RLWelch
New Member
Hello, so we have our first boat... a 1960's "Fiskari" (Fisherman's) motor boat and need some advice and expertise on repairs and restoration. I am a musical instrument repairer by trade so feel my woodworking skills will be adaquate for the more simple repairs.
Built in the Hamina region on the finnish baltic coast, 7.8m (26ft) carvel planked double ender, pine on oak frames, with mahogany and oregon pine decking. Cabin and wheelhouse top are ply and possibly fibreglass, with mahogany sides/coaming. Oak or ash rubrails. 33hp Vetus/Mitsubishi marine diesel with fresh water cooling.
She's been up on the lakes for the last 20 years or so and now we have got her back down to the coast. For the last 3 years at least she has been completely neglected, (possibly longer has the log stops in 1998) except for a free hand with the sikaflex, but has been on the water every season.
Photos of all the problems I have found so far can be seen here.... AMELLA
We want to get her on the water this season as it's the only way to get to know what we are really dealing with. This winter we can put her indoors and take care of any serious problems.
The planking on the whole seems sound and tight but badly discolored. The frames alternate between quite heavy and light, and I have found one of the lighter frames cracked through above the boot top. (the plank behind the break seems a bit swollen and the end is a little proud of the hull) Another frame is split about half way through it's thickness at the bilge end of the frame. (the lighter frames do not actually meet the kelson) I was thinking of just refastening the split frame and sistering the broken one for now.
Have found one serious piece of rot on the sternpost?? stem?? (sorry, not really up on the terminology) An area of about 6 inches of black powdery wood. The stem seems to be made up of three separate parts and the rot is on the outer part of the uppermost piece. The adjacent wood is sound. (on the surface anyway) I was wondering if it would be advisable to just stabilise the rot with epoxy until we can her get indoors and graft on a new section? Or do you think I should cut away the rot and graft a new piece in before going on the water, to prevent any further deterioration?? I have no idea what this will entail. The top 4 or five planks which are fixed to this section seemt to be tight and well fastend.
The other major concern is the deadwood, which seems a little soft. I scraped off the soft surface fibres back down to hard wood. Not sure if that was the right thing to do?? Don't know what to do about it?
The wood around the stern tube seems OK but there has been some metal reinforcing straps that look as if they are not part of the original set up. (now I am lost for names...) The propshaft bearing? is bolted to/through a metal housing that covers the wood that contains the stern tube... wonder if that is original too... I fear it is some kind of addition also.
Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. My budget is at a minimum but I am willing to invest the time and money to get everything back into order eventually...
My first thought is to soak the inside of the planking with some kind of penertrating oil, scrape the paint off the bottom, (it is painted with Ferrex metal primer, with as far as I know is completely porous??) A quick scrape of all the not so brightwork, get rid of the sikaflex, then a liberal application of oil all over, some antifouling and a good coating of Le Tonkinois. As there is so much staining on the hull we may paint it anyway, when we get everything up to scratch.
All and any ideas would really help...
Thanks... rod.
Built in the Hamina region on the finnish baltic coast, 7.8m (26ft) carvel planked double ender, pine on oak frames, with mahogany and oregon pine decking. Cabin and wheelhouse top are ply and possibly fibreglass, with mahogany sides/coaming. Oak or ash rubrails. 33hp Vetus/Mitsubishi marine diesel with fresh water cooling.
She's been up on the lakes for the last 20 years or so and now we have got her back down to the coast. For the last 3 years at least she has been completely neglected, (possibly longer has the log stops in 1998) except for a free hand with the sikaflex, but has been on the water every season.
Photos of all the problems I have found so far can be seen here.... AMELLA
We want to get her on the water this season as it's the only way to get to know what we are really dealing with. This winter we can put her indoors and take care of any serious problems.
The planking on the whole seems sound and tight but badly discolored. The frames alternate between quite heavy and light, and I have found one of the lighter frames cracked through above the boot top. (the plank behind the break seems a bit swollen and the end is a little proud of the hull) Another frame is split about half way through it's thickness at the bilge end of the frame. (the lighter frames do not actually meet the kelson) I was thinking of just refastening the split frame and sistering the broken one for now.
Have found one serious piece of rot on the sternpost?? stem?? (sorry, not really up on the terminology) An area of about 6 inches of black powdery wood. The stem seems to be made up of three separate parts and the rot is on the outer part of the uppermost piece. The adjacent wood is sound. (on the surface anyway) I was wondering if it would be advisable to just stabilise the rot with epoxy until we can her get indoors and graft on a new section? Or do you think I should cut away the rot and graft a new piece in before going on the water, to prevent any further deterioration?? I have no idea what this will entail. The top 4 or five planks which are fixed to this section seemt to be tight and well fastend.
The other major concern is the deadwood, which seems a little soft. I scraped off the soft surface fibres back down to hard wood. Not sure if that was the right thing to do?? Don't know what to do about it?
The wood around the stern tube seems OK but there has been some metal reinforcing straps that look as if they are not part of the original set up. (now I am lost for names...) The propshaft bearing? is bolted to/through a metal housing that covers the wood that contains the stern tube... wonder if that is original too... I fear it is some kind of addition also.
Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. My budget is at a minimum but I am willing to invest the time and money to get everything back into order eventually...
My first thought is to soak the inside of the planking with some kind of penertrating oil, scrape the paint off the bottom, (it is painted with Ferrex metal primer, with as far as I know is completely porous??) A quick scrape of all the not so brightwork, get rid of the sikaflex, then a liberal application of oil all over, some antifouling and a good coating of Le Tonkinois. As there is so much staining on the hull we may paint it anyway, when we get everything up to scratch.
All and any ideas would really help...
Thanks... rod.
