I take care of a very original 17 sportsman 1953 or 54 that has the seat bottoms and floor area with the turquoise color.but the rest of the bilge is cc red. Have a rocket in the shop with off white bilge paint and no ceiling planks,A friend of mine has a sportsman with a ugly yellow bilge,have work...

Hi Bill, I make a paper copy of the bottom planks before I take any screws out of the bottom. The paper must be a little taunt before cutting.It is always nicer to have a wood pattern to copy,but on certain projects it may not be possible. Some old bottoms were fiber glassed over and west system coa...

Once again Bill has let another secret out. Subject: plank replacement and copying. the first thing we do to every boat we flip for a new bottom is make patterns of the bottom planks.Simply roll out heavy freezer paper , tape it down and cut along the plank edge with an exacto knife. These patterns ...

One more little tip : when varnish has hardend nicely you can dry sand the boat with a stearate paper with out the paper clogging in a few swipes.When varnish is still curing you can and only [ Wet Sand ] with a 3m type or norton wet dry black sand paper from the hardware store. Remember a old boat ...

I have been watching this stream on varnishing,There is many variables to consider when building up a spar finish.Prep of the boat, temp of the boat and room, humidity of boat and location, temp of varnish,mixture of varnish with additives,number of base coats and drying time allowed,application bru...

I didnot see the show, but from the pic Tom posted I can see the location of the running lights and burgee. Also take note the cutwater and bow shape, and can see a little of the windshield brackets. I will go with Brians response of a 17 post war deluxe at this time, because we use to own R17-103, ...

I agree with Don Ayers comments on the need for Professioal Boat Restorers to document boat projects.May I add any boat owner should do the same, because these are the people that most often have seen the boat as it was constructed from the factory, before some one repaired , or messed with the orig...

Restoration vs preservation , When restoring a valuable wood boat, one must make many decisions along the way. one example being deck replacement on a runabout that is not perfect , but salvable.Boat owner (A )may want to retain as much original wood as posssible without sacrificing structural integ...

I would like to expand on this discussion and have the following topics that cross my desk allmost every day. 1. Restoration VS Preservation 2.Pros and Cons of new bottoms? West,5200 and Conventional. 3.Finishes, Spar Varnish,Polyurethane and Automotive finishes? :D thanks,steve

good discussion! I have a 1937 chris craft 22 triple that was built with steel screws. It would not make sense to restore with the same type fasteners.Even today silcon bronze is substituted for brass. I see both sides to the issue,but not all boats are destine to be museum pieces, some are to be en...