This is going to get worse before it gets better

The immortal words of police chief Wiggum from the Simpson's definitely applies here.

"This is going to get worse before it gets better"

while the boat looked pretty good from a distance, there is a lot that has to be removed in order to restore it to sailable condition.

I've made good progress removing the fiberglass on the boat in order to assess its overall state and get it ready for repairs/refinishing.  I've been able to completely remove the fiberglass that was in between the cockpit ribs.  Most of it came out very easily using a combination of heat gun and scraper; the only areas that adhered well were over the caulk, in between the planks.  I can only guess that either the resin sticks to the caulk better than to the varnished wood, or that there was more resin in the voids between the planks that gave it more holding power.

Here is the area under the floorboards, minus the fiberglass.

I had the heat gun set at around 300C, and would use the scraper to get things started; once I could get my hands on a section, I would pull on it lightly while pointing the gun at the crease where the glass was separating from the wood.   In most cases, the glass was laid over varnish, so it came up easily.

The area on the left has been stripped,
but that on the right has not, and
you can see the bubbling of the varnish.

In areas that did not have glass, I've also been removing the paint and varnish. Throughout the boat, there is varnish that is bubbling up, some over paint, some on wood with paint on top.  The varnish comes off VERY easily with the heat gun; basically just heat an area until the scraper can start removing it, and then continue pushing the scraper with the heat gun an inch or two ahead.  it comes up like butter, but there is a lot of it. 

Here is a view up into the gunwale, you can see white paint, that have been half-heartedly covered with varnish, but not all the way into the recess.  All those little bubbles are in the varnish underneath;  not sure how to get to them... or if I want to.

View into the bow, you can see where the last of the fiberglass was removed, the white painted areas were never glassed;  not sure how I can ever get up there to strip anything, much less revarnish.

One challenge will be re-varnishing the interior.  specifically, do I need to strip and revarnish the underside of the deck? There are areas that are not easy to get to with the heat gun that are behind other scantlings within the hull.  Also, I have no idea how I'll be able to get this done in the bow.  It was all I could do to get under the deck in order to remove the glass and varnish under the deck at the front of the centerboard trunk, and there are several more stations forward of that, and the space gets progressively narrower.  For areas that are not visible (i.e., far up in the bow, and under the deck) do I just paint them rather than varnish?  Or for those areas that will be hard to strip and revarnish, am I better off just leaving it as is if the wood is not bare.  Many decisions to be made.

This is one of the rougher areas, the keel is not looking great
near the centerboard opening, definitely some rot here

I continued removing the the fiberglass from the exterior of the hull, using the same heat and pull method.  I've been able to get around the entire topsides and the transom,
along with some of the glass under the chine.  What I found was mostly good, although there are a few small, quarter-sized areas of rot, and many fasterners that have rusted and stained the wood.   Not sure if there is a way to bleach the dark wood surrounding the screws, where there is no rot, but I'll try.   As for the rot, I think the spots I've seen at this point can be chiseled out and a replacement piece scarfed in with epoxy.   I did, however, feel some potential rot in the keel at the opening for the centerboard, but that will have to wait until the boat is flipped and the remainder of the glass removed.

Here is a view of the starboard topsides, the glass can be
seen where it ends at the chine.  The upper plank has a
lot of checking, I'm assuming that this won't be a
problem, as I intend to oil the whole boat
before varnishing.

Before it can be flipped, the trailer will need to be modified to accomodate the boat upside down, and the remainder of the stripping be completed inside the hull.  I plan to do all the hull refinishing; the scarfing, caulking, sanding, varnishing and painting, before the boat goes right side up again, and I won't want to do any more stripping on the backside of that finished surface due to the risk of damaging the finished work.  My only other question on the stripping is should I also strip the varnish from the deck before flipping the boat?

I've started removing some of the varnish on the Deck to check the performance of different stripping methods.  Right now, heat gun is winning.  I'll need to rebung a lot of these screw heads that have been filled with putty.

I had a great surprise in my inbox yesterday evening, Cheryl, my benefactor in this endeavor, whose family had owned 1953 since the 50s, sent me a great picture of her, her brother, and her Dad with the boat in 1960. Now that looks like some seriously wholesome family fun.

Ernie Lommatsch and his kids c. 1960

I'm hoping to be ready to take the boat off the trailer and flip it before November, for those of you in the Los Angeles area, be ready for me to come knocking.  There's nowhere to hide.  Or I'll just use the lift at the yacht club... nah, too technical.

Pain in the Fiberglass

So I finally got things underway, after doing some research, talking to Pete the boat guy down the street, putting together a project plan (yes, I'm a nerd, at least according to my sister), and doing some "testing", I was ready to start the dirty work... but as you'll find as this blog progresses (hopefully) I can be pretty random when it comes to logical progression.  

The first thing I needed to do on the project plan was start pulling out the fiberglass on the interior of the boat, but I was dying to see what the planking looked like, so I decided to deviate a bit and start with topsides.   There was a section that had clearly come loose up on the bow near the chine, so I started there.

I cut a small slit and worked a putty knife in, added a little heat with the gun, and it started coming away from the hull like melted butter.  After getting a section separated from the chine to the rail, I started moving towards the stern, pulling it away in a single sheet as I went. 

OK, I went a little below the chine, but I wanted to see what the planks underwater looked like.  Who knows how this boat was stored in the 30s, might have been kept in the water.  And from the water stains, that might actually be true.  The good news is that any rot seems to be isolated around a few of the screw bungs.

some discoloration under the waterline, but very little rot at this point

As usual, I got a little impatient.  I started to pull the Fiberglass away using less and less heat gun, because it was coming off pretty easily.   Sure enough, one section pulled off the face of the plank (see below)  I'm hoping I can reglue or epoxy the wood that is stuck on the glass back into place to repair the damage. Moral of the story,  always use the heat gun, no matter how bad the adhesion

Just pulling the fiberglass off doesn't work, no matter how bad the adhesion.  This section tore away where the grain turned.

Luckily, I have the wood attached to the sheet of glass that came away, hoping I can epoxy, or glue, it back in place.

Here is the first good look at the mahogany planking.

further down the port side,  Looking good on the topside "Feeling good Lewis!"

My next random thought was to start taking off the fiberglass from the transom. Not sure why, just seemed like the fun thing to do.

The transom looks pretty good, there were some screw holes where the name used to be.

Here is the fiberglass off the transom, came off all in one piece

here i've made the turn around the port quarter,   things looking good down here too.

My final bit of randomness.  Here is the little outboard motor hatch from the sterm, I'm using it as a tester for caulk removal and finishing. Right now it has the caulk removed on the left side, and the whole thing has been stripped and wiped down with a 50/50 mix of linseed oil and tung oil.  I think I'm going to caulk the deck with window putty, which look like what they originally used.  the contrast of the mahogany and the white seams should be nice

Outboard motor "sample panel"

Until next time.  Remember, heat guns are your friends.

Detective work pays off

Robert, our newly elected (in my driveway) Fleet Captain for resurrected Snipe Fleet 24, found this picture of the boat in the 1938 Snipe yearbook.   What a sleuth!   I think I'd like to return the boat to this original configuration.

1953 in the 1938 Snipe yearbook