Straightening a warped boat?

[Caddy_Kid]

I just brought home a '65 Cruisers Inc. 14' wood lapstrake boat. Has great potential, but unfortunatly it has been sitting on the ground for the last 8 years and has developed a warp along the keel. The transom is straight, but the bow is cocked to the starboard by 5" or 6".

I'm not sure how to straighten it out. I was thinking of tying off the transom to the trailer so it dosent move, then covering the boat with a tarp and wetting it down daily. Then attaching a come-a-long from the deck cleat to the trailer off the port side and slowly winching it straight over the course of a few weeks. I figure over correct it by an inch or so (to account for any "spring back") and then litting it dry back out once its done.

Anyone ever done this before and have suggestions? The whole thing seems to be constructed out of 1/4" or so plywood on the bottom and wood strakes along the side, so there is a fair amount of "flex" available. Not my first wooden boat, just my first crooked one. Thanks.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

wetting the tarp or the boat? is the wood painted or sealed? it might work, if it was summer and the boat sat in the sun all day to help build up humidity. i can't think of any other alternative, other than building a steam room.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

The Problem that I see with your Plan is,......

There's a Good Chance you'll cave the Bottom Up,.. More than the Bow sideways........

 

[flashback]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

I think you should give it a try.. I think your being a bit optimistic in the time frame though.. a few months may be closer to the mark..slower would mean less chance to buckle the bottom in like Bondo is saying.. also Tashasdaddy may have a point.. why can't you tie a tarp down over it and boil a pot of water in there? the heat and humidity will make it happen alot quicker and easier...good luck.....

 

[flashback]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

one other thing, I don't know what kind of support your trailer has, but I believe I would take the boat off the trailer and set it on a good straight flat surface so the keel can be supported along its entire length...you sort of need a base line to work to..

 

[Caddy_Kid]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

Right now the boat is on two furniture dollys at my work. I think that rather than having it on a trailer, I will put it on the concrete to keep the keel straight, like was mentioned. And instead of attaching the come-a-long to the trailer (which would give it downward force) I will attach an eyelet to the wall and winch it straight sideways. That way it wont have downward force to pull the keel down. I figure a 2x4 between the wall and the keel will keep it from moving sideways.

I like the idea of boiling water inside it while it is covered. I would think a hot plate with a big pot of water would do the trick. At this point there is very little paint on the outside and even less varnish on the inside, so it should be pretty quick to penetrate.

I was watching on TV about the building a reproduction of the Jamestown the other day and they said for steaming wood, to give it an hour per inch of solid wood. Their steam oven was able to heat and steam the wood much faster and hotter than I will be able to, but that still seemed pretty quick. I did see that once it was removed, it set up in just about 5 min.

I'm not sure if it would help, but I could snap a picture or two either today or tomorrow so you all can see what I've got.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

We Love to see Pictures here at iboats,.......

If this was sitting on the Ground for 8 Years,.........

How Bad is the Rot factor,..??......Being a Wooden boat,+ Without Paint......

 

[Caddy_Kid]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

Thankfully the bottom was fiberglassed and the paint was intact where it was on the ground. I poked around the inside and outside with an awl in all the usual suspect places (garboard, transom, keel, bow, chines, etc) and found it to all be solid.

We live in the high desert area of Oregon so we get very little rain year to year. And at least the drain plug was left out. But I did make sure it wasnt a "cut up and throw away" boat before I took it on.

Could have gotten it for free, but they used to work where I do, so I paid them $50. So worse come to worse, I'm not out much. Figure it will be a good learning experience if nothing else.

I'll post a couple pictures this afternoon hopefully. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions thus far!

 

[Caddy_Kid]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

Here are some pictures of whats going on:

 

[steelespike]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

This is a little extreme but tarp the boat and somehow
pipe the exhaust/heat from one of those torpedo heaters this would give you heat and moisture from combustion. You couldn't just trap the heat it would need some sort of exhaust in order for it to burn right.Be careful not to burn things down or gas yourself.I don't think boiling water would be as affective because you would basically end up with relatively cool moisture only.Heat is a very effective side affect of the steam.
Some old time boat builders simply heated wood in a flame to heat it and bend.

 

[flashback]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

It does have a little twist in it looking at it from that transom shot.. but being a lapstrake boat, each plank is a seperate piece of the whole which means it should be easy to twist it back. just go slow.. I think I would fasten the bow down securely and then gently twist the trans little by little

 

[Caddy_Kid]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

In the transom shot, the transom is level with the floor. I was thinking the transom was actually true, and the bow had heeled over after sitting unsupported for 8 years.

So I was thinking I would keep the transom level and try to heel the bow back over to port. If nothing else, I figured it would be easier to keep the transom level rather than leveling the bow and trying to bend the transom, since the bow just sits in the knife edge of the keel. Would just about have to build a framework.

 

[seven up]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

Greetings,

This is an interesting project(pisser). And yet more advice.

I'd make a cradle matching the portside chine/gunwales as close as possible and remove the starboard frames for steaming and re-bending to the portside dimensions. the 1/4" plywood should follow the rebent frames into the shape of the cradle. should.


Enjoy

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

super cool boat, definately the old Thompson lines, which Cruises were before the new owner ship

Suggestion:
remove the windshield, build a cradle to fit the top of bow, at the wnid shield area, bolt it to the floor, turn boat over, and secure the bow to the frame with straps so it cannot move, place blocking in the center of the transom. put and eye bolt thru each side of the transom, and eye bolt into the floor or each side, now connect the eye bolts on the boat to the floor with a large turn buckle. and adjust a little every couple of days. with the bow strapped down it can move, whti the block (fulcrum) in center of the transom, loosing one turn buckle and tightening the other will pull the twist out of the boat. by using the floor you have a stable surface, to work with. of course steam of hot moist air will help. this is how we basically straighten old houses. not having any seats, or decking in it has allowed the frame work to do what it wants to. goood luck

 

[alden135]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

Buy one of those $10 Vicks Vapo-Steam things. Adding salt will increase the steam output. I can fill a whole room with steam with mine and it lasts for hours before I have to refill it.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

I think Tasha's idea is the best. The boat is going to be fairly loosey goosey anyway, so building a frame and bolting the whole mess to the floor would take the warp out. I think you find once the boat is upside down, its own weight will take some of the warp out, and straping it to the floor will remove the rest. You could then use the propane blower heater as suggested to force the hot moist air of propane combustion into the space created by the boat being upside down. That should moisturize that wood fairly quickly. You said you live in a dry environment, that is part of the problem. Wood boats need the wood to have a certain moisture content. Unless you remove every strake and reseal every joint, you'll probably find that the boat will leak when you put it in the water until the wood swells.

You might also need to lay in a strong floor and glass a bulkhead that goes from the floor up to the underside of the bow top behind the dash. That would square things up and keep it squared up. It does not need to be a solid bulkhead, it can have an access hole to get into the bow, but you do need some form of bulkhead in that area that ties to a solid floor that is in turn tied to the trued portion of the hull bottom. Otherwise when the boat dries it will want to return to the warped state.

It is a cool little woody...

 

[Caddy_Kid]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

With space constraints as well as my limited ability in doing this sort of work, I will have to keep it as simple as possible.

I'm thinking of setting the boat on the concrete to keep the keel straight. Then covering the whole thing with a heavy tarp and running a vaporizer and heater in it during the day. Since it is at work, I dont want to leave anything running overnight. I figure turn it on in the morning and then tighten the come-a-long some before I go home. That will give it 8 hours of heat and moisture. We have been getting some rain today, so humidity is at 74%. It should stay around 60%+ for most of the winter, so that will help as opposed to during the summer.

For heat I'm thinking one of those electric parabolic heaters would do the trick nicely. Just as long as it doesnt drive off the vapor. I will have to experiment with that side of it.

I think I will leave the windshield attached so that it straightens with the boat. I will remove the glass and the panels that the glass sits in, leaving just the frame.

The third picture shows what I have left of the floor support structure. This will need to be rebuilt and re-affixed to the chine area of the hull. Right now the port side is attached and touching like it should. The starboard side is fully 3" off of the hull. When all is said and done, both sides should be touching and I will probably bolt them both down from the outside in. Then lay down 1/2"+ marine plywood for the floor and attach the floor support structure to the plywood. Then make and attach the interior panels and seats. After which point I should be able to release the come-a-long and have the boat mantain its corrected shape.

At least this is the process that I have come up with that I feel I will be able to do from start to finish. I wish I had the skills and ability (as well as space) to do a more profesional job, but hopefully this will at least do the trick.

I wont be able to start until the '40 Cadillac arrives from back east, hopefully within the next month. Trucking company isnt sure of a time frame yet. I will have to move everything around when it comes to make room, and I dont really want to move the boat in the middle of the process.

Let me know what you all think. Thanks for all the suggestions, I would be stuck without them!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

jason is correct on the bracing. 99% sure when it was new the front seat was a bench seat, that had a U shaped walk thru cut out of the middle. the stern seat was a bench all the way across, with latches on each side, so it could be laid down to access the gas tanks, and battery. this was the cross bracing in that boat. it had a very simple plywood floor. nothing was glassed, only varnished or painted. my Dad love these boats, bught never bought one. we had a friend that had one. very sweet boat. the reason i say seure the bow, is, i don't think the twist is in the bow. hard for a triangle to twist. the twist is in the stearn.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

I would look into removing the lapstrake boards, straighten the keel and deck, the re-apply the lapstrake. Its a bit more work, but it will end up straight.

 

[Caddy_Kid]

Re: Straightening a warped boat?

The interior configuration does sound like what you are describing. I have very little to go off of, but the factory "care and mantenence manual" has a picture of the boat with seats laid out like that. Put alot of people into a very small space.

Good point about the transom being bent. Since the transom is on a level surface right now, I just assumed that the bow was bent. But like you said, hard to bend a triangle. I will have to check that out this afternoon.

I figure I will start with the least invasive method of straightning the boat, then can move on to more involved steps if needed. At least that way I can start with something not too far out of my comfort zone!