Nuf' Said

Making lots of progress, thanks to some uninterrupted weekend time in between holiday parties.

Repairing Keel Damage

The photos below show the progress on the break in the keel.    My suspicion is that the issue occurred through the following chain of events.

1. The keel was not properly dried before it went into the boat
2. Therefore is started to check
3. Water got in under a few of the bungs through these checks
4. the screws into the centerboard trunk began to rust
5. Rot/Iron Sickness developed in the area around the rusted screws
6. The keel weakened sufficiently around the worst are that it cracked

Below you can see the before and in process for the keel repairs.  I chiseled out most of the bad wood and then filled the area with West System Epoxy with microfiber.   Because the majority of the strength in this area is provided by the centerboard trunk, strength should not be an issue.  Also filled a section in the centerboard that was a continuation of the iron sickness that was around some of the rib bracket screws (the lower section in the photo on the right)

Varnishing the interior begins

I've started applying varnish to the interior for the areas that are stripped and need no repair.   I will re-varnish the entire interior before all the planks go back on.   so far, it looks pretty good, a vast improvement over the dark muddled color from the old varnish

Port Chine Log Complete

The port side chine log is on.    took some time to ensure that all of the ribs would be able to take the screws to hold it in place, and had to replace 2 ribs, Dutchman a patch in another, and refasten 3 of the ribs to the keelson.  have a few more screw holes to plug and then it will be ready to accept the refastened planks.

You can see below the volume of the screws that have been removed... .Man is this fun! 

Bought the Fuller countersink and plug cutter set.  It is fantastic.  by only issue was that most of the screws in the boat are #10 with 3/8" countersink and bungs.   This set comes with the Fuller #10 with a 1/2" countersink.  Luckily, they also make a #10 3/8" countersink (C913), which I bought from Jamestown Distributors.   Great service and selection.    I recommend them.

Random shot of toolbox with caulkers hammers

Rib Brackets

The boat has brackets to attach the main ribs to the centerboard trunk.  They looked pretty rough, and I thought they might have just been cut sheet metal.  I took some time to research replacements in brass or stainless and didn't find much.  So I decided to look closer at what I already had.

They were ragged, rough cut and with sharp corners, and covered with a lot of varnish and some random paint.   Here is an example of how bad they were

A pass under the magnet showed they weren't steel. So a little heat gun and scraping, then some steel wool revealed brass.   Some filing and more sandpaper and they are now actually pleasant to look at, with smooth rounded corners.  A little more work and this one will be ready to go back into its original home... No replacement required.

A New Rib

Had a great trip for work to the northern California coast, and got a chance to visit the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.  Beautiful, although in need of some TLC, much like Shady Lady.




On the boat front, made some progress.  Removed the chine log on the port side and was able to fabricate a new rib for the one that was broken.  Here's a picture of it in place ,and ready for the new chine log

June update

It's June!

Here's an update on the work on the snipe.   More planks coming off.  I've now removed all the planks below the chine and assessing what needs to be done why they are off.  So far the list is

• Replace the chine logs.  Looks like Douglas fir; bad shape around the screws
• Replace the port side first rib.   Looks like it split when they were building it.  They put a bolt through it to hold it together but then it snapped near the keel.
• Replace one of the ribs midship.  Screw rusted, weakened the rib and it split 
• Stripping varnish inside so I can put on some fresh
• Maybe a few of the deck furring strips may need to be replaced once it's flipped back over
• Epoxy the keel ( that one we already knew about)

Classic nationals in San Diego this August.  NO WAY will this boat be ready.  Bummer

Here are some pics:

All the bottom planks below the chine are off.  gives great access to the interior of the boat to assess what needs to be done.

Stripping underway near the cockpit, you can see one of the screw strips used to hold the deck seams has split.  may need to fix this when I start working on the deck.  

looking forward from the view above.  you can see how bad the interior was with a mix of white overspray, original varnish, and some more modern crappy varnish.  It looks nice once its all off.

Progress stripping the stern.  not perfect, but coming along.  you can see my saw bench through the open outboard hatch in the top middle of the photo.

Garboard Number Two Comes Off

Spent the weekend stealing a few hours here and there to get the other garboard plank.  I must be getting better with removing screws, or more impatient, as it came off on Sunday.   Maybe 35% of them had to have the heads ground off as they just did not want to come out.   

Once the plank was off, I had a good view of the keel, which is the part that has worried me the most. Despite the face that its got a lot of checking, the keel was in better shape than I thought, except for one thing; the keel was cracked, yep cracked.  All the way through about midships, and in the middle of the centerboard trunk.  The crack goes through the port side of the trunk right through the bad rot spot that I had been worried about.

Here we are with the second garboard off.  Not too horrible.

I started hacking at it with a scratch awl and vacuuming out any of the rotted chips. After chiseling back to get to some solid wood, this is where I ended up.  The black hole in the center goes in almost 4 inches.  

The crack runs from the top left of the chiseled out section to the bottom right.  Here, I've chiselled out the rot that was in this area, and removed the rusty bolt remains.  this goes pretty deep, into the 

Once I chiseled out enough of the wood. I was able to pull out what was left of the bolt that held the keel and the keel batten to the bed log (below)

Here you can get a better view of the crack, on the left side of the picture.  In the center is the bolt that used to be in that gap and that held the keel and the bed logs together 

Here is the port side of the centerboard pivot bolt hole.  Looks like at one point they changed their mind about where this should be, and the result is a bit of rot in the spall section between the existing and old hole.  Easy Fix.

most of the frame bolts are still in pretty good share with only surface rust.  They were all left long, perhaps because they were galvanized.  That's no longer an issue, so I intend to cut any of the accessible ones down to a more reasonable length.

the brackets from the middle ribs came off and revealed that they were probably the 3rd attempt at brackets, based on the number of cutoff screws  in the bed logs that area.  the remaining metal let to some rot on the exterior; hoping is doesn't connect to the larger section in the keel.  you can see the rot just at the base of the frame.  Also, you can see the crack in the keel in the very top of the photo

Here is the other side of the center frame, no rot, but several screws; will need to remove them and fill.

Found a good resource on how these boats were built.

I'm now learning a bit more about how the boat was built from a resource I found today.  It's a PDF of a magazine article from 1948 that discusses how to build a Snipe.  I found it on the site SCIRA Brasil site, but the original link would not display the document.  through the magic of Google cache, I was able to download a copy of the PDF, but it was confusing, until I realized the pages were out of order.  So here is a copy of the document that should open correctly in your browser AND all the pages are in order.  

This helped me understand that the keel is in two pieces, the keel and the keel batten, that create the rabbet that accepts the planks.  I'm also learning more about the right terms that were used when they built these in wood.  Like Bed Logs, never would have come up with that on my own.

Next time, I'm going to start the process of fixing the keel, I hope....

March update

We've survived the holidays, some redecorating, and the continued weeding out after the move.   We had visits from both sets of in-laws during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Finley's birthday.  So there have been a lot of distractions from boat renovations.   In the last 3 weeks, I've been able to clean out the garage to uncover the boat, and also block out some time to get some work done.

This post is kind of a carpet bomb of photos, so sit back, relax, and don't forget about that tight, tight, hold.

Tasks I've been working on:

• Removing the Varnish and white paint over-spray from the interior of the hull.
• Repairing the ribs where rusted screws had either been cemented in, or where the screw holes were rusty pits of dust that would not hold screws
• removing the port side garboard plank, which is the worst plank on the boat.

Most concerning area I've found is this section of the keel, so I'm focusing on getting the other garboard off to assess the entire keel before I start reattaching any planks.

The port garboard is also in bad shape; every screw into the keel on the forward half of the boat is rusted and the plank split and rotted.  I think that the screws were too close the edge of the plank, set too shallow, and that allowed moisture to get to the screws and cause the rust and the rot.  Some of these screws were just pulled out with a pair of needlenose vice-grips.  Just push it into the wood, grab the screw and pull.  Kind of like a dentist back in the old west.

Photo below shows how bad the split and rot are in the port garboard.

now for the good news,  everything above the water line looks to be in really good shape.  The remaining photos show the interior of the boat as I'm stripping the old varnish.  Once the dull old varnish and the white paint are out, the wood looks fantastic.

Looking forward from the stern at the progress stripping the interior.  best method I've found,  Scrape off the varnish using a head gun and putty knife.  Then scrape the remaining residue with a plane blade.  It works like butta!

Area in the foreground has been stripped of varnish and paint, you can get an idea of the "before" in the whitish section in the background at top.