Lapstrake plank removal/ restoration questions

[Cruiser Bob]

I'm "flipping" my 18',58 Cruisers Inc. on Saturday (I think....). The boat was garage kept (in Seattle of all places) by the original owner for 50 years. I brought it back to Northern California. After poking around from stem to stern, there is no (detected) rot at this point.
John, I'm taking your advice on removing the planks vs. stripping in place. The 50 year old bronze screws make me nervous. I've been experimenting with various methods of removing the machine screws and nuts to minimize damage to the planks. So far, drilling out the hex nut and pushing the machine screw out (after drilling out the bulk of the putty ) has been the most effective. I have some damage (not a lot) to the planks where the nuts had embbedded themselves into the planks. My plan was to refasten with slicon bronze machine screws and nuts, and add a flat washer to "grab" new wood for strength, as well as hide the wood damage from the embedded nuts. Am I on the right track?
Secondly, I'm assuming you left the sheer planks in place to keep the shape of the hull. I was also going to add lateral bracing (3) 1x2's to maintain the shape. Is this enough support?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've posted some pics of the boat, motors and cradle that I built for flipping at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/classicou ... 6/pic/list