replacing steel drifts in floors of Egg Harbor 37

Discussion in 'Wooden Boat Building and Restoration' started by sdowney717, Sep 2, 2014.

  1. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
    Posts: 1,175
    Likes: 85, Points: 58, Legacy Rep: 274
    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    The boat is from 1970 and the builder used 1/2 inch wide steel drift pins to secure tall oak floors to the keel.
    The pins are perhaps 8 to 10 inches in length.
    Every oak wood floor is on 9 inch centers.

    They are of course rusting severely in the forward part of the boatr where bilge water tends to sit. Slumping piles of rust are sitting on top of the keel for some of these pins.

    I dont know if they are removeable by pulling them up and out.

    The boat is on the hard now and the floors have dried out so the tops of many of the drifts are above the floors. I have an idea using a comealong and some wood 2x6 cut with us shaped slots placed over the floors to attempt extractions of the drifts. This way all the force is on the oak floor and drift and none on the keel.

    My idea was if some could not pull out,
    1. Cut threw the floor longwise to slice the old pin in half inside the floor.
    2. Pull out the top part of the pin, perhaps 3 to 4 inches.
    3. Chisel the oak floor wood clear of the remaining rusted pin on one side of the floor.
    4. Pry out the rusted remains from the wood floor, pull remains out of keel drilled hole that was made for these drifts.
    5. Glue and screw on a piece of wood on the side where the wood was chiseled.
    6. Make new pins out of Cumaru (IPE) wood and use that for drifts.

    Any load on these drifts is all in shear and likely not so much anymore after the hull was built, and Cumaru is very very strong and very rot resistant.

    Putting metal back in these holes I dont like the idea.

    Typical appearance of these old oak floors, keel, and rusting drifts.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    This floor I repaired as it cracked in half.
    The repair is plenty strong.

    [​IMG]

    Not all the drifts are this bad. I would say all in the lowest part of the bilge are the ones I would try to fix.
    So what do you think?

    The drifts have a thick steel washer rove thing and the steel pin is peened on the end to hold washer to form the head.

    Another one more forward. I think maybe I would like to repair 10 or so drifts.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
    Posts: 1,175
    Likes: 85, Points: 58, Legacy Rep: 274
    Location: Newport News VA

    sdowney717 Senior Member

    These in the engine room look to be in better shape.
    [​IMG]
     
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