Restoraion of 57 CC Holiday

Hi all. I inherited an 18' 57 Holiday a few years ago and have recently started the restoration process. It has been in the family for about 25 years. I have a few questions about the bottom. I'm interested in using some kind of epoxy, like cpes or the 5200. The boat has all the original chrome, original glass, step pads, scoops, engine, etc. I still have the original horse hair seat cushions, too! From what information I have been able to gather, there were only about 330 or so 18' Holiday's built between 1955 and 1958. The boat also has the most powerful engine available, the KFL(131 hp). I know the boat is pretty rare, but not likely very desirable because it is an entry level utility.

Will using epoxy on the bottom decrease or increase the value of the boat because it is such great condition and has all the original pieces?

I'm not looking to build a "show boat", but am planning on building a very correct restoration. Any ideas as to how much it could be worth?

 

A correct restoration will need the same methods used as the original. Any fiberglass coatings will decrease its value. Any non traditional or original treatments or repairs will decrease its value. Show winning boats usually have a higher level of finish then the originals did. These old wooden boats do not take to the new wonder products being used on the market today as well as newer design boats do. They shed off the hard new finish coatings and prefer the old oil base stuff. The same is true with seam sealants and adhesives. Epoxy as an adhesive can be used in repair work, but should be avoided in coatings, unless the complete replacement piece can be coated.

Value is what a prospective buyer will give you for the boat, usually below what you hoped it would bring. There are several Chris Craft sites on line and one of them may be better off giving you an idea of the value of a good original Holiday. I have a 1960 Sea Skiff and it is worth much less then what I have in it, but I have no plans of selling, just enjoying her.

The quick of it is, keep it original and she will be most valuable. Make changes to any part or method and it goes down in value.

 

Well I wasn't talking about fiberglassing the bottom. The epoxy I'm talking about is impregnated into the wood, not all of the wood, just the wood that will be under water. After a few days of soaking the impregnated wood needs to dry for a couple days and then the boat is reasembled.

 

For epoxy to do its job of keeping out moisture, the wood must be encapsulated. This means every side, hole, fastened joint, etc. has to be coated. This is possible with new construction, but very difficult with repair work. You can disassemble the affected pieces, which would be the bottom planks, hit them with several coats of penetrating epoxy, then reassemble the planking on the framing, but this is a big job.

If you coat just the outside, then moisture content will still change in the planking, but it will have less ability to pass this water, possibly trapping it, between the coated areas and the uncoated areas. This will cause rapid rotting of the uncoated areas, probably from inside the boat. This process will be accelerated when the bottom planks get scratches and other minor blemishes, as the moisture will get in, but will have a limited path of escape.

Epoxy alone, without cloth, will not provide any abrasion protection. Alone, it will crack, scratch, chip, separate at seams and quickly cause rot to form in the bottom planking.

Honestly, it would be a bad idea to put straight epoxy on your bottom planking. Penetrating epoxy is a good idea, if the bottom planking has to come off for some reason, but unless full encapsulation is performed, it will cause trouble.

The idea with encapsulation is to form a plastic barrier around the wood, completely around it, including the holes for the screws, etc. This treatment will stabilize the moisture content and prevent the break down of the wood fibers, from rot or wood boring vermin. Then this coating has to be repaired shortly after any breaks in the coating occur, so the moisture content can be maintained and conditions inside the wood kept unfavorable to rot forming. A paint job, with epoxy on the outside of the planking, will be not much more then a paint job.

I have paid for the replacement of bottom planks on several boats and only my hard chine, plywood runabout has been epoxy treated this way. Apparently, plywood is a different animal when it comes to epoxy, most everyone recommends a penetrating epoxy coating before installation. This has not been the case for solid lumber, planked boats I have owned, or the lapstrake plywood Sea Skiff I just had redone. My restorer had a good point when he said it survived well for 40 years of use with some polysulfide in the seams, good maintenance, including keeping the bottom painted. I will be dead when the next set of bottom planks needs to go on the old girl again, which for my money, is a good enough investment.

 

Well my original plan goes as follows: Replace 1 bottom plank b/c it is split all the way down the middle. Replace 3 boards on port side where someone towed the boat with the cover on. Replace bull nose(I've heard they always rot out due to bad design). Replace both gunnels(sp) due to stupid people slamming their ice chest down on them. A wooden boat shop is going to do all of the work and take off all of the bottom planks and soak them in epoxy and refasten them(he said the boat would not leak and would not rot if done correctly). Bottom is painted blue right now, so my plan was to paint it the original copper color. For all of this work he quoted me around $7000. I have seen his work and he does do a very good job. He recently finished a 54 CC, replaced every plank on the bottom and used the epoxy system. It's a lot of work, but I think $7k is a pretty fair price.

Oh and I found the stern light pole last night! Apparently my aunt was keeping it for safe keeping. It's not the original one, but it is still the same. Classic boat connection has just about everything you need to rebuild your boat.