Big wooden boat project [Splashed Sept 2017]

[jsparks747]

Unfortunately there really are very few yards with marine railways today. You can probably count the railways between Maine and New Jersey on one hand. Travel lifts have been the standard for decades. (To bad, because wooden boats really don't like them.)

Had a nice afternoon out on her today.

Here on the west coast we have a good amount of lifts. The Port Townsend, WA shipyard has 2 or 3 if I am not mistaken and there are more in Seattle shipyards. We are definitely lacking on the railways front too though. The PT shipyard doesn't have one and it is a pretty big shipyard.

 

[mickyryan]

i just remember seeing the few youtube videos where the load shifted it came sliding out of sling and boom , that's why they scare me i think it was more operator error then the sling itself

 

[Scott Danforth]

there are youtube videos of guys hauling excavators and hitting bridges too. doesnt make it a bad thing to haul excavators just like a well maintained travel lift and properly trained operator isnt a bad thing for lifting boats.

 

[Grub54891]

There are lift points on the boats, some are not marked properly, that is why you watch the gauges, spotters and such. If the gauges show out of whack beyond specs, you set it back down and re-set. Each set of slings has it's own load gage.

 

[Ned L]

There are lift points marked on SOME boats. Definitely not on boats that were built before the travel lift was in use. I also suspect the lift points may me marked to coincide with the structure of the boat (internal bulkheads) as much if not more than for weight distribution.

Deep keeled sailboats typically should have the slings tied together so the forward sling doesn't slip off.
Chris Craft Roamers (steel hulls) also needed the slings tied together. The steel hulls were so slippery that the forward sling could slip out, dropping the boat (happened twice to people we knew).

Glass boats are fine in a travel lift, it can be tough on some wood boats (mine has the scars to show it).

 

[Scott Danforth]

large 'glass boats (such as Westport's) need to have all tanks emptied prior to picking up with a travel lift. the weight alone of the fuel, water, grey water, and black water tanks would fold the boat in half otherwise.

 

[Grub54891]

There are lift points marked on SOME boats. Definitely not on boats that were built before the travel lift was in use. I also suspect the lift points may me marked to coincide with the structure of the boat (internal bulkheads) as much if not more than for weight distribution.

Deep keeled sailboats typically should have the slings tied together so the forward sling doesn't slip off.
Chris Craft Roamers (steel hulls) also needed the slings tied together. The steel hulls were so slippery that the forward sling could slip out, dropping the boat (happened twice to people we knew).

Glass boats are fine in a travel lift, it can be tough on some wood boats (mine has the scars to show it).

^^ exactly!^^ The ones that are not marked, get looked over for bulkheads, and balance. Then we put the sling marks on them

 

[sphelps]

That's why you installed all the extra ribs at the lift points ... Wise decision thinking ahead !

 

[mickyryan]

see my luck I'd get a boat like neds and then they would hand the controls to the new guy and go, give it a shot whats the worst that could happen .....

 

[jsparks747]

Ya'll are just making me even more happy with my easy trailerable 15 foot boat. No missing lift points, no rotting wood, just fiberglass, a 70 horse Evinrude, and an 18 gallon tank of gas.

 

[Pusher]

Ya'll are just making me even more happy with my easy trailerable 15 foot boat. No missing lift points, no rotting wood, just fiberglass, a 70 horse Evinrude, and an 18 gallon tank of gas.

I bet your fiby will never look as good as Neds though (and I'm a fiby owner)

 

[Pusher]

Thanks for the complements.

This weekend I got some of her 'pretty stuff' put back on (the military mast, the navy top (bimini for you 'new' people lol), and the side canvas dodgers), and some of the 'must have stuff', like the reg. #'s. I think she's a pretty good looking boat

Now that she has been in the water for a few days I took her on a real short little trip down the river a bit just to say I did.

Ned, I had to go back a couple pages to drool over your project again. The dodgers I figured out and they look real snappy (no pun intended). Is the military mast for radar and the sort?

 

[mickyryan]

top shelf man ! god that's a pretty boat

 

[kcassells]

I don't know about you guys responding to weeks old posts... But I need a fix...Ned New and More PIcs please!!!

 

[jsparks747]

I bet your fiby will never look as good as Neds though (and I'm a fiby owner)

She definately won't. She's a 1983 Tiderunner 150 Cuddy so she is a fishing boat. Got fishing in her blood and fish blood on her decks.

 

[mickyryan]

Ned is denying us!

 

[Ned L]

Ned, I had to go back a couple pages to drool over your project again. The dodgers I figured out and they look real snappy (no pun intended). Is the military mast for radar and the sort?

The "military mast" is not sturdy enough to really support much of anything (i.e. Radar would have to be mounted somewhere else). I would say that the military masts were a hold over from an earlier era - very early 1900's, when signal flags were actually used. Many if not most power boat builders maintained them into the 1970's. I think they are a nice touch.
They did carry the function of holding the masthead or anchor light (as on my boat).

 

[Ned L]

Hahahaha, ................ OK, so I've been busy using the boat.

... Partly true. (and still working on the many small things) I went down there after work on Fiday, got some stuff done, took her out for about an hour or so for a little ride down the river and back, got back a bit after dark. Then spent the night aboard and did a few more things before it started raining Saturday morning.

Sorry, no pictures of the boat really, .............................. Just these.

 

[Ned L]

The one glitch that I have is that the generators on the engines were not charging the batteries (engines too old for alternators, they have generators). There are also 'regulators' (electromagnetic coils with electrical contacts that control the charging from the generators to the batteries) between the generators and batteries. I have managed to get one regulator working so I have one engine that charges the batteries while underway now. The engines are that old that the original P/N regulators are no longer available. I found a place out in Wisconsin that was able to cross reference the generator requirements to a currently available regulator. I ordered two of them last week and they arrived today (sitting next to my desk here). This should take care of the battery charging issue so I can really start using the boat.

When she first went in the water I also had a glitch with a couple of sticky valves in the engines. A little WD 40 up the carburetor and down the spark plug hole cleared that up and they are ticking away nicely now. --- Guys have actually come over to the boat and asked me to start the engines just so they can hear them. lol Odd how a 60 year old boat attracts all sorts of people at a boat yard.

 

[Ned L]

Oh, ... and a week ago on July 30, we took her out for about three hours. Went to Watch Hill R.I where we anchored for lunch and then just did some poking around the area. Had a nice day.
Sorry I didn't get any other pictures.