Once the hull had been made sound and the droughts securely bolted to the new frames and the listings or listons relaced, work could start on repainting her on the outside and the inside attended to.
First of all the floorboards needed replacing and the same time the engine box needed some attention and it was decided to replace it completely to make it much easier to move around while trying to sail her. – MD 21-Apr-24
Fitting Out – per Fred Crowell
Now we start to refit the thwarts and fit the new knees these are cut with care to get the grain right. If not cut correctly these will fail at the short grain section. These will be fixed through the gunwhale as other fixings, with galvanized nails.
The working boats tend to use steel knees 2 inch x 1/2 flat bar with a 3/4 inch round bar welded on to form a triangle from gunwhale to thwart, this gives a very strong job and also the bar gives a tying up point for ropes fenders etc. The midship thwart on the larger boats usually has a bulkhead constructed on the aft edge this adds some strength but also creates a separation from the engine area and the working area.
The thwart midships and next forward usually have a plywood board resting between them this creates part of the engine cover also makes getting forward much easier.
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Deck Floors
Next job to start is the floors and beams, we start by putting in the long beams these stretch from the base of the horseshoe to the engine beds, location is above the inside rail that holds the bilge keels, with such a long spread you will have to put in three uprights to support the load these will be cut to fit on and be fastened to a frame. Make sure that the timber comes short of the hull planking, reason being if on the planking a heavy load on the floors could push the planking away from frame causing a leak. With beams set we now do the inwires, these are the rails that run along the frames to support the floors on the outside edge. To get the correct height for these place a straight edge on top at the beams and mark the height on the frames, this will be about 2×1 inch due to the position on the frame the top corner, will need a lot of bevel off for the boards to lay flat normally about 3/4 inch is needed but don’t fasten in until the bevels are checked. You can’t take more off once nailed as this will make it to low. On the top of the main beams fix a lath 3/4 inch x the thickness of floor boards this gives the final position of hoards on beam.
With everything set off we now start on the boards the best way to do this will he to do the center boards first this will give a good working area to work from when fitting the sides. A bit more skill needed to fit the side floors as these run around the hull frames fit the boards but leave length on until the fit is right.
As the underside will need a lot of bevel off correct this later will make the boards short. New knees and scut fitted to transom top. Don’t make the boards to good a fit to frames, this will give any water a chance to escape the deck floor.
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As the underside will need a lot of bevel off correct this later will make the boards short.
Don’t make the boards to good a fit to frames, this will give any water a chance to escape the deck floor.
