Disappointed Disassembly

[Tim the Toolman]

I'm working on removal of garboards and planks from my 20' Offshore Camper. I have read most every post on garboard and plank removal on the site. I have the boat upside down and have been struggling with corroded fasteners. The garbords are held with slotted head screws for the most part, nails along the keel. I've dug out the putty on all the screws and I've only been able to unscrew about half of the rib screws, the other half are corroded and the head splits along the slot when I try to remove them. With no head it's really difficult to remove the screws. I was able to drill out the remaining head and pry the first plank up off the garboard and then unscrew the stub by grabbing it with a needle nosed vise grips, but it's taking forever. Someone had posted it took them 2 hours to take off the garboards on one side. Almost impossible for me to believe. The screws are worse the farther forward I go. The machine screws joining the plank edges are bad too, but a third I've tried break off below the head (good) and I can get the nuts off another third (good), and the remaining third spin to where I'll need to drill or dig them out. I have found a screw extractor that I'm going to try for the rib screws, but could use any other suggestions anyone might have.

[LancerBoy]

Persistance and patience is the only way to do it. Use any means possible to remove the fasteners. Keep at it. You'll get it done!

Andreas

[Barry]

I had some minor removal work to do on my Sea Coaster next to the keel and it was a frustrating exercise trying to remove corroded fasteners. Whoever invented slot head screws didn't like do-it-yourselfers very much. As Lancerboy said, patience and persistence does eventually pay off. I even managed to invent a few new words as I went along - lol. Hang in there!

[Tim the Toolman]

Thanks for the encouragement Andreas and Barry! I tried a Craftsman tool last night, Screw Out , which I hoped would do the trick. Well, it didn't, primarily because it's difficult to center the tool in the head slot and when it connects it walks off the side of the screw head and digs into the wood. Oh well. I think the best solution will be to drill a pilot hole and use a regular easy-out. It's going to take awhile.
Barry, I'm originally from Niagara Falls, very close to you and have family in Welland too. One reason I fell in love (for now) with my Thompson was we used to fish Lake Simcoe, Muskoka, Sturgeon, etc.with my grandfather when I was a kid and the Thompson reminded me of the boats we used to fish from. I HOPE I will have the boat restored by the time I have grandkids!
Thanks again!

[W Guy]

I've used the "shock" treatment on stuck fasteners and it has worked well. Make sure your screwdriver tip fits the slot very snugly and hit it hard a few times. Stuck threads resist turning but if the screw gets shocked lengthwise, it sometimes breaks that bond between the threads and the wood. It's just something else to try.
Verne

[Barry]

Barry, I'm originally from Niagara Falls, very close to you and have family in Welland too. One reason I fell in love (for now) with my Thompson was we used to fish Lake Simcoe, Muskoka, Sturgeon, etc.with my grandfather when I was a kid and the Thompson reminded me of the boats we used to fish from. I HOPE I will have the boat restored by the time I have grandkids!
Thanks again!

I've fished those areas many times in the past. On Lake Muskoka you can still see a lot of old classic boats like Chris Craft, Hacker Craft, Thompson, Peterborough, etc. I now fish mostly on Lake Erie for bass with my Grandsons and we make the occasional trip to the French River for Walleye, Muskie and Bass. Enjoy your boat. It will be well worth all the effort.

[TheCaptain]

I can get the nut off of the fastener and dig out most of the putty covering the head- no problems. My problem/fear is that when pushing the faster/head outboard it wants to splinter the exterior/skin of the plywood. Is that splintering something I should be worried about (skin deep only) or is that normal and just covered up when covering the new fastener heads?

Thanks!

[Tim the Toolman]

Thanks first for the suggestion from Verne of a "shock" treatment. I had tried my hand impact driver and air impact to no avail. Maybe some vertical rather than radial "shock" as you suggest might be more persuasive. It's just going to take lots of time I guess. Buyer beware, the organization I bought the boat from in the Seattle area would not let me float it before I bought it. Now I know why. Still really mad about that.
To address TheCaptain, if splintering the outside of the planks is a problem, I'm sunk! I've done more damage around the screw heads trying to remove them than I'll worry about splintering damage. I may need to bung some and re-drill they are so bad. Once I start to get the planks off it might be better to fabricate new ones and match drill for the rib screw holes than repair, don't know yet. Already looking like I'll need to scarf in the aft few feet of the garboard planks since they look pretty bad. Not sure if CPES will fix the problem. I'm sure someone who has actually gotten to the point of refastening and filling in the fastener heads will have a better comment Captain.

[richnle]

I also had some splintering of the plywood surface around many of the fastener holes from removing the screws and the head of the screw lifting the top of the plywood. After removing any loose splinters, and then filling both the hole and any surrounding damage with Smith's Fill-It, everything came out fine. Once sanded, primed and painted, you would not know that there was ever a hole or any damage there.

Rich

[woodboathull]

I too have struggled to remove the screws from the garboard plank of a 1960 Cruisers Inc. The absolute best screw extractor I have ever used is the Alden ProGrabit from Lowes. It has a "drill" on one end and flip it around and it has the matching extractor on the other. It works best in the newer impact drivers.
Although still a patient process, this little tool saved me hours of headache, and painful agonizing over screw removal. I would recommend this tool to anyone working on old wood boats.
Woodboathull

[Cruiser Bob]

I committed to a full plank off restoation of my 1958 Cruisers Inc 18'. I too have tried all of the above methods of screw removal. What turned the corner for me was the Porter-Cable PC250MTK 2.5 Amp Oscillating Multi-Tool:
1. I pry (most) of the putty off of the screw heads in about 5 seconds by using paint stripper on the putty covering the screw heads. This breaks the surface tension between the putty and the wood. Splintering is minimized when I remove the screws.
2. I removed the transome.
3. Then, working from the back, I use a chisel to pry the plank apart. I then slide this (AWSOME) tool between the planks and cut the machine screws in half. Once the plank is removed, I use a nail punch to punch the screw halves out.
4. I then use a Bosch 5" orbital sander to sand the boards (both sides) on my work bench. The sander is hooked up to my shop vac using a "dust deputy" attachment to capture 95% of the paint and varnish dust.
On an 18' plank, I can gouge the putty out, cut the machine screws in half, remove the plank and sand the plank in less than 2 hours.
Beleive me when I say this tool has been a game changer. I have learned A LOT from all of you on this forum. I hope this helps.
Thanks,
Bob

[rong]

Cruiser Bob - I too used the oscillating Multi tool to cut the screws. That made all the difference in the world.
Barry - I'm also in the buffalo area. How does your thompson handle the lake?