Thursday
After lightly sanding the initial epoxy work and cleaning up, I continued with a round of fairing filler (epoxy) to clean up some of the areas and to smooth the transition between the now-secure old fiberglass and the surrounding hull. I planned to retab (or, more specifically, tab over) this seam once all the prep work was complete.
Total time on this job today: 1.5 hours
Tuesday
After final preparations and cleanup, I used a mixture of thickened epoxy to begin some of the minor repairs needed, including filling some of the dry-rotted areas of transom and “sole” inside the boat, and regluing the loose existing fiberglass on the port side of the hull (and a smaller area to starboard). As needed, I used temporary screws (covered with tape to avoid epoxy getting in the screw heads) to secure the tabbing to the hull while the epoxy cured.
Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours
Thursday
Once I received a replacement pad for my sander, I could turn to the exterior of the hull and sand/prep this area for the work ahead. I concentrated on the areas requiring fiberglass work, but went over the entire surface as needed to remove loose paint and otherwise prepare the surface for new work.
Total time billed on this job today: 1.5 hours
Wednesday
To begin the surface preparations, I used a putty knife to scrape away any loose paint and fiberglass sheathing from various areas, especially the transom (which had been fully sheathed on the outer side) and portions of the lower hull on each side. I had to stop short of what I might do in other circumstances–i.e. additional. more complete surface prep–because frankly, the boat simply wasn’t worth that amount of effort given its entry price, existing condition, and my intended use. I kept repeating the mantra: workboat finish, workboat finish. This is not to excuse poor work, but simply the practical understanding that this old boat was basic in nature, old and well-used, and my time didn’t need to be spent on spit and polish–and indeed, any such attempts would be wasteful. That said, I wanted the boat to be sound, and to look decent when complete, but in the end if I wanted it to be more of a showpiece, I’d be better off simply building new. But for now, I just wanted to bring this particular boat back and up to a usable and acceptable standard.
With the scraping complete, I began to sand the inside of the boat to remove loose paint and clean up any areas as needed to prepare for new finish and repairs. Before long, though, the pad on my sander disintegrated, forcing me to use a less-aggressive sander that I had on hand to continue the work. No replacement pads were available locally, so I had to order what I needed before I could continue using my favorite and most effective sander. As a result, I worked only on the interior for now, as I knew I wanted/needed the better sander for the hull and to prepare the damaged fiberglass areas for repair.
With the interior sanding complete–this was where I really had to start saying “good enough” for my prepwork–I turned to the first of the repairs I had in mind: refastening the plywood hull panels to the interior frames. There were four double-thick plywood frames on each side, plus a single thickness of plywood for the forwardmost frame on each side. The hull had pulled away from the frames, and I planned to install new screws from outside to pull the hull back in tightly.
At each of the eight frame locations (I didn’t need to fasten to the forwardmost pair of frames, as these areas were tight as is), I drilled pilot holes and counterbores for #10 x 2″ galvanized screws, which I installed and used to pull the hull sheathing back tightly to the frames. I used three to five screws at each frame location as required. Please refer to some of the original-condition photos to see the gaps between the frames and hull in their original condition.
Total time on this job today: 3.5 hours
Monday
Now that the hatch frame was secured in place, I cleaned up and lightly sanded the area as needed to remove any excess epoxy and otherwise prepare the surfaces for the next steps.
Afterwards, I applied a cosmetic epoxy fillet to the transition between the frame and the deck. I kept the fillet radius small because the frame itself was nearly flush with the deck amidships, at the height of the crown, and there was no need for a large fillet in any event. The fillet roughly matched the contour of the top edge of the frame, which I’d eased during construction.
Once the new fillet cured overnight, I water-washed, then lightly sanded as needed to prepare the exterior of the hatch frame for high-build primer, after which I’d complete any further fine-tuning if necessary, along with additional work on the inside of the frame to finish off and better secure the opening from within.
Next: final hull and deck preparations before high-build primer
Total time billed on this job today: 1 hour
0600 Weather Observation: 62°, fog. Forecast for the day: Clearing, 80s
Friday
The first steps in any project always involve assessment and dismantling, and the dory was no exception. Now ready to begin the restoration (using the term quite loosely), I once more inspected the vessel and documented the initial condition for posterity. The nature of the boat’s requirements and design mantra meant that construction was basic and functional–no frills or fancy detail to be seen in this pure workboat. The bottom and transom were constructed of 2″ thick rough planks, while the topsides were 3/8″ thick plywood (it appeared to be pressure-treated ply), with laminated plywood frames, solid wood floors (using true nomenclature here to refer to the structural cross members across the bottom of the boat and connecting the frames), and gunwales formed from basic inexpensive strapping material.
At the bow, there was a built-on, raised section, known as tong boards, where an oyster fisherman would stand and rest the long-handled oyster tongs for harvesting the shellfish. While the tong boards had no particular use for me and how I planned to use the boat, I liked the look and planned to keep them.
Most of my work on this project would revolve around various fiberglass repairs to deal with the loose sheathing on portions of the hull, and to generally clean up and improve the appearance of the boat. In the main, the overall structural condition was fairly sound and would do what I needed (which wasn’t much), and my biggest challenge with this project would be to limit my natural inclination to do more or make a better finish, rather than keep this basic boat at the workboat-level finish and quality of repair needed.
To begin, I removed whatever I could from the interior, including the cross thwarts, some stringers at the transom corners, wooden blocking on the bottom (purpose still unknown), and some of the aluminum sheathing from the tops of the tong boards. I was interested to see that these sheets were actually recycled road signs–the real question was, were they old signs that someone repurposed, or (just as likely) did someone help themselves to the handy supply of road signs still in use by the side of the road? During this dismantling, I had to wait several days before I could remove all the through-bolts securing the aluminum signs fastened to the transom, as the threads were stripped on several bolts and I didn’t have a cutting tool on hand at my remote shop. Eventually, I got the tool I needed and removed the offending bolts, completing the dismantling process.
Total time on this job today: 1 hour
Thursday
After unclamping the fiberglass forward hatch frame, I cleaned up the joints as needed to remove excess epoxy, trimmed the excess length from the foreward and after pieces, and finished up shaping the bottom (bonding) side so the assembly fit the deck properly and as intended. I rounded the four corners to correspond with the rounded edges of the hatch itself.
After cleaning all the surfaces as needed, I bonded the frame to the deck in a heavy bed of thickened epoxy adhesive, ensuring the top remained flat and level during the process (clamps mainly to bring the starboard side down just a touch for level).
Next, I wet out and installed all the through hull and deck hole patches (fuel fill and pedestal) in the after part of the boat, including several old transducer locations, the cockpit scupper openings, and old engine intake fittings. Some additional through hulls in the forward parts of the boat weren’t yet ready for the interior patching, as I’d not yet sanded or prepared those areas.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 65°, mostly clear. Forecast for the day: Sun and clouds, 70s
Wednesday
Now equipped with the raw materials I needed to continue with the forward hatch installation, I got started by preparing the 1″ thick fiberglass stock, sanding off the smooth factory finish and ripping four pieces 1-1/4″ wide. I took the forward and after pieces up to the deck so I could scribe the shape of the cabin trunk and shape the pieces accordingly. I cut the curves with a jigsaw and fine-tuned with a sander as needed. For now, I left the transverse pieces overlong for later trimming and additional fine-tuning later.
I measured for and cut the lengths of the two side pieces, which would require angled cuts or shaping on their bottom sides, but used nearly the full 1″ depth all around because of the substantial camber. Looking at the dry-fit pieces, I decided there was little enough shaping required that it’d be easier to glue the parts together as is, and finish the minimal shaping once I had the square assembly all together.
After final preparations, I glued the fiberglass frame with epoxy adhesive, leaving the transverse ends overlong for trimming once the epoxy cured.
Later, preparing ahead for interior structural work whenever I had the opportunity, I pre-cut layers of fiberglass for the inside portion of the through hull repairs, the outside of which was complete in all 12 locations.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 55°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 80s
Friday
I spent the morning working in the bowels of the boat, cleaning up the inside of the hull in the engine room, beneath the cockpit, and cockpit lockers–everything aft of the main after bulkhead. My goal in these areas was to clean and prepare the existing surfaces to ready them for new paint later, and any other new work that would be required (such as new engine foundations).
The beginning condition of these areas varied. There was paint and/or gelcoat brushed over many of the surfaces, particularly in the cockpit lockers and areas above the turn of the bilge. The engine room space itself was raw fiberglass, which had become dirty over the years, though I’d cleaned up a lot of that back when I soaked the bilge earlier in the project. Now, with coarse sandpaper, I cleaned up the surfaces as needed, removing any rough edges left from original construction and just generally scuffing the surfaces. Where old paint came off easily, I removed it, but in most cases the existing coatings were well-adhered and needed only a good scuffing to prepare for new coatings later. I also sanded smooth and clean the old through hull fittings that I’d patched from outside before, preparing the inside of the old holes for new fiberglass that I’d soon install to complete the job.
Later, I began work on the new forward hatch, which had arrived in the day’s courier delivery as expected. I used the hatch itself to create a simple cardboard template of the opening, making the template just a bit larger than the hatch itself to allow for some leeway as well as additional fiberglass that I eventually planned to use to secure the new hatch coaming. With this template, I marked the deck to indicate the new cutout, starting with the old opening as a guide. I cut out the excess with a jigsaw.
To support the hatch on the cambered deck surface, I’d need to build a raised coaming that fit the deck profile. With the hatch in place in the new opening, I measured the minimum height required for the sides of the coaming–just under an inch– and ordered prefab fiberglass so I could build the assembly in the near future.
Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 59°, mainly cloudy. Forecast for the day: Becoming mostly sunny, 70s
Thursday
Throughout any project, I continually re-evaluate and re-prioritize my work list, taking into account the timeframes of work underway and completed, and upcoming schedule requirements to help adjust the work flow accordingly. I set up this job in phases, taking advantage of space in the shop schedule to work in various bursts and with specific goals each time, and fitting in with the owner’s schedule and requirements. With an agreed completion date well in the future, and other projects on the docket for the upcoming fall, I’d always intended Phase 1 to be focused on the major exterior repairs and surface preparation, with the ultimate goal of finishing the exterior surface prep with high-build primer before new boats arrived at the shop for work in the fall, at which point I’d need to temporarily move Scupper to outdoor storage till the next intensive work phase later in the winter.
The whole inside of the boat–lockers, bilges, and interior spaces–required substantial surface preparation (i.e sanding), and all along I had hoped to complete this work during the current phase. I felt on track with my overall schedule and plan, but with vacation time coming up through the prime summer months, and the exterior virtually ready for the primer, I chose now to refocus my efforts on completing any final tasks that needed to be done before I could spray the primer (which I considered part of the basic surface prep rather than part of the painting process). Once I finished with the high-build, I could spend the rest of the time during this phase working on the interior prep.
To this end, I ordered a new deck hatch to replace the original wooden hatch in the forward cabin. I needed this hardware now so I could cut the enlarged opening, and build the coaming required to support the hatch and have it all glassed and faired in before the primer. The hatch would arrive in a day, and I could then get to work as needed. I chose a Vetus Magnus offshore escape hatch, a product I’d installed with good results in the past.
The rearrangement of my immediate goals left me temporarily unprepared for the work I now needed to do. I could have and would have spent the day sanding on the interior of the hull–something I looked forward to completing for various reasons–but my air compressor, which I used frequently during sanding work as a blow-down tool for the boat and myself, had inexplicably died during my last break, and I was reluctant to do the filthy sanding work inside the boat without it. I’d ordered a new one as soon as I discovered the problem upon my return earlier in the week, and in fact it arrived in mid-afternoon as expected, but before then I needed something to move the project forward in some way.
I decided to tackle the rudder shaft packing nuts, which I’d so far not been able to loosen. I needed to remove these so I could eventually drop the rudder and repair it. The rudder blade featured a number of issues, from a crack along the leading edge to the damage at the top edge caused where the rudder had been turned too far and contacted the hull. The only thing really holding the rudder in the boat was a bronze shoe and pin at the base of the skeg, as well as (somewhat) the packing box itself.
Although I couldn’t drop the rudder while the boat was in her current position–the shaft was too long to allow the rudder to drop straight out, so I’d need the boat either raised higher, or dig a hole beneath the rudder, something I couldn’t do on concrete–I could at least take care of all the initial removal steps so that the final removal would be as straightforward as possible. I planned to remove the rudder later, whenever I moved the boat outdoors: at that time, I could either raise the boat high enough on the trailer (possibly), or else hang the aft end over an embankment I have near the shop. But now was the time to do all the initial work required to drop the rudder later.
Armed with a big wrench, I tried working on the packing nut from one of the cockpit lockers, but the angles were all wrong, and I couldn’t get any leverage. Instead, I crawled through the now-empty engine room to reach the nuts from that side, and this worked a treat: with no trouble at all I released the main packing nut and backed it off. I also broke free the locknut, and backed it up to the top of the threaded stern tube to prevent any damage to the threads when they were exposed.
Back outside, I turned to the bronze rudder shoe, which was secured to the skeg with four carriage bolts and nuts. Three of the four nuts came free without issue, but the last one spun the head of the carriage bolt, so I had no choice but to cut off the nut with a grinder. I loosened the bolt studs, but left them in place to hold the shoe on till I was ready to actually remove the rudder. I was able to easily lift the rudder just off the shoe, so it looked like removal wouldn’t pose too much problem when I was ready. Rudder repair would be a good thing to take care of in the shop while the boat was stored outdoors, and in any event the rudder prevented good access to the aperture and for shaft/propeller installation later, so it might as well be out of the way for much of the remainder of the project.
While I was working in the area, I decided to remove part of the propeller shaft stern tube assembly in order to access the old Cutless bearing, which would require replacement. The bearing was held in place in a bronze housing by a bronze casting that was bolted through the deadwood; inside the boat, the nuts at the ends of the two bolts were accessible on either side of the bronze stern tube.
Removal posed no particular problems, though I had to unwind the long bolts completely from outside, thanks to the sealant within that prevented me from otherwise pulling them free. This exposed the end of the bearing, but pulling that free would be a chore for another time, as there wasn’t an immediately easy way to remove it since it was flush with the housing. Now fully exposed, the bearing was clearly in poor shape, and I’d continue removal efforts in due course.
It hadn’t been the day I’d necessarily planned, but in any event I had my priorities realigned and was ready to move forward effectively from here.
Total time billed on this job today: 3 hours
0600 Weather Observation: 65°, overcast. Forecast for the day: Mostly cloudy, temperature steady around 70°