Big wooden boat project [Splashed Sept 2017]

[Ned L]

This boat was abandon 15 years ago in a boatyard in NJ. She was built in 1957, and is 33ft long. She was outside and covered for about ten years before the cover fell apart. The boatyard moved her in to their shop in 2013 for a coat of paint and to try to find a new owner. About a month after moving her back outside Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey shore, which changed everything to do with boating there. So there she sat uncovered. She was knocked over a little bit, and the boat next to her fell over and was leaning against her. The engines are the original six cylinder Chrysler Crowns.
Hmmmmmm, ........ What do you think. She needs a new owner.

This was when she was given a coat of paint in 2013

 

[rob.s.uk]

She's a booty if the engines run or are useable I would go for it. Nothing like a good project.

 

[jbcurt00]

Given all the history you mention plus she survived Sandy, it looks to be in remarkable condition, on the surface.

Have you crawled around her already?

Big girl w lots of potential, good luck. Sounds like she's already started casting a spell on you

 

[gm280]

Well, if you have the time, MONEY, place to work on it and the many hours it will certainly take, ha it is your project. I wouldn't know where to even begin with a boat that size. But that is just my lack of knowledge. :thumb:

 

[GA_Boater]

I guess I'm a bit . You've been working on her for over a year and a half since you picked her up. It's a little late to be asking if you should take it on, isn't it?. Are these the operative words?

She needs a new owner.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthr...hnson-boat-works-adoption-restoration-project

 

[Woodonglass]

Teak Decks??

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Ever piloted a twin screw? Big boats needs big dock marina space is a cost to consider, big boats also burn a lot of fuel as well.

 

[Ned L]

I guess I'm a bit . You've been working on her for over a year and a half since you picked her up. It's a little late to be asking if you should take it on, isn't it?. Are these the operative words?

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...ration-project

Geee, ...... Didn't realize there where others here who frequented "Woodenboat"

OK, ......... so my presentation was intended to be a bit 'tongue in cheek' so to speak. ........

Yes I did take on this boat about a year and a half ago
Yes I did have her trucked 200 miles from a boatyard in Keyport N.J. to out house in CT.
Yes I have been doing a major rebuild on her.

No I am not looking for a new owner for her

I am probably 85% though the rebuild.

Yes, I am wondering if there would be interest here in seeing what a significant rebuild of a wooden boat can involve.

She is a 1957, 33ft Hubert Johnson "Jersey Sea Skiff" built in Bayhead N.J. She is lapstrake construction, Jersey white cedar, copper riveted to steam bent white oak ribs on 7" centers. All decks are laid teak and traditionally caulked with cotton and seam compound. Her engines are a pair of 265 CID, 125HP flat head six Chrysler Crowns. (They had not even been turned over for 14 years before my brother and I went to look at them. We had both of them running within a couple of hours.)

She has been a fun project so far and I am planning on her seeing the water this May (first time in 16 years).

Oh yea, .......... have I ever run a twin screw boat of this size??????? No problem, I'm very comfortable with boats of this size, and plan on being able to take her out 'single handed' whenever I want to.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

You had me at flathead 6 those engines treated even with little care will run forever.

 

[GA_Boater]

Geee, ...... Didn't realize there where others here who frequented "Woodenboat"

Still looking for the end of the Internet. It's out there somewhere. LOL

You have done a lot on her and nice work, too. It is shocking that the old Chrysler flatties not only weren't seized, but ran!

Sure, wood was the first boat building material unless you count reeds. :smile: We don't have enough wooden boats here.

Any damage from the Sandy boat using her for a leaning post? 18 months to get 85% finished, !5% more by late summer and a splash?

 

[Ned L]

You had me at flathead 6 those engines treated even with little care will run forever.

Yep,... And I will have to say that this whole project was sort of contingent on the engines. (A repowering with new engines would potentially cost more than the boat would ever be worth).

Before making any commitment I made a trip back down to NJ with a bunch of tools, a battery and an 'appointment' with my brother to see if the engines had any life in them. (The boatyard had been telling me they were done with for a couple of years.).
The first thing we did was to take a pry bar to the ring gear on the flywheel (expecting nothing to move). Hmmmm,... It moved, easily. Tried the other engine,... The same thing happened.
At that point there wasn't much to do but to see if they would start. Cleaned the points,... Had a spark. Found the port carb on the second floor of the yard shop, bolted it back on. Pulled the plugs, squirted some oil in each cylinder. (A couple of plugs broke in half, they were so rusted.) Did a quick compression test (we didn't care what the numbers were, just wanted to see if there was something, that indicates that the valves are doing what they are supposed to.). Then we disconnected the fuel line from the filter and stuck it in a coffee can of gas. After a bit of coaxing it came to life.
So then we turned to the other engine and did the same thing,.. And got the same result.
Afterwards we looked at each other and said,.. Damn, they sound better than some engines in regular use!

The only thing left was to decide what to do about the boat.

 

[redneck joe]

'More than its worth'




You must not be a real boater......

 

[GA_Boater]

'More than its worth'




You must not be a real boater......

Sometimes practicality outweighs all else. Like how many times can you B.O.A.T.[SUP]2 or 3[/SUP] LOL

 

[Ned L]

Teak Decks??

Yes,... And you might be surprised at what I went through to save the foredeck.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

I work forest fires here in Minnesota we use a tracked rig to get into the swamps, the old ones all have the flatheads and never fail to start and run. Love that engine, dang near as good as an international engine.

 

[Ned L]

No Title

So, with two engines that started,... This was the next move (literally). 200 miles.

 

[bonz_d]

Ned I think you have a beautiful project there and well worth any time, money and effort you put into it.

The area I'm in, 1/2hr. to Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee there are a good number of old planked hull Chris Craft's still in everyday use around here and every time I go to the big marinas and see them I'm just it awe. Also every year there is a Classic boat show here on Lake Geneva Wi. and again I can't believe the boats that show up.

 

[Stumpalump]

New Jersey produced a lot of great boats back in the day. Looking foward to your progress.

 

[Ned L]

[FONT=&quot]Thanks!, ........ Unfortunately there aren't to many of these Jersey sea skiffs left. Thousands of lapstrake boats were built on the Jersey shore between the 1830's and the 1990's, and literally shipped all over the world. The Jersey shore, right on the water, and with these boats is where I grew up, so I have sort of an attachment to them.

We''ll try that last picture again, ....... I haven't really figured out how to add pics from a phone yet.[/FONT]

 

[Ned L]

I did have one issue with the engines that I needed to take care of early on. The water cooled exhaust elbows on both engines were completely shot. The one on the port engine actually fell off, it had rusted out so badly (that was kind of a smokey oily mess when the engine started). This prevented me from running the engines for any length of time to really check them out.
A couple of phone calls lead me to find out that those water cooled elbows are obsolete and no one makes them anymore, ........ Hmmm, a bit of a problem.
It was time to hit the local plumbing supply house and pick up some schedule 80 weldable pipe fittings and do a bit of cutting and welding. A bit of work and the problem was solved.


I needed a pair of these.

So I picked up these.

Cut and welded until I had this

Which came out like this.

They work just fine.