The "Brass Bell" may be THE example of what I meant when I suggested that the folks who run an organization have a hard time understanding the marginal participants, both the marginal ones who do participate and the marginal ones who don't quite participate. I like the Brass Bell. It is actually lov...

While I know nothing about the finances, advertisers must be important and, I assume, they only pay for published mags.

I would have no problem with side bar ads on Boat Buzz.

Actually they might be useful to me in finding suppliers and other sites of interest.

Well that really is "special" I like the idea of eliminating the steam box for the chines Especially since at the rate I am going it is going to be cold outside by the time I get to steaming. So I'll close the garage door, turn it in to a sauna and fit chines while sweating. Wonderful thought for la...

I'm not sure what you mean by the stringers being level. I assume you mean the tops of the stringers are level all around. The next question is how do you know where the keel or chines should be relative to this plane of the top of the stringers. Since the frames were bolted to the stringers and the...

I am building my steam set up for chines and planks for my 16' boat. I have a steam box, 17' 6" X 10" X 10" I have a steam source with a 2000 w. water heater element. I understand that there are many variables for how efficient the set-up is (leaks, insulation, etc.) None the less, I need to know wh...

Observation: One trouble with management, leadership, in any organization is "social incest". These folks have a long history with each other and have a very difficult time understanding the interests of the newbies and other "marginal" participants. I am a one time "restorer" of a family "heirloom"...

Check the easy stuff first. Your grounding may not be all tight. Measure voltage from meter case to "in" should be .67 volts if the connections from battery neg. to meter case are good. If not, tighten all ground connections. If it is .67 the ground circuit is not causing the voltage. Isolate the me...

AND, they need to be absolutely clear - no knots! Good choice - replacing! Been there - didn't do that! :( Take some screws out of at least one of the side frames at the bottom frame. They may be steel as in mine. You'll know because they are tough to get out, break off, and look crappy. Once out yo...

Mine are fir, quarter sawed, dense grain.

On closer examination of your pictures it appears that your boat has all of its ties bolted to the stringers. If so, that is good because the bolts are bronze instead of steel screws in the intermediate frames which I had.

Your boat is like mine. The third picture shows a mahogany 1" X 1" strip at the top of the stringer which is a support for the floor. My stringers looked acceptable but at 60 yrs old I shared your concern, so I decided to keep the stringers and replace that floor support with a much larger one. Mine...

So, while I am composing my message above, Al is posting the answer to my "How to contribute" question. I finish and post and then see his reply. I figure, once again I have proven my own ignorance. I follow the link to the donation page and make a donation, pretty easy, pretty cool. Still, it could...

I really appreciate this organization. I do not have any real understanding of the financial side, but would pay more for the value I receive. Raising dues is probably not the answer because it is the members on the margin that would leave in that event, not those of us who value the organization th...

Smart trumps stupidity. Going fishing in the Gulf - buddy doesn't show - I never go out alone - what a perfect day - calm, sunny, boats all loaded to go - What the heck, I'll stay close to shore. Trolling over the man made structures - not being bothered by the fish - start a slow wide turn for home...

They may work like this, if they are for the ammeter. They would provide a low known resistance path for the current flowing through the circuits to the engine ground. A high resistance "shunt" would be connected across the "ammeter" terminals. (This shunt maybe external to the "ammeter" or internal...

Phil, My boat is on casters on a frame I built that serves the same purpose as your horses. After the bottoms were removed, to level the boat I first locked the casters. I then shimmed between the horses and the stringers until I had the top of the stringers leveled. I then put my blocks under the t...

I got so carried away by the mess I've made, I didn't think about how I would do it from where you are. I assume you are taking the bottom off. If I was there I would block up the boat referencing to the top of the stringers and blocks from the floor to the top deck. Next, before removing any frames...

Here is a not so good picture of how to use the laser level. The paper is there so you can see the laser line. It is taped to a shim. I nailed a cross piece to the thick end of the shim and made a pencil mark on the shim exactly 12" above the cross piece. I clamped the shim to the stringer with the ...

The simple answer to your question is a laser level and blocks supporting the boat at the top deck. It doesn't matter whether the floor is level. In fact I think the biggest problem is that there is no "level line" in the boat except the top side of the engine stringers, and nothing else is parallel...

I have seen several people looking for their boats numbers stamped into the boat. I looked all over for mine and had decided there were none. But I found one on the port engine stringer immediately aft of the engine mounting points. It was completely filled with many coats of paint. So, who knows if...

Ever notice how many "experts" surface once it is known that you are working on an old boat? Finally I got a really interesting bit of lore from such a guy. He told me that: All Chris-Crafts had a piece of birch included in their construction in honor of the canoe heritage of Michigan. I have to adm...

What's a "Bonnie Boat"?

How about this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/picture/2011/sep/02/1

I will now define failure as a condition of the stringer that a prudent person would insist on replacement or substantial reinforcement before further use in a stringer without "active" rot. I would not have proposed this definition when I started this thread. I was seeking evidence of catastrophic ...

I understand that, if in doubt -- replace. However, I am undecided in regard to my engine stringers. My 65 yr old CC 16' runabout has 65 year old stringers. The auxiliary frames were fastened with steel screws which introduced iron rot at those joints. There is some discoloring from oil contaminatio...

Well this thread has been high jacked to a discussion of EPDM. I found a source of the material in buckets and e-mailed a question about boat bottom use. The reply was that it would work but is not recommended. I am not going to risk my project to an unproven material. I would not use sheets anyway ...

Duh, my ignorance astounds even me!

Still, I am learning stuff -- that's why I came.

3000 is really impressive but I just noticed that each of Al's posts in this thread have the same count number. This means that Al is even more prolific than I thought. The count must be a count of discussions to which he has contributed. His actual number of posts must be thousands more. Thanks Al,...

I don't want to high jack njanous's post so please reply to him if you can help.

I'll be steaming in a few weeks near Columbus, OH.

I don't have a steam source and plan on borrowing a propane turkey fryer. If anyone has a steam set up in my area, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

I don't do well with terminology. Most stuff is "that thing". So I don't know what someone else calls a traditional bottom. But I think I am installing at least a version of a traditional bottom. My inner bottom will be mahogany planks as original instead of plywood. That cloth stuff is to be replac...

The post war runabouts deserve consideration. They are nice boats and there were lots of them. They popularized "speed boats" in the '40s and '50s. Their 4 cylinder engines were a perfect match for the boats. I would suggest they were the most significant CC's ever. Real Chris Crafts that anyone cou...