Thread: The project

pics of engine bearers trial installation

#168 engine bearers looking fwd
#169 Engine bearers aft showing cross brace and shaft log

Boat now lifted of trailer. I was amazed that it came off so easily. Much better working height.
Fuel tank temp fired to check clearances and mounting points.
Also making template for rear seat bulkhead.

It's been quite a while since I reported on the progress on the boat restoration.

So this is where we are up to at present.

All the ribs were installed and fitted up nicely.
After trial fitting the engine bearers there were a few modifications that had to be made to get them to sit nicely. The modifications have to be varnished to mtch te ret of the bearers. At least I know that all the brackets all line up and will fit properly.

Since then I have managed to nail and rove nearly all the ribs. All told I think that I have done about 130 . At one stage I ran out of roves and had a real problms finding some that would match the ones that I have been using.

The brand was "Otter" unfortunately they no longer make the roves. I have been using 1/2" roves but the ones that I had purchased were cheap Chinese crap. Only 12mm and a taller rove so that there was no way that they would match.

Fortunately after many phone all up and down the eat coat of Australia I found some Australian made roves that were a close match. These were manufactured by a different company but are so close that it is not noticeable.

The temperature in Melbourne today was 40*c, by any measure a bit hot so no work was done on the boat. Saturday will see the last 25 nails and roves to be done and the that milestone will be complete.


I will then stain the top planks to match the rest of he boat. I will also apply a couple of coats of varnish to get some depth to match the bottom of the boat.

Then I plan to roll the boat back over the right way again.
The planking is Coachwood marine ply and I am considering applying a product from International Paints called Everdure inside the boat before I varnish to inside the boat.

After varnishing I will fit the cockpit sides and all the deck beams. Fiit off glue and nail off the foredeck and afterdeck plywood.

Battery on computer going flat

Will add more details later

Cheers
peter

Nice job so far, good to see some of the old hollow logs being preserved.

Regarding the Everdure, two coats are good, three are even better. It's basically only a solvent thinned epoxy and as such you can get areas where the epoxy is either very thin or non existent depending on solvent evaporation, so the only way to ensure complete coverage is multiple coats.

Harry

Thankyou Harold.
I had a look at the product in the Marine store. Didn't have enough spare cash to buy that and the epoxy putty that I needed.

So I have filled all the little dings in the bottom of the boat where the removal of the nails had torn some of the plywood with epoxy putty. Now have pink splotches all over the bottom of the boat. These will be hit with stain after sanding to try and match the rest of the boat . Not that many people will see the bottom of the boat well I hope that's don't manage to capsize it.

Also sanded and applied two coats of varnish to the transom. Removed all the crud from the bronze keel rubbing strip. It should polish up really good.

Next is the boring part, sanding, sanding and more sanding before the application of more coats of varnish.

I am going to Sydney this weekend and will get the next supply of nails and wood screws that I need for the next stage of then rebuild.

Long weekend this weekend so will hopefully get most of the sanding of the bottom of the boat done ready for some varnish mid to late next week

Cheers
Peter

So we have made some more progress.

Quite a number of nails holding the planks on the stem are/were loose so they have been pulled out, some epoxy has been squeezed under the planks and down the nail holes. The next gauge up of copper nails was hammered back into the original holes and allowed to dry.

The garboard to keel seam has been completely recaulked, this will later be sealed with 3M5200 or the sikaflex equivenant.

I have dragged the cockpit framework down from the carport roof and so far I have applied 4 coats of varnish.

Sanding of the hull has commenced with plenty of elbow grease being used. Starboard side nearly completed
I will try and attach ome newer photos.

hope these photos work

upside down 1.jpgupside down 2.jpgupside down 3.jpgupside down 4.jpggarboard seam.jpg

Photo 1 shows the boat upside down with all the nailing and roving completed and after the boat had a good scrub down.
Photo 2 shows the replaced top plank and the gunwhale.
Photo 3 shows the start of the caulking of the garboard seam?
Photo 4 shows the way that the line of the keel ha s this strange shape to it. As I have said in an earlier post it dips down. Maybe Par could explain as I have no idea?
Photo 5 shows the caulking almost complete on the Port side. The bow section was not done until the planking was renailed.

more upside down photos
Boat 1 shows boat after the top plank is staind to match the rest of the boat
Boat 2 shows stern of the boat after touchstaining of some areas and planking renaild to transom
Boat 3 shows where the caulking has been partially completed and that the sheer and next plank have been varnished to match the remainder of the boat.
Boat 4 shows a messy carport and the similar situation to the previous photo but on the Port side

finished wet and dry sanding off the Starboard side, dried it off, wiped it off with a metho dampened cloth and the I have just finished applying the first coat of Varnish.
Looks good so far.
It's a bit windy so it will probably end up with dust stuck to the surface but seeing as how it is only the first coat before I go to the port side tomorrow, and commence the sanding of that side, some dust in this coat is of little consequence.
More photos soon

Well after all the who hah about putting some varnish on yesterday, I had a good look at what I had done and was not happy.

The main body of the boat on the outside is a reddish stain of the timber. It looks good with a couple of coats of varnish on it. The top plank I had stained with a mahogany stain that looked ok on the colour card, on a sample in a small area but on the whole of the plank with a couple of coats of arnsh on it the colour looked really brown and not right in comparison to the rest of the boat.

A visit to a better paint shop sorted things out, I think. They have colour matched 250 ml varnish and stain to get something fairly close.

So this afternoon I spent the time stripping the previous stain and varnish off the top pank on each side of the boat. Tomorrow after work I will apply a coat to a small section and see how it matches. If its OK I will then do the planks and see how it looks.

Really a wasted day or so that could have been better devoted to sanding and doing the perpetration on the port side of the boat.

Transom was also sanded off ready for another coat of varnish. I will do this tomorrow morning before the wind gets up to stir up the dust.

Some days are good some days are better some are just bloody fantastic.The last two days have been he middle of the three options above. I was given some F/W red spirit based stain and from that base I was able to really closely match the original stain on the boat.After a couple of trials on similar off cut test pieces I worked out that it originally was 250ml F/W red stain with 125ml F/W Jarrah stain. This toned down the intensity of the red and is really clse to the original.So yesterday I applied two coats of the stain to the timber surfaces and today I applied two coats of Norglass Polyurethane varnish.It looks really good as matches really well. It is probably a better match on the Coachwood plywood than on the Pacific Maple. The Maple being a pinkish timber makes it look a little more red than on the Coachwood but I am not concerned as it is really so close that he reflection off the water surface will not make it too noticeable.Tomorrow I will mask the garboard plank seam and seal it with the Sikaflex sealant. Then start the wet and dry sanding of al, the planks with the aim of getting the first coat on the complete hull late tomorrow afternoon as the weather just tarts to cool off and the wind if there is any drops so that the dust is kept to a minimum.I will add some photos tomorrow

We have made some quite good progress over the last couple of days.

The stain we mixed up was a perfect match for the original. Which is really good as I was not too happy with the mahogany stain thati had applied. The effort involved in stripping the last lot of varnish off was really worth it. The colour was a great match which sets off the efforts so far.

I have been sanding and varnishing and sanding and varnishing. One more coat of the varnish and it's all done on the outside of the hull. Leave it for a couple of days to harden then turn it over and start on the interior.

I have also given the stringers another coat, one more coat and they will be ready to install. The centre cockpit/engine cover section is ready to be screwed in place. The engine bearers are also ready for installation.

Depending on work commitments over the next couple of days I will try and spray a couple of coats on the inside of the boat with it turned up the wrong way.
It would be good to get a head start on the interior before the roll over.

More reports soon.

Another quiet work day, being self employed also helps or hinders not sure which sometimes.

So home early, another coat of varnish on the stringers.
Get rid of the cobwebs from under the boat and then mixed up some varnish, got the spray gun out and sprayed 2 coats under the boat.

It sure changes the outlook of the inside of the boat really quickly.
Ttomorrow I will endeavour to get another couple of coats on the interior. Also will get another coat on the stringers.

It seems that it is all coming together nicely.

Soon the really fiddly stuff starts with the fitting off of the decking. I can see that this part of the boat is going to take almost as long as everything else but probably the main focal point of any restoration.

Today was a major milestone.
Despite the weather being fairly hot I decided to put the last coat of varnish on the outside of the boat. I had purchased a fine bristle new brush that I treated with linseed oil to really soften the bristles let it soak and then just prior to sed cleaned it out in clean fresh turps.

Wiped the hull down with a tac cloth to remove any crud. Seemed to more crud on my hands from the tac cloth than off the boat. The temperature was on the rise but there was no wind so no dust flying around.

Then set about applying the varnish. It went really smoothly and with the temperature rising it was the absolute right time. It is now 10 hours later and the boat is nice and shiny with virtually no nibs of dust on the coating.

The whole of this week is supposed to have max temperatures above 30*C which will harden the varnish nicely before the big roll over next Saturday.
tomorrow I will slip back under the with the pre varnished stringers and a whole stack of wood screws and do the final installation of these items.

That is about all that I will be able to do in a major way till the boat is rolled over, the centre cockpit sections installed.

I may start doing the machining of the mahogany for the deck if it's not too hot and if work schedule permits.
so that's all for now
peter