First Garboard Plank Removed

Got the first garboard plank off, and the first look at the keel.   There was a lot of resin, combined with cotton, and probably old Dolphinite, and some oakam; it's like a history lesson in sealants!  the good news is I don't see any rot in the keel, even though its checked in the bows.

Had to grind off a lot of screws to get this plank off, probably 15-20 of them.  But that is getting easier.  Still a lot harder than just getting them to back out with a brace.   some of the ground off screws still didn't want to move even with vice grips, and just broke off.  Those will be drilled and plugged.

One thing I'm realizing with this boat is that there were a lot of screws that missed their target.  No wonder there were leaks in the garboard seam, found two screws, right next to each other, that went into the gap between the keel and the ribs.  no support to hold the plank firm the cotton that was hammered in, so I'm sure they split open and let the water rush in. Hopefully we can fix that.

In news on the water. Out fleet captain just announced that SCIRA will hold a "classics nationals" next year.  Hope I can be ready for that, but I'm seriously doubting it.

can you believe, it, a beetle stuck in what looks like glazer's putty, from 1936.  That's one old dead bug.

First planks come off

So it's been 8 months since my last post, and a lot has happened since then, just not on the boat.  That is, until recently.  Since the last post, I changed jobs and moved to a new house; all or which has meant not much time for messing around with screws.  However, I finally got more than a single 72 watt light light bulb in the new garage, so I can actually see.  Also, all the tools are now unpacked, but the new garage is still a mess.  Good news, its bigger than my old garage and has room for the boat.   That means I no longer have to work by halogen spotlights, and haul tools in and out every time I want to work.  

So back to the saga.... once the lights went up (36 T8 neons replacing the single bulb made a bit of a difference), i was able to start getting organized, and get back to work on the Snipe.   That re-start happened at the beginning of October. So in the first two weeks, I've been able to remove the screws in the bucket below.  not bad... not great.  I'm still having to drill many of them, and have snapped off a few back out bits, which requires a die grinder to take the heads off.  Also had several screws snap off.

mmmmm... buckets of rusty old screws!

That led to the decision to remove planks.   I was able to get two off in the last week, and I'm kinda glad I did.   In addition to being able to drill out the broken screw with the hollow 3/8 inch bit (from Rockler, works great), I have been able to check for iron sickness.   there is a fair bit of it in the ribs.   My new goal is to drill each of the existing holes that show any sign of problems, and then plug them with Oak.  That means all 10 planks are going to have to come off.  I plan to do is in sections so that the the hull doesn't distort.  I'm guessing no more than three off at a time, and preferably two.   the good news with the planks coming off is that I'll be able to ensure that the interior is varnished, or painted, and also I'll be able to fix the one broken rib in the bow.

No planks!  and a view of the new shop with lots of lighting, its so bright you have to cover your eyes at night when looking inside, like Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters.

two planks off, got to rehab the ribs, and get these back on, then do it again for 8 more.

Here you can see one of the ribs with problem areas in various stages of completion.  The two light spots in the middle are test plugs, with new oak glued in (gorilla glue waterproof), the other holes are waiting for plubgs, and the rectangular area was a wider area of problems that I drilled and then chiseled out; it will be filled with a rectangular plug.   The area to the left has been drilled and is waiting to be squared.

one other thing I'm debating is to I need to replace the fasteners connecting the chine log to the ribs?  The chine is, I think, Douglas Fir, and is in OK, shape, so I don't think it needs to be replaced.  But the screws are not good, also steel, and mostly in bad shape.

I'm starting to fear that I might become one of those guys that sells a project boat after they retire thats been in the garage for 30 years.  That won't happen will it?

I'm thinking of having some Snipe Saturday Nights for our folks in our fleet, to get social and get some help on the boat, both physical and mental.   I provide the beer/cocktails and tools, and folks from the fleet learn about the boat, get to use the tools, and hopefully the boat goes back in the water sometime before 2023.  We'll see if I do it or not.

Refastening... Still! ... and a Heat Epiphany

Hi, just a quick post to try and get back into the swing of it.

Work on Shady Lady has been progressing slowly, as I'm able to squeeze out a few hours here and there.   Tonight I think I made a breakthrough on the removal of the steel hull fasteners.    Over the past year and a half,  I've struggled removing screws, as they seemed cemented in place;  I've broken screw removal bits, had screws split in half from the pressure applied by either a brace or a tap wrench, had them snap off when using an impact driver, and have had to resort to drilling and backing out with an insert bottle majority of times.  

Tonight I found something that makes them come out like butter!   A soldering iron... Yes I said a soldering iron.   I had one screw that looked perfect, clean slot, no rust, but refused to come loose.  I had read somewhere, I think it was an article about an old boat surveyor, about the possibility of applying heat to loosen a screw.  So on this one, I plugged in the iron, and held it in the hole I had drilled for the blackout bit for about thirty seconds; i mean what the hell do i have to lose right?  When I put the bit back in and turned, the thing gave way as if it hadn't been fighting me for the whole 20 minutes prior -"who?  Me?"

After that I did about a dozen screws in succession, in about an hour, without a single refusal.

A soldering iron, who'd a thunk it?