I'm about to start restoring a 1964 34' Chris Craft Constellation. I'm going
to start with the hull, which looks to be in pretty decent shape, but I want
to refasten and recaulk at least below the waterline. I've read Jim
Trefethen's book, and he suggests pulling the fastener, injecting 3m 5200
into the whole, and replacing with a slightly larger silicon brass screw
(one or two sizes up). He also suggests fastening the new bungs into place
with carpenter's glue and letting the paint seal them. Nowhere does he use
epoxy, in order to keep the hull flexible.He suggests recaulking the
traditional way, with cotton.
The Gougeon brothers suggest a totally different approach, where they call
for the existing caulking to be removed with a skillsaw, and then putting
thin wood splines that are edge-bonded with epoxy put into the gap, turning
the hull into one solid structure.
Needless to say, I'm confused, I only want to do this once, and I don't want
to screw it up. Any advice is apprecreciated.

"James Bullbrook" wrote in message m...
I'm about to start restoring a 1964 34' Chris Craft Constellation. I'm going
to start with the hull, which looks to be in pretty decent shape, but I want
to refasten and recaulk at least below the waterline. I've read Jim
Trefethen's book, and he suggests pulling the fastener, injecting 3m 5200
into the whole, and replacing with a slightly larger silicon brass screw
(one or two sizes up). He also suggests fastening the new bungs into place
with carpenter's glue and letting the paint seal them. Nowhere does he use
epoxy, in order to keep the hull flexible.He suggests recaulking the
traditional way, with cotton.
The Gougeon brothers suggest a totally different approach, where they call
for the existing caulking to be removed with a skillsaw, and then putting
thin wood splines that are edge-bonded with epoxy put into the gap, turning
the hull into one solid structure.
Needless to say, I'm confused, I only want to do this once, and I don't want
to screw it up. Any advice is apprecreciated.

Well I don't know the answer, but in a usual fashion I will get
sarcastic. Gougeon Bros are telling you to do a hell of a lot of work
there to use Epoxy that they happen to sell. Does Jim Trefethen sell
5200? The GB way just does not sound right, remove material to replace
with same material? Run a saw down all the seams, even the good ones?
Caulk a strake boat with epoxy instead of cotton? To me it just does
not pass the smell test, but then again, wadoino?
Scotty

James,
I would respond in a different manner than many.

Mead and Jan (the brothers Gougeon) like boats. They like to sail and
enjoy them. They build them so thay can get what they want. They do
not enjoy maintenance, so they set up materials and systems so you only
have to do it once.

I tend to value traditional approches in many cases because these are
tried and true methods. In any case that I have use the approach
outline (actually followed the instructions) in one of the the West
books, I have never been disapointed in the results.

It may be more work than I had in mind, but I like only having to do
that job once.

Matt Colie



James Bullbrook wrote:
I'm about to start restoring a 1964 34' Chris Craft Constellation. I'm going
to start with the hull, which looks to be in pretty decent shape, but I want
to refasten and recaulk at least below the waterline. I've read Jim
Trefethen's book, and he suggests pulling the fastener, injecting 3m 5200
into the whole, and replacing with a slightly larger silicon brass screw
(one or two sizes up). He also suggests fastening the new bungs into place
with carpenter's glue and letting the paint seal them. Nowhere does he use
epoxy, in order to keep the hull flexible.He suggests recaulking the
traditional way, with cotton.
The Gougeon brothers suggest a totally different approach, where they call
for the existing caulking to be removed with a skillsaw, and then putting
thin wood splines that are edge-bonded with epoxy put into the gap, turning
the hull into one solid structure.
Needless to say, I'm confused, I only want to do this once, and I don't want
to screw it up. Any advice is apprecreciated.

Rebuilding a hull is a great humungous amount or work. Much of it
doesn't make sense unless you ensure that the stuff under _that_ is
sound and good. Thus a really good surveyor who loves wooden boats and
knows that particular type of boat is worth the investment.

Traditional methods can allow some things to be done piece meal, but I
don't think 5200 in the screw holes qualifies as traditional. Once those
screws are in there, that's it for that wood - the next time repairs are
needed, you'll have to start off with a sawzall and a crowbar because
those fasteners are NOT coming out. But maybe that's all to the good.

Most yards don't do traditional wooden boat work well - it's just not
economicly workable. And it may not be feasible for you. Boats have life
cycles, just like other things. A really good surveyor can explain what
you can expect from a wooden boat and locate yours on that cycle. Then
you have the info to figure out what strategy actually makes sense
between you and your boat. For example, it may be that shooting it full
of chemicals and figuring a good 5-7 years use is the best approach.
OTOH, if the interior is a museum piece of cherrywood and holly and teak
with amazing brass fixture and what-not, then maybe it makes sense to
build another hull under it (if it comes to that).

A friend of mine recently pretty much gave away a beautiful old woody
made largely from the decks of a WWII battleship and incorporating some
of the fittings from the warship. It was nail sick and the deck and
cabin leaked bad. He couldn't deal with it, but fortunately it went to
some boatbuilders in the northwest who saw in it something unique and
valuable enough to invest a few years into.

It's potentially a long term commitment in many different ways and how
it goes really depends on all the details of the boat - so it makes
sense to concentrate on getting the complete in depth picture and
verifying a strategy before trying to formulate tactics. The info and
help and interest is out there, but it will take time to pull it all
together.

Rufus