Identify my old wooden sailing boat please.

Restoring lapstrake is quite difficult. It can be worth the effort if you want a hobby or somehow fell in love with the boat. However, count on it taking at least three times longer than building a new one.

 

Hey , I've read the same tip from your old buddy . . .

Must be a good one, here's his extended version why that should work so well . . .

- click pic to enlarge​

Cheers,
Angel

 

Its me - the proud (?) owner of the boat you all have been offering commentary towards. Very appreciative of all the feed back! I am obviously extremely challenged
in "boat-ology" - I am a horse veterinarian and there's not much cross-over, even though I'll admit this boat needs surgery . This little boat just seemed too uniquely well-built to not give it a try fixing her up. I have built one sailboat from Stevenson's Projects basically from materials available at Lowe's Home Improvements. Mainly the project was to relax and let off steam and transition through a period of crisis in my life. The boat never sailed, but did achieve its goal - no more steam!! In answer to your requests, I am sending more and better pics. Gladly, there seems to be little or no rotted wood except around the ballast bolts. Any further ID efforts, encouragement, information or working visit gladly accepted. As to the inquiries of its value, I just wanted to make sure this wasn't a lifeboat from Blackbeard's original ship before I got out my paint stripper! Thanks again and keep the comments rolling - I'll update you every so often with pictures of my progress.

 

More pics...

 

I'm reasonably sure you'll find rot at the frame heels, bottom of the structural floors, likely along the top of the keel, between stem and stern post joints, etc. All the usual locations. I see Dutchman's and other repairs to the broad strakes and you can bet the garboards are shot too.

Lapstrake isn't as hard to repair as many think, but it does take a different approach then other building methods. Since you're new to all this, it'll be normal to you. Get her blocked up solid and level, the brace her up so she doesn't lose any shape as her garboards are removed. Once these are pulled, you'll see the condition of the floors, frame ends, rabbit and keel. It's at this point you can walk away without too much pain if she's well into deterioration.

The worst thing you can do is just start unbolting and unscrewing things, without proper blocking and support. She'll distort, lose her shape and you'll never get it back, without some serious skills.

 

Looks pretty from here. The paint shrinkage would indicate storage in a hot dry place.

If water had been allowed to sit in it , you might have some rot in the keel,
If not then it should be good. Maybe some fastener replacement .

It would be good if you could post some clearer pictures of the keel area,
closeups of the frame ends . and where the planks let into the stem and stern post .

f

 

Again, the real tell will be when the garboards get hanked and you can see everything. On a typical job like this, after blocking and bracing, I'd pull the garboard, the sheer strake and one or two of the bilge turn planks. With the repairs on the broads they'd be immediately suspect. Well, see. Keep us informed, she's too pretty to let die.

 

That might be a little drastic at this point. And attempts to restore boats like this to new condition often end up in the dump. First it needs to be cleaned up. and then some poking around . I assume copper rivets between frames. Maybe clench nailed.

I agree she is to nice to let go.

 

Broad strakes are pretty easy to pull on boats like this. She'll be clenched or riveted and both use the same technique to free the planking. I could pull both garboards, intact if in good shape, in about a hour each side. I'd do minimum damage to the faying surfaces and all could be replaced if desired, with some polysulfide settling any issues I might have created in their removal. My point is you have to see those frame heels, the floors and the keel, not just portions of the top of them. With the broad removed you could remove a few key fasteners in the garboard and bend it down for a good look see. You'd also see the contact points on the frames, where tension cracks would occur. The bottom line is a quick assessment to determine if she's worth any further bother.

 

Fall in love with her lines but be careful of her amorious ways. Be as cruel a capitalist as you can be. If she is a "Bluenose"( our rotted out schooner) do as was done with her, use her lines to build a new one. You actually have a bit of an advantage as you can carefully dismantle her part by part and use them as patterns. Possibly there is an experienced "wood" boatbuilder you can hire part time to guide you along. You would still have the stress relieving labour of love and end up with a beautiful vessel rather than alot of additional headaches and wasted money. We've all been there, plastic surgery does not a young girl make.

A yacht is not defined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner

 

A Danske Kragejolle perhaps?

 

looks like

Could be in the Couta Class of boats we have here in Victoria. Small open and small closed fishing boats . . Quite nice lines. Scrub away the dirt and you might find a diamond. Deo

 

It is becoming apparent there are two schools of thought:

- optimist - beautiful project that will bring you joy - and -
- pessimist - incipient nightmare that will suck the life out of you and never meet expectations

Most often people feel it necessary to encourage this type of activity. Even those who know better are very careful in their language to appear positive.

I've come to believe the encouraging folks are actually divided into two sub-groups:

- naive sunny optimists - and -
- cruel monsters with lots of scar tissue wanting to witness the upcoming train wreck first hand.

Here are some observations to consider:

- Building new is many times easier than rebuilding old
- You are far better to be experienced at building new boats before considering rebuilding an old one.
- Most rebuild projects fail, especially do it yourself rebuilds.
- Many old hulls have sucked the life out of multiple owners who each start rebuilds and fail. Check the body count left behind a rebuild project before starting.
- It will take many times the estimated time, and many more times the estimated cost to complete.
- The ridiculous estimate given to you by a professional for the rebuild will eventually turn out far lower cost than doing it yourself. The only benefit(?) of doing it yourself is that you will spend money slower, leave little trail for your wife to follow, and probably have a different wife at the end of your try than you had at the beginning.
- Every problem you find will be concealing ten more problems only found if you fix the first one.
- You will be invited to your local chandler's children's graduations - because you will have paid for their education.
- Take a hard look at the calendar right now, and figure out what age you will be in a few years. Then imagine yourself AT THAT age using the boat. If you are older than 50 now, you may not be the one to get any satisfaction out of your rebuild project when it is complete.
- Don't put in time and money in a project your ungrateful kids will end up with selling to buy new smartphones for their brats.

I've rebuilt boats, so I'm the guy I'm warning you not to become.

--
CutOnce

 

I am being nice...

 

Giving advise based on photos is difficult enough on a new craft, and almost impossible when it involves something in this condition. Those of us who have been into the nightmare before base our response on experience and caution on a worst case senerio. Great if this proves not to be the situation but as far as old wooden hulls are concerned it would be very irrresponsible of us not to express as much. Don't be discouraged but Keep in mind once completed this vessel has to carry you and your loved ones safely thru troubled waters.

A yacht is not defined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner---