Thread: Bunch of random questions????

That's not a Chris Craft Sea Skiff. I'm not sure what it might be.

The planking looks solid (not plywood), is it?

Since you remove the two engine bed stringers the hull has lost a large portion of the longitudinal stiffness, especially if the planking solid stock. This is visible in the upside down image of the hull, where the skeg shows a hollow in it, when it should be dead straight. You need to support the boat properly, to retain the shape or any repairs will just help hold the distortions in place.

It's exceedingly difficult to see what species of wood is used in the planking without up close person inspection. It doesn't appear to be Douglas fir, which is what Chris Craft used. The stringers in a Chris would be mahogany, but who knows what's in that boat.

From the little I can see, the bottom planks have split along their fastener lines at the laps, making them useless. These need to be replaced. There are "odd" repairs in the hood ends of the planks, suggesting crappy work previously. These planks need to have proper repairs scarfed in and new gains re-cut (good luck with that).

The engine bed stringers need to be fairly dense. Select a local species that has at least a 35 pound per cubic foot density. Most cypress is prone to considerable movement, which isn't good for an engine bed or stringer. It also likes to check badly, which also isn't good for an engine bed.

Sand blasting will do ugly things to the wood, likely destroying the planking and removing the tops of the fasteners too. Soda ash is a safe option as are other "soft" blasting media, but contact someone who blasts for a living if you do this, as you can quickly destroy a boat with a sand blaster in unskilled hands.

Place temporary stringers in above or below the old stringer locations, then pull the stringer pieces out for replacement. They should be scarfed together pieces of hardwood. Once re-newed, remove the temporary stringers.

If by Cypress Pine you mean the native Australian White Cypress Pine (Callitris glauca)that is highly aromatic and used for flooring and disliked by termites, then yes you can use that timber for the purpose you have in mind. Yes it will be very strong, but no, it will not be light as it has an air dry density of about 680 kg/m³.

Double that with sandblasting. Saw one person do it once. When the boat dried it was all furry wood like an indoor carpet.

I don't know what they did in the end.

But definitely don't sandblast!

Ok that allright ill go with the cypress as i have a couple of beams lying around. Probably doesnt matter as much with weight as it will only add a few kg.
It does look like the previous owner has done a patch up job as there is epoxy everywhere any other ideas on how to remove the paint????
No the planking isnt ply someone suggested it looks like meranti but still not 100% sure.

Remove the paint with chemical strippers, scraping or sanding.

I can't stress enough how badly those bottom planks need to be replaced, once the "connective" cracks appear along the fastener lines. This is usually caused by loose or broken and/or wet/dry cycling. The garboard is particularly prone to wracking and huge tension loads underway and is normally worn out long before the rest.

The wood doesn't look like meranti from the photos.

For Meranti to be at all durable it needs to be the deep red coloured heartwood. The light coloured sapwood rots out quickly when used for traditional construction and is very soft.

Michael

Meranti is not a species it is a marketing too. Meranti is random logs from rainforests in south east asian or oceania that happens to be dark in colour. We do something similar in Australia with "maple" or "rough sawn hardwood" which are the same thing from random Australian forests from the top of Queensland to the bottom of Tasmania. Maple is dried and dressed while rough sawn hardwood is usually "green" and as the man said rough sawn.

Meranti is indeed a species, in fact many, commonly of genus Shorea, though lots of things have been called meranti over the years (like melapi or seraya for example). Mik has it correctly, the light colored sap wood wouldn't do in a planking environment. I've seen meranti come in colors from nearly white, to a very dark brown, with everything in between including some with a purplish tint.

Thanks for clearing that up PAR. I stand corrected or at least slightly corrected - To put it into a meat analogy - you might not be getting prime angus but you will be getting bovine- except sometimes when it will probably be some sort of mammal. Even if it is Angus - there are some bits of a cow you do not want to eat.

Mik has it right. Go for the red coloured heartwood but give it a poke with something hard before you take it out of the shop. My limited experience of meranti has been highly variable. I have had bits that have been beautiful and almost like mahogany to work with and other bits where it has been soft and not too far off balsa wood even though it looked fairly similar to the naked eye. I just went into Bunnings and poked at some and the lighter coloured stuff was softer than the darker stuff. - Wish I had known that before

Cheers guys had a builder have a look at it the repair work looks like its been done with Meranti in the past and those sections have pretty much rotted away but the rest of the woods fine with no rot so whatever it it, seems to be pretty duarable... been sitting out in the paddock for 15 years n still good!!! Ill give it a go with the paint stripper...any certain type that is recommended as i really dont want to be scraping back n creating dust under the hull even with the right protective gear on (lead paint)!!!
I am thinking of getting the hull work done professionally by a local boat builder as i really dont have the experience n want a good/safe hull in the end. Or if there is any1 who mite be able to help me in the difficult sections on the hull that lives around the bairnsdale/paynsville area?????

I'd give James Frecheville a call at Frecheville Heaney Boatbuilders . He'd be able to look after you.

regards,

AD