Keel Replacement

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
I own a 1963 42’ Chris Craft Conqueror (“Sea Date”) that is in need of a new keel. The existing keel has developed a ‘roll’, which has increased in severity over the 20 years that I’ve owned the boat. In addition, the keel has a couple of soft spots, and has incurred some compression (pinching) in critical areas during haul-out in the last 2-3 years. The winch men at my club are starting to balk when hauling my boat and it has become apparent that I need to address the problem this winter.
The Sea Date is now safely out of the water for the season, and I’m preparing to lift it off of its keel-blocks using an army of jack-stands and cribbing (forming a make-shift cradle). Once this is done I’ll start the process of unbolting the keel from the boat. My current plan is to replace the existing 3-piece keel with a laminated keel made out of 1” thick sections of white oak screwed & glued together using silicone-bronze fasteners and resorcinol. I’m told that this is the technology that the shipwrights used on the rebuild of the USS Constitution. I feel like a laminated keel would be stronger than the original version and would better-resist warping. I’ve considered using other wood species and epoxy, but feel like the hardness of white oak bonded with resorcinol provides the strongest option. I’d love to hear the group’s opinions on these matters. My goal is to build the hardest/strongest keel possible. I’ve even considered adding a few inches to its height. Note that boat speed is not a big consideration here… This boat is just too big & expensive to get up on plane anymore.
I also have questions with respect to the use of CPES… Should I use it on each individual laminate? Will resorcinol bond ok with it? Or should I just use it on the completed keel once it’s glued, screwed and bolted onto the boat?
As far as construction goes, I’m thinking of laying up the keel ‘dry’ right on (or under) the boat. I live in the Boston area and our cold winters will prevent me from gluing my laminate sections as I fabricate them. I figure I can build it dry over the winter, dismantle it when the weather breaks (around March?), and then glue it all up when things warm up. I’m not quite sure of what product I want to use bed the completed keel onto the boat??? I think I want to avoid something as permanent as 5200. Again, any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide,
Dave

[mucrewbtp]

It would be best if we can see some pictures of the boat and its problem areas. Is it just a bolt on outer skeg/keel that needs replacing, or the entire keel including the section which the garboards fasten to that needs replacing? Laminating a keel out of white oak and resourcinol should be plenty strong, be careful when placing the bronze screws so they dont end up in the way of your keel bolts. once you get in to the project it is likely that you will find other hull and frame issues when you get into the project. If the keel was pinching, deflecting or sagging when hauled it is likely you have some broken or rotted frames in the area. Its not the end of the world, but the project will probably end up being bigger than you think.

Regards,
Mike

[Bob Smalser]

What species is the original keel? Oak may be significantly heavier, perhaps with negative consequences.

The problem with your plan is weather. Oak has to be at 15% moisture content or lower and at 70 degrees F to glue with resorcinol (50 degrees if you spring for expensive Aerodux at the link below), and after a winter of sitting beneath the boat it may be July before you reach the right conditions. Moving the assembly to a heated space for drying and glueup is a better solution. Even if it's a tent with space heaters. Oak is strong, hard and heavy, but is also quick to absorb moisture and slow to lose it.

Douglas Fir glued with epoxy may match the existing keel's weight better, and is usually more flexible in its gluing requirements. It'll also be easier to work, and the wood will remain drier in storage and in service. The gotcha there is that epoxy requires 12% moisture content, and most construction-grade DF leaves the mills at 16-19%, so you may be back to looking for indoor space and Aerodux. Obviously you'll need a moisture meter of you don't already have one.

http://www.chemical-supermarket.com/...sive-p677.html

[SeaDate]

Bob & Mike,
Thanks very much for your posts... I'd meant to take some pics of the bottom of the boat last weekend. I'll do so over the next few days and include them here. Yes, I have a bolt-on style keel (skeg). I'm hoping that my problems are isolated to the keel, but I understand your concern. I don't "think" I'll need to replace the keelson (there's no visible signs of problems on the inside), but I'll know more when things come apart.
And thanks for the heads-up with respect to wood moisture content... I don't yet have a moisture meter but I'll start shopping for one now. Please let me know if you have any recommendations. To the best of my knowledge the current keel is made of Oak. I've been pressed to find a nice heated indoor location to build my keel (hence my current plan), but it sounds like I may need to revisit this.
Dave

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

The construct of this particular series of chris craft boats were as follows: The inner keel runs for the length of the boat until it hits the stem and contains the garboard rabbet. The inner keel is about 3.5 inches to 4 inches wide including the planking rabbet. The outer keel runs slightly shorter, tapering at both ends of the boat near the bow and stern. It is a directional keel, not a structural one like a more traditionally built boat.

"The best known Chris Craft construction employs carvel planked hull sides with battens behind each seam and a double planked carvel bottom. It will be noted that the main frames are full sawn frames with gussets at the chines and floor ties at the keel. The intermediate frames are steam bent white oak. All frames are bolted to the stringer, chines, and keel. While planking, stringers, battens and frames are usually of Phillipine mahogany, with intermediate frames of white oak, the engine stringers are generally of fir. The engine stringers are of considerable length to allow the weight of the engine to be more evenly distributed and because fir contains long fibres, it is well suited to receive the shock and vibration to which the engine mountings may be subjected."

- Chris Craft Owners Manual fourth edition 1967

The inner keel on a Chris craft of this vintage is white oak, and the outer keel is also 2 inch thick white oak, bolted through the floors with bronze carriage bolts. While integrity is important on the outer keel, IT IS NOT A STRUCTURAL STRONG POINT ON THE BOAT, AND THE BOAT SHOULD NOT BE SUPPORTED ON THE OUTER KEEL. The strong point of these boats is at the chine, and while the keel should be blocked, the chines should be regularly blocked and support the majority of the boat's weight.

If memory serves, the bronze bolts are 5/16, and are easily bent if the boat is supported on the outer keel. The out keel is released from the boat by dropping the bolts in the floors and carefully sliding the keel out from the tapered scarf near the bow where it meets the stem. Bob Smalsers comments on moisture content are important ones, as usual. Chris craft used planking material at roughly 15% moisture content below the waterline. The outer keel on this boat should be able to be dropped in one piece, and the outer keel used as a pattern for the new one, including drilling the carriage bolt holes.

The 1963 42 foot Chris Craft Conquerer weighed between 20297 and 23117 pounds dry, without fuel or water. Weight is not much of a consideration.

Do you still have 430 Lincoln V8's as power Seadate?

[SeaDate]

Hi Peter,
Thanks very much for your detailed response... No, the original 431 Lincolns were replaced in 1994 with 350 Crusaders. I'd considered rebuilding the original engines at that time but getting parts was problematic. You're absolutely right about the keel not being a structural strong point, but the trailor at my club is such that they need to load the keel significantly during haulout, and it's at that point that problems arise. Do you have any thoughts about increasing the depth of the keel somewhat to increase strength?
Thanks again,
Dave

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

I am currently rebuilding a Lincoln 430 in a Chris craft Super Sport, so I know the parts issues

You could increase the keel depth, but the structural issue is not there, but in the size of the floors. If you look at your floor timbers, they are not that heavy, and have the circles cut out of them for access to the keel bolts. The support for these boats was based on the entire hull integrity to the chine, so a travel lift is fine, as is a crane with slings, but trailers have to have bunks and stands to properly transport these boats.

On some of the big CC wooden boats, notably the 57 footer, you have problems later in life with keeping the hull straight because of the position of fuel tanks and engines.. On the 57 the stern portion of the boat would actually start to droop behind the engines since the tanks were in the back, and very heavy when full.

What I would do is look at the trailer at the club and see if you can build some bolt on stands to add to it when they specifically pull your boat out... the inner keel and floors just won't support the strain. If you haven't broken or moved around something so far, it speaks to your boat's overall condition.... being pretty solid.

[SeaDate]

Hi Everyone,
I finally had a chance to take some pictures (and video) of my keel. The pictures are attached to this post (I hope - I seem to be having probs upload my pics due to their size). A couple of observations:
· The worm board is obviously junk, but you can see that the problem goes up into the keel itself.
· I’ve started to set-up bunks to lift the boat off its keel blocks.
· The pictures taken from the stern show the roll to port.
Here’s a link to a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS7w_yShaGk
Thanks for any advice you can provide,
Dave

[chuckt]

Here is a shot of my Douglas Fir laminated keel on my 1950 CC Express. I used epoxy and the keel is encapsulated and covered by a layer of xynole. It is an integral part of a plywood/epoxy bottom and complete frame replacement. Should you make a keel this way and then replank with the traditional mohagany planking? I'm not sure. I think I'd rather be fastening screws to oak if I were doing traditional planking. And I would not epoxy oak with regular epoxy--G-flex maybe or resorcinol. I didn't have to worry about it because the strength between the my new plywood bottom and the keel and keelson depends on epoxy--not fasteners. But maybe this wil give you some ideas.

I did go a little wider and a little deeper than the original keel. She planes just fine. I don't think you will be giving up any planing performance.

[SeaDate]

Hi Chuck,
Thanks for your post... This certainly gives me more things to think about. I'm hoping not to have to replank at this point in time, although my garboard planks (which a guy replaced for me when I bought the boat 21 years ago) are cupping, and do need replacement. Here's a shot of the keel at the point of the worst failure:


Looking forward from here on the starboard side:


A little further forward on the starboard side:


Now from the port side:





And finally from the stern... Note the roll to port:



Thanks,
Dave

[JoshuaIII]

Its me or this look more of a worm shoe issue...

[SeaDate]

Hi Joshua,
I'm afraid that the problem is more than just the worm shoe... The keel itself has become soft in a couple of areas and would not adequately support a new worm board. And I also have problem with the keel rolling to the port side. You can see the probs a bit more readily in the video I attached in an earlier post.
Dave

[Lew Barrett]

Here's the video attached. I think the real dimension of the problem is more visible in situ, although the soft wood is displayed clearly enough. The boat appears to be losing shape as well, but that is frequently hard to tell in photos.

[JoshuaIII]

Thanks, it is more obvious on the Video.

[SeaDate]

Change of plans... Based on the replies from Peter and Bob I'm now planning to build the keel in my garage over the winter. I'll need to build in 1 big scarf joint in order to accomodate my limited work space (which had bothered me since I really want this to be strong), but given that the current keel has a couple of these already (which have held up pretty well over 50 years), I've decided that it's a small consolation given the benefits of building it in a nice warm climate-controllable environment. Thanks very much for everyone's help!
Dave

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Keep us posted... I didn't want to complicate your thread, but I am replacing my outer keel this winter as well... starting at the scarf where it joins the stem. What I plan to do is build it using the old one as a pattern, dropping all the bolts out of the floors, then setting the new keel up on a set of levelled sawhorses or blocks, and pass it through my drill press... so I can get a simple accurate recreation of the keel with all the holes dead on vertical, and with the right distance between them.

[SeaDate]

Hi Peter,
I'm planning on building the first 2 laminate layers on (or under) the boat dry, at which point I'll use the existing holes in the stringers/keelson to drill through the new boards. I'll then bring the boards home and begin laying/gluing it all up. I figure I'll need to build some kind of jig (using the old keel) to replicate the curvature of the keelson. I'll transfer the drill holes onto each new board using Stanley "Transfer Pins". I'm still formulating a complete plan. Thanks for your ongoing help & advice.
Best of luck with your own project. I'll be interested to see how things are progressing for you too.
Dave

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

How are your outer keel bolts fastened? Mine protrude through the floors in a circular hole about 2 inches around in the bottom of the floor. I can't redrill the hole from above because of that. I have to drop all the bolts and lower the outer keel down, and reverse the process on the installation of the new keel, so the bolts have to line up quite precisely.

[Lew Barrett]

I am sympathetic in both your cases, as redoing R's keel would be a major setback. It is a very big and massy hunk of cellulose and lignum! Not a happy thought.

[SeaDate]

My situation is far easier... My keelbolts sit on top of the stringers. A picture shows it best... This was taken from under the floor boards in my 'cellar' (area under the galley, forward of the engine room):

[SeaDate]

Hi Everyone,
Figured I post a few pics of my recent activities... I cut the nuts off the keel bolts with a grinder and punched the bolts out from the inside.


I had to cut a few new holes in my floor boards:



And the water tank is now history... This is where it 'used' to live:



I reefed-out all the seams and the keel came down pretty easily. Keelson looks pretty good after all the years:






I'm thinking I should clean-up all surfaces and prep with a sealer such as CPES. Please let me know if you've had any experience with doing this.
Once I dropped the keel it became apparent that I need to replace a couple of my garboard planks... Ugh... My job just got a good bit harder.
Dave

[JoshuaIII]

Good start! What you didn't expect a wooden boat repair to be exactly what you think and easy all the way isn't?!
Red lead paint and bed the new keel timber in red lead putty would be good too...

[Soundman67]

interesting that your hull appears to be double planked on the bottom with plywood as the inner layer. i thought that didnt start until the later 60's.

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Yes, my Conqueror was built in 1963, and is mahogany planked over plywood.
I laid the old keel out in my driveway the other day, and was a bit concerned about what I saw... I'll attach a picture below. The bow is at the bottom of the picture, and the stern is at the top near the garage door. The old keel appears to be drooping down in the stern. This didn't look right, and I didn’t want to replicate any problems with the old keel.

So I decided to make a template of the keelson, using ¼” plywood. Here it is, again laid out in the driveway. I put it over a sheet of paper so I could trace the angle of the keel onto it. Again, the bow’s at the bottom of the picture. Notice that there’s no droop in the stern (at the top of the pic).

I laid the old keel right on top of the template, in order to evaluate the differences. I lined-up the bow portion of the old keel with the template. Here’s a shot from inside the garage. The stern of the keel is at the bottom of the picture, and the bow is at the top. There’s about a 2-3” difference in template vs. the old keel in the stern.





I definitely think I want to follow the line of the template versus the line of the old keel. But now I'm wondering if maybe I should actually build the keel a bit 'higher' in the stern than the template dictates, so as to 'pre-load' it slightly in order to better support the stern of the boat. Anyone have any thoughts about this?
Thanks,
Dave

[JoshuaIII]

Take care to don't change much the top of it where it lay again't the boat, as it won't fit tight anymore...and you will have to modify the part it is bolting too also...

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Thought I'd post a few more pics from my recent efforts. I've purchased the lumber for my new keel. A fellow wood boat owner turned me on to a sawmill in Connecticut (Pike & Sons Sawmill) where I bought my White Oak. This place is a real trip (see below)!




I've also been working on the replacement of about 40' of garboard planking. These planks were replaced about 20 years ago when I first bought the boat. The guy who did the job made a real mess of things... He landed the inside edge of the planks against the keel rather than tight to the stringers. This resulted in a gap between the inner and outer hulls. As soon as I removed the keel the problem became obvious. There was no way I could (in good conscious) replace the keel with the garboard planks in that condition, so I decided to replace the planks. The problem can be seen in the following picture:



I started by grinding off the bottom paint in order to find the bungs. This was followed by 'many' hours of knocking out bungs and banging out screws. With the screws all removed and the joints all reefed-out the planks came down pretty easily. I then proceeded to clean everything up and sand down the whole area. I drilled-out all of the screw holes, and am planning to fill them with 3/16" hardwood dowels.




I also have 1 stringer that has undergone compression as a result of my soft keel. The picture below shows the stringer directly above the area where the keel showed the worst damage. I'm planning to sister this stringer on both sides (glued & screwed with West System & silicon-bronze fasteners). I was thinking of capping the stringer too... I could then extend the keel bolt right through the new cap.



I received my supply of CPES the other day and I'm getting ready to start reconditioning all exposed areas. Here's my plan for doing this, and for the rest of the project (at a high level):
1) I need to clean-up the inside of the bilge similar to what has done on the outside.

2) I want to impregnate the plywood inner-hull, keelson & stringers with CPES. With the outer plank removed the plywood layer has pulled away from the keelson and ribs. I feel like I need to fasten it in place before I apply my CPES. So I'm going to throw a few strategically-placed screws in the plywood to keep it in place while I apply the epoxy. I'll remove these screws before I install the outer planking.

3) Inject CPES into the the existing screw holes and fill with hardwood dowels (also soaked in CPES).

4) Once the CPES has hardened I'll nip off the pertruding dowels, sand them down flush and recoat.

5) I'm planning to fill the seams between the plywood inner-hull and the keelson with a bit of 5200, making sure I work cleanly so as not to create any high spots that would keep the outer planks from landing properly.

6) Sister/Repair all interior stringers.

7) Replace the garboard planks.

8) Replace the keel.

Please let me know if you see any problems with all of this..
Thanks,
Dave

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Does anyone have a recomendation for cutting a 2-1/4" thick keel??? I need to make a long, slightly rounded cut where the keel meets the keelson. My jigsaw is not up to the task, as it's not a yielding a straight 90 degree cut. Picture says it best:




I don't think I can use a skill saw to make this long arcing cut. Any ideas? I may have bitten off more than I can chew here...
Thanks,
Dave

[shade of knucklehead]

Looking good. Its nice to see so much good wood around the old keel.

you can cut a slight curve like that with a circular saw. Make sure the blade is sharp and using an area of the piece that is going to be waste do a practice cut. You need to stay a bit away from the line you will find because as you cut the curve it increases the width of the kerf. A worm-drive saw is best for cutting that thick of a piece of white oak. Also, setting up a fan to blow the dust away is a good trick so that you don't have to stop your cut to clean the sawdust away.

Jigsaws are notorious for bending as you cut through thick wood.

The better option is to find someone with a bandsaw...

As far as pre-loading the keel, I'm not sure I would bother. I would cut it to fit the boat though, and not cut it like the old keel.

hope that helps.

[JoshuaIII]

Circular saw as already said. If it's too thick you can mark on boat side and make a cut on both side a bit off the line, and finish at the line with a electric planer.

Have fun

[Draketail]

Agreed. A circular saw will cut that shallow curve just fine. Cut from both sides and if that isn't deep enough, then use the jig saw. The circular saw kerf on either side will guide the jig saw blade. Clean up the surface with a plane.

Using the jig saw for the whole cut is just asking for a wavey, inaccurate cut.

[SeaDate]

Hi All,
Thanks very much for all the posts. Circular saw is working fine as many have suggested. Interesting shot below... I made about a 6' cut and took a look back to see the following:
　


Must have been a lot of internal stress within the board as the cut openned up over 1" at the end. I quickly grabbed my template and (thankfully) found that it still matched the pattern I'd traced. I think I'll rough-cut my 2 remaining sections (to relieve stress) before I transfer the template pattern to the lumber.
Dave

[Draketail]

Glad the circular saw worked for you. Keep up the good work.

[JoshuaIII]

Glad it worked, it does happen that the piece move but if you follow the line usually it will came back straight with bolting and relax once submerge a bit like cheating with your spiling batten when doing planking.

Looking forward for the next step.

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Well, I've finished cutting the aftmost section of the keel. All looks fine when you look at it from this angle:



But when I stand it up on end here's what I see:



Do I need to try and straighten this beore I attemp and bolt it to the boat? I suppose I could look into building (or borrowing) a steam box. Do you think this necessary? I'm about to start cutting the largest board (which also shows a slight bow), and I'm not sure if I should just go out and find myself some more lumber.



As always, all thoughts are appreciated...
Thanks,
Dave

[michigangeorge]

Dave, I admire the time and effort you are putting into this project but cannot understand why you are proceeding in this manner. That keel construction was weak to begin with compared to modern construction. Chris Craft was a good quality production boat but engineered to be built light as possible for good planing performance with the materials available at the time. If they were doing it today I'd bet that keel would be laminated in one piece. It would be straight from the beginning and stay that way due to the grain running in different directions. WEST SYSTEM G-FLEX will hold it together just fine. I would saturate any exposed plywood with Cpes, paint the faying surfaces of keel and keelson with red lead and bed with Dolphinite. Spray the bilge with the anti rot of choice (I use anti-freeze w diesel). Thats my 2 cents - best of luck :-)

[shade of knucklehead]

You can lay it on the concrete floor and it will bend, the ends usually move up. Might take a day or two.

[JoshuaIII]

Dave, I admire the time and effort you are putting into this project but cannot understand why you are proceeding in this manner. That keel construction was weak to begin with compared to modern construction. Chris Craft was a good quality production boat but engineered to be built light as possible for good planing performance with the materials available at the time. If they were doing it today I'd bet that keel would be laminated in one piece. It would be straight from the beginning and stay that way due to the grain running in different directions. WEST SYSTEM G-FLEX will hold it together just fine. I would saturate any exposed plywood with Cpes, paint the faying surfaces of keel and keelson with red lead and bed with Dolphinite. Spray the bilge with the anti rot of choice (I use anti-freeze w diesel). Thats my 2 cents - best of luck :-)

What's the purpose to say that to a guy that is almost done after so much work on it? A big slap in the face because of your own belief?

Nice work Dave, do just as said above( shade of knucklehead) it will straight out. same when you gonna bolt it down... How much is the spacing between bolting BTW?

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

I would put some serious weight on it between the horses, and see if you can get the bow out... if not you can probably bend it into place, but that can be a pain when you are dealing with a piece of wood that big.

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Thanks for your input... Please note that my original plan was to build a 1-piece laminiated keel. While this would have certainly yielded a straight keel from the ground up, it became logistically very difficult to fabricate. I live in the Boston area and would have needed to rent an indoor heated space over 31 feet long to construct the keel. And then I'd be faced with problems with moving this thing around. Finally, lots of folks pointed out that even if I were to build a stronger keel, I'd still be faced with problems of inadequate stringer strength... Bottom line is that I can't load-up my keel too much during haulout or while blocked during the winter season. All these factors led to my current fabrication. I'll be plenty happy if I can get 50 years out of it (which is the age of the current keel), as it will certainly outlive me!
Thanks for your advice with respect to straightening my keel boards. The keel bolt spacing varies as the keel thickens... Keel bolt spacing is frequent (every 8-12" or so) towards the bow of the boat where the keel is shallow, and becomes less frequent towards the middle-stern where the keel is the deepest (about every 18-24"). Note that the boards lay fairly flat when placed (bow up) on the saw horses. So the weight of the boards alone (pretty much) take the bow out.
Thanks again,
Dave

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Well, I started cutting another keel board the other night - the smaller bow section.
The results were not good...



As you can see, the board warped as soon as I made the cut. It deflected by about 4-5" at
the initial point of the cut by the time I was done, rendering the board worthless. My
template didn't even come close to matching the pattern I'd transcribed onto it.

So, what to do??? I figure I have a couple of options:

a) Go buy more wood and hope I can find myself a dimensionally stable board.
b) Scrap my current plan, cut-up my bogus boards into 3/4" strips and go back to building a
single 1-piece laminated keel.
c) Same as plan 'b' but build 3 laminated pieces.

At the moment I'm leaning towards option 'c', since I'm still faced with logistical problems
finding a 32 foot heated space to do my build. I'd use resorcinol as per my original plan.
As always, all thoughts/suggestions are welcome.
Thanks,
Dave

[Bob Smalser]

Your keel stock is banana-peeling because it isn't properly seasoned, ie it's wetter on the inside than it is on the outside. Borrow a moisture meter with insulated pins on a slide-hammer electrode to see for yourself. And if it's wet enough to banana peel on the rip, it's probably too wet to glue, with recorcinol requiring the wood to be lower than 15%.



I'm not optimistic oak that thick will bend back should you take it to a kiln either, but that's one choice short of replacement. But rather than waste the stock, you can finish the cuts and try weights or clamps with the keel supported by sawhorses. I suspect the wood is still green enough to bend without steam, and once it's sufficiently straight fasten it onto the boat quickly and thoroughly and and hope it doesn't warp again and knock your garboards out with it.

If you replace it, you gotta make sure the stick is straight-grained without significant grain runout that'll cause similar warping, and you have to get it properly seasoned if you plan on ripping it. Given your timing, that means a local kiln to take it down to 15%, as you don't have time to airdry it.

My preferred alternative as I mentioned in Post #3 is Doug Fir construction lumber. It's available in 2X12's through 26 feet in most large lumberyards, it's straight as an arrow, it remains straight as an arrow, and it generally has been properly kilned to below 20%. Check it, of course...it may be dry enough to glue off the rack, or you can put it in a heated space for a while to bring it down to 15%, the difference generally insufficient to cause the banana-peeling I'm seeing in your oak.

[SeaDate]

Bob,
Thanks very much for your detailed post, and reminding me of the moisture requirements for laminating white oak. Given all the considerations, I've decided to continue my efforts to build a solid 3-piece keel. I chucked the portion of the board that warped the worst, but I was able to use the remaining larger piece to build the smallest (bow) keel board. I'll need to buy more wood at this point (to fabricate 1 remaining center-section keel board), but I figured this is my best option.
Thanks again,
Dave

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Thought I'd give you an update of my recent progress... I bought myself another big ole hunk of white oak from another sawmill in the area. My friends at Pike & Sons had nothing for me, but I managed to find a good tree at Copeland Sawmill in Marshfield, MA... Good place, nice folks. Got it home, planed it (ugh, not fun), and trimed it to size. And the result...



It maintained its shape... Yeah!!! I sealed it up with CPES and test-fitted the 3 sections of the keel on my driveway the other day:



It all fit together pretty well. Meanwhile, down at the boat, I've been working on prepping the inner hull and keelson. As discussed earlier, I impregnated the inner hull, keelson & stringers with about 3 gallons of CPES. I then bedded the plywood to the keelson with 5200. 'Many' hours were spent plugging all the old screw holes with hardwood dowels (also impregnated with CPES). I glued these in place with West System:



I surface-coated the plywood with a thin layer of thickened West System, to fill in places where the old wood had checked, split, or incurred other damage. Finally, I finished up the prep work with a coat of paint:



I think I'm finally ready to start replanking. I have the new mahogany lumber sitting in my garage, alongside the old planks (removed intact). I spent about $400 on SB screws the other day... Anyone have any advice for a newbie boat restorer attempting to replace his garboard planks? I'm a bit nervous about this task...
Thanks as always,
Dave

[shade of knucklehead]

Mark it careful and hew to the line.


Just kidding, that's what my grandpop always said when I asked how to fit something. I usually make a pattern for closing planks. Are you going to put the keel up first?

[SeaDate]

Hi Bryan,
I'm planning on putting on the planks first... I think it will be easier that way, without the keel in place. I can better tell when the planks are properly in place, and it will just make it easier to get around under the boat.
Dave

[SeaDate]

Hi Folks,
Does anyone have a recommendation for the amount of gap that I should leave between my new garboard planks and the adjacent planks? My garboards are 7" wide, and I'm thinking that I don't want to make these things "too" tight. The new (African Mahogany) garboard planks are kiln dried (not sure of the exact moisture content at present). I'm thinking I should leave about 1/8" (which will be filled with non-drying caulking material) to allow for expansion. Does that sound right?
Thanks,
Dave

[Soundman67]

couldnt you soak the planks a while before you fit them to bring up moisture content?

[JoshuaIII]

Shrinkage:Radial: 3.7%, Tangential: 6.6%, Volumetric: 10.3%, T/R Ratio: 1.8

From: http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-...ican-mahogany/

[shade of knucklehead]

Are you going to caulk the garboard seam with cotton?

[SeaDate]

Hi All,
Pre-soaking the planks would be tough, especially since they've been sealed with CPES. I'm planning to caulk with Interlux seaming compound. Thanks for the reference to the wood database site.. Great info there. Given that my planks are 7" wide, I figure:
7" = 56/8"
56 * .037 = 2.072
So I figure I'll leave about 1/8" gap on each side of my new garboard. This roughly matches the gaps I see between my existing planks.
Dave