Lapstrake 16.5' Cedar Rowing Skiff

Welcome to the rebuild records of the 1925 Cedar Skiff own by Mr. & Mrs. Kenemy of Thornhill Ontario. The boat is good enough that without trying to replace the few cracked planks it should be quite possible to do a proper repair and refinish.

Like every wooden boat project you never see the full scope of the task at the begining. When I look back to the There ended up being over 300 hours spent on the craft probably half of the time spent hand sanding the hull with long blocks. I chose to try to make all repairs with backing blocks the same size as the plank minimizing their appearance. Sisters or new frames were constructed with approximately 7 layers of oak bent and laminated in place. The repairs took roughly 1/3 of the overall time with close to 200 hours of sanding. All the sanding there is a very narrow window as the planks are only 3/8" thick a fact that encouraged me to use epoxy/fiberglass tape in two areas of the bottom on particularly worrisome cracks.

Coatings:

The entire boat is Pre-Coated with East System Epoxy with thin coats first and a minimum of 3 coats most getting 4 or 5 coats of epoxy. REpairs to any structural area\s are standard wood epoxy procedures.

Clear Top Coat is made by Endura Manufacturing of Edmonton and is available in Toronto from Smithcraft Fiberglass Supply on Islington and the Queensway, or Fiberglass Supply on Timberlake in the Industrial area west of Dixie Road. IF you ever have to repair the Endura remember NOT TO try to use high speed sanding tools as the coating will become plasticy if there is too much friction. Hand sand the area with a long block down to at least 220 grit and re-coat.

The cream is Interlux Brightside Polyurethane Hatteras Off-White 4208

Please remember the most recent enteries will be at the top of the page. As you go down the page you go back in time. There are large images if you click the thumbnail, as you can not see the detail of the wood condition in the thumbnail images that well. The newest entries are at the top of the page and they get older as you go down. For a itemized plank by plank repair chart [go here].

Friday, June 29

The three blocks from yesterday went in nicely and I had a general sand out of what I have done to date. 11 new backing blocks and 2 sisters. This is Canada Day weekend so I will; probably take a couple of day off.

Thursday, June 28

The key planks went in OK and I got 3 more backing blocks glued and 4 nail holes filled. Right is a pile of plugs ready for gluing.

Wednesday, June 27

Final daytime temperature 31 C. high humidity. It was another hot day and the shop was already hot before noon, becoming unbearable by early PM. I got an early start and had another short day on the skiff only getting in 2.5 hours. The skiff project is going pretty much according to plan and I routinely move forward at least a frame a day making required repairs as I go.

As usual the day starts by removing the clamps and sanding out the repair. That is frame Q done and 4 more backing blocks in place which pretty much sees the stern ready.

The rest of the day was spent blocking the belly of the skiff in order to facilitate closing up the crack as much as possible while keeping the bilge lines sweet. It may not look like much but these two midships blocks determine the twist of the hull and area all critical. It took over an hour of messing around and clamping the boat to the trailer with various blocks and wedges to archive the feel I wanted.

Tuesday, June 26

It is mid afternoon and as I get ready to do the next batch of backing blocks I have discovered yet two more sections that require a backing block. I could not even see them and only discovered them by touch. Worse however is the more I work with the original cedar the more I realize how tender it is. Tonight I give serious thought to what I am discovering as I work forward frame by frame.

Finally I start to get a bit of primer on the interior. The sister for frame "R" went in nicely and blocks have all but disappeared as I get a little primer on the area. Overall it is moving along according to schedule in spite of the 32C temperatures.

One of the key questions I was asked was whether or not the backing blocks would show. Take a look at the close up of the starboard 2 (right). I think they look pretty good with a full width backing block. Much better than the earlier repairs with 2" wide strips screwed on over the cracks (look to left of picture).

Monday, June 25

The new clamps work well I only need a bucket full of them not three as the 1" sisters are super slippery and it took the entire AM to get frame R sistered. You can see the dry fit below and the epoxy glued sister above. Note the nice contact of surfaces. Forgive the fill in the deep valley as I want the entire thing solid.

Thursday, June 21

The cool weather is hanging in there and the wind blows hard accross the plateau up here at the shop. THe field is cut so I" can see the road again.

Today I had a final client consultation and began the gluing of the backing blocks. Slippery little things they are once they are swimming in epoxy. I may yet have to resort to some sort of fastening if only to keep them where they are susposto go. It took a long time and a lot of messing around, but I have good contact between the block and the hull plank. Look at all that good goo squeezing out, I bet that thing is stuck in there good.

Wednesday, June 20

I have much more to show today after the second day on the backing blocks, or it could be the day of the 18" long bodywork block that I use to keep things flat.

I have sanded out the shear repairs to both sides and have the first coat of Interlux primer on.

In total there are now 21 (now 23) cedar backing blocks behind planks that had suspicious cracks. No guarantee the old wood will not find a new place to crack but this is all that can be done to try to prevent problems. Each block had to be hand shaped to fit the desired curvature of the hull by hand. To see them and the fit you need to check the big images which are 1000 pixels wide.

June 19

Block fitting, fair shear repair, try to open and then edge glue apparent cracks.

Monday, June 18

"Time to cut and fit wood", this is the part that is fun. Todays project was to begin the wood repairs. All marked cracks were reamed out then spread as far apart as possible to be epoxy glued and clamped. I have rough cut the new frame sisters and have them fitted taking on a bit of attitude overnight.

I have cut a section out of the starboard midships side where the oar locks had broken the plank. I new section was grafted in and will be backed by a new oak block inside.

The scarfed floorboards are rough fitted and sanded ready for primer and final fitting.

Saturday, June 16

Friday was the end of creating new wood to repair the flooring of the skiff. It was also another client meeting reminder that this is a repair with a top cap to overall investment which makes my decisions different than a restoration, which I would love to do. As I worked with the new clear cedar it became apparent that it lacked the resistance of the original planking leading me to repair one of the original center planks with a backing (hidden) of special sewn roving & mat applied with epoxy. plank when deterioration was present. constrained new construction so new wood was scarfed on to the existing

05:45 EDT Thursday, June 14, 2007 PM

The weather has turned cooler and I am planning a very early start and to quit before it gets too hot. Overall I am pleased with the progress and where I left the work yesterday. Today: I go after the non structural cracks and figure out exactly what I need in wood and to what dimensions I need it. If I am lucky I will get to plane the new new cedar & oak down to thickness for both the shear and the frame sisters. Then is is figuring out the clamping & blocking to hold everything in place.

The shop is staying cool making it more pleasant to work inside than out with it becoming early afternoon before the heat really gets turned up. Farmer Brooks is nearly finished taking the first crop of hay from the field and I expect he will do in front of the shop tomorrow.

The day was a lot of chasing and procuring as I did get my 16' of clear cedar at $17.oo per 8' plank. Then came the milling. The only clear I could find was a full 3/4" thick meaning that I had a 1/2" to remove for the floorboard thickness, and just a little less to 3/8 for the hull. The result was a half a garbage bag full of shavings which will help get the fire going in fall. The oak for making new laminated frames ended up about 1/8". On return I even got a little bit of the first reconstruction epoxy gluing done.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 PM

Black clouds and a north wind have brought a thunderstorm this morning promising a much work friendlier day than the 31+ heat. Now to the repairs.

I came to term with the method of repair today and have used up the supplied 3/8" cedar making inner blocks for the badly cracked # 4 & 5 midships planks. I have yet to devise the clamps but it should not be too hard to convince things into a natural position and hold them.

The day went quickly and I did not even move the boat outside with it being cooler inside. Once again the traditional won out and wood stays with wood. First a final check of things with a strong light underneath, then a template and its off to the compound miter saw. reality it went quickly taking a scant 3 hours. I

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Project Benchmark - Client Report

The rough sanding is done and a detailed list of repairs made. I now have 27.5 hours labor in getting the boat to this stage with roughly $500 has been spent on material with the primer & "colour" yet to be purchased.

1. Time to flip the boat and look at the outside inch by inch....
2. The cracked plank issue/plan will be settled today
3. The next step for me is to:
4. Go over each frame and plank remove broken rivets and epoxy seal every rivet hole
5. Begin repair to the frames first missing then sister
6. Cut out and edge glue new insert# cedar on broken out starboard shear
7. "Form" & Glue bottom plank cracks (before F/G reinforcement
8. Edge glue lessor cracks in planks
9. Make 2 NEW floorboards of cedar
10. Epoxy f/g repair badly cracked planks
11. Fairing & prime of inside repairs
12. Final sanding
13. Aft seat design - source - ?
14. Invert boat and prep outside including keel
15. final exterior prep
16. 1st coat clear 2 part Endura
17. Paint inside with 3 coats Interlux Brightside "sandy cream"
18. coats 2&3 Endura Exterior
19. Clean up hardware - re-assemble

June 12, 2007

Today was floorboard sanding day. Everything is now rough cleaned and the true condition is revealed. I will quit a bit early today to make time to get the latest stuff including the "repair chart" up so the owner can inspect the progress tonight.

There are 3 fairly bad cracks both port and starboard right at the turn of the bilge on planks 4 & 5. Thirteen planks that require gluing and strengthening, while 6 will be serviceable epoxy glued. I have yet to go over the frames for broken serviceable which will require removal clean up and epoxy filling.

June 11, 2007

Monday saw the start of stripping the floorboards. Just strip and sand. I believe there are going to be 2 new pieces that I will have to make from scratch. The down side of what is becoming a final prognosis is that there are too many split planks to attempt making wood laminates for each one. In the case of the bigger cracks along the planks at the turn of the bilge and the garboard must be strengthened as there are substantial that run for 4 frames. I am now proposing that I use West epoxy and Oz fiberglass tape which provides a nice edge on the inside of the planks while epoxy gluing and filling the outside of the plank.

I am now closing on the initial (not finish) prep. and can truly see what needs to be done. The bulk of the inside sanding is done to where I can see the real condition of the wood. As you look at the list and pictures try to imagine the end use of the craft. This is not a restoration. We are not to break the boat apart to replace planks. The floorboards will be critical as light construction means they take the loading from the pass anger.

At this stage we are nearing the trick question which is what method I use to repair the cracked planks.

• Laminate thin 1/8" veneer of wood both sides with epoxy
• epoxy glue crack and inside back with fiberglass tape, that will be finished sanded with 400 grit and filled/faired before paint.
• Damaged floorboard to be replaced 100%

June 8

Not much to say. Hours and hours of sanding, detail sanding of a soft wood coated by a sticky residue. The center image shows such a spot that is heck on paper. Not only does it clog paper super fast it attacks the glue. The bad news is that wherever the remains of the "varnish/paint&stripper" exists the epoxy glues I plan to use in the repair process will not adhere. So there is nothing to do but take each plank section at a time which can be painstaking. The spot pictured here took 5 sheets of mouse paper and nearly a hour to get out.

June 6

I am now settled into the sanding process that brings a much more detailed overall view of what I actually have to work with and how much real damage there is to the boats structure. So far I have found one more cracked plank and a broken another broken frame as the wood reveals its secrets.

I am now roughly 25% of the way through the first rough sanding of the inside of the skiff. Whatever the chemistry of the last 40 years it leaves a residue based on a combination of the years of varnish and paint that turns to a gooey consistency just before you reach bare wood. The biggest issue is that it will adversely effect the epoxy that I am so strongly relying on for repairs meaning that I really do have to get the stuff out of there. The task of sanding is based on the first couple of days take virtually hundreds of dollars of sandpaper.

Some of the planks have multiple cracks in them and the wood is very dry making exactly how I approach the repair an interesting challenge. At this time I still believe laminating another layer over the distressed plank is the answer. The problem is I will have to build a clamping mechanism that will clamp the area without distorting the natural lines.

I have rough sanded most of the aft port side and have a first test of how the epoxy will react to the residual varnish# that will be ready for inspection Thursday.

June 2 

There are a number of problem areas to address where new wood must be grafted in creating an aesthetically complimentary butt blocks to back cracked planks. You can also see one of the cracked planks along with an existing repair snaking down the lower plank. Seen below is the first test patch that I have started on the bottom. You can see how far I have to take the sanding in order to remove the old paint. The inside corners will require time and a sharp scraper.

The Bow requires a small filet to replace a missing piece while the shear where they had nasty oarlocks screwed directly into the plank has split and will require quite some finesse.