thompsondockside.com

Andreas, Joe & Peter,

Thanks for the ideas and the history/background. It'll be spring before I can do much of anything (other than get the motor off the transom, of course), but, yes, I am inspired.

Dennis

Ah yes, the off season. I'll be taking mine apart this winter so check back for interesting (I hope) tales of modifications and repairs.

I am hoping for one more run around the rivers and the cheasepeak bay this weekend before I take off the motor and put her up for the winter. Plans for the off season: Pulling the motor to add adding power trim, new floors, finish the new bulk head I installed, finish the prototype drivers seat (replicates the passenger flip seat). Remove, polish, and then 'corretly' install the doger rails, glass for the side windows (well, plexiglass), install low voltage solar powered interior lights, a CD player that you will not be able to see, fix a leak where the outter stem meets the outer keel, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc - looking forward to it!!!

Peter, I hope you take pictures and keep a journal. Those threads are really inspiring to folks looking to give this type of hobby a shot. I am going to be doing lots of work on my 17'er this winter as well.

Evan

Hmmm, looks like I am going to have to reinstall the wood burning stove the previous owners took out of my garage if I am to have any hope of keeping up with you guys. Good luck on your projects.

Dennis

Well, eight months later and I am ready to start work on the boat in earnest. The first step was to recruit the guests from my neighbors' Fourth of July party to help flip the boat over onto a cradle I built for it:



Looks funny upside down:



I managed to get the keelson and outer stem off tonight. My sister in law has many non-fond childhood memories of having to mop up water that leaked in along the centerline of the boat, and judging from the thickness and variety of goops used in attempts to seal them up this has been a long standing problem. I'll try to get the metal strap on the centerline off tomorrow (great gobs of rock-hard something all over the fasteners and edges) and then start peeling the paint off. I will be delving into the archives to see what others have tried in terms of making the keelson and stem more waterproof and also various painting options. I'll post some updates as things of interest occur.

Dennis

I was re-reading this thread. All that stuff I had hoped to do over this last winter? Nada.

So NOW i'll be doing it all piece meal along the way this season. But I have a hog in mine that is killing top end performance. And the hull paint failing. I sanded and repainted the bottom three strakes on each side to protect the plywood, but there is no getting around a complete flip and strip.

Either that or I'll sell it.

Peter,

I know that feeling of not meeting your own goals -- I'm sorry you didn't get to your boat last winter. You could join me in flailing about half a continent away. Here's what I managed to uncover with a heat gun and random orbital sander yesterday before my daughter's soccer game intervened:



I have to admit I didn't know the plywood planking was fir in all laminations -- I thought the outer layer might have been mahogany. We can all dream, I suppose. Now I know why the paint on the hull is checked so badly. Does using CPES help with the checking problem on fir?

I have been searching the archives for tips and it looks like I am going to have to resort to chemical strippers if I want to make quick progress. There is a layer of paint that I am sure my father-in-law slapped on at some point that comes off easily with the heat gun, but there is a thicker, chalkier paint underneath that sticks too well to the plywood. I'd leave it alone except of course that it has checked and failed all over the hull. Well, if it was easy everybody'd have an old boat...

Dennis

The checking occured long ago. You will not get the checks to close up. Smith's CPES is a very good sealer and base for painting. Once you coat with sealer and get a primer coat on the wood you can flll the checks and then sand before additional coats of primer and final coat.

Andreas

Dennis - I have the same issue with my hull paint. Lots of checking. I think I noted somewhere above that I sanded and repainted the bottom three strakes. To keep cost low, and since I am planning a full flip-n-strip, I used high gloss, oil based (wait for it... wait for it......) exterior house paint. Wow, I can hear the gasps from here.

I am planning to a process close to that Andreas notes just above. Strip all the paint (I'll use chemical striper), the caulk that is on some of the lap seems, pop all the screw head fill that is not solid. CPES the hull. Where my process differs is I will fare the hull with Smiths filler, filling the checks and any screw holes I uncovered. THEN marine primer & paint. I don't moor my boat so I'm not planning on bottom paint at this point.

BTW, there are some stripers out there that are eco/person friendly, and I have heard they work well. One of the tricks is to cover the applies stripper with plastic to keep it from drying out before it does it’s job. Be very careful with that heat gun. High heat and old wood make a fine campfire. Have a garden hose at your side (water turned on) 

Keep the update coming!!

I was very happy with the job that citri-strip did for me. Easy to work with too!

I second that! Use citri-stripper and put plastic over it. Also pad your deck on your fancy cradle. Lay some carpet on that. Looks like we live in the same city. Hmmmmmmm..

Andreas: Thanks for the info on the checking and epoxy sealers.

Peter: I know what you mean about the heat gun and old wood -- I have spent many a summer afternoon behind a heat gun and scraper taking lead-based paint off my house trim and windows. Nothing smells like summer to me quite like the acrid odor of old, hot wood (which then reminds me to put my respirator on ). I've used exterior oil based paint on the last two kayaks I've built, too, and have been quite happy with the results. The one part polyurethane I used on the first one doesn't stand up to beach sand and gravel any better, so I figure I'll save myself some money and the sustained heart attack I experience trying to keep a wet edge with those high performance marine paints.

Evan & Ron: Where do you find the citri-stripper? Any old big box place? I've been looking at your photos, Ron, and admiring your work. Are you having fun trying to drive in town this summer? 2010 -- the year we all have to think real hard about where we want to go and how we're going to get there. Carpet -- check. I put some pads in there right after we flipped the boat -- I wanted to get their help before they had a chance to do too much celebrating, if you know what I mean.

I had about 3/4 of a gallon of methylene chloride stripper stored in the basement (and a quart of Zip Strip from back in the day when it was super strong), so I spent a few very unpleasant hours taking the paint off half the boat today. (Note: nitrile gloves are *not* effective protection against this stuff -- go ahead, ask me how I know.) Here's what it looks like after hitting it with 80 grit on the random orbital sander:





I have to go back and develop a method for getting more of the paint and caulk out of the lap joints and plywood edges and do some spot treatments. I plan to do the other half tomorrow before I have time to fully appreciate what a PITA this job is... Thanks for all the suggestions and comments.

Dennis

Dennis, I got mine at home depot. It works a bit slower than the stuff you were working with but the feeling of imminent death isn't so thick in the air! lol

Looks great, hoping to actually start on my boat soon too!

Evan

So... yesterday I got to thinking after stripping off all this paint that what I should have done while the boat was still painted, upright and on the trailer is go dunk it in the lake so I could try to see where the water was coming in. Given the fact that the outer keel and stem and the aluminum covering plate were covered in various applications of goop I just assumed it was a centerline problem. But having read what some others have done in terms of loosening fasteners and getting right in there to the lap seams, I wonder if I am going to be disappointed with "only" stripping, sealing and repainting. Anybody have any advice (besides finally getting that time machine to work I've been tinkering with for about three decades now)? Thanks.

Dennis

The last two lapstakes , http://www.thompsondockside.com/views/v ... php?t=3390
we restored we reefed out the seams of each lap and sealed with 5200. Let cure for several days and it is paintable. We remade keel cap and bedded in 5200. Both hulls were tight with no leaks. You will need to do same with transomseams at laps. On my 20' Seacamper I exposed screw heads from outside and tightened all. Most took 1-1 1/2 turns to tighten. That hull has been in a wet slip for 2 months and is dry enough to write your name in the dust on the bottom.
Good Luck