Seabird

Removing the engine and interior in pepreration for a new bottom

All of the hardware is removed , and catalogued before being sent out for re-chroming

The bare hull ready for bottom work

a common problem is the iron exhaust elbow that is prone to rusting out

My solution is to fabricate a water cooled water jacketed one

After removing the interior the boat is turned upside down

The old bottom is cut off in sections around the frames

The frames are left intact for patterns to use in fabrication of the new ones

The planking remoal complete , and time to start changing the frames

The chines , stem and keel are also replaced

All oof the frames replaced

Temporary battens are installed to aid in shaping intermediate ribs

The ribs are lightweight and stiffen u the bottom .

The orriginal bottom was a single layer of planking that required spring soak up to stop leaking . The new bottom will be two layers of planking with 3M 5200 between the layers that will not have to soak up.

After the first layer of thin diagonal planking the longitudinal layer of planking is bedded in 3M 5200

With the bottom planking complete , two layers of penetrating epoxy are applied

While the hull is still upside down the hull is stripped to bare wood at the front . This is much easier than working overhead with paint remover

Two coats of high build primer are applied before painting

The hull is turned right side up

The interior is cleaned up and the inside of the sides are prepped for varnish

It's a pretty tedious job to clean up the inside of the hull

The inside of the hull is stripped to bare wood

Three coats of penetrating epoxy are applied to the inside of the new bottom

Lots of interior and seat parts to deal with

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Hull and deck stripped to bare wood , sanded , stained and 12 coats of varnish sanded between each coat

Mock up of the new name on the transom

Name gold leafed onto transom and new Seabird decal

New floors and seats refinnished and re-fitted

Bare hull better than the day she was built

This is the orriginal interior . The seat backs were just upholstered plywood

The seat backs were re-done in varnished mahogany and the linterior dolled up a bit more than the factory configuration

Back home in the boathouse

In the boathouse