The Archives
Listed in order by date, from top down, the most recent date being on top.
- Cabin Beams
- Shop Guests
- Bending Wood
- Cockpit Floors
- Final Stripping
- No Label
- Tools
- Abbeygirle
- Blizzard of 2007
- Cheap Snow For Sale
- Fuel Cell
- Glue Goo and Gunk
- Grinding off the Cabins Roof
- Hat's off to Dave
- In the Kitchen
- Other work around the house
- Shop Safety
- The Bulkhead
Welcome to the Abbeygirle blog.
I am currently in the process of moving the entire "Original" blog's content and images over to this "New & Improved" site. I know, this new site looks a bit bland, but it'll be "improved" sooner or later.
The Abbygirle
(Formerly called “The Goofy Mallard”) she is a 17’ power boat made of plywood. It has a small “Cuddy Cabin” large enough to sleep one person (2 cramped). It was originally built by Kauffman Boatworks of Osprey Florida in 1960.
Over the years she has been repainted/restored several times. I don't have any more of her history just yet but, I hope to acquire as much as I can as I go along.
Have you heard of Kauffman Boat Works ?
They are no longer in business.
Please see entry on November 18, 2007... the Kauffmans have seen my old blog site and contacted me with some info & pic's of Kauffman Boatworks and my boat.
The white boat with red striping, sitting in the front of the line, closest to the road, in the banner image at the top of this page, is what my boat should look like.
Here are a few pictures that the Kauffmans have sent me. Dates are unknown.
Right: Kauffman Boat Works.
Left: George Kauffman himself.
Right: The building of a boat starts with the boat upside down.
Some books I purchased to help me with this project:
- Frame, Stem & Keel Repair by: The WoodenBoat Series
- The Fiberglass Repair and Construction Handbook by: Jack Wiley
- Wooden Boat Renovation by: Jim Trefethen
Some good links where one can read or discuss boat building & repair.
In the beginning:
I first bought this boat (formerly named “The Goofy Mallard”) in July of 2004. Some friends of mine had taken me boating and I was hooked the first time. I needed my own boat. Several months later the same guy that took me on my first boat adventure, who happened to have several boats, decided that he didn't need them all and so.... I was in.
I gotta say, the price was right. $400.00 bucks for the craft without the engine. He wanted to keep the engine for another boat, but a few weeks later he came around and sold me the 115 hp Evinrude for another $400.00.
I had taken the boat for a test ride before agreeing to buy it and noted some damage to the keel, just under the bow.
Someone had beached her in the rocks at some point in her past. They evidently tried to repair it too but, the repairs weren't of the quality that I would have preferred. The repair job itself was rotting away and the craft leaked.... a lot !
I originally intended to fix the damaged keel and put a new paint job on her and then just drop her into the water and do some fishing and relaxing. RIGHT.....................
That was in the summer of 2004. As of the latest update of this site, it is May of 2011, and the boat still sits in my garage, completely gutted and stripped to bare wood inside and out in the midst of a full restoration. New steering system (no more pulleys & cables), new 25 gallon below deck fuel tank, new seating... the works.
I recently seen a fella's website where he is building homemade wooden boats and uses his website to sorta “Journalize” their construction. So... I thought to myself, why not me ! And this brings us to “MY BLOG”.
Hope I don't bore you with my dribble...
Every ones comments are welcome.
Before we start, let me say one thing though. I am not a boat builder nor did I know anything about boats, or even woodworking, when I started this project. I have spent the majority of my adult life (25+ years) hammering across the U S of A in a tractor trailer delivering goods and commodities to people and business’ just as fast as I could. I've never taken the time to slow down, let alone learn how to do anything else with my life, so this is a major learning experience and I never move faster than what I am comfortable with.
The Goofy Mallard arrives at her new home.
This (above) is what she looked like at purchase. The windscreen is original. I know that the chrome bars extending around the bow were not part of the boat when it was built and neither was the luggage rack on the roof of the cabin.
I have no intention of restoring her to “Original” as when she was built. The craft is getting a complete overhaul though. I am intending to use two of the previous colors when I paint her but, and this boat has been painted many times. Just what those two colors are is my little secret here.
The first thing to do is inspect that damage (below) to the keel ( is that what it's called ?).
O.K. , now what do we have here ?
I see some rubbery putty looking stuff that's been “packed into and smeared around” what appears to be rotten wood on both sides of the keel guard (as well as the trailer ???). Someone (and I know who !) tried to make a “cheap fix” just to get her to stop leaking. No, it was not me.
After getting her into the garage and off of the trailer I was able to spread some paint stripper on that spot and reveal that not only was there some rotten wood but, a small section of the original wooden keel guard (about 12’ or so) had been cut out and a new piece of wood of improper dimensions (not thick enough or wide enough) had been installed. I would soon find out that this new piece of wood was not only the wrong kind of wood but, was attached with lots (too many) of the wrong kind of screws and nails, the kind that rust.
This is what doctors call “EXPLORATORY SURGERY”
There was enough rotten wood to convince me that I needed to cut a hole in the hull and inspect the keel itself. You can see the two slots that are completely rotted out. This is where too many nails and screws (of the kind that rust) were used. These slots were about 3/8” wide, 1 and 5/8” deep and 3” long each.
The keel is only 1 7/8” thick (all sides) to begin with. A couple of friends tried to tell me that it wasn't enough to worry about, but I'm pretty stubborn about some things.
I want it fixed and fixed right.
NOW THERE IS A LONG WAITING PERIOD... MONTHS !
Time to educate myself. So it’s off to Barnes and Noble !
A trip to my favorite bookstore is in order here. I ordered two books;
- Frame, Stem and Keel Repair by: The Wooden Boat Series
- Wooden Boat Renovation by: Jim Trefethen.
A couple of weeks for delivery of the books, and a few MONTHS of getting up the courage to cut that section of the keel out.
My biggest concern here is that any and all repairs that I make to this craft are done RIGHT. I don't want anyone getting hurt trying to enjoy themselves on this boat.
!!!! ESPECIALLY ME !!!!
One obstacle I encountered was how to find a piece of wood that would be suitable for the replacement section once I did get my courage up... you can't just walk into Lowe's and buy some things. That took a long time but, I finally ran into an old timer (thru my work) that takes down old barns and salvages the wood. He was able to get me a piece of 4” x 4” x 4’ white oak timber that was no doubt twice as old as my boat was. And it was straight too !
While I was waiting, I went ahead and did other things, like stripping as much of the paint as I could, removing the engine, seats and pedestals, carpeting, flooring and hardware.
??? Does anybody actually like stripping paint ???
This might be easier than I thought...
I needed to see more of the keel itself so, this meant that I had to cut a bigger hole. I didn't want to remove any more hull matter than necessary and the hole had to be identical on both sides of the hull so, I used some poster board (very thin cardboard) to make a pattern of the precise size and shape needed. I then carefully positioned that pattern on one side of the hull, lining it up with the keel on the inside edge and secured it to the hull with small tacks. After tracing out the hole on one side I flipped the pattern over and traced out the other side the same. Then I cut...very carefully, with a little help from a chisel.
After enlarging the hole in the hull, I was able to see that the first section of the keel actually ends where my finger is pointing to. It is attached to the “Gripe or Knee” using two long silicone bronze screws and resorcinol. Removing the bad section of wood now only needs 1 cut as opposed to 2 cuts in the keel.
The Keel and Gussets Installed.
The keel was attached using both epoxy and Stainless Steel bolts aft.
The forward portion of the keel was attached to the Gripe using the original Silicon Bronze screwes that were used when the boat was built.
Here you can see one of the gussets installed, and the second gusset epoxied and clamped into position. They will both be drilled and receive countersunk screws every 2" around the outer perimeters after the epoxy has set up and cured.
Hull patches
Here you see the hull patches. They are made of 3/8” okume plywood with 7 plies. I had purchased the wood thru Boulter Plywood.
The wood was shipped directly to my house here in central Illinois.
Each patch board was carefully shaped, dry fitted and clamped into place many times until I was satisfied that the shape was precise. This was a real pain, because at the time I hadn't figured out how to flip the boat over yet.
The first half (patch) took an entire day to shape. After completing the second patch, I pre-drilled each piece every 2” around the outer edges all the way around. I counter-sunk the outside holes to accommodate brass screws while the inside holes (directly over the keel) would receive silicon bronze ring-shank nails. Don't ask me why I used brass :( I don't know why I used these instead of silicon bronze like I should have. Brass, I have found out is very soft. Everything else on the boat is getting silicon bronze below the waterline and bronze or SS above.
During the entire process of making each of the gussets and patches I was lucky to have only wasted one small board due to a mistake. After making the first patch, I got the brilliant idea that the piece on the opposite side would be identical ( a mirror image) to the first. Oooooooooops ! It doesn't work this way.
I have more to put down here, but lack the time to do so. If you want to see more of my boats restoration, check out the original blog I started several years ago at The Abbeygirle blog.