1961 cruisers inc cutwater and outer keel

[rivet]

Hi,
An 18' cruisers inc has me and I would appreciate advice on how best to care for the white oak outer keel and cutwater (outer stem?? - not sure of some the nomenclature)

Several years ago, I removed both and thought the wood was sound enough to sand, fill, and re-install. It appears now that I should have replaced them. The filler (epoxy based) did not adhere well and wood surrounding the "repaired" area is coming off in chunks.

Question 1: Is there a method of lasting repair that I can use and avoid removing the keel and cutwater again or should I plan on a R&R (fighting all those keel bolts again?)

Question 2: There is a joint between the cutwater and outer keel and there was a hole (for a dowell???) I believe this is called a stopwater. Since the outer keel isn't so much a structural member, would it be a bad idea to remove only the damaged section and use a scarf or stopwater to splice in a new section?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7501/pict0380.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/i/pict0380.jpg/)

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6783/pict0379.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/i/pict0379.jpg/)

[AndreasJordahlRhude]

There is no cutwater on a lapstrake wooden power boat made by Cruisers, Inc. The outer stem is called the "outer stem". The outer keel is called he outer keel. The pieces inside the boat is called the inner stem and keelson.

I have never seen a stopwater dowel on a lapstrake Cruisers, Inc. or similar boat (Thompson of Peshtigo, Thompson of NY, T & T, Grady-White...). So I wonder if some previous repairs were made and someone added a stopwater. Also, there should only be two "keel bolts" One each on the outer stem and outer keel where they meet. The rest of the fasteners are screws.

Just make new outer stem and outer keel pieces. Use all heartwood white oak. Splicing new pieces is is OK. It will be more work to make a proper spliced piece than replacing the entire piece.

www.thompsondockside.com (http://www.thompsondockside.com) is the place to go for all things Thompson Boat related - and Cruisers, Inc. which was a spin-off from Thompson.

Andreas

[rivet]

Thanks for the response Andreas. From your post it would appear that repairs were indeed attempted because in addition to the stopwater I found 1/4" bolts (carriage) through the outer keel and keelson roughly every three feet. They were neatly counterbored into the keelson and I had assumed oringinal. Anyway, maybe now that the old brass bolts and screws have been replaced with silicon bronze they will be easier to remove?

One other quick question: Is a polysulphide the right stuff to use between the outer and inner stem?

Thanks again

[24hacker]

Get rid of the roller on your trailer - go with 'V' berth - it appears that you are winching your boat onto the trailer causing a lot of the damage.

[rivet]

Get rid of the roller on your trailer - go with 'V' berth - it appears that you are winching your boat onto the trailer causing a lot of the damage.


Yeah, I do intend to address that because the metal frame around the roller has gouged my garboards a few times when I wasn't lined up properly. Not sure what a V berth is.... I'm guessing you mean the rollers that are 12" long and tapered toward the keel???? The rest of the rollers on the trailer are that variety.....I've got to figuer out how to modify a mount for one in that particular spot. I think I also need a piece of brass/bronze half round from stem to stern.