Another newbie with POS boat

Ive got this POS boat thats been sitting in my dads yard. Can anything be done with it? I do know the wood on the outside is useless. And Im a little afraid the ribs in the back are also useless but I wont know until I dig a little deeper. Any thoughts or suggestions or advice? This is sort of a follow up from my post in the design forums but thought it might be better suited for this forum. It also seems like there arent enough ribs for this boat?

Boat was built in 1949........last registered in 1972. Built for a tiny outboard. I want to reskin this boat. Add some custom details. And run it. Is this even going to be possible?

 

Absolutely! With enough time, skills, effort and money! I've seen worse brought back to their former glory and sell for many 10's of thousands of dollars! What's the make of the boat?

 

While there's lots of obvious damage to the deck and to the exposed wood in the cockpit, at first glance the balance of the hull and frames appear to be in good condition. You'll need to inspect and test carefully, of course, but it certainly looks like a good candidate for restoration. Nice lines; she'll be a real beauty after, as KnottyBuoys says, the application of a lot of labor time, money, and skill!

 

The register indicates its custom.........no make. The former owner has been deceased for some time so Im not even sure about getting the plans.

I will have some pictures of the ribs tomorrow evening. I got some of the outer shell off and I honestly do not think this boat is restorable. I do like the lines. Its very basic. No barrel back or torpedo. Alot of squared edges. I wanted to modernize it a little but like I said I dont think it will be worth it.

Everything is screwed on. Some of the brass screws would not even back out telling me the core of the wood is soft and rotted. Oddly enough it seems that the strongest least rotted part of the boat is the back which made of thicker wood.

Heres a question. The driver seems to sit pretty far forward. Is this normal for a boat this size?

 

Heres a couple more questions......

This boat was built with a single layer of plywood. All around. Only 1/4" thick. Im pretty sure this wasnt even common practice back when this boat was built. The length of the side I think is 12 or so feet and its 1 piece. Do they even make wood this long? If you were going to redo this boat, how would you do so? Double strip? Plywood?

I was thinking I would plywood the bottom and glass it. And 45 degree strip plank the sides on 1 layer and then horizontal strip plank another layer so the lines look normal.

Im still not clear on the proper shell techiques. Its seems to me that you have to use bronze fasteners to hold the shell to the ribs. Yet every picture I see of a boat I see absolutely no fasteners whatsoever. I only know of one boat that used a bizarre clamping technique to hold its wood in place (Rascal - vaccuum bag).

I have a LOAD of questions. I know some of you are getting annoyed that Im not reading about this stuff. Ive got more WoodenBoat magazines then I can shake a stick at but even so I do really get alot of help out of them. I just want to do this right the first time - and not have to do something 8 times until its right. If you know any of the best resources please share them (a search revealed alot about nothing).

 

Here's a good overview of wood boat building methods that might help you get a picture in your mind of how to proceed.
http://smaalders.net/yacht_design/gobboatconst.html

This is an excellent guide to the details of wooden boat building.
http://www.amazon.com/Boatbuilding-Complete-Handbook-Wooden-Construction/dp/0393035549

Yup, plywood is only available 99.9% of the time in 8' sheets. Good article on joining plywood sheets to get the length needed.
http://ftp.apci.net/~michalak/1apr05.htm

Fasteners are often countersunk and covered with bungs, little circular wood plugs tapped in, glued, and sanded flush. Where there is not enough thickness, a bit of filling compound will serve to cover the head, again sanding flush.

Anyone who is telling you to read more is actually being helpful. On a forum like this, it's hard to communicate concepts and techniques to someone who has never heard of some of the practices and the language used to describe them. By reading a book or two on building and/or repairing wood boats, you will learn the basics, you can study drawings and photos to see the techniques being applied, and learn some useful tips and shortcuts. Then your questions will be more along the lines of, "How have others decided between this method and that method? I know how to do both, but this is my situation and I was wondering if either one has any drawbacks I might have overlooked.", rather than "What do I do and how do I do it?". The knowledge required, even the basics, is not something you can pick up by reading a few magazine articles. It will take study, i.e. hours of reading, thinking about it, reading again, visualizing, practicing on scrap wood, reading again, etc. It's hard work, but you'll gain skills that make maintenance and any future boat repairs both easier and more fun.

 

Doesn't seem that far forward. That's pretty typical for all runabouts, regardless of when they were built.

 

Thank you ALOT. I was just looking for some guidance on where to look. Im going to the book store tonight to try to find the most comprehensive guide I can to restoration.

I only asked about the driver position because when I sat in the seat my feet could almost touch where the hull starts to taper in the bow. There is only about 3 feet from my toe tips to the bow point placing the drivers mass pretty much right in the center of the boat.

 

... where it belongs ...

 

This picture baffels me........everything is dotted with those metal deals. What are those? how do you get rid of them so theyre invisible?

 

They're just screws with washers being used to hold down the strips while the glue dries. They'll be removed and filled later.

 

I kinda thought they were just screws with washers............but it seemed like an awful lot of them. All those holes with filler in it..........I AM a newbie but it seems like that would be an eyesore. Please tell me the filler isnt just wood putty.

Here are some pics of the boat with the lid stripped off. IMO it seems like most of the ribs are junk. Should I just burn this mother down? Whats your opinion on this? I was thinking maybe I could remake some of the ribs but I dont have old design plans for this boat.

Also, notice the thickness of the wood where the outboard mounts. Its like 2" thick. Thats got to be expensive.

 

Most boats that old and made of plywood were Kit Boats. These were usually built by the home amateur. It could be useful to take the lines from to build a new one if nothing else.

 

Depends on the builder. Some use various types of mastic or it could be a wood inlay.

Most old boats that are candidates for restoration have some sort of historical value, such as a particular builders name or model. Those that are as far gone as this one would be used to produce, for the most part, a new boat, taking dimensions, templates etc. off of the old wreck. I don't know what the rules are for classic boats but I assume there would have to be a certain percentage of the old boat left to be considered a restored classic vs a new boat. So if you're not into building a new boat then it might just be a good candidate for the fire barrel.