Tag: wooden boat

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Adding the Shiny Parts

Stainless Steel cutwater
Adding the stainless steel cutwater and rub rails really add the finishing touches.

Chrome and highly polished stainless steel are beautiful things on a Chris Craft.  They really make the boat pop.  Don’t cheap-out on your re-chroming.  There aren’t a lot of chrome shops left in the U.S.  It’s a nasty, dirty process that takes a craftsman’s eye and touch to do right.  It’s expensive, but if you want it to last, you’ve got to pay for it.

Stainless is a little easier.  It’s not terribly expensive yet, and often it’s easier to replace than to try to refurbish.  But if it’s not deformed, a buffing wheel and a little elbow grease can go a long way to making some old stainless look better. Continue reading “Adding the Shiny Parts”

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Connecting the Exhaust Pipe

The exhaust pipe to exhaust elbow can be problematic because of heat and water.
The exhaust pipe to exhaust elbow can be problematic because of heat and water.

Connecting the exhaust pipe to the exhaust elbow can be problematic for a couple of reasons:  it gets hot and it gets wet.  Oh yeah, and it needs to be air tight so you don’t end up leaking exhaust into the boat. Continue reading “Connecting the Exhaust Pipe”

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Installing the Crashpad

Crashpad really dresses up the edge where the cockpit joins the deck.
Crashpad really dresses up the edge where the cockpit joins the deck.

The final step in the upholstery phase is to install the crashpad.  Crashpad is the 1/2 round closed cell foam rubber padding applied to the edge of the cockpit.  It is best left for after the varnish work and deck seams are complete.  So now’s the time. Continue reading “Installing the Crashpad”

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Caulking the Deck Seams

I use Sikaflex 291 LOT to caulk the deck seams.
I use Sikaflex 291 LOT to caulk the deck seams.

After the varnish is laid on, but before the final coat, it’s time to caulk the deck seams.  Most of them (2 out of 3) are false seams–only there for show.  But every third one is live.  It is essential to get a good seal with the seam caulking to prevent leaks and rot.   Continue reading “Caulking the Deck Seams”

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Staining the boat

Applying filler stain to the 1949 Chris Craft 17 ft. Deluxe Runabout
Applying filler stain to the 1949 Chris Craft 17 ft. Deluxe Runabout

With all the interior work finished, it’s time to focus on the pretty part.  It’s time to finish stripping the hull, repair holes and dings, and stain the hull.  All this precedes the varnishing phase.  I use the most aggressive chemical stripper I can find (Jasco brand) and let it do the work for me.  I slap it on liberally and let it sit there awhile and eat away the old varnish.  You can actually hear and see it doing this if you watch closely. Continue reading “Staining the boat”

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Installing the K Engine

Here's the engine ready to be lowered away to its new home.
Here’s the engine ready to be lowered away to its new home.

It was finally time to put the engine back in to this boat.  Check out the post on rebuilding it and running it.  Also, Chris Craft didn’t install oil filters on these engines.  Can you believe it?  Well we did, and here’s our discussion of it. Continue reading “Installing the K Engine”

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Lapping the Prop to the Shaft

The dull gray band about the width of the key is evidence this shaft has been lapped to its propeller.
The dull gray band about the width of the key is evidence this shaft has been lapped to its propeller.

A propeller shaft has a tapered end that should exactly match the taper in the propeller bore.  Any time you get a new shaft or propeller, you need the “lap” the two to get a tight fit between them.  This fit is essential to minimize vibration and ensure the best transfer of power from the engine to the prop. Lapping is accomplished with lapping compound (Of course it is, right?).  Lapping compound is just a finely regulated gritty substance that machinists use to make metal joints fit–like intake and exhaust valves in engines, or propellers on shafts.  There’s no magic to it.  Just slather the stuff on the taper of the shaft, and then rotate the prop around the shaft in a back and forth motion.  Do this until you get a good, evenly dulled surface all around the shaft and inside the prop bore.  If you’re unsure where the high spots are, you can paint a blue chemical dye called DYKEM on the shaft.  Then scrub the prop back and forth and see where the dye transfers. Continue reading “Lapping the Prop to the Shaft”

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Fixing the Dash

The evil staple rot again! We've got to fix this before our new upholstery staples will hold in the edge of the dashboard.
The evil staple rot again! We’ve got to fix this before our new upholstery staples will hold in the edge of the dashboard.

We’ve referred to the evils of steel staples and the rot they produce in wood over time in a previous post here.  Well, that staple rot exists in the top of the dashboard too, since the crash pad was stapled to it as well.  We can either rebuild the dashboard, or restore it.  In this case, cutting out the offending strip, and gluing in a “Dutchman” will fit the bill. Continue reading “Fixing the Dash”

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How Do You Enlarge a Hole?

How to make a large hole larger? Don't run for your rasp or round file.
How to make a large hole larger? Don’t run for your rasp or round file.

The engine compartment ventilation holes needed enlarging.  For whatever reason, they were seriously undersized according to the plans, and my calculations of what is necessary for that size space.

So, if you already have a hole in the boat, how do you make it bigger?  How do you get your hole saw, or your drill bit to center itself on the hole, when there’s nothing there for the pilot bit to bite into? Continue reading “How Do You Enlarge a Hole?”

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New Ceiling Planks

New ceiling planks have to be fitted, then taken back out of the boat for staining and finishing.
New ceiling planks have to be fitted, then taken back out of the boat for staining and finishing.

Boat vocabulary can be crazy and frustrating.  For example, what do you call the planks that line the inside of the cockpit, and give it that beautiful, rich look?  Why the ceiling planks, of course.  And you thought that word meant an overhead surface, didn’t you?

New ceiling, port and starboard.
New ceiling, port and starboard.

Oh well, I didn’t really like the look of the old ceiling planks I took out.  And it was a simple matter to use the old ones as patterns and make new.  Actually it was easier to make new than to strip and refinish the old ones.  Not to mention the risk that one of the old, brittle planks might break when putting them back in.

How to hold the pieces in place while you fit them requires some creative solutions.
How to hold the pieces in place while you fit them requires some creative solutions.

 

 

The challenge was how to clamp the new planks in when fitting them.  That is often the case.  Boatbuilders as a group are some of the most creative clampers I know.