Lake MacQuarie Classic Boat Association

[Steve TN 15]

I recently joined the Lake MacQuarie Classic Boat Association in Rathmines Australia and while initially I was only taking part in rowing session (an Oughtred St Ayles Skiff named Catalina in honour of the Flying boat base that was on the same point during WW2), I am now into the restoration work and my first job was the deck on an old speed boat.

I didn't start it but I seem to have inherited a key role in it. The king plank was on and 4 other planks were dry fitted when I got involved. It's something I've wanted to do for ages so I'm really enjoying it. Last week (we meet on Tuesdays & Thursdays) we cut and fitted the remaining planks which are Australian cedar and Alaskan cedar for the filler strips and we got them all epoxied down. Today we removed clamps and did an awful lot of 45% planing to fair it all out followed by heaps of sanding and it looks pretty damn good.

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[Alan71]

Hello Steve,

That appears to be a nice project to be involved with.

The deck certainly looks like it will be beautiful when you're finished. What material (if any?) is under the deck planking?

Do you know the history of the boat?

I'll enjoy seeing more photos as you all continue working.

Regards,
Alan

[John Meachen]

I don't remember ever seeing a rounded tip to the king plank before and it looks good.Please keep reporting the updates.

[Steve TN 15]

There is a ply sub deck and the planks started out 9mm thick. I will see if I can find out more about her next time but I think she was a home build or restoration that never got finished and was donated to us.

Yes I thought the rounded king plank looks pretty good too.

[Rich Jones]

Nice!!!
It reminds me of when I put the deck on my Palmer Fantail launch.
A lot to work but well worth it.

[Steve TN 15]

One thing that really impressed me with this little group of volunteers is that two of us were just stuck in planing for a couple of hours, near 30deg in the shed, 80plus % humidity so ringing wet, we were the two doing the hard yards at the time so every now and then someone would just grab a broom and sweep away the shavings piling up around us, leaving us to get on with it. It's that sort of considerate environment that makes it so worthwhile getting involved!

[Steve TN 15]

I didn't do anything on this boat today but inquiries led to a vague knowledge of the boats heritage. She was started in the 60's to plans nobody can find. The builder died prior to completion and it sat for years until it was donated to us to complete. We don't know the designer or design name. I'll try and remember to take the pics in landscape in future.

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[nedL]

Glad to see you posted her here!
I made some inquiries about her history in that other place.
She is a good looking ski boat! I'll look forward to seeing her come along.

[Steve TN 15]

We had a bit of an easy day at the boat shed yesterday, cutting, fitting and epoxying the narrow mid deck. Yes I forgot to take the pic landscape.20220118_114001.jpg

Here is Catalina, the St Ayles Skiff some of us enjoy rowing.
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[Steve TN 15]

We've faired and trimmed the mid deck and now onto the aft deck but this will take some time because the fuel tank has to be made and fitted first and the fabricator is on holidays. I think we will be dry fitting the noisy bit on Thursday to see how it fits and take measurements for the engine cover. That will be a challenging build!

On another note, I found pics of a 1961 Hammond ski boat which looks a lot like this and it has a full deck aft of the front seats, which our boat was apparently set up for. It does however have a double cockpit forward of the engine while ours must be shorter and only has a single cockpit forward. Apparently this boat was set up to just be a two seater but we modified it to a walkabout style with rear seats.

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The 1961 Hammond for reference
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[Steve TN 15]

Progress has been slow but steady, the engine is loose fitted so we can design and build the exhaust system and the engine cover.
We have applied the aft deck and will trim it tomorrow. This boat has a few very unique features, one of which is that there is a hatch in the aft deck to allow access to the fuel tank if needed. We got the plank joins almost invisible and I am going to turn up some brass hold down screws for it. I am going to miss the decking though, I really enjoyed that job.

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[leaotis]

Beautiful craft. Is the transmission clutchless?

[Steve TN 15]

No, there is a simple dog clutch in the output housing, not sure how it's activated at this stage.

[leaotis]

I guess in a small light boat fwd and neutral is enough. Saves weight and complexity too.

[Steve TN 15]

Yeah they were fairly rudimentary in those days and a lot didn't have even have the clutch

[leaotis]

Yeah they were fairly rudimentary in those days and a lot didn't have even have the clutch

hmmm, Jack Shaft

[Steve TN 15]

The progress has been slow and steady but it's all small fit out details so not much to show but I've finished the transom upper trim and aft deck and they look pretty good. The trim piece will be painted the hull colour and at this point the margin boards will be painted a light cream colour.

We have also just received a kit for an Oughtred Acorn and given my experience having built a Tammie Norrie, I'll be part of that build as well. Pics when it starts to happen.

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[timo4352]

That thing is gonna fly with a V8 in there!

[stromborg]

Lake MacQuarie looks like a great place to go boating.

[nedL]

Looking great!!!

[Steve TN 15]

That thing is gonna fly with a V8 in there!

Yeah she's only about 15ft long!

We aren't overly concerned with weight at the moment.

[Steve TN 15]

Lake MacQuarie looks like a great place to go boating.

Yeah it's pretty good, I believe it's the biggest salt water lake in Aus and there is only a narrow channel to the sea so tidal fluctuations are minimal although there are some serious currents in and around the channel. I've seen Pauls videos but haven't caught up with those blokes yet.

[Steve TN 15]

Well today we had some progress worthy of pics and a post.
I had the brilliant idea to line the dashboard instrument panel cut out with Alaskan Yellow Cedar as the panel is Australian Red Cedar, the same combination as the decks. There is an unofficial rule at the boat shed, if it's your idea, you do it! I've steamed, bent and broken so much yellow cedar in the effort that I was worried we'd run out! Finally got it though and the result was worth it. In the "fitted" dash pics it looks very dark but that's just a sealing coat that will be sanded back before varnishing so it will lighten up considerably.

The other big step is the upholstery has arrived and it looks brilliant. She's really starting to look like a ski boat and it's only taken 58 years from commencement to this point.

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[Alan71]

Hello StTN,

A very nice detail for the dashboard.
The upholstery appears to be really well done.

The boat has a very 'speedboat' look about it!!!

I enjoy seeing your photos.
Thanks for posting !

Regards,
Alan

[Steve TN 15]

Here are a few more pics, some similar to previous but she's been made presentable for a festival on in Rathmines this weekend. One pic is a close up of the screws I designed and made to secure the aft deck hatch and dashboard.
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