Go on vacation... And get a boat project...(?)

Small Boat Forum

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We traveled back to one of our favorite places on the planet--Lake Pend Oreille in the North Idaho Panhandle--and stayed the better part of 6 days. At Glengary Bay Marina we were put in charge of a small boat 'shell' that had been constructed maybe 40+ years ago. Swede Heitman ran a neat boatbuilding operation for most of his life here and this was a hull that was never finished.
Now with help from Hal Hargreaves and his tractor, Tom Trulock, Bob Simmions and Thom Vetromile worked the boat into the back of Gorden Gleasons truck.
The trip to Gordon's was uneventful and after we placed it in his small shop we began work. Gordon sawed off the rotten stem to the deck level and found good clear hard wood, wow, were we lucky. Next Gordon took to peeling polyester along the sides down to 'solid stuck' stuff . Thom worked on the interior cleaning, removing the 40+ years of dust, dirt & bug nests. As Thom was cleaning with the vacuum he nicked a bolt... it turned 'gold'. Next thing Gordon had out his pocket knife and was scraping all the fastenings... Yikes, Swede put this boat together w/ silicon bronze!!! Then Gordon scraped at the Frames and Chine... The Chine is 2 part... 1/2 White Oak and 1/2 Honduran Mahogany! The Frames are lamed Honduran Mahogany w/ the top lam White Oak. After these discoveries we used a plumb bob and a tape measure to true the boat up. By placing two 4X4s under the stern quarter she sat within an 1/8 or of an inch or so, each side of the gunnels, all around the boat--without any adjusting. Can't hardly build new to tighter tolerances!!! The hull is plywood with only 2 small punky places near the gunnels... Gordon gave the 'blessing' "Definitely worth messing with..." Check out the 'foto'.
The next plan is to find a trailer while doing some sanding, epoxy glue up, and re-glassing some of the hull. Then planing the interior to make a light weight outboard camping beach cruiser... Well, we will keep you all posted from time to time.
The 'Stats': 16'2" LOA, Little better than 6' Beam, Hull Depth Forward almost 3', Aft Hull Depth 26". She has a interesting straked bottom, warped plane with sharp bow sections and quite full sections above the water line.
Say, anybody else have a Boat Project they would like to tell us about?
Thom V

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Topic - Go on vacation... And get a boat project...(?) - Thom V 20:31:55 08/07/01 (0)

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