1969 Ski Nautique Stringers- Why, I don't know

wwchevy wrote: MartyMabe wrote: I have a steering wheel like that    Minus the trim Marty, I received the steering wheel, trailer decals and the extra decals that you put in the package. Everything looks great, I really appreciate doing business with you. Everything in the package was something that I really needed. Thanks again. Wes

Pics- or it didn't happen

Next up is removing all of the wood in the floor and transom, cutting any excess fiberglass left standing an get to grinding.

Spray rail (only have one left on the boat) are screwed & bolted from both sides. At least I have a good pattern for those

wwchevy wrote: Spray rail (only have one left on the boat) are screwed & bolted from both sides. At least I have a good pattern for those

Wes,
One trick on the spray rails is to make them by laminating 3/8" thick wood together. You use the actual hull as a form. Wax paper the hull and then using the bolt holes through the hull, epoxy the lamination's together. Remove after the epoxy has cured and do the shaping. A belt sander works great. With this method, you will get an exact fit to the hull. CPES the wood and 5200 them to the hull, fill the bolt holes with filled epoxy, CPES again, mask the hull and spar varnish. (at least 6 coats)

The other method I use is to tape carbon paper to the hull and rub the new rail up against it. That will tell you were the high spots are. Then if the radius is small enough I'll use the belt sander otherwise a 3" dia. drum sander.

Using the old rails as a pattern will never give you the fit to the hull needed for a clean fit especially with a bright finish.

I couldn't find Douglas Fir around here, so I bought a 2" x 14" x17' plank of reclaimed Doug Fir from a 100 year old building in Detroit. Not sure if anyone has used reclaimed Doug Fir before, bit I figured it was better than pine.



Even with the partial split down the middle I was able to get 2 oversized blanks out of the one piece. Planed them down and they looked pretty sweet.


I live in a 120 year old farm house that I restored, so I am familiar with old wood. It obviously changes properties over the years, becomes a little harder and you have to look through a stack to find the boards with the least amount of imperfections. These were roof joists in an old welding shop / service station looking building. You don't find grain like this at Home Depot.

Pete,
Thanks for the advice on the spray rails. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I like your plan. I have to do those and attach them before I put the floor on. I assume they should be bolted/ screwed from both directions(inside and outside). Mine had a metal trim piece over the screw heads that went in from the outside.

Port stringers are bedded and once the starboard stringers were out, I spent 5 hours straight grinding the hull. I am getting too old for this.

Got the stringers bedded and filleted. I may have to plane the top of the secondary's in a few spots to make them even with the primary's.


The next step is to lay up the glass on the stringers. I'm going to do 2 layers each of 2", 4" & 8" tape on the Primary's, then 12" Biax up each side and one layer over the top. For the secondary's I was thinking of doing 1 layer each of 2", 4" & 8" with no biax (does that sound right or should I do 2 layers of each on the secondarys also?)

I'm still working on the boat but progress is slower than I wanted. Stringers are glassed in 2", 4" & 8" cloth tape- 2 layers of each and then Biax up each side and over the top of each Main Stringer. Put in the wood for the strainers, exhaust, rudder & lift rings. Coated those with home brew, covered with cloth, bedded with thickened epoxy and finally biax on top. I put in some stringer supports, but probably not enough. I will add more when I put the floor in to make sure I have supports where the floor joints are. Bulkheads are in and I have drain holes everywhere so water will drain out.

Started buffing and polishing the deck gel. It isn't in the best shape, but doesn't look too bad. I wet sanded and buffed it, but still need to polish it. I want to get the gel done before I put the dash and helm back in. It should look presentable. The hull is painted and I am going to leave it that way for the summer. If I want to use this boat this year I have to cut back somewhere.

Completed one of my biggest concerns that was holding up progress- the Spray Rails. I needed to get them done so that I could start putting down the floor, since they are attached below the floor. I bought a 1"x 4"x 11' piece of clear white oak. I ripped 1" wide by 11' pieces- same size as the rails that I took off the boat.


They were painted black and had a metal trim piece nailed on from the outside.


They were screwed to the hull from the inside and bolted from the outside

Working on the floor now. I put in 2" PVC for the vents and 4" for the new steering cable and wiring. I am fabbing a battery box in between the PVC, not sure how that is going to turn out, but I don't like the battery under the drivers seat.


Started cutting up some plywood for the floor. Plan on CPES and cloth on both sides and attaching to the stringers with thickened epoxy. I am unsure about taping the floor to the hull. I have read some conflicting info on attaching the two, but I am leaning toward attaching.

Looking Great!!

I am putting the battery in the floor between the PVC pipes. I made a frame, still need to cover with fiberglass and paint with bilge paint. The battery I chose barely fits but I am unsure where else to put it. If the battery idea doesn't work out maybe it can be a cooler??

When I bought the 69 Ski Nautique that I am working on there was a freeze plug popped out and laying in the bilge and when I removed the block drain plug from the other side of the block it was full of water. The owner said it had been winterized when it was put away in 1997. The 318 for this boat runs great, has great compression and doesn't overheat, but when I pulled it out of the boat and put it on the stand the oil pan was full of 8 quarts of milky sludge (I assume cracked block letting water into the oil, but won't know until I disassemble the engine). I'm getting to the point where I am going to deal with the engine- new block, rebuild, whatever it takes, so I was cruising Craislist looking for anything that I might need. Came across an ad for (2) 318 Marine engines in a boat that has been in storage for a couple of years. Talk to the guy and he was going to try to get them running, but one wouldn't turn over by hand and he hadn't checked the other one, but he is 70 years old and it is too much work so he just wants to get rid of them if I will pull them out. I am dumb and like really hard work with very little payoff so I said "I'll take them".

1966 Lyman was last cruising Lake Erie in 2002



Sawzall makes nice access holes



Free engines complete with velvet drives



Laid plywood sheets on the ground, borrowed my brothers trailer (He said he was "busy" that day)


Made boxes for them, lagged the engines to the boxes, screwed the boxes to the floor, strapped them down and drove home


I am hoping to get one good running engine out of the three that I have, but if not I will have a bunch of parts to sell.

Wow, very nice job! I will have to do a stringer job on my 81 this winter. Looks like alot of work but seems well worth it!