The restoration of Lady J, week two.

[CharlieCobra]

Time for the weekly update on Lady J. The {ort side of the hull is paint free the old fashioned way, heat gun and scraper followed by longboarding with 220 grit.



With her in the shop, it's impossible to get a side shot.

90% of the seams below the waterline are reefed and clean.



I did find freshly cracked ribs from the tranport.



The other bilges are full of broken but sistered ribs. I haven't decided whether to fix these or leave them as they are. It's up to the customer.



and



Now that the engine is out, I can see a couple in there too. Two have a strange fix already. Somebody took a SS band, bent it to fit on the broken rib and bolted/screwed it in place. The only issue I have with that is that they mixed SS and Bronze in the same piece and the floor bolt only a few inches away is galvanized.

[CharlieCobra]

My wife Fredia came by to help this week. She was on the mast.



The rest of the motley crew was on the hull.



I think this needs replacing...



And this needs something other than Bondo in it.



Plenty of work still to do. More next week.

[Jay Greer]

Looking forward to seeing and reading more about the project. What is the design of the boat?
Jay

[CharlieCobra]

She's a Kettenburg 40, hull number one and formerly Paul Kettenburg's personal boat. Nicely built to heavier scantlings than the normal Kettenburg with 9" centers on the ribs. Her original name was TomBoy II after Paul's Son. His Grandson Tom is keenly interested in the progress of the restoration.

[wizbang 13]

Torture boarding the planking with 220 while the boat has broken frames seems mis- directed energy. Sistering job looks poor. End a sister at a butt block, rather than remove it? That metal band is plain lousy engineering. The frames that broke during transport, I'll bet all the old, below w.l. oak is junk. Are those gribble holes in the plank near the sonar fairing block?!!( Jeeze, I sound like a freakin' grinch)

[CharlieCobra]

I hear ya. No, there's abrasion marks along the hull where she did a fair amount of rubbing on something. As for the sonar fairing, they might be gribble marks. Yeah, the sistering looks sorry, as does some of the other work done previously. Just some of the mess I have to correct. I think I spend more time fixing well intentioned screwups on these boats than anything else...

[SchoonerRat]

Those Kettenburgs all seem to bust a bunch of ribs down there in that sharp turn of the bilge. I've worked on a couple of of 38's and a PCC. The 50 I spent some time on wasn't troubled.

I love those boats. They're So Cal classics.

[ramillett]

WE had the same problem you have . We tried 2 sisters , witch were easy to remove sense they both failed . The rib ends go fast and I feel like I have a new boat , no movement . you should at lease threw bolt on the spliced area , or rivet like we did , don't depend on just glue . Looks like she had varnished bilges

[wizbang 13]

THAT"S the way to do it!!

[CharlieCobra]

Yep. I hate sisters personally. What to do with the screw holes if I pull 'em? Plug them up with good full depth bungs?

[wizbang 13]

west and 403

[CharlieCobra]

Ugh, I'm not a fan of that, although, sealing the plugs in with epoxy would satisfy me. The more I work on these things and deal with the shortcuts taken, the more of a purist I'm becoming. How strange is that?

[BBSebens]

I think thats why the more experienced guys are like that. sick and tired of doing it twice.

I didn't hear; Whatever became of Oh Joy?

[Peerie Maa]

Why take the sisters out at all. Are they broken? Are the fasteners leaking? If they aint broke don't fix them.

[wizbang 13]

The sisters are not attached to the floors. They are attached to the old, broken,rotten frames. That's why.

[CharlieCobra]

I think thats why the more experienced guys are like that. sick and tired of doing it twice.

I didn't hear; Whatever became of Oh Joy?

She's impatiently waiting her turn again while I try and make some money.

[CharlieCobra]

The sisters are not attached to the floors. They are attached to the old, broken,rotten frames. That's why.

Yep. They are attached to the planking but not the floors.

[ramillett]

Yep. I hate sisters personally. What to do with the screw holes if I pull 'em? Plug them up with good full depth bungs?

Charlies we used 1 larger dim. of same wood on the out side and 2 smaller on the inside , same wood , dim. of the screw .



save your scrapes and line up you plugs , these are too light so they show more .

[The Bigfella]

Great stuff. Good to see the wife at work!

[CharlieCobra]

ramillett, nice looking work above.

Bigfella, yeah, she likes boat work but hasn't had much time to do any because of a real job. At least this time I could pay her for her troubles.