cedar strip fishing boat "nipissing special"

[freshtrax]

Undergoing a full resto.. This is my first post here. And my first wood boat. I have bin lurking on here for over a year now and havew over a hundred pages of researc printed off thanks for all the usefull info everyoneall new ribs in the next mont or so then the transom stem and keel in the spring when my lumber will be ready i belive this is a canadian made "nipissing special" build by giesler boats in possawan ont and they still make them today i have no idea how old it is i sent these pics to them to see if they can date it.

[freshtrax]

Sorry for the spelling my laptop is busted im in my phone its realy hard to see. Is the way i have it hung ok? It was siting on atrailer for years and hogged on the bottom. I spray it with water evereynow and then the hog seems to be diminishing i think when i put the new ribs in it will help alot

[freshtrax]

Well i got my lumber.. I paid 2bucks a board foot for the white oak i will be steaming some of the new ribs into place next weekend.. I have a question on shrinkage.. Will the ribs not shrink lenthwise as they dry?

[JimConlin]

Not measurably.

[Larks]

Welcome to the forum, looks like an interesting job that you have ahead of you, please keep the photos of the progress coming. I'm very interested in how well she comes back into shape and what sort of work you beed to do to get her looking right again. Where are you located??

[freshtrax]

Is it safe to fasten the strips to the ribs as soon as there in place? Another question i have is will stea
ming prevent checking in the green wood?

[freshtrax]

Thanks lark im in canada one hour north of toronto. Its gonna need new everything thats not cedar. Its bin in my family sice new.i learned to fish in this boat. Built in the 50's i taled on the phone this week with the man that built it.

[freshtrax]

Well i learned how to use a jointer and a thickness plane last night made a big mess real quick.. Wouldent want to get my fingers anywhere cloce to those machines its like christmass i cant wait for the weekend to get here and try my hand at steaming..wish me luck

[Bob Smalser]

It appears both hogged and twisted from here. Not uncommon problems. The biggie is whether the keel and keelson are still sound.

I'd build a fitted cradle-on-strongback for it and take some measurements using string lines and plumb bobs before proceeding. Hull distortion isn't necessarily a difficult problem to fix. After building a proper cradle for it, simply pull it into true using clamps and keep it true while you are replacing frames. And of that doesn't do it, slack the clamps, unfasten the knees, pull it into true, and refasten the knees.

[Larks]

Thanks lark im in canada one hour north of toronto. Its gonna need new everything thats not cedar. Its bin in my family sice new.i learned to fish in this boat. Built in the 50's i taled on the phone this week with the man that built it.

Sounds like a project well worth the effort. I don't know anything about white oak but I suspect someone will be along who has had experience steaming it to offer advice on it. I'd plan, though, to expect it to take a few shots to get in the swing of it and you'll no doubt waste a few ribs in the process, but I'd certainly take Bob's advice and make up a cradle with enough supports to get her sitting true before replacing any ribs or anything else on her.

[freshtrax]

I build a cradle using 4 inch recovery straps its supported in three areas. My father has bin soaking it thouroghly twice a day for 3o min with the hose for the last week or so. The hog is gone we placed some weight in ther while soaking it. The twist is an illiusion from the photo. Thanks for the advice . I will post some more updated photos this weekend. The ribs are 1"x 1\2". Im thinking half hour steam time in my pvc tube apparatus and go from there.

[Bob Smalser]

The twist is an illiusion from the photo.

Right. Just like that dirt floor is dead flat and your ribs and fasteners are in great shape with gobs of resilience left in them.

Measure it with strings, levels and tapes instead of eyeballs. Below a half-inch isn't a bother. Above a half-inch you should fix. Otherwise when the outboard refuses to track straight you won't be scatching your head as to why.

Resting on its port bilge diagonal notwithstanding, if it has looked like this for any more than a couple of weeks, it needs measurement and probably straightening. Give it some time in your level cradle to see if it corrects itself, but your deck beams alone show at least 3" of twist. And your deck is quite short.

[freshtrax]

well i made a cradle on strongback>>> well sort of lol... i built it on my trailer so i can move it from the barn to the garage and back. she was a little twisted about an inch and a half. rachet straps to the rescue. i went 3 for 4 on streaming the ribs today im sliding then into place from one end. i cut a taper on one end and spray the boat with water for some lubrication and wack like mad with a mallet. anyways im happy with how these turned out the screws are only temporary.

my steam setup. aluminum eavstrough and a garment steamer. i steamed these for thirty min.


my mobile strongback lol

.
so twenty something more to go woohoo! now that i have a little confidence im gonna rip the rrest of the strips this week and get going on this boat next weekend thanks for looking.

[freshtrax]

by the way ribs with chenched nails are a big pain in the ass to remove!

[beernd]

WOW,
this gives me, (wannabe boatbuider) some hope

When I saw your first pictures I only had one thought and that was 'chainsaw'.
But your last picture shows that you got the twist out, at least as far as I can tell.
How about the 'hog'?
You got that out as well?

Please give us more pics!

[NomadRip]

This looks like a lot of fun. And by that I mean watching you do this work, not actually doing the work Can't wait to see it come along!

[shade of knucklehead]

A neat trick I have used over the years for putting ribs in boats is to take a piece of thin aluminum or stainless steel and bend it into a U shape. You then stick it on the end of the rib and it not only keeps the rib from digging into the planks as it goes in, it actually makes it much easier to slide them in place.

the other trick I use is to make up wedges a bit thicker than the rib+the gadget bent into a U and drive them in between the planks and the stringers. That opens it up just enough that you shouldn't have to use a mallet at all until the very end when you are pushing them not only down the one side but also up into the opposite side.

You want to be very careful not to tear up the planks with the new ribs, any damage you do to them while installing ribs is just wasting your time...

Good luck and keep posting pictures.

[shade of knucklehead]

Oh, and a half hour is about right for steaming ribs a half inch thick. I steamed 2 inch thick planks today for 2 hours...

[freshtrax]

stern 2/3rds of keel is going in next weekend i haven't given up yet despite lack of updates. pics soon to follow. 25 or so ribs in so far winters are better spent ice fishing than boat building up here in Canada.

[Larks]

Great to see you back here and still at it. 'looking forward to the update photos.

[freshtrax]

the keel is 2x2 white oak does this mean 2 hours in the steamer? i plan on steaming the keel in place over the ribs. then removing to cut all the cutouts for the ribs. anyone see any other way to do this? the only bend in the keel is a rise along the stern of 4 inches over the last 3 ft . otherwise its straight as an arrow. keelson is 2x1.5 so 1.5 hours?

[freshtrax]

Well a glimmer of hope. This is the first time since I started that I Feel like I have made some real progress. After I'm finished this boat I don't want to see another copper nail for five years. I must have removed 500 so far. Step one remove rotted rib with chisel. Step two snip nail with tin snips. Step three hammer nail out from inside. Step 4 pull nail out from outside with pliers. Repeat 500 times.

Next is the stem, scarf in rest of keel, transom , and gunnels. Then flip her over to drive 500 copper nails, sand , epoxy, paint, install outer keel. Phew, I'm glad I'm almost done lol.

[freshtrax]

Oh yea a few more ribs left too.

[riddarunner]

awesome work so far. I think i just bought one down here in salem, NH. Its 15 ft and the PO said it was a O'day haha but it looks alot like yours

[riddarunner]

do you know what your upper forward decking material is? Im thinking its mohawg on mine just wondering what they used from the factory

[freshtrax]

your boat is not a giesler. yours is lapstrake i believe while mine is strip planked. the forward deck on your boat looks allot like mine could be cedar. s
and a spot down and wet it. will give you a better idea of what it is you have a nice boat there.