Square Meter: Port side planking

On Friday we removed the pre-fitted planking. After coating the interior of the planks with epoxy, we set them in a thickened epoxy paste and re-screwed them in place.

Hang doggin it.

Rebuilding the Square Meter: Planking

Today we started the planking process.

The boat is hanging which helps with access.
The existing planking is sound.

First off was an inspection of the existing planking.  Below the waterline the planking is either sound or absent.  Near the shear, there are a few planks that have rot near butt joints.  These will be dealt with later when we are in refinishing mode.  The planking we will be working on now is over the new framing we put in.  Here are some photos with descriptions...

Here you can see the new framing and the new planking going in.

Here is a close-up.  The planks are cut to fit, forced into place.  We then drill a pilot and a countersink.
After all the planks are fitted and screwed in, they will be removed and reset with thickened epoxy.
This might happen Friday when the weather will be warmer.

Here is an interior view of the same planking.

Ditto

The tails are long and will be cut to shape later.

Rebuilding the Square Meter: swinger

Having the new framing installed, I though it would be a good time to hang the boat from the barn structure.  The trailer is to be replaced with a new double axle trailer custom designed to properly fit the hull.  Hanging the boat will allow us to remove the trailer for a few weeks and have unhindered access to work on the planking.
In preparation for this, we slung heavy line and chain over the barn's massive framing and are using cable come-alongs and wide nylon strapping to lift the hull.  The straps are positioned on the galvanized ribs to properly support the hull.
This boat must have been made in production runs large enough to justify the interior metal work.  There are 4 galvanized frames that the wooden frames are faired to.  This would have required a good deal of tooling work.  I would love to see a photo of the shop they were built in.

Here we are starting to lift the hull off it's trailer bunks.

The hull is lifting off the bunks now.  This strap is positioned on one of the internal galvanized ribs.

The keel ballast is about to be drilled out for new keel bolts.

Rebuilding the Square Meter: fitting the keel timber

We took the keel home to our shop to do a little work on it.
We laminated on an additional 1 x.  This will strengthen it and enlarge the rabbet.  This will help when it comes time to plank.

After the epoxy set up, it was back to the barn to fit it.  The framing tails were built a little long so we snapped a line and cut them.

Once the keel was set in position, it allowed us to fit in blocking for the keel bolts.  These blocks raise the bolt head up a bit in the bilge. They also are cut with a bevel to provide a flat level surface for the bolt nut.  Additionally they provide a little more beef to hang the lead keel on.

Here are photos with descriptions.

Here is the keel with the additional lamination of oak.
It is 5.5 inches wide at it widest point and about 3.75 inches thick.

This is the stern end.  The rabbet is now about 1.5 inches wide.  The funny looking ends will be whittled in place.

We used thickened epoxy with hardwood pegs for all the laminations.

The is the underside.  It will receive the lead keel.

The frames are beveled to fit the keel.  Blocks are added for support for the keel bolts.
The keel will be through bolted to the frames and the lead ballast will be through bolted
to these blocks.

When the keel bolts are installed, this will suck up nice and tight.

The bottom end is taking shape.

Rebuilding the Square Meter: fitting in the new frames

Today we did the fine sanding to get the new oak frames to fit well into their spots.  By fine sanding I mean 36 grit on a angle grinder.  It takes off the wood quickly and provides a nice abraded surface for bonding.

Once the frames fit well, we roughed up the mating surface of the hull, mixed up epoxy and thickened it with colloidal silica.  At a later date we will add bronze fasteners through the planking.

The frames are bonded in and on the next visit, we will refit the keel timber.  Once we like the fit, we will use a ship auger to drill out the frames and timber for stainless steel through bolts.

Rebuilding the Square Meter: Hull framing

We are fitting in new oak frames to replace the rotted out bottom of this 1929 Swedish Skarrie.
Using some drawing paper sheets, we are making templates for each location.  Since the bottom of the hull is open, we are able to press in sheets of paper and trace in the hull curvature for each frame.
These lines are transferred to the 8 quarter oak and cut on the big band saw.
Any additional fitting is done with a angle grinder with a 36 grit disk.

We have finished three frames and today we are forming 4 additional ones.  The tails are slightly long.
These will be marked where they intersect with the keel timber and cut accordingly.  Once everything is fitted, long stainless through bolts will be installed the hold it together.

Marking the intersection with the rudder for a cut.

This barn is awesome.  It is framed in massive walnut!  It is wood peg post and beam construction.
Really well built.
We will use its framing to hoist the hull off it's trailer in the coming weeks.

This main beam is a full 12 inch square of walnut.
You can see the adz marks.
Here is the mast hanging off it.

Rebuilding the Square Meter: paint stripping

After 4 passes and 6 gallons of paint stripper, we have started to see the strengths and weaknesses of the hull.  This is a race boat and is built accordingly (light).  This is good for us.  The ribs will be easy to duplicate.  They are thin laminations of steam bent oak.  The lower braces are heavy oak but are not very large.  These will be recut out of 8 quarter oak and either directly replace the originals or be sistered in alongside the originals.
Here are photos of the work to date:

The stripped cockpit.  We used stripper to both remove paint layers in the bilge as well as to remove the canvas deck adhesive.

The most recent paint layer was battleship grey.  The early layers were way nicer.  A pale blue layer covered the original orangy red.  Now that's a factory color!

It looks nasty now.  Just wait.

Here is the cut out keel timber,  The top has a rabbet for the planking, the bottom is flat to receive the lead keel casting.
We are duplicating this piece out of oak.  Here is a piece of 8 quarter (2 inch thick) oak.  Additional oak will be pegged and epoxied on to build up the shape.

Here is the big oak passing through the Silver Band Saw.   Finally a piece  of wood
that is the right scale for the saw.  The saw ate through the wood like nobody's business.

Here are two pieces of new oak that we saw cut to shape.  Tomorrow we will bond them together
and continue forming the part.

Rebuilding the 1929 Square Meter, Kippis: We got the job!

The owner liked the bid well enough to give us the go ahead.  Brave Man!
There are some unknowns we will discover but he is a fearless sailor.

The first items on the to do list were to take measurements of everything that might be removed.
The biggest thing on this list is the keel timber.  It has rot but nothing is missing, so it will provide us a useful pattern.

After the measurements were recorded in a new log book, we began the process of chemically stripping the bilge planking and ribs.

The worrisome hole in the bottom of the boat.

Photos of our boards on the Maine Coast

Here Eifel is paddling past Victory Chimes, the beautiful schooner at anchor off Stonington, Me.
We had super calm and foggy conditions for our morning paddle.
Click on the image for a higher resolution version.

Hello?

Here is Don in his self built 18 foot wherry.

He kept us on course around Crotch island..

Eifel is enjoying the granite.