Help with refinishing please

I have an old wood boat I am refinishing. Plywood 1959 Liberty Craft. As of yet I have found no info on manufacture or sales of this boat. 16' outboard. Solid. I have many questions and alot to re-learn. As a younger man I built a hydroplane out of plywood and refinished my Grandfathers wood boat, so I could fish from it! Ok, my first question is: the top deck is v-groove mahogany plywood and it is painted every other "board" white. I am diligently stripping off this white paint as I would like it all mahogany, like a Hacker, and what I need to know is, what creates the white lines in the V-groove? Caulk? Grout? I havent seen anything online about this. I havent bought any books yet, as I seem to "wing it" with 30 years of woodworking experience. I can figure out the epoxy and varnish. Ok...question 2: What determines the paint on the bottom? Specifically, where should it stop coming up the sides? The splash rail? Do I have to drop it in the water and shoot a line? The previous owner has it going about 3" above the splash. Thanks for any help folks! I am excited to be a wood boat owner and look forward to working my way up to something higher end. Mike in Houston Texas

 

Your plywood planking could be built up of different woods, a combination of paint and caulk or just paint. Be careful sanding and stripping the "white" boards. The outer layer of ply is usually thinner than interior layers and you can sand through them, down to the ugly cross grain stuff below. If it is a built up panel the lighter colored wood may not be mahogany. The "lines" could be paint or caulk (polysulfide is likely), if it is rubbery when sanded it is caulk, if it pretty much sands away clean, it's paint.

The waterline (LWL) on every boat is specific to that boat. On small, trailer boats, the easiest way to find the LWL is to launch her, outfitted for a full day on the water (full tanks, supplies, cooler full of beer, etc.) and move her to very calm water. Let the boat sit until things (the water) settles down around her, then a quick dot, from a spray can of primer on the bow and the corners of the transom is all you need. This is easily removed with thinner. The primmer will show the actual LWL, but you'll want to paint it higher (an inch or more, to suit taste or style) which may or may not be topped with a boot stripe (what most folks think is the waterline)

With the primer marks on the boat, get her home and block her up level, both fore and aft as well as athwartship. A laser level is a handy thing next, but a water level or even a stick and string can be used to strike the LWL. Scribe the LWL into the boat's surface, so that it's always there, even if filled with a number of layers of paint.

 

PAR,
Thanks for the info! The wood is definately plywood and the paint stripping is slow, but its all coming out. The plywoods top slice of mahogany is pretty thick compared to todays lumber, and I wont have much sanding, as it has been cared for over the years. Thanks again!