Oh yeah no way someone did that stiffener job at home, and retro fit would be my guess too as the factory would put all the seam rivets through the stiffeners too rather than over the top of them. I seriously debated my placement of the stiffeners I put in my Chief but I just couldn't bring myself to drill out all those good rivets on the rib ends and I was mostly worried about the possible spray rail chine defect more than bottom rib end cracks in my case. I also added marine ply as a firing strip to the tops of the ribs (to add height for the belly tank) and then the decking so it should limit flex and add some strength. None the less if these boats aren't operated with compromised rotten decking and side panels with loose rivets the chances are they won't have any issues.
The forum here is the next best thing for me when I'm not rebuilding a boat. It's great to be here watching guys return these wonderful old boats to their former glory and then some. Thank you for taking the time to share your rebuild project!
I think you made the right decision doing your stiffeners the way you did, I don't think the difference would have been that great to tie them in to the rib ends. Maybe in an engineers eyes, but not every day practicality. Not to mention how much time and frustration it would have added.
So far the only loose rivets I've found have been some on the side wall points and a few in the floor where it was rotted, everything else is tight. I've been looking for cracks while cleaning the floor also and haven't found any yet. Maybe I'll get lucky. The rubrail on the other hand, well, it's been mashed at the transom. The caps are good so I'm guessing the rails have been off for something and weren't setting right so they were tuned up with a BFH, or the caps have been replaced at some point in time after significant damage. They are still usable, just not pretty under the caps.
If the stiffeners are a retrofit, the technicians seem to have hit the original rib rivet holes, so the deck must have been good and was just put back in using the same rivet holes.
I have never seen anyone comment on the scribed lines on the hull inner bottom that can be seen in the picture at post 40. I have them in my Chief and in some cases they seem to have been used for rivet, outer keel or stringer alignment, but not always. Does anyone know whether they had any other purpose?
In looking more closely at your pocket door, I would have a bit more trouble since my 18' boat does not have the space between the cabin berth supports and the bulkhead that a 21 does. I do not want to move the cabin bulkhead or build a pocket on the outside, so it is back to the original design. I still like what you have there.
Ron
Yeah I noticed that there weren't any spare holes for the floor. Maybe this was done early on after the sale ? Ah yeah, you're right bout the 18'er not having room for a pocket door. Never thought of it till you mention in and I remember looking at Watermann's cabin in his build. The 21'er has a cabinet and sink that make for plenty of room. Mine is missing the sink though so not sure how I will go about using the room left, yet. The next couple of days aren't supposed to be so great so I'm sure ideas may be running in and out of my head while I try to sleep
I could use a bit of a break anyway after gutting her, my back and leg have had all they can take for the time being
There has actually been some debate about the scrib lines, some are found along the inside of the chine, possibly from someone using razor knife to trim the original deck vinyl. And that those razor scribs might contribute to the chine cracking.
Other builds have had scribbed guides for the rivets as seen here.
On a production line, the scrib is a guide, hit some, missed some in a production cycle.
I can see how any scribe marks may cause an issue. They make for good stress risers. When rebuilding engines we've always tried to deburr or smooth out anything like that for an engine that will be hammered on. Chances are they will get blown up so no sense leaving any reason to hasten it. And I've done a fare share of siding houses when aluminum was popular, I'd scribe the siding with a razor knife and flex it back and forth a few time to cut it to size or make cutouts for windows.
On another note, I guess I should chalk this up as another lucky break ? No scribe marks, they are what appear to be marker. I just went out to get a closer look after reading this, dragged my fingernail across them and it's smooth across the marks. Some parts look faded out like a marker running out or dirty and some spots wider. I looked around each row of rivets and can feel nothing. Unless you're seeing something I'm missing and I'll go back out and look again.
