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CC 1952 U18 side planks on hull

Framing, planking and fairing. Repair, or reconstruction. If it's hull related, you'll find it here.

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Abraham
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Location: Southeast Michigan
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CC 1952 U18 side planks on hull

Post by Abraham » Tue Mar 09, 2021 10:04 am

Good afternoon everyone, new member and new CC owner. 1952 U18. I could use some advice. I’ve done hours of research, but still could use advice. I will be including some photos of my boat. The bottom is a true 5200 bottom and is in good condition. The boat hasn’t been in the water since 2017 and was stored in an attached garage on concrete, not humidity controlled (always stored on a hoist out of the water on Detroit River canal in Gibraltar during the summer when it was in the water). The side planks on the hull are my concern. There are gaps between a decent amount of them that have opened, the largest gap being about 1/16”. I plan on sanding down the old varnish 2-3 times (not to bare wood tho), and introducing some moisture content back into the side planks to see if they swell at all to close the gaps. I also will check the carriage bolts to see if they are tight.
If that doesn’t work...
I’ve seen people:
-use famowood filler to patch the gaps
-use mahogany cut slivers gift the gaps
-(most proper way which I want to avoid) pull the planks reset them and ad a small wood patch at the top of the splash rail to make up the space. I do intend to do this way years from now. But would prefer to just get the boat back on the water and enjoy it for some years before doing a total side hull resto.
I will also be pulling a few bungs on each side to check the screws if they are tight, need tightening, or are broke.
Boat has been restored before and carefully maintained, but has sat for quite some time as my good friend Milt no longer could work on the beautiful boat as he’s grown older. It was his pride and joy for 20+ years and I feel very honored at the age of 25 to be able to keep the legend of the Chris Craft going. Milt organized and ran the Gibraltar wooden boat show for 15 years or so before it coming to an end.
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Bilge Rat
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Re: CC 1952 U18 side planks on hull

Post by Bilge Rat » Tue Mar 09, 2021 3:13 pm

Nice you are interested in preserving Milt's hard work and to continue to appreciate these fine craft.

That said, you have pretty much identified the issue you have, plank movement from drying out. The planks will shrink at their width, usually not at their length as that's the nature of wood. You say that you will eventually be doing a restoration of the top sides and so that will govern how deep into this you want to go at this stage. For sure, Famowood is a great filler for small dings and gouges because it can be stained fairly close to match but it will not perform well as a gap filler. Once the boat is underway in the water and the wood begins to "work" it will quickly be spit out. Splining in narrow pieces of mahogany to fill these gaps is one way that can be stained and varnished to look passable but up close, you will always see those splines. It would also require some routing of the existing gaps to make then uniform enough for the splines to fit, a tedious job. Plus when you're ready to get deeper into the restoration, you will have to deal with removing these splines without damaging the planks (if you intend on keeping them).

You will also note in your pics the darkened discoloration at the topside seams and screw bungs. This is from moisture getting under there and causing the wood color change. These joints were never sealed with anything back in 1952, so this is to be expected particularly when seams open up. Proper pulling of the planks and sealing with a bedding compound/adhesive such as 3M5200 will solve this but that would be the long term solution, which as you say you are not ready to take on.

The bottom seams look good from the pictures and you say this was redone as a 3M5200 bottom. If I were in your situation, I would attempt to raise the moisture content and try launching to see if the topside seams close up any. Definitely verify fastener condition as you stated. Be certain that your bilge pump is in top condition and actually works. Watch the bilge at the launch ramp for a while to be sure.
1966 Lyman Cruisette 25 foot "Serenity Now!"
1953 Chris Craft Sportsman 22 foot "Summerwind"

jfrprops
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Location: Powhatan Courthouse Virginia
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Re: CC 1952 U18 side planks on hull

Post by jfrprops » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:35 pm

Son, we are very glad to have a young guy interested in antique boating! This old guy, looking at your pics and reading your text, gives sage advice: Get in that CC and Go Boating...those gaps are normal for the situation as your report it...if you do any filling it will just crush the grain when she swells back....run that baby.
John in Va.
1980 Fairchild Scout 30
19?? custom Argentine Runabout 16'
1954 Whirlwind deluxe dual ckpt 16'
1921 Old Town Charles River 17' (founding Captain, James River Batteau Festival)

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