1959 Seafair gut and rebuild

[Dave H]

Dave
I get all of my wood from Edensaw in Port Townsend. The cost I believe was around $55 for 1/2". I tryed to find my invoice for the exact cost but could not find it. Now that price is my business price, to find out the exact cost you would have to call them(360) 385-7878. They do have a store in Tacoma but they do not have the enventory their, you have to order it to the Tacoma store. It is worth a trip to the Port Townsend store they now also have a rockler store the too.

Dave

[bham-rick]

Windsor Plywood

Brian :Windsor Plywood in Bellingham carries that, and if it's not in stock they can order it for you.

OOPPS I thought the plywood question came from Brian . B'ham won't do Dave much good

[TheBronze]

Holy crap! You work rediculously fast and the work looks great.

I'm curious as to why you didn't go the route of flotation foam in the bilges?

[Steve_Kiesel]

Dave H,

I thought the under floor area on my 59 Seafair was a sealed off area. But if she sets out in the rain for any time, a lot of water collects under there. For the life of me, I can't figure how it's getting in there.

The factory brass drain plug was at little loose. So I pulled that last fall. Will re-install it this spring using 5200. Being loose would account for some water, but not the quantity I drained out.

I'm in Central Oregon now, not much rain, plus I have it stored inside now. So not as much of a worry now.

Your rebuild is looking good. Thanks again for the photos and progress reports.

[Dave H]

John
I decided against he foam for a couple of reasions, the foam I took out was saturated with water and very heavy and there is not that much space for the foam. I was more concerned with water draining out if any got in. I did use foam on a 1980 19' Marlin that I put new stringers in and it is a very expensive item and a pain to work with in my opinion.

Steve
Not sure where your water is getting in to your bildge. I know that this Seafair almost all of the fiberglass seams had broken loose. Tim stated that the boat felt loose, because it was very loose from the cabin top to the stringers. It is my hope that I have sealed the floor well enough to be air and water tight. This Seafair had a 1" drain plug in the cabin and there was no sealent under it so water was getting into the bildge.

The pics is a project I just completed the other day. All that I have remaining is to spray it with a sealer/sanding primer. Will paint it when I paint the rest of the boat. When Tim Mattson got the boat it did not have a steering station so he made one that worked. I could not find an original style so I made one from the Maranti ply, 3mm Birch and Balsa Wood. Making the radius pieces took a little bit to find material that would bend that sharp. What I did was use 1/16 balsa with grain running vertical in the radius and superglued two pieces together in the radius that I wanted. When the glue sets up it will hold its shape. I used 5 ounce glass on the inside seams, used Dura Glass to make all of the inside radius's and then covered the out side with 2.5 ounce glass. I then coated the hole assy with a thin layer of body filler and sanded smooth and thats where I am now. We have a few more posts to go to be up to date where we presently are in the rebuild.

[TheBronze]

Lookin good....

I didn't think there was much room in my Marathon when I foamed it up.... I was WRONG! Took a gallon and a half, with regular styrofoam for big filler and I still don't think I got all of the lower portion of the bow filled. The Bell Boy took 3 gallons. And yeah, it is expensive.

For drainage on the 404, I cut 1/4 rounds in all the mini bulkheads so that any water that might find its way in could eventually escape. Truthfuly, though, I doubt anything will ever get in there. The foam is up to the bottom of the floor and on top is a layer of resin and then 1708, with triple seams at the edges. When its all done, there will be an additional water barrier of kiwi grip.

[Dave H]

Another step in the process completed. I got a set of the original front cabin cushions to make the cushion bases. I had to modify four of the five base configuration to fit our cabin space. Used 1/2" Marine ply and painted them with a marine white paint. My wife ordered a marine grade foam, purchased a mildew resistant vinyl cut a sewed the new cushions. We assembeled the cushions the other day and installed them in the boat. Really pleased with the look.

[TheBronze]

Oh you make me so sick!

So do you not work and have all this time to do such great work or are you posessed and get no sleep at night? VeryBigSmile

[Dave H]

John
I am the type of person that cant sit still always on the move, kind of ADHD as an adult. I retired 6 years ago from the Department of Defence (DOD) with 37 years of service including my military time. I was in the Sheetmetal trade up through management for that time. I have always worked with wood and when I retired I started two business's one was a consulting business where I contracted to teach Sheetmetal layout/pattern development and trade theory class's. The Second is a small one person cabinet business where I do custom mantels for gas fireplaces, cabinets, boat work alot of small jobs. Although at this time I am doing the cabinets and trim on a customers tour bus conversion to a motor home. The other part of working quickly on projects is my wife, she is always got good idea's we work well as a team. On our prjects I build it and she puts the paint or finish on it. We both have other outside interests and hobbies, keeps us as busy as we want to be.

[slo-mo]

...rolling stone gathers no moss

Nice work guys, great to hear that you enjoy "tag teaming" the restore process. Thanks for sharing your worthy project. Looking forward to seeing your masterpiece in action.

Greg

[TheBronze]

Dave,

Cool. Thanks for your service!

Nice to see the work progress so quickly and so nicely. When do you expect to have her back on the water? Next week?

[Dave H]

John,

Your Welcome. I Spent 4 years in the Navy on board the CVA 43 Coaral Sea as a Damage Controlman 1968 to 1972 with two tours to Viet Nam. I was the carpenter on board did allot of wood working on a steel boat. Did allot of repair work to the support boats on board.

No not next week, all of the big stuff goes quick and now all of the detail work takes some time. My goal is to spray paint the upper struckture in early spring when things worm up a little. I have been working on the rear seat back and constructing a new back seat base that will hinge down out of the way. In the process of doing the finishing on both pieces. Pics to come.

Dave

[Dave H]

Have been working on constructing a new seat back and seat that will fold down. Pics are of the mock up stage we have a few more coats of finish to apply and the never ending story of purchasing more stainless fasteners. Never have enough or the correct size.
I used the old seat back as a pattern but made it taller then recessed the hinges into the dry well to bring the bottom edge down lower so there was not a big gap between the seat back and drywell edge.

[Helmar]

I have to do something like that on the rear of my Uniflite. I want something that will fold off to the side and and out of the way..
Looken good....

[Dave H]

Here are some more pics of the latest progress. New cabin door, need to make the door stops and then apply finish and more hardware. Purchased new seats from Cabelas and made cabinets to bolt them to. The port side will have stainless bowl for a sink and lower cabinet door. The Port side has the same cabinet door and a slide out tray for a butane stove top. Need to align the cabinets and trim out the sides and laminat before bolting down to the deck.