1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

[sschefer]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

@Andrew, the research that I've done say's the boat I found is a 1959 Whitehouse. I started a resto thread on it if your interested. I was excited when I saw the HIN being with CFZ, I was sure that was going to translate to Chris Craft but as it ends up it's California Homebuilt. I'm not sure why that was done because the boats current reg is for Nevada,

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=521228&p=3522233#post3522233

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

You folks are having way to much fun. I made it home last weekend and didn't get to spend a second on the boat. To busy with the impossible task of making the wife happy. I started talking about the boat and her response was "NOT THE BOAT AGAIN" I'm going to have my work cut out for me when I get home permanently.
Oh well, I get back on it sooner or later.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Hey Bob, I think your wife and mine must be sisters. Those are the exact words I hear every weekend!!!

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I used to get that response a lot more often, but once I got one of the boats in the water- My wife saw why I go through all this work... We have a LOT of fun using the boat! Now, I still can't quite get her to understand why I NEED three boats.. Or four- Or better yet FIVE... But, I'm working on that!

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I did some work on the stringers today, starting to remove the fiberglass from them. I'm probably about 1/3 of the way done.

Things are MUCH better than I had expected- The stringers are, for the most part, VERY solid. There is only a tiny bit of rot, only where a screw or nail penetrated the fiberglass. I'll be able to fix most of it by drilling it out, and epoxying in a wood plug. They are also a lot drier that I had expected- There is almost NO moisture in them. I was expecting the worst, and have been pleasantly surprised!

This will make the whole project a LOT easier...

I have to say that I absolutely love that oscillating tool for this kind of work. It makes a quick, clean cut right near the hull, without any 'collateral damage'. It also gets in to some tight spots. This job would have been a lot more difficult without it- Don't even THINK of trying to restore a boat without one. They're only about $20 or so on sale!

-Andrew

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Congrats on the good luck with the stringers.
I never really thought that oscillating tool would ever work that well, but after seeing everyone on here having such good luck with them I may need to rethink that. It seems like the dust would not fly around as much with it.
I only have two in the yard. lol
Congrats again

Bob

Ps. Would you like your sister in law to come visit for a weekend. LOL

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I never really thought that oscillating tool would ever work that well

I had my doubts until I bought it! I was skeptical, too- But the first time I used it I wondered how I ever worked without one!

They actually to a fairy good job on metal cutting- It saved me a LOT of trouble with some rusty bolts on the steering bezel...

Get some spare blades, too- a nice, sharp blade makes things go so much better.

-Andrew

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I cut all the glass off the stringers-

There were a couple of spots farther aft that I'm going to need to replace, indicated by the arrows. Th e one on the right has a few bad spots in it, so I'll probably replace the after 2/3 or so of the stringer, rather than mess with multiple patches. Elsewhere, I'll drill out the rot from around the screw/nail holes, and plug them.

I also found some GREAT wood- 2" timbers from an old building that was torn down. It is 110 year old southern yellow pine, excellent stuff. Most people don't associate pine with boats- but this old yellow pine is certainly not the 'pine' that you find in lumberyards these days- It is STRONG, rot resistant stuff.

What I'll do is cut out any bad sections in the existing stringers, and then cut replacement wood for them. Using scarf joints, I'll epoxy them in place. It'll be as strong as ever.

-Andrew

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

glad you're making progress. great find on the southern yellow pine. it should work fine. it's about as rot proof as you can get and hard as steel. I've seen it dull circular saw blades before and good luck trying to drive a nail into it, unless you're Thor and have Mjolnir by your side. looks like you've turned the corner and are at the "adding to", rather than "subtracting from", stage. congrats!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

As you probably know, Southern Yellow pine was and is still used in the Wooden boat building arena. The SAP of the wood makes it very rot resistant. Covered in resin and Glass it will be there for your Kids, kids. I use it to build outdoor patio furniture, slap the rusoleuem oil paint on it and it lasts for decades.

 

[Big Island Lifer]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I cut all the glass off the stringers-

There were a couple of spots farther aft that I'm going to need to replace, indicated by the arrows. Th e one on the right has a few bad spots in it, so I'll probably replace the after 2/3 or so of the stringer, rather than mess with multiple patches. Elsewhere, I'll drill out the rot from around the screw/nail holes, and plug them.

I also found some GREAT wood- 2" timbers from an old building that was torn down. It is 110 year old southern yellow pine, excellent stuff. Most people don't associate pine with boats- but this old yellow pine is certainly not the 'pine' that you find in lumberyards these days- It is STRONG, rot resistant stuff.

What I'll do is cut out any bad sections in the existing stringers, and then cut replacement wood for them. Using scarf joints, I'll epoxy them in place. It'll be as strong as ever.

-Andrew

That is a beautiful pic pf the hull. I love the bow flare. Have you thought about drastically changing the boat (center console)? or are you going to restore to original design?

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

That is a beautiful pic pf the hull. I love the bow flare. Have you thought about drastically changing the boat (center console)? or are you going to restore to original design?

I am going to pretend I didn't read this

This is going to be a 100% correct restoration- With matching year motor & trailer. To do anything else with this boat would be CRIMINAL...

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I did some pressure washing inside the hull today. The bilge area was FILTHY, and there was some old 'zolatone' on the hull as well... My pressure washer has a tip that makes pretty quick work of it-

This is how it looked before-

And, after-

Brings it right down to bare glass in most places.

After her bath, I wheeled her inside to dry. It's MUCH cleaner now- and most of the paint is off the inside of the hull now.

For those interested, this is how I move the boat in and out-

It allows me to easily move the hull around, without help... I can move it out of the workshop to work on it outside, and then wheel it back in for the night. Comes in really handy!

-Andrew

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Andgott,
That is really a pretty slick setup, I may find the need to copy it.
Great work
Bob

 

[bbodin]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I just love this boat! It has am awesome look to it. Once I get done restoring my HydroSport I will have to try and find me one to restore as well. It may be tough to find one here in Bama. Most of the ones that I've seen are way up North.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Looks like you are making great progress! I would have bet the stringers would be mush by now, glad to hear they are fairly solid!

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Andgott,
That is really a pretty slick setup, I may find the need to copy it.

Yeah, it works really well... As you can see, I use a couple of moving dollies under the thing when it's in the shop, and I can roll it around as needed by hand. When I need to go 'offroad', I grab the trailer dolly.

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I just love this boat! It has am awesome look to it. Once I get done restoring my HydroSport I will have to try and find me one to restore as well. It may be tough to find one here in Bama. Most of the ones that I've seen are way up North.

Thanks- Yeah, it is a cool boat for sure. I wanted one for a while, But never thought I'd find one. Then, One day, I was driving home and saw one sitting by the road only a few miles from my house! That was down here in Southern Tennessee, So there are SOME down this way!

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

Looks like you are making great progress! I would have bet the stringers would be mush by now, glad to hear they are fairly solid!

I was a little surprised at the condition as well. The only rot was in areas that were penetrated by a nail or screw. Whatever wood they used was some GOOD stuff- And the stuff I picked up last night to replace it with is just as good or better!

-Andrew

 

[andgott]

Re: 1959 Lake N' Sea Restoration

I picked up the wood for the stringers last night. It is 110 year old heart pine- Salvaged from an old building that was being gutted and renovated.

Pine is a great wood for stringers- Or any boat use, really- as long as it's the RIGHT pine. This is southern yellow pine- Not something that you can usually go to the local lumberyard and pick up. It's also dry- Since it's been the rafters of a building for more than a century.

The dimensions are also great- It is a full 2" thick AFTER I planed and prepped it... None of the sissy 1 1/2" stuff passed as 2" today

Getting it ready to use on a boat does take some effort, though. It looked like this-

There were quite a few nails in it that had to be removed.... That took a LONG time- They had been there for a while, after all. Then I surface planed it until it was smooth on all sides. This also took a while- The smaller of the two beams I was working with was 9" x 11 feet, and the larger was 10" x 14', and VERY heavy. When I started, they were about 2 1/4" thick, but were rough sawn. Using my surface planer, I took them down to 2", about 1/32" at a time so I didn't overload anything... This is some TOUGH wood.

Once I was done-

This is some of the most incredible wood I've ever worked with. It is not easy to deal with, though- I have decent tools, and it really pushes the limits with them. But- It is incredibly rot resistant, and will last forever...

One other interesting side note- This adds an interesting little 'dimension' to the whole restoration project. Reusing old materials like this brings a bit of 'history' to things. When I was chatting with the owner of the building, he told me that it used to be one of the best brothels and strip clubs in town! Now, It's in my boat

-Andrew