Restoring Reverie

: The Art of Restoring & Sailing a Classic Wooden Sailboat

Tag Archives: topsides


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What’s Done Is Done

“To come to the end of a time of anxiety and fear!  To feel the cloud that hung over us lift and disperse- the cloud that dulled the heart and made happiness no more than a memory!  This at least is one joy that must have been known by almost every living creature.”

-Richard Adams, Watership Down

 

Last night, a task was put to rest that has plagued the restoration project for some time.  Last night, as twilight fell, I wrestled the 20 x 30 ft tarp over it’s frame and  drove away knowing I was done stripping, sanding and oiling the entire topsides of the good ship, Reverie.  A November Gale was kicking into high gear on the entire Upper Great Lakes with our Lake Michigan seeing 50 mph gusts before midnight.  It had begun to spit and gust earlier in the day but I had to finish leveling and blocking the trailer before another Winter set in.  With Reverie buttoned up for the storm, level and covered, I felt like I finally had some good news to share.

The stripping, sanding and oiling of the topsides is now complete.  I started the port-side last year and finished about this time last November, thinking I would be able to get the starboard-side done in the Spring and move along.  I jumped into it last April with renewed enthusiasm and resolve to finish this most unpleasant task.  What was it about this task, this minor detail (on paper), that made me want to do anything and everything but what needed to be done?

There was, first and foremost, the mess.  Everything about the job involved a mess.  Large piles of scraped paint and toxic sawdust required constant vigilance and tidiness. In April I got about six feet working on the starboard side from the bow back.  Last Summer, we were in the grips of one of the most humid summers I can remember.  Wearing coveralls, gloves, hat, goggles and respirator was like some form of Medieval  torture .  Eventually, I  succumbed to heat exhaustion and decided to put the project on hold.

While the planning went on, the actual work on Reverie came to a quiet halt, for the summer.  Instead, we got out on the water and had some sailing days aboard our little Com-Pac 16, Prudence; 85° F with 85-90% humidity is bearable when you are 10 miles offshore.  We sailed and sailed until the weeds clogged our boat launch to the point of us almost getting stuck in invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil.  Keels and milfoil don’t mix.

Click to access Eurasian_Watermilfoil_521353_7.pdf

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Just one of the brilliant days on Lake Michigan

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Invasive plants at Port Sheldon

By the time the weed situation shut down our sailing, we made time to get a thing or two done aboard Reverie.  Julia started removing the rest of the interior cabinetry while I did various odd jobs that needed to be done sooner than later.  She eventually removed enough of the galley to expose the engine which made it easier to get it ready for removal.

I ended up getting the last of the interior out with a hammer and pry bar, preserving only what would go back on board.  A lot of the wood had experienced some effect of leaking rainwater and had to be taken out of the equation.  We put everything into storage to be used as templates, if needed. The interior is so much easier to assess with all of the cabinetry removed.

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Reverie. happy to have all the rotting wood removed

By the time all this work was done, the weather had cooled down enough for me to buck up and get back to the scraping.  On a relatively large project, such as this,  it is a good idea to stick to tasks as distractions lurk at every turn.  Look, a bird!  Checking something off the list allows the mind to be released from further thought on the subject and proceed toward the end.  There’s a lot of that to come.

The starboard topsides proved to be a bit more of a challenge than the port-sides.  It seems a good deal of Reverie’s life was spent taking the hard knocks on the starboard side.  There, I found replaced planks (More on that later…  Much more).  There were areas that had been faired with what appeared to be an epoxy-based filler.  Oh yes, someone used 5200 for caulking the plank seams. I have seen 5200 recommended, in various online forums where free advice is handed out like champagne on New Years Eve; copiously and carelessly.  Dear reader, if you are ever thinking of restoring or maintaining a wooden boat and you choose to use 5200 to caulk seams, let me tell you, Old Nick has a special task in hell for you: eternity cleaning 5200 from plank seams.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 5200 will be used in this project to great effect, later on down the road but not here.

I had to modify my heat gun/scraping technique and managed to get the brunt of it done by sharpening a flat scraper and using it much like a cabinet scraper.  This produced a better surface than the method I used on the port, side reducing sanding time significantly.  It took 60 hours to scrape, sand and oil the port topside compared to about 80 hours for the starboard.

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Starboard Topsides scraped, sanded and oiled

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Port Topsides scraped, sanded and oiled. Trailer looks spiffy with some fresh primer.

The past few days were near record highs for November with temps around 70° F.  Both sides got two coats of piping hot tung oil and turpentine.  The boat smells wonderful! Reverie looks so different without the layers of cracked, peeling paint and exposed wood.

As the air pressure began to fall and the breeze became a gale, I put a quart of primer on the trailer.  It to looks happier.  I took a 12 ton bottle jack and it all rests  on cement blocks instead of the trailer tires. After I got the trailer leveled, I got the boat leveled a bit more.   It really helped to stabilize the whole thing and get the tires off the ground.  I gave the lug nuts a good soak of penetrant and plan put the tires out of the elements for the duration of the project.  With the wheels off, the brakes will be begging for an overhaul… .

Scraping, sanding and oiling below the waterline will go much better as there won’t be scaffolding involved and the paint seems to come off easier.  We’ll see.  For now, we can move forward and I no longer have that messy job to mess up my day. Today, my aches were a little less achy.  My step, a little more peppy. There’s a little vim in my vigor.   I even had to raise the rear view mirror in the car from so much slouching.  Yes, the world was a kinder place, now that that is done.  Onward!


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Tung Oil and Turpentine

We are well into November and the weather has been good to Reverie’s restoration project.  The leaves were late to turn this year due to a warm Fall but they have now fallen  rapidly and carpet the earth in all shades of red, yellow and brown.  Still, the mild weather persists.   The birds aren’t quite so convinced of an eternal Autumn.  They know what’s about to happen and are acting accordingly.  We saw our first dark eyed junco the other day while working on Reverie; a sure sign of the change in seasons.  The shoreline of the Great Lakes is, well, a great place to watch migrating birds.  We were even  lucky enough to see 4 endangered whooping cranes the other day on a back road drive from Holland to Grand Rapids. Their size is impressive.

On a somber note, today is the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter, Edmund Fitzgerald. It vanished without a trace in a massive storm on Lake Superior and has since been found lying at the bottom of the lake broken in half by the mighty waves.  http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/the-fateful-journey-62/

102 years ago, the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 sank 19 ships with over 250 lives  lost on the open waters of these inland seas.  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/news/131107_white.html#.VkH8LdKrTwc

Today, is nothing like those days.  It is calm and mild and I’m going off to work on Reverie for a while thankful for this weather as I solemnly recall those who lost their lives on the Great Lakes.

Yesterday, we passed a waypoint in the restoration project.  After 60 hours of scraping, sanding, and the cleaning of every single fastener hole on the port topside, I was able to apply a coat of tung oil and turpentine!  This was a process that took a lot longer than expected but we are pleased with the results.  The mixture, consisting of 50% tung oil and 50% turpentine, was heated to near boiling to facilitate its penetration into the thirsty yellow pine planking.  I could see it immediately expanding some of the surface cracks that had begun in the parts of the topside that had been without paint for an undetermined amount of time.  I worked this delightful smelling mixture into all the exposed fastener holes with a 3 inch chip brush.  You could see the hot oil and turpentine being sucked into the holes. It made all the time consuming work worth it.  There are certainly faster ways to strip the hull down and sand it but I would rather spend 2 or 3 or 4 times the amount of time to get it the way I wanted it and err on the side of safety.

The frames, which are basically the ribs of the skeleton, are laid out in a pattern of one very heavy white oak frame fastened with heavy galvanized nails and then two smaller frames fastened with copper rivets.   These smaller oak frames are steam bent and still fastened tight.   We will most likely add bronze screws to the heavy frames but that’s going to require some investigation of the existing nails.  For now, I’m guessing they have run their course in usefulness.  When white oak and steel get together, oak wins.  I removed the flat-head steel screws to the engine exhaust flange that was backed up with an oak block and there was barely any thread left.  The use of quality, hot dipped galvanized fasteners is a money saver and they served well for over 60 years but we’re going with silicon bronze.  The oil filling the fastener holes is a good thing.  It  expands the wood and seals it from the oxygen needed to create rot.

 The whole port topside consumed a little less than a half gallon of the tung oil/turpentine mixture.  The tung oil is 100% pure tung oil and costs about $70 dollars a gallon.  Tung oil cannot be allowed access to oxygen as this begins the curing process.  I poured off half the gallon of pure tung oil into a half gallon cider jug leaving no room for air and will save it for a later date.  That will keep for quite some time, as is.  I expected to use more of the 50/50 mixture but was happy to have used less, seeing we’re approaching $100 a gallon for this elixir, once the cost of the turpentine is factored in.  “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”  Last night, I had to scramble around for another half gallon container to put the rest of the 50/50 mixture in and came up with an empty half gallon bottle of Scotch in our recycling bin(now how did that happen?).   It was almost spot on one half gallon with a glass vitamin bottle to spare. Now I have to find some wood that needs treating today so as not to waste those precious fluids in the vitamin bottle.  That shouldn’t be difficult.   So, dear reader, I must be off and begin the next phase of the project which is to do the same thing to the forlorn  starboard side that now looks even more desperate compared to the freshly oiled port-side.  I will leave you with some pics of the progress.

Best Regards,

Roger

60 hours of scraping, sanding and oiling. Done!

60 hours of scraping, sanding and oiling. Done!

Reverie's lovely overhang. The one small plank is a former repair made of dissimilar wood and will most likely be replaced.

Reverie’s lovely overhang. The one small plank is a former repair made of dissimilar wood and will most likely be replaced.

Starboard topside looking forlorn and in need of help.

Starboard topside looking forlorn and in need of help.

Yikes!

Yikes!


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Time Is of the Essence

 

 

October is upon us and the race against the elements rages on.  My fit of optimism that predicted the scraping, sanding and oiling of the topsides was, of course just that: optimism.  In my dream world, it was going to take 20-25 hours per side to finish this project.  Now, my optimistic estimate is for each side to be completed in 50 hours per side.  Yes, it’s boat work and that’s how it goes.  The real time consumer has been cleaning out all the fastener holes.  They are filled with hardened putty and require a bit of concentrated heat to soften up then carefully dig out.   I want to get each one as clean as possible to facilitate the penetration of the 50/50 mixture of 100% pure tung oil and turpentine.  Any place there is exposed end grain needs to be soaked in this formula.  This mixture gets heated to near boiling and soaks into the wood quite well.

There are many hundreds of fastener holes and, depending on each ones depth, take a minute or so apiece to clean. The strength of a wooden boat lies in redundancy.  Many small fasteners and components are put together to effect the strength required to withstand the stresses incurred in a seaway.  The stress gets distributed across the greatest area possible and, voila,  you have a sturdy wooden boat.  You also have hundreds of fasteners that demand attention.  It only takes the failure of a few in a series to set off a chain reaction that could lead to catastrophe.

During this phase of paint scraping, I also had to determine the best way to preserve the waterline.  The waterline was already there so, to lose it then have to set up the procedure to draw a new waterline seemed to be the kind of redundancy we should like to avoid. Preserving the existing waterline is one of the reasons I chose to do the topsides first and address the hull below the waterline as a separate project; that, and the fact that the bottom paint has no bare spots and, therefore, is still protecting the wood.  It’s those bare spots on the topsides that initiated this phase of the restoration.

The waterline runs from the bow in a 3 inch strip and expands to 4 inches over the last few feet near the stern.  Easy enough.  I can mark where that begins and add that taper.  I was going to tape along the bottom of the waterline and work from that but the blue painters tape that was already there wasn’t holding up to the heat gun.  I chose to sharpen the scraper to a knife edge and work along the boot top (waterline)/bottom seam in an upward fashion so as to preserve the waterline.   You can see in the photo, where I have the waterline removed, that it worked well and there will be an accurate line to follow when it’s time to paint the new waterline.

As the sanding progresses, the hull is revealing itself in a very positive way.  It is nice to see the yellow pine exposed for the first time in over 60 years looking as if it had just been fastened.  It has withstood the test of time admirably and is a testament to it’s efficacy as a planking material.  I have a shop vac rigged up to the discharge of the sander and it is working quite well at keeping the dust down.  With this system, it is virtually dust free.  I’m still wearing a dust mask and ear protection but it is much more comfortable than the dreaded respirator.

We took a break from the topside project to begin construction of a better tarp frame.    With Winter coming on, the frame needed a steep pitch to deflect the incessant lake effect snows that dump on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The frame will be reinforced with more rafters as the season progresses but, for now,  it’s enough to withstand the wind and rain. We had a makeshift setup last Winter and had quite a time getting the snow and ice dams off the deck.  This new structure will also serve as a beam to lift the cabin off the boat.  Julia is working on getting all the fasteners out of the cabin and cockpit (a whole lot of work in one small sentence).   Then, we will lift the cabin top off with a block & tackle and get it off the deck in order to have better access to the deck beam and carline repairs.  It will also make it easier to strip the inside of the coach roof and cabin sides as it can then be flipped upside down rather than us being showered by scraped varnish.

There is a bit of momentum and the only unknown factor is the weather.  If it all doesn’t get done before the snow flies, that’s the way it goes.  In the mean time, onward we plunge; led by an optimism that suggests a certain naivety while providing impetus to move along with this tedious, dirty job of stripping, sanding and oiling the topsides.

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The Elephant in the Room

As the last week of August fades to memory, it’s time to reflect on what’s been done and plan for the cooler months ahead.  For many people, summer ends at Labor Day; the tug of the academic calendar is just too much for folks raised to abide by the “back to school” mentality.  They may not be in school or have children in school but the hand is writing on the wall.  We are bombarded by yet another consumer milestone.  “Buy, buy, buy”, the ads say.  When I’m out shopping, I feel like maybe I should pick up a fresh pack of crayons or maybe some paste.

Here in West Michigan, we see the last of the tourists “recreating profusely”; they’re squeezing that last bit of juice from the lemon before it’s time to get the kids off to school.  Then, it’s a little easier to breathe around here.  We don’t have to fight the crowds to get around and no longer have to plan our sailing time during the week.  It was so hot and humid for the first part of August, there was not much going on in the way of boat work.  I’m not partial to heat indexes in the lower 100’s and the fact that I’m using a heat gun only reinforces my prejudices.

Late July and some of August saw us dutifully removing the rest of the covering board and begin the process of removing the deck from Reverie.

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That went as well as it could and we are now able to see the extent of the rot to the port-side deck beams.  There weren’t really many surprises as I was expecting to find more rot than was visible from the interior.  After all, that is one of the main reasons we are completely removing the deck.   We got 3 rows of the tongue and groove decking off yet, something wasn’t quite right.  There was an elephant in the room and it wasn’t going away.

The warm weather did slow us down but it was the impending cold weather that made the elephant more apparent.  While focusing on the deck and executing the plan to remove it, time was ticking away.  After seeing what would need to be done with the deck beams, the seemingly innocuous topsides began to call out for help.  The paint was crazed and peeling.  There were bare spots from an attempt, made by the previous owner, to sand them.  I’m not sure how long ago the attempted sanding took place but the sections of exposed bare wood was showing signs of weathering that could lead to wholesale splitting of the lovely,  longleaf yellow pine that planks our fair vessel.  It was time to feed the elephant.

Completely stripping the multiple layers of topside paint was the only course of action seeing how the paint had split and cracked where it hadn’t already been sanded.  Reverie has been out of the water for years and the planking is a lot drier than a wooden boat’s should be.  Dry planks can stress the fasteners and shrink the dimensions enough to cause problems when it comes time to recaulk the seams.  If the seams are caulked when it’s dry, the expansion can cause undue stress and actually cause the fasteners to pull out.  Not good.

It’s going to take about 30 hours per side to strip the paint and a good 20 to do the sanding and oiling.  After the oil dries, the initial coat of primer goes on and Reverie will be much happier.  So, Julia gets about 100 hours of work time off while I    take one for the team since there’s no reason we should both be exposed to this mess.  She hasn’t stopped work altogether; she’s working on removing the multitude of bungs (wooden plugs that cover screw holes) from the cockpit coaming when I’m not making too much of a mess.

Wearing a respirator for 80 hours is not something I’m enjoying but it has to be done. I have the heat gun set just hot enough to lift the paint but not hot enough to burn it.  I’ve done some research on the release of lead and other toxic substances and am working at a lower temperature to avoid as much exposure to lead as I can.  I watched a video on youtube of this guy using a heat shrink gun and literally burning the paint off the topsides.  He said he can get a whole boat stripped in one day.  He wasn’t wearing a respirator.  I think I’ll err on the side of caution.

See you when it’s done.

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