thompsondockside.com

Looking for ideas to build cradle or other stands to support boat while working on it off the trailer.
Ideas to support while upside down and upright.
Thanx

Larry - mind you, this is not the voice of experience, but my plan is first to build a temporary cradle that will hold the boat on its side. This will be necessary to get her through a 5'w x 6'8"h French door into my basement workshop. I bought four 5" swivel casters yesterday at Harbor Freight ($5 each) that should help in the back yard, but will do fine once we get back onto concrete.

Second, there will be a stand that will probably support the stringers and maybe the gunwales once she's inside and upside down. I'll have that on casters as well. I won't have the keelson resting on that frame because I'm probably looking at replacing at least a part of that member as well.

-wte

Check this out --

http://www.glen-l.com/picboards/picboard15/pic744a.html

This is pretty much what I had in mind, but I like how it's made of plywood and can hold the boat both on its side and flipped (in this case, right-side up). Note also that he had the foresight to put plywood pads for attaching the casters....

Great design idea. This looks to be over 1/3 the length of the boat. Ideally I'd like to be working about elbow height most of the time.
What length will you be making your base? His motor is inboard-ours are hanging off the back. Possible weight concern.
Thanx
Larry
P.S. Borrowed motor lift from neighbor today and removed motor. I'll post some pics of motor cart I built with some change and wheels I had laying around.

Well, the more I study my boat, the more I think I'm going to end up doing something more like John Platou did here and probably more specifically, here. A couple of times now since last Saturday, I've started composing a post about the shape of my boat's underside, but I need to shrink the pictures, upload them, etc. The bottom line (no pun intended!) is that I've finally determined that my boat has so many broken and compromised frames that she's almost completely lost her shape underneath. The question I've been planning to pose is, "What shape should my boat have?"

John P and I had a long chat on the phone a couple of nights ago about his restoration project, his photos, and our lives in general. Chewing on all that information, combining it with what I discovered on Saturday, I believe I have a better idea of what I'm up against or what I'm in for. The one thing he said that really turned on the light for me was that the flooring is supposed to be flat. Mine is severely crowned. Not the crosswise (athwartships) floor framing members, mind you. Those are flat. But the thinner (appx. 1x2) stringers that attach to the frames and support the edges of the plywood sole... those are WAY below where they should be if they really do support the sole.

To me, that says that the bottom of my boat has sagged or hogged not so much lengthwise (although there is a little of that), but across the boat, side to side. The sides of the boat must be sitting much lower than they should, and the lower legs of the frames (below the bend) have a lot of curvature in them. While the transom has a straight line from the bend to the keel, if you go 4-5' forward in the boat, the frames start showing more of a "wineglass" shape like a full-keeled sailboat. Almost every frame in the middle third of the boat has a section near the keel patched in with a simple butt join. Nothing supports this joint except the garboards. Almost every frame in the rear third is compromised by rot or cracks, so it would be no wonder that the bottom has lost its shape.

All this is to say that I'm probably going to bring my boat inside, flip it, support it by the floor stringers, leveled athwartships, and block up the gunwales, also leveled and properly spaced. The garboards and probably the first 2-3-4 strakes will come off, at least in the rear section. At least some of my keelson needs repair or replacement, so that will probably come out as well. The transom has some rot near the bilge and needs to come out. You get the drill by now.

It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm coming to grips with the task ahead and going over every step I can imagine in my mind long before I ever get to it. We'll see what happens....

But hey -- Danenberg's books arrived from Amazon today! That's gotta help a little, hasn't it?

-wte

If I recall correctly, you have a 1957 Peshtigo built Sea Lancer. All the Sea Lancer's that I have worked on have a side-to-side "crown" in the floor boards. This includes my '57 Lancer. What Thompsopn Boat calls "floor risers" that support the floor at the sides fo the boat, are all at a lower elevation than the middle of the floor.

So it is possible that your hull is NOT out of shape side to side. Cruisers, Inc. did things a little differently than Thompson Bros. Boat Mfg. Co., so it truly is not a fair comparison between these two builders.

Andreas

My Cortland Sea Lancers floors are crowned by way of the stringers going from sister keelson to sister keelson having a crown and the floor risers being slightly below the sisters. Given the lack of structure due to all the cut/patched frames (ribs), you may have some sag, but not as dramatic as you might think. That said, to AJRs point regarding Cruisers, the Cortland boats were framed different as well and it may not be a fair compare.

Thanks, guys - that's a relief for starters (that I won't have to correct that part of the shape as much as I feared). And yes, I have a '57 Peshtigo Sea Lancer (hence the WIS license plate, not a GA or NY).

Now for my other question, though: what shape are the frames supposed to take between the sharp bend and the keel -- the section that spans the garboard and maybe the first narrow strake? Many of mine, especially in the center third of the boat crown upwards (convex on top). I know the aft third or so of the boat should be dead flat running fore & aft, but what should the cross-section look like?

I ask this for a few reasons. First, I don't want to replace frames by shaping them against deformed planking. That would only serve to lock-in the deformed shape. Second, if I'm only scarfing in a new piece on some frames, say between the bend and the keel, it's either going to be a straight section, or I'll have to steam it before scarfing it in. My life will be a lot easier if this portion of the cross-section is supposed to be straight (but somehow I doubt that it is). Finally, I want to make sure that I end up with a boat that handles well, efficiently, and safely.

So what do you say?

-wte

PS - what should my max beam be, and at what point forward of the transom does that occur? I'll need that when blocking things up. I realized that my sides had sprung in a little when I took of the port gunwale cap (1/4" mahogany ply). When freed of its nails except for the front few, it wanted to spring out in back by a good 3/4".