mdevour
07-01-2005, 09:43 AM
Hello,
My apologies to the forum for asking a question about wood on a plastic boat, as opposed to the more usual issue of plastic on a wood boat, but you're the people I would most trust for this. smile.gif
I was recently bequeathed a Shark 24, built in Ontario about 1963 by George Hinterhoeller. It's one of the earliest designs done in glass and, happily for my taste in things, has a decent amount of teak on it.
The boat is put together with a hodgepodge of materials that has me scratching my head.
The bolts through the toe-rails that hold the deck to the hull are almost certainly stainless, as are the rubrail screws. The mast, deck cleats and chocks are aluminum. The rest of the rigging and fittings are stainless, with the exception of 3 sheet winches which are bronze. :rolleyes:
We pulled the traveller thwart out of the cockpit to refinish it. It was held in by bronze wood screws from below and by stainless bolts through the aluminum traveller track with the nuts and washers underneath.
The very large wood screws that hold the cockpit coamings from below are also bronze.
As yet I don't know how much of this is original and how much the result of owner modifications. The forums for the class are not very active, and the few people who participate don't seem interested in picayune questions like this.
So I'm trying to decide what to do as I put things back together.
So far, the only place I've seen bronze screws used is to anchor structural wood to the glass hull; ie., the coamings and thwart. These two applications are likely original, unlike the cabin top handrails which have obviously been refastened with stainless.
The bronze winches, of course, are held on by stainless hardware, which is probably not original either. :rolleyes:
The Shark is mostly a Great Lakes boat, and, of course, it's not wood. So the materials issue is not as crucial as it would be in salt water or a wooden hull.
So did Hinterhoeller use bronze here to protect structural teak from rot by using the most noble metal on the boat to hold it? That's the best theory I've been able to come up with.
So, what should I do? Keep the bronze where I find it? Replace with stainless? Stop worrying and enjoy my plastic boat? ;)
I would be grateful for your perspectives.
Be well,
Mike D.
Shark #69
My apologies to the forum for asking a question about wood on a plastic boat, as opposed to the more usual issue of plastic on a wood boat, but you're the people I would most trust for this. smile.gif
I was recently bequeathed a Shark 24, built in Ontario about 1963 by George Hinterhoeller. It's one of the earliest designs done in glass and, happily for my taste in things, has a decent amount of teak on it.
The boat is put together with a hodgepodge of materials that has me scratching my head.
The bolts through the toe-rails that hold the deck to the hull are almost certainly stainless, as are the rubrail screws. The mast, deck cleats and chocks are aluminum. The rest of the rigging and fittings are stainless, with the exception of 3 sheet winches which are bronze. :rolleyes:
We pulled the traveller thwart out of the cockpit to refinish it. It was held in by bronze wood screws from below and by stainless bolts through the aluminum traveller track with the nuts and washers underneath.
The very large wood screws that hold the cockpit coamings from below are also bronze.
As yet I don't know how much of this is original and how much the result of owner modifications. The forums for the class are not very active, and the few people who participate don't seem interested in picayune questions like this.
So I'm trying to decide what to do as I put things back together.
So far, the only place I've seen bronze screws used is to anchor structural wood to the glass hull; ie., the coamings and thwart. These two applications are likely original, unlike the cabin top handrails which have obviously been refastened with stainless.
The bronze winches, of course, are held on by stainless hardware, which is probably not original either. :rolleyes:
The Shark is mostly a Great Lakes boat, and, of course, it's not wood. So the materials issue is not as crucial as it would be in salt water or a wooden hull.
So did Hinterhoeller use bronze here to protect structural teak from rot by using the most noble metal on the boat to hold it? That's the best theory I've been able to come up with.
So, what should I do? Keep the bronze where I find it? Replace with stainless? Stop worrying and enjoy my plastic boat? ;)
I would be grateful for your perspectives.
Be well,
Mike D.
Shark #69