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I am in the process of replacing several inside vertical planks in my 20' CI. Does anyone have any tips or warnings. I had some water and termite damage to faces of boards at oak cross brace on starboard side.
90% of transom is in excelent shape, so I am pulling 4 inner planks and replacing with mahogany.
My corner pieces, that ski tows go thru need to be replaced, they are oak, can I use mahogany or should i stay with oak.
I am making new oak cross brace.
Any easy or not way to repair edges of exterior transom surface at laps?
Txcaptdan

Thanks for any help finally got this working.

Not sure what your timetable is but I can tell you from my experience you want to pay attention to the moisture content of wood. I built up a new transom and did not get it varnished or sealed for over a year. Even though all the boards come from the same plank or stock of lumber I had some serious shrinkage which wreaked havoc with the finished side of my transom. I discovered I was not the only person having this problem after I accessed Dan Danenburgs website and book, and found it was quite common on long term projects. At least in drier parts of the country like northern Minnesota where the air is desert dry in the winter. I ended up routing out 3/8 deep by 2" wide full width strips and letting in a plug to replace the cracked areas. This is probably the only way you can get rid of any blemishes on the outside of varnshed transom. Danenberg also suggests using a flexible adhesive like 5200 so that any swelling and flexing will allow a little give in the joints and help keep the cracking to a minimum. He also recomends glueing up anything that needs to be planked, to be done in the winter when most areas are driest. I think the greatest damage comes when a moist board shrinks and causes cracking more so than a dry board expanding and swelling. Either way the intent is to get sealant (varnish) all around the glued boards so that moisture will not be allowed to have rapid changes which will cause problems.
If it was built with oak I think I would keep it oak unless it is something someone has changed at some point in time. My Sea Lancer is all mahogany and I can't imagine a water skier doing damage to a 2" thick transom. Rod S

Glad to hear of another Texas Cruisers.

Is Weatherford close to Dallas? Are you a member of WBA?

I have made a couple of WBA meets in Dallas.

If you are ever in Houston give me a call, or if I can ever be of any help.

1960 Cruisers Inc. 202 16' complete disassembly and reassembly with 99% originial wood.

John Platou
Crosby(Houston)
832 473 8928

John - I am close to Fort Worth, I am member of Eagle Mountain Classic Boat Club. We have a large group of Thompsons, Cruisers Incs, and Lymans, out boards. Check out my site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/classicoutboards/. Lots of old Chris' also.
Will be in Houston for Keels and Wheels this year. Our show is June 3 on Eagle Mountain Lake NW Fort Worth.
Dan

Dan

Hoping to have my Cruisers in Wheels and Keels, although with the 8' Minimost my 6 year old grand-daughter and I built last spring. We did have both boats in the 10 day Houston Boat Show this year.

Are you going to bring your Cruisers?

Dan

Bad pieces should come out easily. Remove screws and tap and board should fall off. I completely disassebled my transom, 20% of screws were broken. Transom looked great, I did not realize until I started that all glue had failed and 20% of screws were broken!!!
http://www.aerialimaging.net/johnpics28
http://www.aerialimaging.net/johnpics29
http://www.aerialimaging.net/johnpics30

All my boat pictures of the Cruisers, along with some of my others boats can be seen at http://www.aerialimaging.net/john My 5 year old grand-daughters 8' MIniMost boat building pictures can be seen at http://nwsca.com/minimost/john_pics2

I hope to have my Cruisers ready for Keels and Wheels, if not I have a choice of several others to bring. My friend Andy and I and wives are planning for the show.
One of my damaged planks came out easily but the others are glue in place. I am contemplateing scarfing in some surfaces where there is surface damage only instead of chiseling out solid boards.
I am also replacing top corners of exterior face.

Transom update, I have succesfully replaced two complete boards on inside starboard side. I scafed in surfaces on the next three planks where the oak cross brace goes. I made new vertical boards that support ski tow bolts and crossbrace. I epoxy all transom boards in place with stained epoxy and filler to fill voids.
I made new oak cross brace and got new 6" silicon brass bolts for brace, transom had bowed out about 1-1/2 inches until I pulled bolts through brace and transom and tightened. The transom eased right back into true shape. I have stained and triple coated transom, wow what a difference!
I am replacing six plank ends on starboard now and will mount 1965 Johnson 90hp Meteor soon.
Check web site for photos