Todd D
04-27-2009, 03:23 PM
April 16, 09 - Spring has finally arrived. I took the cover off the boat on Tuesday since we have a week of sunny weather forcast. Yesterday I decided to finish shaping
the keel where it meets the stem. So I removed the blocking I put under the new part of the keel for the winter and laid a tarp under the bow. After that I laid out the lines
I wanted to plane the keel back to and backed out a screw that was in the area to be planed off. That preparation took about 30 minutes. When the prep work was done I
got out my new electric plane and went to work. The entire job of planing off extra wood to shape the keel took about 15 minutes. The only down side I can see to the
electric plane is that it completely covered me in wood chips. Despite that, I really like the electric plane.
Here is the before picture from last fall. This picture was taken right after I put the keel in place.
http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/keel_work-13.jpg
Here is the keel yesterday after I finished with the electric plane. A marked improvement.
http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/keel_work-14.jpg
After I finished with the keel I removed the blocking I had screwed to the hull to support the bow while I had the keel off and bunged the holes in the planks. The next step
is to replace the rotted frame ends that I cut last fall when I removed the keel.
April 29, 09 - Since my last update I haven't had much time to work on this project, but I finally got back to it last week. Last week I removed the first bad frame on the
port side. The boat has a number of longitudinal stringers on a spacing of about one and a half feet. Initially I tried to remove the bad frame without removing the stringer.
However, after doing a lot of damage to the planking and the stringer, I finally decided to cut the stringer out. Once the stringer was out, the frame came out quite easily
except for one screw that I had to dig out. With the frame out, I made a pattern, which I used to laminate a new oak frame. Over the last few days I repaired the damage I
did to the planking during the frame removal. Finally, today I installed the new frame.
http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/keel_work-15.jpg
The picture above shows the new frame in place. At some time in the past a planking repair was made to put the outsize plank in at the bow. When that plank was put in
short sister frames were installed and that the plank was screwed to. I dediced to remove the sister frames. Unfortunately, the stainles steel screws used in that repair were
really hard to back out. I managed to get five of the screws out without difficulty, but I stripped the slot on the sixth screw, so I had to drill and dig it out. I also cut a
1-7/8" hole in the plank to get at the head of the bolt holding the frame to the stringer inside the hull while I was trying to remove the frame without removing the stringer.
Consequently, I spent a lot of time repairing the plank. Where I dug the screw out, I drilled a 1" hole in the plank, which I then sanded a taper into. I also sanded a taper
into the 1-7/8" hole I cut. I made up tapered 1-1/4" and 2-1/8" douglas fir plugs which I set into the two holes with epoxy thickened with microfibers. I also filled the
unneeded screw holes by through drilling them to 3/8", epoxying a bung in from the inside, using a forstner bit to expand the outside half of the hole to 1/2" and epoxying in
a 1/2" bung from the outside.
Today I installed the new frame end. It is scarfed into the old frame about 8" above the waterline. The frame is attached to the keel with two 3" long bronze screws and a
bit of caulking compound. After the epoxy cures, I will sand exerything faie and put another coat of paint on the frame.
Over the next few weeks I will laminate and install new frames for the back to the aft end of the new bit I laminated into the keel.
I documented the work on my web page at: http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/rebuilding_tortuga.html
the keel where it meets the stem. So I removed the blocking I put under the new part of the keel for the winter and laid a tarp under the bow. After that I laid out the lines
I wanted to plane the keel back to and backed out a screw that was in the area to be planed off. That preparation took about 30 minutes. When the prep work was done I
got out my new electric plane and went to work. The entire job of planing off extra wood to shape the keel took about 15 minutes. The only down side I can see to the
electric plane is that it completely covered me in wood chips. Despite that, I really like the electric plane.
Here is the before picture from last fall. This picture was taken right after I put the keel in place.
http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/keel_work-13.jpg
Here is the keel yesterday after I finished with the electric plane. A marked improvement.
http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/keel_work-14.jpg
After I finished with the keel I removed the blocking I had screwed to the hull to support the bow while I had the keel off and bunged the holes in the planks. The next step
is to replace the rotted frame ends that I cut last fall when I removed the keel.
April 29, 09 - Since my last update I haven't had much time to work on this project, but I finally got back to it last week. Last week I removed the first bad frame on the
port side. The boat has a number of longitudinal stringers on a spacing of about one and a half feet. Initially I tried to remove the bad frame without removing the stringer.
However, after doing a lot of damage to the planking and the stringer, I finally decided to cut the stringer out. Once the stringer was out, the frame came out quite easily
except for one screw that I had to dig out. With the frame out, I made a pattern, which I used to laminate a new oak frame. Over the last few days I repaired the damage I
did to the planking during the frame removal. Finally, today I installed the new frame.
http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/keel_work-15.jpg
The picture above shows the new frame in place. At some time in the past a planking repair was made to put the outsize plank in at the bow. When that plank was put in
short sister frames were installed and that the plank was screwed to. I dediced to remove the sister frames. Unfortunately, the stainles steel screws used in that repair were
really hard to back out. I managed to get five of the screws out without difficulty, but I stripped the slot on the sixth screw, so I had to drill and dig it out. I also cut a
1-7/8" hole in the plank to get at the head of the bolt holding the frame to the stringer inside the hull while I was trying to remove the frame without removing the stringer.
Consequently, I spent a lot of time repairing the plank. Where I dug the screw out, I drilled a 1" hole in the plank, which I then sanded a taper into. I also sanded a taper
into the 1-7/8" hole I cut. I made up tapered 1-1/4" and 2-1/8" douglas fir plugs which I set into the two holes with epoxy thickened with microfibers. I also filled the
unneeded screw holes by through drilling them to 3/8", epoxying a bung in from the inside, using a forstner bit to expand the outside half of the hole to 1/2" and epoxying in
a 1/2" bung from the outside.
Today I installed the new frame end. It is scarfed into the old frame about 8" above the waterline. The frame is attached to the keel with two 3" long bronze screws and a
bit of caulking compound. After the epoxy cures, I will sand exerything faie and put another coat of paint on the frame.
Over the next few weeks I will laminate and install new frames for the back to the aft end of the new bit I laminated into the keel.
I documented the work on my web page at: http://www.todddunnmicroyachts.com/tortuga/rebuilding_tortuga.html