H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

[Jay Greer]

Stipping glass is a bitch and there is no other term to describe it! I have used a Fein Multitool in some cases. But when push comes to shove RFNK's method works every time.
I think that I can speak for everyone when I say that we greatly admire your fortitude! Once the grunt work is over, your creative work will be the reward for your efforts.
Personally, I like the ketch rig better than the sloop. However, as mentioned before, "Bright Star" will soon sport LFH's sloop mast which is four feet taller and retain the mizzen mast for sailing off the wind. There are great advantages to having the mizzen for balance and setting greater area when it is time to fly kites.
Jay

[Larks]

Rick, that sounds like it would have been quite a lot easier. I did get a bit of a method going by lifting an end with a scraper then getting a hold of the glass with plyers or a glove and pulling very carefully while heating the glass as it lifted then scraping of the remaining resin with the scraper. Slow and tedious but it did come off. Though I reckon I'll revert to your method for the remainder.

Jay, I hear what you are saying with the ketch rig. The value of this boat when I bought her was in the huon pine hull and the quite new aluminium mast and boom and the rigging so I won't be too quick to swap it over for a wooden rig, which would make it interesting to build a mizzen mast and boom myself.

[PeterSibley]

Lovely isn't she ! A great inspiration .

[WX]

it interesting to build a mizzen mast and boom myself.

I know someone who has a bit of experience at building masts.

[RFNK]

Hey Greg
Don't get Gary to help you with those masts - you need to be Stephen Hawking to follow his method!
Rick

[chuckt]

There are more important things than headroom Greg. 'Specially when, like me, you are only 5ft10.

I never considered my 5'7" an advantage until I started work on my boat. Has facilitated access into a number of places. I wonder what you big guys do when you have to get into the bowels of your boat.

Lovely lovely name plaque man. Are you going to gold leaf or paint the engraved letters? That would be wicked sharp I think.

[Larks]

Lovely lovely name plaque man. Are you going to gold leaf or paint the engraved letters? That would be wicked sharp I think.

I'm not sure yet Chuck, I think I will but I might wait until it's mounted to the transom to see how it looks without it first.

[GreggHS]

This is a great thread. I am in the same process with a 1947 Stoutfella Jr. It is a 27' boat built by Palmer Johnson, fir planking over white oak frames. It has been out of the water for over 20 years. I too bought it because the hull was good and it fit in my shop! My keel/deadwood looks almost identical to yours although I did not have any fiberglass on it. My decks were fiberglass over ply, but it was done so poorly that I could peal it up almost like it was duct tape! The foredeck also had a layer of window screening glued down under the fiberglass. Cabin top was still canvas although in need of replacing. I am also using a heat gun for paint removal and have all of the port side stripped and about a third of the starboard. I will post some pictures later, I need help with that from my 16 year old daughter!

Gregg

[PeterSibley]

I never considered my 5'7" an advantage until I started work on my boat. Has facilitated access into a number of places. I wonder what you big guys do when you have to get into the bowels of your boat.

Lovely lovely name plaque man. Are you going to gold leaf or paint the engraved letters? That would be wicked sharp I think.

Yep ,I'm 5'7" too ,it's no disadvantage around boats !

[WX]

Hey Greg
Don't get Gary to help you with those masts - you need to be Stephen Hawking to follow his method!
Rick

I am sure I have no idea what you mean.

[gavinpascoe]

What's with the angle of the boat in the crane? A guy at the end holding a bit of rope isn't going to stop her sliding out! Looks like you're doing a great job - not piecemeal like me! H28s are Awesome.

[Larks]

What's with the angle of the boat in the crane? A guy at the end holding a bit of rope isn't going to stop her sliding out! Looks like you're doing a great job - not piecemeal like me! H28s are Awesome.

But he was a decent lump of a bloke.... .. Don't worry Gavin, she wasn't going to slide anywhere, but we had to control the swing to manoeuvre her into position on the cradle with her bow inside the shed before letting her down and out of the slings.

[Foolish...]

What a great thread... thanks for the inspiration for me to keep going on my H28!!!

[Larks]

Finally!! I've been able to get back into some paint stripping inside the hull. When you're up nice and close it looks like I've made good progress after a pretty solid day of contorting myself up in the bow (not quite as difficult as when stripping that first set of frames right up forward but difficult enough):




But when I step back a bit I see just how much more there is to do, quite disheartening really:



Going on my current pace, I estimate another 60 to 80 hours of work to strip the interior. But don't worry, I won't post a continuous series of mind numbing paint stripping progress photos, this was just because I was quite happy to be able to get back to it.

I'm not real sure what to do about the rove heads, I may have to go back to them with a wire wheel or one of those plastic scouring wheels. The wire wheel is likely to leave hidden bits of loose wire to rust in the bilges.

[Duncan Gibbs]

A coarse buffing wheel with a bit of cutting compound could work. Good to see you back on the job mate!

[PeterSibley]

Finally!! I've been able to get back into some paint stripping inside the hull. When you're up nice and close it looks like I've made good progress after a pretty solid day of contorting myself up in the bow (not quite as difficult as when stripping that first set of frames right up forward but difficult enough):




But when I step back a bit I see just how much more there is to do, quite disheartening really:



Going on my current pace, I estimate another 60 to 80 hours of work to strip the interior. But don't worry, I won't post a continuous series of mind numbing paint stripping progress photos, this was just because I was quite happy to be able to get back to it.

I'm not real sure what to do about the rove heads, I may have to go back to them with a wire wheel or one of those plastic scouring wheels. The wire wheel is likely to leave hidden bits of loose wire to rust in the bilges.

A brass wheel Greg ?

Looking good mate ...and fast really !

[WX]

I know how you feel Greg. What I did to break it up was to strip back, recoat with epoxy and fitout that section. It kept it interesting for me and I saw real progress.

[peter radclyffe]

hey Greg,how about a pressure washer on a light setting, what does not come off maybe strong enough to stay, dry with a hot air gun, light sanding,then it should be a good base,

[Larks]

A brass wheel Greg ?

That would make more sense, thanks Peter.

Gary, I might do just as you suggest and maybe go right through the bilge area next and red lead it and fill the voids at the turn of the bilge with bees wax as suggested by Jay. It'll also make it easier to keep it clean when stripping the rest of the sides.

[Larks]

hey Greg,how about a pressure washer on a light setting, what does not come off maybe strong enough to stay, dry with a hot air gun, light sanding,then it should be a good base,

I wondered about that Peter and am quite pleased to hear you suggest it. There is quite a mix of paint throughout and a lot of it flaking up in the bow area, some of the frames, in the bilges and the floors.

I did try that on my Hartley and found that it wasn't as effective as I'd hoped, but most of it was quite cramped and hard to get to. I'll give it a go next weekend and see how it looks.

[RFNK]

I reckon Peter R's suggestion is a good one except that it'll leave ridges of paint that then have to be faired in by sanding, and this can take as much time and energy as stripping the whole lot with the heatgun. I'd use PR's suggestion and blast it all out with the pressure washer but then take the rest off with the heatgun anyway as it's then a simple job to sand it all smooth and get a good smooth finish on it. You've already done the bow, which is the worst bit from a discomfort point of view! Rick

[peter radclyffe]

maybe paraffin or a degreaser in any areas that need it first

[Larks]

I tried the pressure wash and a bit of a scrub but it didn't have much of an impact at all really, so it's been a case of persist with the scraper after work for an hour here and there and a couple of hours this weekend.

Slow work... but gratifying I guess - almost half way:

[PeterSibley]

Amazing how big a small boat can be isn't it ! Good work Greg

[Larks]

Thanks Peter, also amazing how many sins a bit of paint can hide. Fortunately nothing mortal, just a few repair short cuts that I'd like to put right - but the purpose of stripping the paint was mostly to find these sins now rather than later ayway.

[Thad]

Little by little, it can be amazing how much gets done. Cheers.

[RFNK]

also amazing how many sins a bit of paint can hide

That's why you'll never be sorry you took the trouble to get that old paint off. Looking like good progress to me Greg! Rick

[Larks]

Had a bit of a break from paint scraping this weekend to set up a semblance of an irrigation system for my deadwood.

I'd previously lifted the hull slightly bit by bit to drag some plastic sheeting underneath it. ' just jacked it up enough to be able to slide out the blocks, creep the plastic through and slide the blocks back in then do the same again up front:

[Larks]

I've used some drip irrigation line with a few sprinkler heads run off of a reasonably cheap pond pump that I bought on ebay, plus some tape and a few sets of plastic clamps from Super cheap autos to hold the plastic up:














And it seems to work just fine, a few refinementes possibly needed but otherwise OK in the test run:







So the plan is to add some salt and run another line down through the inside of the hull, possibly with a tap system so that I can switch between the inside and outside if I want to.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Terrific system Greg! Is the water getting re-reticulated all the time?

[PeterSibley]

VERY interesting Greg , please keep us post as to the take up of the big bits .I assume you have measurements of the current gaps ?

[Jay Greer]

Greg, I might mention that I have used burlap that was stapled to the planking in conjunction with a drip system and also plastic over all. The burlap does retain moisture. Have you checked your keel bolts for condition and possible take up?
I do admire your tenacity!
Fair Winds,
Jay

[Larks]

The water does get recirculated, the pump sits in a bit of a sump formed by the plastic and a couple of bricks, which I hadn't shown here. And I have measured the gaps, photographed the tape measure, I didn't bother adding that photo.

You'd mentioned the burlap/hessian before Jay and I'll add some as well so that I get a better coverage of the timber. I haven't tried to tighten any of the keel bolts as yet, I figure that I'd like to see just how well the timber might take up after a decent period of soaking before I start worrying about the next step, I don't want to go overtightening anything just yet.

[Jay Greer]

Just by what I see, one might suspect that the keel bolts may not be holding but rather, corroded through. Pulling one would give you an indication.
Jay

[Larks]

I hope not Jay, I've been watching this timber dry up and shrink over the last two years or so while I've been working away in Darwin, but will have a closer look and see if any can be drawn out easily. They do "sound" OK and those that are visible between the deadwood appear solid and don't show any signs of waste. I posted some pics of them on another thread a while back:
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=109980

Keel bolts "seem" to be a mix of copper and stainless or monel. Those that only run into the deadwood appear to be copper but any forward that also run into the lead appear to be stainless or monel.

On this copper one I've scraped off some of the verdigris to get a better look at the condition of it and there didn’t seem to be any wastage of the visible area:



the one below is forward of that and also beds into the lead:



those two as they line up:







and here's an old photo and the thread from when I first started to worry about the shrinkage: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=82015