Surf board update

Got the decks down and the basic shape started shaping and finish work now

Unexpected find

This is just an update on the speed liner restoration. I sanded the sects to find that the original varnish was hiding awesome cedar grain dark knot with deep red heartwood and light yellow sap wood. These colors only came to life as I was coating it with smiths penetrating epoxy.  I am very happy with this discovery and I can't wait to ad varnish and creat that fantastic depth of finish that really makes a boat pop

Rope fenders

I searched low and high trying to find a source for rope fenders. I was struggling with the idea of putting plastic between my 10 cotes of varnish and a dock, I think, rather I know varnish looses in that fight. Well, I searched the net to learn a new skill after that and here is the end result. 

I like the end result. I don't know that cost wise others will decide they want nice looking fenders that won't scuff their finish as quickly. For me there is no question that a boat of this age and quality deserves vintage looking fenders   What are you thoughts ?

Dodge, Chris Craft, speed liner

I had to set aside the Dodge for the last month. I have been down to brass tacks on the Chris Craft and as they say the devil is in the details. I must say that it has been true on this boat every time I have solved a problem with a custom answer there has been another detail involved, also requiring custom work. I guess if it was easy everyone would do it.

all that's left is float test waterline sea trial and punch list. I can not wait to see this boat out the door. 

I picked up a small Speed Liner not too long ago. I have been putting some time in on that boat as well. She is only 12' long my wife is insistent that I put the name "lil Boat" on her I am not sure   Pics of her in the next few days. 

I was also playing with some rope this weekend and built this fender

My hope is that the Chris Craft client will want some of these for his boat in place of ugly varnish wrecking plastic fenders.

The first White Oak Frame and 2 knees are in place. they are temporally fastened so that the entire frame can be dry fit, before 3M 5200 is applied. I only got one in the boat today but i ruff cut and surfaced all the lumber for the bottom frames, knees, and upper frames. White Oak is hard and heavy. Here is what the American hardwood export council says.

"American white oak (Quercus spp.) Other names: Northern white oak, Southern white oak Distribution Widespread throughout Eastern USA. The white oak group comprises many species, of which about eight are commercial. General description White oak is similar in colour and appearance to European oak. The sapwood of American white oak is light coloured and the heartwood is light to dark brown. White oak is mostly straight grained with a medium to coarse texture, with longer rays than red oak. White oak therefore has more figure. Working properties White oak machines well, nails and screws well although pre-boring is advised. As it reacts with iron, galvanised nails are recommended. Its adhesive properties are variable, but it stains and polishes to a good finish. The wood dries slowly and care is needed to avoid checking. Due to its high shrinkage, it can be susceptible to movement in performance.     Machining Nailing Screwing Gluing Finishing Physical properties A hard and heavy wood with medium bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam bending. Southern white oak is faster grown with wide growth rings, and tends to be harder and heavier. Specific Gravity: 0.68 (12% M.C.) Average Weight: 769 kg/m3 (12% M.C.) Average Volumetric Shrinkage: 12.6% (Green to 6% M.C.) Modulus of Elasticity: 12,273 MPa Hardness: 6049 N * Values for Q. alba Durability The heartwood is resistant to decay, extremely resistant to preservative treatment, and the sapwood is moderately resistant to treatment. Availability USA: Readily available but not as abundant as red oak. Export: Very widely available in lumber and veneer, in a full range of qualities and specifications. The most important hardwood export. Main uses Construction, furniture, flooring, architectural joinery, exterior joinery, mouldings, doors, kitchen cabinets, panelling, railway sleepers, timber bridges, barrel staves, coffins and caskets. White oak can vary in colour, texture, characteristics and properties according to the growing region. It is therefore recommended that users and specifiers work closely with their suppliers to make sure the wood they order is suited to their specific needs. Northern and Southern may be sold separately."	Alder Ash Aspen Basswood Beech Birch Cherry Cottonwood Elm Hackberry Hickory Hard Maple Pecan Red Oak Sap Gum Sassafras Soft Maple American Tulipwood Walnut Willow White Oak
I think they summed it up well enough.  they did however leave out that it makes great boat frames. Random picture of surf board/ SUP hybrid progress to follow.		© 2002 American Hardwood Export Council

I finished bracing up the Dodge today. Its all temp bracing until I put the new frames in the boat.  She looks like a pile of sticks.  scary.

My white Oak finally came in and i can start cutting frames.  It took almost 3 weeks to get this lumber. My only guess is that someone is making a lot of whiskey barrels  i guess it could be that its 5/4 qtr sawn minimum 6" widths.
Waiting on the gold leaf guy for the Chris Craft. Its nice to see guys are busy but man i want to get that boat finished.
leave some comments, i am interested in your thoughts.

BOATS:
I spent several hours working on reclaiming some clear cedar siding this weekend, its the going to be decking for the SUP i framed a week ago. I had to run it through the table saw 3 times and through the planer 2 times. i  have quite a bit of the material 400 hundred lineal feet. I cut it all hoping for future projects. the finished product is 3/8"x4 1/2" that should keep me set for a while. i did all the work in my garage without my dust control system running ... what a mess, even with the door open dust every where... my hockey gear looks like it was in a war torn 3rd world country.

HOT RODS:
There is a 1957 Chevy Bel Air 2 door sedan for sale on the side of the road not too far from where i live. i have driven past it for three weeks and kept thinking that it looks so cool i should stop.. i finally did today. its got no glass, no hood, no trunk lid, missing floor pans, front clip is gone and the drivers side rocker is gone the passenger side is  rusted through both inside and out, no motor or steering column, no price or phone number. how can you sell something like that? Its still very cool and here in Michigan you just dont see too many for sale. that car sells for $45000 finished, makes me wish i had the money to invest in building one. Once again i am forced to evaluate my projects and what i REALLY have time to do right now. Reality sucks.

So I took a few days off from blogging. My most loyal friend, Rex the dog, had to be put down due to illness and that was very hard emotionally,  also its varnish, varnish, and more varnish everyday seems about the same and the pictures from one cote to the next look the same.  I can only say so much about it. I can tell you that I start the process with interlux interstain and then interlux sealer and then petit high build varnish, then epifanes high gloss but isnt that what everyone uses?  I roll and tip my varnish cotes sanding between cotes with a soft 220 block or scotch brite pad and then higher grit the closer I get to the final cote. The painter will come to do the gold leaf lettering so i can have a minimum of 3 cotes of varnish over it.  It takes a long time because varnish doesn't dry very fast, and it has to be done in manageable sections keeping a wet edge.

Building boats will drive you to drinking and what better drink for a boat builder then a screwdriver.( to start anyway)

A while ago i saw an article in one of the woodworking magazines about wood surf boards.  I liked the way they had done the frames with plywood and holes cut out to reduce weight.here is a similar project.http://wavetribecompany.com/make-a-wood-grain-surfboard/ i liked the project so much that i have continued to think about it, i have some clear western red cedar and was thinking that it would make nice looking decks on a stand up paddle board built in the same way as the surf board. i am thinking that a solid nose and tail piece. but the rails or as a boat builder calls them chines for lack of surfboard lingo. solid or decked with the same material as the rest?

Long day yesterday.  I drove 730 miles to pick up an engine for the Chris Craft i am restoring. Its a modern engine PCM. Low hours, pretty much brand new. The snow made that drive take longer than it should have taken, we had about 6 in on the roads when we started out at 3:30 AM the snow got lighter as we went south but the drivers got worse. seems that they dont get that much snow in southern Ohio so they are unaccustomed to 2 inches they had on the road. All in all we made it and the motor looks great. I need to thank Jeremy at the Antique Boat Center for helping me get it loaded and for showing us around.

I want to put this in here for fun.  this is the first boat i ever built.  It was a fun project when i was building it but its hard to look at now. I have learned so much in the last 10 years, I am sure that my current clients are thankful.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af328/mcleodcarpentry/Boats/IMG00078-20100327-1513.jpg
this boat is a cedar strip canoe, i think of it more as a kayak without decks. Its great for cruising skinny water. easy to pick up and over logs or any thing that blocks the waterway.  one thing that i dont like is that without chines she is too tipsy for my taste.

Off to the Antique Boat Center in the morning to get an engine. gonna be a long day in the snow on the road.  Rummer has it that there isnt any snow in cinnci, we can only hope. I am not convinced that its cheaper to drive 12 hours to get this motor than it would be to have it shipped but... developing personal relationships in this business is valuable. I will be meeting the seller in person and you never can pass up making stronger ties.

In my humidity bubble getting ready to do battle with the fumes from sealant. I am very happy with the way the planks swelled right back where they were when i originally put them on the boat. This bubble will also double as my "dust free" area for varnishing. 

Its crunch time now for the Chris Craft.  Varnish, motor, hardware, wiring, trailer, lots of loose ends to wrap up. that's good because varnish takes a long time to dry.

on another front the Dodge is being slowly dismantled and painstakingly cataloged.  ordered lumber for the bottom framing today. she is slowly coming back together.

tape holding the broken parts together and clamps keeping it all from breaking in half. so much fun.

one other thing, i have a couple of goalie masks going right now one is a custom and the other is just custom paint. the custom paint is just a mask for me while i repaint the mask i really like to use. the white one is the custom build. I am holding a paper cut out of a maple leaf because the client is from Canada and is thinking of it as a design. i start with just fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin.

today was just one of those days when you struggle all day. i found orbital swirls in a finished deck plank and i just could not leave them.  sanded down 2 layers of sealer and stain, sanded out swirls and re-stained   then the other boat project is a pain because its so brittle literally falling apart.  i have to be very very careful i brace three parts so i can take one off.. just a long day.

This is a great page. check it out enjoy the talent.
 http://www.cammcleodphotography.com/

P.S. Cam is my brother.

I spent part of the day taking bottom planks off my next restoration project.  Its falling apart in my hands. If it wasn't such a rare boat i wouldn't be doing it. How rare? Well, one of three known to have survived.  Its a  1929 20' Dodge run about. Its slow going right now because the hull is so out of shape and rotten that i have to straighten, brace and remove parts carefully so it wont crumble into dust. 

There are some interesting things about the fasteners on this boat. The screws holding the bottom planks on are not countersunk. They are driven just below the surface. The filler that remains is soft almost waxy. It cleans out of the screw heads easily.  Much nicer then other boats i have done where getting to the screw head is only the beginning of the arduous process of removal.

follow me on twitter @Lmbrjakgoalie

Its time to stop all the messing around and get down to it.  I have made random web sites and profiles and ebay accounts and blogs all trying to market the many things that i do but i never have found a name or idea that could capture what its about. Until now. its about me and what i do and what i love doing. Its about my business ventures and my recreational pass times. Its half marketing and half insanity... its boats, goalie masks, hot rods, and any other custom project, mostly its me, its Nate and its Innate.