Penobscot 17 rebuild

[Melissa Goudeseune]

To remove the deadwood, I had drilled out the two aft mounting bolts. The resulting mess was cleaned up and filled prior to reinstalling.

Masking tape marks the edges of where the deadwood will mount:

There was a slight twist in the deadwood. We clamped a 2x4 to the deadwood and the transom, and used a rope to pull it straight. Here I am tying a butterfly knot as part of a trucker's hitch:

Tightening the mounting screws from underneath the boat:

The deadwood, installed:

[Melissa Goudeseune]

Moving on, I did a number of repairs and upgrades to the spars.

The mainmast was slightly smaller in diameter than the new mast tube. I applied a few layers of fibreglass at the level of the deck, tapered to avoid a stress riser, and compressed it with handheld stretch wrap.

A layer of fibreglass was also added to the masthead. The halyard slot was closed up by the fibreglass, and was cut open after the epoxy had cured.

The mizzen mast required more work. At deck level, it was significantly smaller than the mast tube, and it was not round. Rather than make the mast step to fit the mast, I opted to make the mast fit the round tube. Here you can see the difference in shape:

Oak shims were installed, cut to the same thickness as the stacked tongue depressors:

Plywood filled in the gaps between the oak shims. This is the plywood being glued in place, clamped with latex surgical tubing and stretch wrap:

After gluing, the shims were further tapered to provide a fair transition. The entire assembly was also wrapped in fibreglass.

The new fit is much closer:

This is the mizzen boom, as built. The parrel beads are not necessary for the boom, and were removed.

The jaws of the boom were removed and re-glued. A layer of fibreglass was also applied to the jaws, and wrapped with stretch wrap to clamp:

The ends of the other spars were also wrapped in fibreglass:

After the structural repairs, the ends were coated with thin epoxy as a fill coat. Then, they were varnished over their full length. The challenge with this is avoiding drips. I used my rotisserie to slowly rotate the spars during these operations, until the epoxy or varnish had reached the tacky stage.

As some of the spars were out of round, I used an ABS collar to drive the mast, with tapered shims to hold it in position.

Here is the rotisserie in action, from several viewpoints:

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[Melissa Goudeseune]

A few small voids were caulked, prior to painting.

The first half of the hull, with primer. Thanks to my brother Camille who helped with painting.

More primer:

The primer was taking some time to dry, so I put the boat onto the trailer, upside-down, and pulled it outside to sit in the sun for a few days.

My Tanzer 22 is waiting patiently in the background:

Once the paint was dry, the boat was lifted off the trailer and placed back on sawhorses. The spreader bars keep the ropes from rubbing on the (not-quite-cured) paint.

[Melissa Goudeseune]

As built, the forward edges of the seats were straight. A close look at the plans showed that as designed, they are curved, which is much more visually pleasing.

I used a box beam for support, and a long fibreglass batten to mark the curves. Offsets were taken from the plans, and marked on the bulkheads to give the designed position for the inboard edge of each seat.

I used the old seats as the basis for the templates, adding cardboard to the edges to mark the curves. A bit of plywood tetris found the best position on the new wood to minimize waste. The seats were cut out with a jigsaw.

Fitting the new seats into the boat:

One of my concerns with the old seats was their tendency to flex in the fore-aft direction. I installed stiffening ribs to the bottom of the seats, to prevent this.

The forward edge of the seats previously had an oak trim strip applied, affixed with several screws. I opted for the structural alternative, and glued a plywood trim strip to the front edge. The alignment blocks are covered with packing tape, and the trim was left extending past the seat edges at this time.

Once the trim edge was secure, a second piece of 1/4" ply was glued directly behind it. The edges didn't align exactly.

Each seat was clamped to the table of the MechMate, and a surfacing bit used to level the edges of the trim. Afterwards, the corners were radiused on a regular router table.

With the seats structurally complete, their lower faces were painted prior to installation.

[Melissa Goudeseune]

All mating surfaces for the seats were then masked off, and the inside was painted.

With the seats not yet installed, it was possible to paint the complete interior of the boat. There is still epoxy and fibreglass work to be done on the upper section, so it was not painted at this time.

Hidden areas (fore + aft compartments, and underneat the seats) were painted white. The centre section of the planking and bulkheads were painted the same colour as the hull.

What she looks like, with the seats temporarily in place:

[Melissa Goudeseune]

I made new oarlock caps of 3/4" baltic birch. I had considered hardwood, but the gunwales will be painted, so fancy hardwood seemed unnecessary.

The holes for the sockets were drilled in situ with a forstner bit. The lower section was drilled out to 1/2" diameter as a drain, and the exposed edges were later coated with epoxy to seal the end grain inside the hole.

[Melissa Goudeseune]

The new electrical system, if I can even call it that, will be absurdly simple compared to what I removed.

The boat used to have two group-24 batteries forward (at 60 pounds each!), a large master switch, heavy-gauge wire to power the trolling motor, 12ga wire for the nav lights... all this on a daysailer!

The new nav lights are LED units. Total current draw is about 40 mA. I'll be looking for the smallest 12V battery I can find.

To keep the wiring neat, I installed conduit below the seats. Holes were drilled through the bulkheads, edges sealed with epoxy, and then the conduit glued in place.

At the bow, the conduit terminates at buklhead 1. A single hole penetrates the bulkhead; the wire will be sealed with glue or caulking, keeping the compartment watertight.

Two holes between bulkheads 2 and 3 will allow the wire to reach the battery and switch. The switch was deliberately not mounted near the helm. It will not be operated frequently, so quick access to the switch is not necessary.

Drain holes were installed amidships, to prevent any chance of standing water in the conduit, from splashing, immersion or condensation.

At the aft deck, the conduit passes through the watertight compartment, but does not have any openings into the compartment. This allows the wire for the stern light to be protected, while still preventing water ingress. The conduit will be glued in place at bulkhead 6 and at the deck.

[Melissa Goudeseune]

The mizzen-mast step was glued in place with a large number of clamps. I did not want to install any screws into the keel, to prevent any possible water ingress.

Most of the clamps hold the 2x4 across the opening. Two cedar shims (covered in packing tape) press the step against the bulkhead, and a spreader clamp holds the step down while the glue dries.

With both mast steps installed, the next challenge was to align the mast tubes. There isn't sufficient vertical clearance in my workshop to raise the masts , so I used two 4-foot levels to align them. I first leveled the boat athwartship, and then adjusted the main-mast tube to be perfectly vertical. Then the mizzen-mast tube was adjusted to match.

The (mis)alignment was easiest to see with some of the lights off, sighting between the two levels, with a white background:

This is the mainmast tube, cut to length. The upper brace is only clamped at this point.

Alignment blocks were used when gluing both braces to the bulkheads:

In the interim, the mast tubes were painted white (not pictured).

For installation, glue was applied to the mast step and the tube, and a temporary block inserted. Glue was then applied to the upper edge, the block removed, and the tube lowered into position and clamped.

The main-mast tube:

The mizzen-mast tube:

[Melissa Goudeseune]

The old breasthook was installed, securely glued.  The guideboard alinged it with the top face of the gunwales.

 

 

 

I wanted to have the new foredeck in one piece, with no joints partway.  This meant it had to pass around the sides of the stem.  I made a template with cardboard, transferred that to hardboard, and used that to make a cutout on the plywood.

 

 

 

 

The outboard edges were trimmed roughly to size.  Final trimming was done after installation:

 

 

Stiffening ribs were added to the bottom face.  The mast hole, rough-cut to 2" diameter, provided a handy location for a clamp.

 

 

 

A 1/8" plywood spacer was glued on the breasthook, to fill the gap between the breasthook and the foredeck.

 

 

 

Ready for installation.  Screw holes were circled in red, so I didn't accidentally hide them with glue.

 

 

 

 

Screws were pre-installed in all locations.  In this manner, they served as stand-offs, holding the deck proud of the glue.  Turning the screws allowed me to gradually lower the deck into position.

 

 

 

 

Applying glue:

 

 

 

 

The foredeck clamped in place:

 

 

 

Looking inside the foredeck compartment for glue squeeze-out...

 

 

 

... and using an inspection mirror to look inside the mast tube:

 

 

I built a router sled to cut the hole for the mast tube, and to trim the aft edge of the foredeck.  An angle gauge was used to measure the angle between bulkhead 1 and the foredeck.  Then the sled was built to hold the router perfectly vertical, aligned with bulkhead 1.  The router bit is a flush-cut with bearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What it looks like, completed (and the resulting sawdust disaster):

 

 

 

[Melissa Goudeseune]

The oak gunwale caps were reinstalled on most sections of the boat, and then trimmed to the exact size of the gunwale.

 

 

 

One section of the gunwale near the bow was actually loose, with a thin piece of wood that had been scarfed in.  I drilled a few holes and injected glue.  At this stage of the project, I didn't want to start taking apart the gunwale.

 

 

The forward-most sections of the gunwale cap were actually partially rotten, so I decided to renew them with plywood instead.  The ply was installed oversize, and then trimmed to the exact size with a flush-trim router bit after the glue had dried and the screws were removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plans call for a gunwale cap on the transom.  One had never been fitted.  I cut a strip of 1/4" Baltic Birch ply, which would easily conform to the curve.

 

As the transom had been cut at a bevel, I used bamboo to help fill the v-shaped gap.  Numerous guide blocks were used to align the cap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bridge across the opening was removed after the glue dried:

 

 

 

 

[Melissa Goudeseune]

The seats were installed next.

 

I added an extension to the rear thwart seat, as a place to mount the sheet blocks.  I'm used to having the mainsheet on my Tanzer right at hand, so I'm reluctant to install cleats at the coaming or elsewhere, where I'm not normally attuned to reaching for them instinctively.

 

The profile was cut on the seat top, then an oversize doubler added, and trimmed with a flush-cut router bit to match.

 

 

 

Two quarter-round pieces were added to the bottom face, which will add strength when glued to the bulkhead.  There's nothing to clamp on a quarter-round, so a wood block was clamped inbetween, and that block was clamped to the seat.

 

 

 

The outboard thwart seats were installed first.  This allowed me to use the cleats as a clamping surface.  Once the longitudinal seats are installed, those cleats are inaccessible.

 

 

 

 

The aft deck (enclosing the flotation compartment) was made in three pieces, to facilitate installation.  The outboard pieces were first installed:

 

 

 

 

The transom knees were temporarily installed to clamp the seats in place.  A 2x4 block was clamped to each knee, as my spreader clamps did not fit between the knee and the deck.

 

 

A look under the aft deck:

 

 

 

Forward seats installed:

 

 

Stern seats installed:

 

 

The centre section of the aft deck was difficult to clamp.  I didn't want to install any screws into the deck.  A 2x4 beam was clamped against the transom knees.  A second 2x4 was clamped against the gunwale, and further braced with a rope tied under the boat with a trucker's hitch.  These provided a bearing surface for a number of spreader clamps.

 

 

 

 

 

The middle sections of the athwartship seats were now installed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last part of the deck to be installed was two strips at the top of the centreboard trunk.  Guide blocks covered with packing tape kept them aligned to to the inside face of the trunk.  Several long bar clamps extended through to the bottom of the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, an epoxy fillet was applied around the perimeter of the seats.  On the longer seats, a section of biaxial fibreglass was applied at the corner, to help secure the seat to the structure of the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Melissa Goudeseune]

The existing transom knees were oak.  I wasn't happy with the irregular shape, or the grain running in the wrong direction (fore-aft).  Knees should have the grain at a 45-degree angle across the joint.

 

 

I decided to make new knees from plywood.  While hardwood is preferable, 1-1/4" thick Baltic Birch should suffice in this application.  Here is one of the new knees next to the old ones:

 

 

The simplest way to shape the knees was using my MechMate CNC router.  I designed the shape and cut it out of 1/2" plywood.

 

 

An oversize piece of 3/4" ply was glued to each knee.  After the glue dried, the excess was cut away with a mitre saw (straight cuts) and a flush-cut router bit (rounded edge).

 

 

 

 

 

To match the bevel at the transom, I clamped a piece of wood next to the knee, and measured the angle.  These cuts were made on the mitre saw, with the workpiece very securely clamped.

 

 

 

 

 

Test fitting the knees, and deciding on a location for the stern cleats:

 

 

 

The mounting screws were installed from outside, including on the transom.  With the transom painted, there was no need to avoid recessed hardware on the transom face.

 

 

The knees, glued in place.  The two small holes are for the mizzen sheet bridle.  The patterns of four holes are for the stern cleats.  The one large hole is for the stern navigation light.