, stringers, etc.) and replace or repair the planking last. Secondly, as you can tell by the wordy, but relatively brief description above, it can be a tedious set of tasks on a lapstrake hull (this is what we in the colonies call clinker). These hulls are the most pretty of all the build types, it can be the lightest of all wooden methods, but is also the one that causes the most cussing and excessive beer drinking.