Photos of Hull re-construction & question

[davetuemmler]

Here's some photos of my hull reconstruction on a 1956 Holiday 30. I have removed 80% of the planks, replaced 7 planks and replaced 43 ribs. I have 1 more plank to finish which hopefully will be accomplished this weekend.

I do have a question. What is the suggested method to patch the unwanted screw holes in the planks? Should I fill with thickened epoxy? Epoxy in a bung or epoxy in a tapered plug?

Also at some places on the ribs the screws holding the planks are slightly poking out. I was planning on sanding smooth and filling any small cracks around the screws with caulk. Or I could use epoxy.

Here's a link to photos:
http://holiday30.shutterfly.com/

Thanks,

Dave Tuemmler

[onobleboat]

Taperd plug is old method but either way would work fine, about the screws sticking out? Why don,t you try backing them out and redrill the hole deeper, would be easier, less trouble down the road. Nice boat, nice shop, looks like you have things under controll.

[onobleboat]

Nice pile of used ribs, hate to see stuff like that go in the wood stove, I had a bunch of Mahogany that looked worse than that, cut off all the toxic stuff on the bandsaw, filled all the screw holes and made old sedan type wooden cars out of them and gave them away to all the kids in the area

[davetuemmler]

Nice idea to make stuff for the kids but I think I better stay on task. I was refering to the tips of the screws going too deep in the ribs in some spots and coming thru on the interior. If I drilled deeper it would be worse. I should have had slightly sorter screws in some areas where either the planks or ribs are thinner.

[pcford]

My god, you fastened with straight slots; you must have the patience of a saint.

Plugs are always the best way to proceed. They will expand and contract with the surrounding wood. Puttied fasteners always show dimples.

[Todd D]

I am going through the same thing. I through drilled all the old fastener holes with a 3/8" bit. Working from the ourside of the boat I used a 1/2" forstner bit to drill the holes half way through the planks. I then epoxied 1/2" bungs into the holes from outside and 3/8" bungs into the holes from the inside after the epoxy on the outside bungs set. It took a lot of time, but I am ci=onfident that the holes are well and truly plugged.

[davetuemmler]

Sounds like a good solution Todd. I think I will try that as well. Thanks for the tip.


I am going through the same thing. I through drilled all the old fastener holes with a 3/8" bit. Working from the ourside of the boat I used a 1/2" forstner bit to drill the holes half way through the planks. I then epoxied 1/2" bungs into the holes from outside and 3/8" bungs into the holes from the inside after the epoxy on the outside bungs set. It took a lot of time, but I am ci=onfident that the holes are well and truly plugged.

[jonsailr]

I suspect this is probably a "butchers" solution, but when I refastened and repaired 12 ribs on my 1960 30 ft Alberg Sloop, I had some screws too long poke through on the inside as well. I had elected to do laminate repairs to the broken ribs and used a 5,000 rpm Makita disc sander with 36 grit paper for rough shaping. This nicely shaped the protruding screw ends as well as any oak I was working on. Never even damaged the paper, the bronze screws were softer :)

See the boat at: http://www.alberg30.org/CarlAlberg/WoodenBoats/Alestra/