James' boat

[paddlesteamerman1]

I suppose from what you can see it would be very hard to tell, and I dont THINK that you can answer this without seeing it in person, but I will ask anyway,
If the planks are gapping and cracking, should some filler of some sort fix that, because the wood is still as solid as anything, and we purchased a few hundred copper boat nails if needed!!!
So for a boat this age, its condition is average? Not to bad and not to good! That is fine for me!!!!

[anth]

Sikaflex will be no help to you as these gaps are to big.
you will need a fibreglass resin and a fillet powder added to it to fill those gaps much more stable and stronger.
I am talking about fibreglass for boats not fibreglass body filler! :wink:

[thewharfonline]

She's definately a beautiful boat James...good purchase!

Don't forget though you can add up to 12 images per post can get a bit confusing otherwise, especially for email users who will get each post sent to them as an email.

Restoration will be fun, different challenges to what I've been experiencing so that will be fun for you to work out the problems that arrise from a different kind of boat.

She'll look nice and trim when she's floated again!

[paddlesteamerman1]

So Sikaflex is out of the question, I will need to use the fiberglass resin for this one,
I am buying an ozzy book of wooden boat restoration, hopefully that will help a little bit too!!
Yes, I am really looking forward to starting work on the Sarah-Jane, and with the posting images, my computer is stupid and tempremental and we are on a very slow internet connection, and I think that the most  pics I have put on a single post took me nearly 30min to download and froze the entire computer, sorry about that!! Just technology!!
I will be keeping everyone updated reguarly on the SJ, and I will be starting next weekend, Stripping paint off, but before that I will be building a block set up to raise her to eye level, makes it easier to work with!
If I strip a the paint with a heat gun, will that cause any damage to wood? The wood on the Sarah Jane is very dry already, it hasnt been in water, for what looks like, a very very long time.
And then it is hours upon hours of sanding!!

[paddlesteamerman1]

Any way the heatgun is out of action, it is to dangerous to use during a long hot dry summer on a wooden boat, and Dad wont allow it because it could cause a fire. I will have to get the good old paint stripper and a chisel out to get the remaining paint of the hull.. It shouldnt take me ages because there is not a massive amount left on the hull.
Also I need to find out what type of wood was used in the original construction. Does anyone know how I can do that, or do I have to sample it??
A few of the ribs need replacing and we need some new ones, I might have to make a trip to Duck Flat Wooden Boats in SA for this one. Unless there are some secrets out there for making prefect wooden braces for the boat..

[paddlesteamerman1]

Well I started work on SJ today   I started the paint stripping, and it is going to take a verrrrrrrrrrrry long time without a heatgun  :rant  (too dangerous at the minute).. I bought 3 different types of paint stripping chisel things, quite nifty    too (one of them has a curvey side and a point on the end so you can get into those little areas).. and a tin of paint stripper. I have my work area all set out now, with a makeshift bench until I get around to whipping one up from some spare materials at the workshop!!
I stripped the inside end of the stern and a little on the outside...
I also cleared out some of the wood on the inside, and I found that there were two ready made seats for it, oar holders and some more original wood...
Also I had a look at the outboard motor from 1969 and it wont be much use for me, so I am probably going to sell it...
Anyway, more hard work to get on with now    just sitting down for a quick  

I will post a couple of close up photos later tonight as well to show you some of the wood that I uncovered, looks good!!

[paddlesteamerman1]

Well, it got a little bit hot outside, so here are some of the photos I took about 10 minutes ago (the mercury peaked around 37C in Ararat today, I mean last week it was snowing now this :/ )
You can see the orange/pink primer under the paint, and in one you can see the wood!!!
Also one of the bits and pieces that came with her!

[paddlesteamerman1]

I have been scraping paint off for what seems forever  :hmph !!
Does anyone know of a quicker way to get rid of that pesky  :rant  paint without using a heatgun  :boom ?
Hopefully there is a smart cookie out there who knows or a good way or two  
I will persist with the paint stripper and scraper if I have to  

[paddlesteamerman1]

Well today work continued on the SJ as normal, stripping paint!! And I noticed a few more cracks in the hull, below waterline. Also (is it the keel that stick out from the underside in the centre I have forgotten!!??) is cracked where it joins onto the acutal boat right where it starts to curve underneath from the bow.. Any advice is appreciated.
Also I am going to look for the fibreglass resin and fillet powder that Anth suggested that I use for the rather large cracks appearing in the hull...
Soon I am going to turn the hull upside down on a couple of A-frame work tops and inspect the hull closely, I will post a few photos of this.
And does anyone know of a quicker way of stripping paint without a heatgun???
This manual way is going to take forever because the paint is more stubborn than I thought it would've been.
I am off to Portland on Friday (pupil free day at school) to see if I can find out a bit more about the history of the boat (because it was the harbour masters there) and see if they have an accurate colour scheme and if there is anything missing from the boat etc...
I will let everyone know if I find anything interesting..
For now it is still the paint stripping, long way to go!!

[Roderick Smith]

James,
I assume that you have seen Australian Wooden Boatbuilder magazine?
It will have a range of leads, and lots of suggestions.  Really you should try to buy several years of back issues.  I have a photocopy of an article on Bolger Tennessee riverboats, and the whole issue which wrote up Black Shag (an aluminium paddleboat).

I got my piano cheaply because an owner had painted it nipple pink.  I had no trouble removing the paint with chemical stripper, but it wasn't as thick (or as many coats) as your marine paint.  It took a lot of blasting with a heat gun to remove the old name stickers from my boat when I was renaming it to Jessie II.  I notice that the tradesmen restoring the old doors during my house renovation used heat guns.  Perhaps it will be quicker waiting for the weather to to break, making use of the heat gun safe?

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[paddlesteamerman1]

Yes, see I was thinking that I should maybe wait for the weather to cool down (hopefully if it ever does again!!) and then strip it quick smart with a heat gun.. But I think if I took proper precautions I could use one safely now, just have a good couple of buckets of water on site and wet the surrounding ground (or use one of the new fire proof tarps)..
I will have a good look around for the Australian Wooden Boatbuiler mag, and see if I can find a nice early issue..
Thanks Roderick!!

[thewharfonline]

Just remember to take breaks so that the heatgun doesn't overheat. I found it tended to smell after a period of time and I decided that when it was getting really pungent that it was time to take a break for about 5 minutes to cool her down.

Heatguns work very well, you wait for the paint to bubble and then it lifts right off! Amazing work! I found before I had the gun that grinding my scrapers down to create a nice edge (coz I was using dodgy ones that were old and needed sharpening) made the ends hot and more paint come off...however it cooled very quickly.

I don't think a heat gun would really set fire to a boat...but I might be wrong!

[Roderick Smith]

Oops,
I misremembered the name before.
AAB is affiliated with wooden clubs, but the word isn't in the title.
www.boatbuilder.com.au
Lots of other interesing things emerged when I googles on Australian Wooden Boatbuilder, but all can do their own googling.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[paddlesteamerman1]

So it is not like the heatgun will set fire to the boat and shed and etc... causing a little bit if mischeif...

I will give it a go, anything has to be quicker than the paint stripper and scraper duo..

The inside of the boat now that I have cleared it all out, acutally looks quite good, I now notice the shape of the boat more, and I think it looks quite nice!!

Just need to get the paint off!!

And Roderick, I checked out the site you found, and I think that the magazine looks really helpful, and full of good ideas, but our newsagents in good old Ararat barely stock the latest trade-a-boat, I think I might have to subscribe!!

Thanks for the googling though!!

[paddlesteamerman1]

Now getting back to the boat itself...
When I have stripped the paint off, this might be a little far ahead but Dad suggested it anyway, and repaint it, is there special Marine Paint I need to use or just normal ordinary house paint??
And where can I get my hands of fibreglass resin and fillet powder? Just a Bunnings or hardware store stock it??
I would just have a quick look around instead of posting a seemingly simple question, but I live an hour away from the nearest good hardware store!!