Mark Twain Restore!!

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Just wanted to stop in and say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to EVERYONE here. Thank you all so much for helping me and putting up with my not-so-bright questions!
One of my many new-year resolutions is to get some of my boat projects going again! Wish me luck!!

 

[archbuilder]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

I had a few screws like that (not on the rub rail). I was able to get to them from the inside with some vice grips. After a couple of turns I was able to get pliers on them on the outside.....very long process, but it works if the screw is long enough and you can get to them from the inside. Hope that helps some!

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

archbuilder-
I tired that this weekend but on the inside of the boat there is a wood strip-i guess a 1"X2"-that runs along where the screws secure the hull and cap together so I cant get to them from the inside....

I used a Dremel with several differnt attachments and I simply can't get the rest of the screws out. There are 23 left... I was able to use a cutting disk with my Dremel on some but the ones that are left are little boogers! I tried drilling them out but I couldn't find a drill bit that would work. Guess I will need to find a specialty bit rather than fumbling around in my shop looking for one....

I will keep trying!

 

[archbuilder]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Wish I had another idea.....just keep at it, that is what it takes sometimes!

 

[Mountain_Man]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Don't know if there is any screw left, but when I was working on aircraft, and we'd strip a screw out. we'd call a machinist. First tool he got out was a 4" pair of vice grips. You'd be surprised what they can do with a real tight grip. Even just the tip of them.

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

archbuilder-
thanks for all your help so far...guess i will have to keep experimenting....

mountain man-
i was able to do what you described but there are 23 screws left that are just barely beyond the fiberglass-therefore there is nothing to latch on to....

I plan on making a trip to Lowe's and visit their tool department and talk to someone about my troubles. Maybe there is a good drill bit that I could use to try and drill the reamining screws out. I would just have to use a larger screw in those holes...
Once I do get these wretched things out I am definitely planning on using stainless screws in case I ever need to do this agin 30 years from now! (And yes I do plan on keeping it that long)

 

[Mountain_Man]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

I'm new at this boat thing and haven't got to my screws yet. How big (diameter) It's very hard to drill a screw. #1 the bit won't stay centered, and #2 it takes a very sharp/hard bit. Bolts are a bit easier because of the size.

If the screw will turn at all, a dremel might can cut a flat blade slot in the end of it.

I'm a firm believer of the old saying that " Necessity is the mother of invention" so when you run out of ends "make a tool"

How's this: if your going for bigger holes, find a metal tube that just slips over the screw, Take a dremel and cut some teeth in it. Chuck it into a drill and slide it down over the screw. sort of like a plug cutter. would that work? again newbie here.

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Mountain Man-
I like the way you think!!

I think I am going to try to cut the a slot into the screw-one that a flat-head screwdriver could fit into. This sounds like it should work!
I shall let you know how it works out. I will also try and get some more pics on here-it has been a while......

 

[drewpster]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

I suggest you drill off just enough of the screw heads so that the cap can be removed. It should not be necessary to completely drill the screws out to get the cap off. (that is if the cap laps over the hull and not visa versa) Once the cap is off it should be easier to twist the rest of the screw out from inside the hull.
Bear in mind that if you oversize the screw holes you may have to glass over the lap joint of the cap, and maybe the hull and make new screw holes. If your cap is like mine, there is a gozillion screws around that cap.

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

drewpster-
thanks for the comment! I can do that on some but towards the back around the transom the cap and lower part of the hull are a lot less flexible (im sure you know) so i will have to screw them out.
I plan on workin on this all day tomorrow.
THIS CAP IS COMING OFF TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jspano]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

good luck flip
better to work all day getting the screws off than spending the day screwing off

joe

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

ha! That was pretty funny.

 

[jspano]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

when i was younger i use to do drywall work. we would tack all the boards on with nails in the morning and screw off all after noon. screw guns all over the place couldn't hear the radio

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

nice

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

I FINALLY made some major progress with the twain this weekend. The cap is OFF! Halelujia!

I am uploading some pics to photobucket and they will be on here shortly!

 

[HopeSheFloats]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Congrats, let the fun begin ...best to you!

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Ok-
Finally got all the photos uploaded to photobucket.
Here is the link to my photobucket account for those of you that want to see all the pics: http://s879.photobucket.com/home/boatflipper/index
I will post several on here though....

Here you can see the outer skin seperated from the transom core.

This is where I used the cutting wheel on my Dremel to cut the head off the screws-as you can see i damaged the fiberglass but i figure i can fill the damage in with epoxy. Is this assumption right?

Once I had the cap popped loose, the splashwell was still attached to the transom core so I just used my hydraulic jack to pop it loose. I was worried about cracking the splashwell but it didn't.

Here I have the cap completely loose from the hull.

Since the front of the cap was rather heavy, I used my jack to get it up far enough to slide a 4X4 post under it that rested on the sides of the hull.

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Here is the cap completely off the boat. As you can see, the boards holding the cap up are resting on concrete blocks on either side of the boat. This allowed me to pull the trailer and hull right out from under it.

Here i am pulling the trailer out from under the cap. I did this by hand so that when the bow seats reached the transom, I could lift the tongue of the trailer up which allowed the bow seats to clear the transom

 

[archbuilder]

Re: Mark Twain Restore!!

Wow I can't say I have ever seen that done with concrete blocks! Its funny looking at your pictures, that looks like some parts of Oklahoma in your background. Good luck with the restore!