1962 Chris Craft Sea Skiff restoration

[Kudzu]

After a false start Makin Waves is back in the shop and ready to be stripped and the restoration started. These are some photos I took last week. I have owned this boat for 20+ years. I did one cosmetic restoration on it and then it developed some hull problems. I did not have a shop, the skill set to fix it or the money to hire someone. So it has been stored under cover for many years. Obviously time was not kind to the paint but it has remained dry.

Expect to start tearing it down in this week.

Cypress swim platform was one of the best additions ever made. It will probably be replaced with a new mahogany version so that it matches the transom.






I removed the motor box and floor boards. Floors are probably OK to be reused. Motor box will need repairs at a minimum and probably will just build a new one and add some sound deadening to it.



Someone had staple upholstery to the seats and badly stained the mahogany. Those will have to be replaced and I reuse the unstained sections for other things.

[Kudzu]

Here she is before the hull problems. She was used quite regular and as you can see sometimes hauled quite a lot of people!

[mucrewbtp]

That's a good looking boat, good luck with the project!

-Mike

[Kudzu]

Today I got to start taking the interior out of the boat to see what I was up against.



Seats out looking forward. Of all things that could happen this is one you never expect. Drain plug is just inside the doorway. Plug has been out the whole time it was stored. Checked to make sure the hole was not plugged periodically.

What I did not expect was Bummble Bee's were coming in and out and had a nest under my floors! Looked like finely shredded paper and it held moisture. The four ribs from the bulkhead back will have to be replaced. I expected some damage there but not what I found. The nest was holding moisture and plywood is soft too.



Floor out looking back. If you have sharp eyes you will see the problem.



Looks like several ribs will have to be repaired in this area. Trailer damage I was not expecting.

BTW the trash was on the floors and fell in the bilge when removing the floors. It was actually pretty clean except for the lost items I found. A fender, one flip flop, ski rope handle, several disposable cups, sunglasses, sun tan lotion and other sundry items. I am going to have to add a fiddle to keep things from sliding under the seat and then ending up under the floors.




The rest of it looks OK. There is some wood that has to be replaced here and there. Tank has gas in it so it has to be drained and then removed and checked. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to paint the bilge zinc chromate green! That was really a poor choice.

[Breakaway]

Be careful with the tank. An empty gas tank is more dangerous than a full one, since the fumes are more volatile than the fuel itself.

Kevin

[kstokes]

Wow a lapstrake Chris Craft.....

A beautiful boat! I have damage from the trailer on my 18' Lyman also, 'cept mine is much worse. To cheer you up I'll put a picture in...



Thanks for posting the pictures! If you have time post more as your project continues.

[nedL]

It's nice to see some other inboard lapstrake skiff projects underway here! (Though mine has been stalled for major house issue stuff for too long now.)

[kstokes]

Ooh this must be your New Jersey Speed Skiff. Looking good. I just resurrected one of your old threads from 2008 to ask some questions about steam bending. Didn't want to hijack Kudzu's thread...

[Kudzu]

Finally finishing up my new book and it's time to get serious on this boat. First order of business is how to shore up the boat. I think I have an idea that will do two things at one. First I need a better way to lift the boat. Thanks to suggestions in another thread I have decided to build a gantry to lift the motor out and then the boat.

I am going to build two very similar to this one.



It occurred to me that once the trailer is out of the way, it was a simple matter to lay a beam across the base of the gantry. Once secured to the post the boat hull could rest on the beam. With roller bearing caster I should be able to move the boat around the shop if needed but that is not a big deal. There isn't much space to move it around though but every little bit can help.

So far it looks like there is about a dozen ribs that will need to be replaced or sister framed. I found a couple of spots of rot in the planking but noting big. Once I get it off the trailer and supported I can get underneath and do a better examination.

Here is a past repair I had laugh at. Bolts, nuts and piece of aluminum plate as washers!



I am guessing the seam opened up and started leaking. There is one more 'repair' I have wanted to fix since I bought this boat but I didn't have the skill set then so I left it alone. I save it for latter one. You will get a kick of it.

[Kudzu]

I settled on building two gantries. I figured out I could store one more or less out of the way in the shop when this project was done. It will come in handy from time to time. Second one can be torn apart and recycled. I can use these to get the motor out and back in. I can roll the boat using them. Take the boat on and off the trailer and so much more. For the cost the more I thought about this was the only way to go. It will be so easy to lift and move the boat SAFELY by myself.

I pulled the boat out of the shop to make room to build these. It was supposed to rain that night so I had to get the boat back inside and that meant I had to finish these that day. Building them was simple but it was one VERY LONG DAY!! Handling those big timbers had me dragging by about 3 pm. But I got it all done by 9 pm.



In this photo, one is finished an standing upright while the second one is almost finished. it still needs it's casters installed. I put some temporary bracing in place to hold it together till I decided exactly where I wanted it. Once I got them up I put on the hoists and lifted the boat just off the trailer to see how everything worked and if the gantries were going to try to do the splits when they got a load on them.



Everything went will with no surprises. I need to move the angle braces so they clear the hoists and I am going to add some plywood gussets at the top. Overall I am well pleased and think this is good set up.

[Dave Wright]

Love your gantries. I've been kicking a similar idea around for a couple of months but have been lazy - thanks for the motivation. I hadn't considered casters / wheels. Yours are quite big; were they expensive, source, etc.? Thanks!

[Kudzu]

Large caster don't hang up on small item on the floor. They roll easier too, that is why I wanted larger ones. These are ball bearing units and yes, they are expensive. I bought these off Craigslist much cheaper but they retail around $40 each. You can find used ones on EBay though.

[Dale Genther]

For a good selection of castors try McMaster Carr. The prices may not be the best, but the selection and service is good.

[Kudzu]

Pictures are worth a thousand words, they say. Good thing, I am to tired to have many words tonight. So I am stealing most of this from my BLOG.

I received my info from Mariners Museum on Making Waves. She is as I thought a 1962, 20 foot Sportsman. She went to a dealer in Biloxi, Mississippi from the factory. I always suspected it was a Southern Boat but never had the proof. She came with optional canvas top and frame, side curtains and 283 Chris Craft engine.

Lifted it up above the trailer a couple of inches. Checked and rechecked and everything looked good.



I sat the rear down on my stand I made. A very simple little thing that took an amazing amount of thinking to come up with something I was comfortable with and felt safe using.



The bow is just sitting on a stack of solid wood blocks. I just balances on a single point.



Here she is aground.



Now I know it low enough to swing the engine out next week. I need to build a stand with caster so I can move the engine around the shop. Then I can start with the rest of the strip down of the boat.

Spent a lot of time thinking everything through and it was went just as it should have. No hitches, not problems. But I am still left with that feeling "Why did this take so long?"

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Lots of places like Harbour Freight carry casters. I have sets of casters that carry 3000 pounds each... 25 bucks a piece.

Good work Kudzu.... you seem well on your way.

[Kudzu]

Good work Kudzu.... you seem well on your way.

Tearing one down is easy :-) But thank you. I have been following your project too.

One the new ribs are in place I will feel a lot better. Having never replaced steam bent ribs, it's a little intimidating. The rest of it will be no problem for me.

[pcford]

Errr...why didn't you lift the boat with the lifting eyes? Just wondering.

[Kudzu]

Errr...why didn't you lift the boat with the lifting eyes? Just wondering.

There might be damage (rot) that I am not aware of. Better safe than sorry.

Once finished and ready to go back on the trailer I will lift it by the eyes.

[Kudzu]

Finally getting some time to work on the boat again. Finished my new book and just waiting on the final (I hope) proof copy. The one project I have been sort of dreading turned out to fairly easy, getting the motor out. One thing I learned is if I ever do this again, do it before the floors come out. It's much easier on your knees and ankles!!



Up she comes. Stopped to see if I had missed anything.




At this point I am starting to question if I have enough height to clear the boat and I didn't. Had to lower the motor. Tight up the chain on the motor and the chain holding the host to the gantry. Trying to gain everything I could.




It paid off too. I had an 1/8" clearance. :-)




This was a sight I have been waiting on for weeks now.

Now to brace the boat a little better, it amazing how 'loose' these hulls are especially once the motor came out. Then finish the tear down and start replacing some ribs.

[Kudzu]

Progress seems so slow, but I haven't had as much time to work on it as I had expected. But today I finally got the deck off. Surprisingly slow process. Find the screws, chisel out the putty, clean the screw heads, remove the screw. And of course when you start to remove the decking then you have to find those screws you missed!

Started on the side and was surprised to find that it wasn't bedded. Yet there were areas that were 'glued' and left part of the plywood behind. Good thing was other than the trim, no hidden damage. I started checking the screws and everyone I checked I was able to tighten. So I am going to remove the rest and tighten up all the screws. I think I will just put new plywood on the deck.



Next was the deck. One side is damaged and I wanted to remove the other side so I could get in the bow and see what if anything needs replacing here.



Chasing down those hidden screws.



Finally the decking is off. Amazing how long it took to get it off. The second side went much faster since I knew where to look for all those screws.



With that done I turned out lights and headed to the house.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

All good man..... You're coming along. These projects take patience for sure. The bigger the boat, the bigger each portion becomes.

Chris Craft never shorted a boat on screws. Most of that idea is because the boats were light so fastening was very important. It seems that every possible place to put a screw had one. Our rebuild on Vanora this year used about 3000 fasteners, and it was a relatively small repair.

[Kudzu]

Chris Craft never shorted a boat on screws.

That is for sure! I have maybe another days work before I move to removing some bottom planks. Been wondering how often they put screws into the ribs. I can see hours underneath removing putty bungs.

PS meant to add I have been watching your project and using it to motivate me to jump in.

[Dan Payne]

I had that same bee infestation on my Stephens. Looking great so far. Can't wait to see the masterpiece when finished. Good luck.

[Soundbounder]

Looking forward to future updates. I'm enjoying this thread a great deal.

[Kudzu]

I am finally back to work on the Chris Craft. I must admit this phase of the project has really intimidated me and I every time I come down and start working on it, I ended up staring at it, wondering how am I going to fix that bottom?

The answer was just muster up some courage and dive in. So that is what I have one the last couple of days. I started by installing some bracing to assume the boat holds it's shape as I tear it apart.



With the bracing in place it was time to crawl underneath and try to come up with a plan. I could quickly see I was going to be spending a lot of time underneath.



*I have found that an air powered angle grinder with a paint/rust removal pad is a good choice for the task at hand. It will quickly remove paint, filler and wood! And there is a lot of all three to remove.



And here is a photo of the first (of many)screws coming out.



I am still intimidated by this project. Still not sure what to do but at the same time I am excited to be back at work on it.

[Kudzu]

I put the boat back on the trailer and pulled her out of the shop for a while. We had a really big project going on and needed all the space I could free up. We finished that and once I get back inside I was hired to make a couple of kayak for someone. Finally, finally, finally I started back on is this afternoon. I got this far and ran into a little snag.





It is funny how much larger they look on their side!

Took a break, came back and sat in the moaning chair and saw what I needed to do to get it the rest of the way. I have to make a trip to the hardware store and then I should be able to finish rolling it over in the morning.

[nedL]

Glad to see you are still with it!

[timo4352]

Oh my gosh! I hope you have help. That's a lot of boat to roll over. Be careful!

[Kudzu]

4 chains hoist. Months of thinking and planning. I am working by myself because you can't depend on people anymore. Just got to keep in mind never to get under it or where it could end up if something breaks.

I could use a hand tomorrow when it get ready to actually 'roll' to the other side. I have thought on that a lot and while I have a way, I would prefer a helper. Would be MUCH faster.

[kstokes]

Here's me flipping my Lyman Islander by myself (in 2012) using the basketball hoop and some lumber. Yes, I am at times insane.

I put wheels and a trailer tongue on it so I can wheel it around.

[Kudzu]

I see you used a come along to 'roll' her around. I have to admit defeat and put her back upright. I misjudged and got up up almost 90 degrees and she didn't want to go over the rest of the way. I didn't have a safe way to force it over, decided to out her back down and get everything I need ready and then next week I can flip her for sure. No sense being stupid just to save a few days of waiting.

[Kudzu]

Way past due an update but nothing to exciting. Ran into some issues rolling it over and after thinking on it a while I decided to scrap the idea of rolling it over and just buy a good creeper. Mean time I have been busy working on it.

First task was a thorough cleaning of the inside. Putty knife, shop vac and lots of work!

Then I have spent a lot time removing paint, putty, cleaning screw heads, drilling out rivets, etc. Today I finally removed the first section of bad wood. Felt so good to past that milestone. So many things learned and will make it easier on the others.

20160924_141850

[Kudzu]

Lots of boat rebuild threads so I have not kept this up. Plus I got in over my head or at least it felt that way so it sat for a year while I tried to work up the nerve to tackle repairing all the damaged ribs I found. Once I decided it was fix it of scrap it I dove in and found it a lot of work but not nearly as hard as I had expected.

Started back on it and messed up a shoulder climbing up and down getting under to boat to repair planking. Surgery and therapy and finally got back on it.

Was making good progress when I started having an unexplained pain in the legs. Long story short they found a tumor in my spinal column. More surgery and then had to have another followup surgery to plug a leak in my spine. LONG recovery and months before I could get up and down the stairs much less in and out of the boat.

After all this I am back at it and working like a dog. Plugging away and actually making great progress.

Thought I would toss out a few photos of what I have gotten done











My favorite photo of all. Never thought I would see all these marked off!



I have to move her to a new shop, which I have to stop and build. If not for that I would say we were looking a Fall launch. Might still happen but I think winter is more likely.

Just feels so good to be working so hard and exhausted ever night. :-)

[Rich Jones]

Sorry to hear of your health set backs but glad to hear of the progress on the boat.

[Kudzu]

62 and never had anything worse than Sinus infections and a couple of bad cuts in the shop that required a trip to the ER. Then 3 surgeries in a 2 year period.

Glad I have gotten all that out of the way. Now back to boat building and repairing.