Could he, should he?

[Jeff Kelety]

Wull, fellas, in a season or two or even three, Folkboat Nais ought to have her transome replaced. A bit of buckling near the outboard seams of the transome planks, some pretty good leaks around the hood ends, etc. After 52 years those old boards may have seen their best days.

The question is, should a complete rookie attempt to replace a transome on his own? A rookie, I should say, with pretty good wood working/building skills, but a rookie at this level none the less. And actually, I don't mean going it entirely alone; I would pay (handsomely) for consulting and/or mentoring. But the thought of laying out up to $10K and coming away with no new skills isn't appealing.

So what do you all think? Am I crazy for considering this? Will I end up with a (badly) leaking, mis-aligned Folkie?

Your insights/experience greatly appreciated.

jgk

[PugetSound]

Jeff,
In two or three seasons? Hell, man you're living in the woodenboat capital of the Western USA! Start doing your research and asking questions (like what you're doing) and by the time you are ready to do the work you'll be teaching classes on the subject.

You wouldn't be the first "novice" to repair/replace a transom successfully. Most seem to opt for the surgical path wherein the last 6 inches of the boat/planks/keel ect. are removed and a new transom is built in place. The other option is to maintain the current lines and splice in appropriate lengths/sections of planking and keel ect. as a new transom is built in place of the old.

In short, go for it. This is an ideal excuse to take a boatbuilding course....

[RGM]

You're in a good position Jeff, in more ways than one. You have a realistic vision of what you're potentially up against. You've got some time on your side, which means this won't be a "panic" repair job. Take it apart and reassemble in your head many times over. Think of it as a puzzle that comes apart and goes back together in a particular order. Don't look at all of the elements all at once, that can be overwelming. Break the job down into phases or sections. That makes it easier to solve the puzzle. You've got lots of time to acquire some more skill and knowledge. Start acquiring the material now, it will be easier to budget for. Get first rate stuff, you've got time to shop it out and order it if need be and then sticker it and let it air dry and stabilize prior to repair time. Stock pile some extra if you can. Geographically you're sitting in an area that has alot of skilled shipwrights close by if you have to draw on that talent pool. In short you'll be able to enjoy a number of luxuries that many boat owners only dream of. Besides Jeff, you've got all of us! LOL. Good luck.

[Noah]

Jeff, as you know I have played around with my Folkboat transom some. I think that you wouldn't have a very hard time doing it. When I fixed the rot in mine I replaced only a small chunk out of the upper port side. If I was to do it again, I would probably just pull the whole thing and do it right. I was under pressure, so I did it the quick way.

Anyway, my boat is planked with Scandinavian larch, and it seems that the wood just won't rot. It is soft, and seems to be about 90% water when submersed, but it just won't rot. What I'm saying is my plank ends were in good condition. I don't know what condition yours are in, so I'm assuming the best...

I removed and or drilled out all of the bronze screws holding the planks to the side of the transom. This should be pretty quick and easy to do. On my boat there are 3 10-15" white oak planks that make up the transom. They are held on by the planks, and being screwed into the center of the sternpost. There is also an "inner" stern which compromises two curved pieces that run down the inside of the stern, and help to connect the transom to the planks.

I would grind the whole thing down to see what you find for fastenings, and or rot. On my boat I'm pretty sure that I want to replace the sternpost, and both will be done at the same time.

Anyway, I think your boat is in pretty good condition, so I would pull all the fastenings, and then see if you can get the planks out.
There really isn't much to cutting out the shape of the 3 planks, and you could probably do it with a good jig saw and a weekend.

I know that Rurhdah (spelling? {Sorry about that}) Has entirely replaced the transom on his Folkboat, and didn't have too much of a problem with it.

Also Peter Jacobs, who is on this forum, is building a new Folkboat, so he can probably tell you what the plans call for.

Good luck, and I would be happy to answer any other questions that you have.

I say jump into it and replace the damm thing!!!

Noah

[Jeff Kelety]

Gadzooks! What unabashed encouragment. It's very much appreciated. Well ok then. I'll look very seriously towards doing this. Anybody know off hand of a reference in doing a transome replacement for a lapstrake boat?

The "pros" said six weeks or so. I suppose that's mediated some by their working several projects at once. Wonder how many hours a rookie can expect it to take. I assume its possible to build the transome blank up ahead of time and have it ready to go saving some on-the-hard time. Ah well, a zillion questions to go...

Thanks again, all. I'll be back - alot.

jgk

[Ruaridh]

Hi Jeff,
As Noah mentioned, I replaced the transom on my folkboat. The previous one was oak and quite split open and rotted at the ends.

When I first got the boat the transom and the deck were the 2 major things that definitely needed replacing, without these being done she was un-useable and worth nothing (which is how I came to get her), so I didn't have any real deliberations, I just thought 'If I get the transom done I'll do the deck, if I get the deck done I'll start thinking about other things....' that was nearly 5 years ago.

Although I'd worked around boats a lot as a mechanic and had assisted shipwrights often, I had little hands-on woodwork experience. While I'm happy with the job I did on the transom (it's stronger than it ever was before!!) if I was doing it again I'd do it much more carefully - but then thats what learning's all about, and at the beginning of the project it seemed more important to just get it done.

I got a 12" x 1" board of American white oak to make it - it was the last one in the place and I was lucky to get it. I used 1 1/4" of the same to make the 'doublers' inside - these were slightly thicker than the old ones and allowed me to put the plank fastenings through new holes if necessary. The hood ends were ok except for the sheer plank which was rotten for the last 6 inches or so. I scarphed in bits of pitch pine to repair this. The sternpost was in perfect condition.

I started by removing the old transom and using it as a pattern. The hardest bit was all the screws that broke off their heads or chewed up their slot (this was before I found the un-screwums!). I'll admit I didn't think about the boat losing her shape, but she was well supported on her trailer and it didn't seem to matter. The new boards ended up fitted temporarily for months - this wasn't intentional but did let things stabilise nicely. Another thing I hadn't thought of and a lucky accident!

The main things I'd do differently would be cutting out the new boards much more carefully, and either getting an electric plane or getting them planed up before starting. White oak is difficult to plane by hand. The other thing to watch out for is: I think my original transom had been made from a thicker board then shaped to have a slight curve from the centreline out to the hood ends (or perhaps a tiny steamed bend). This made it difficult to line up my totally 'flat' transom with the planks nicely, especially as I only had 1" to play with. As I was using epoxy / microfibers anyway to assemble things with (shock horror but I don't regret it - this assembly will easily outlast the boat) I just faired in inacuracies with this.

All in all the re-assembly was fairly easy. I'd say this is definitely a job which could be undertaken by an amateur, and as you've already started looking into it in much greater detail than I did, you'll probably make a much better job!. And you'll get new skills as you say.

It's worth remembering that folkboats were originally designed to be buildable by (competent) amateurs and good sound, simple construction is often found on them rather than classical perfection.

Best of luck, and let us know how you get on!
Ruaridh.