I was fortunate enough to acquire a set of 7 Real Runabout (ISBN info Below) volumes and was satisfied I had come across the Holy Grail of reference. One day a colleague introduced me to a collection of books, authored by Bob Speltz, who amassed a unheard of collection of stories on Motor Boat manufacturers. When I started this business 30 years ago, the internet was in its infancy and in true form, the only access I had to the history of Motor Boats was by flipping pages in old “Motor Boating” and “Rudder" magazines. Materials and Sources gives you a roster of what we use for various tasks and where they can be sourced.In this technological age, many neglect to reference the “written word” found in books. Our Vintage Boat Preservation 101 offers some general guidance, tips and helpful links. Ours is a living library that will grow as we shoot and upload additional videos so please keep coming back to see what we have added. Here you learn the why and wherefore of each activity as well as the names and where to buy the materials and tools we use. Varnish to Die For, Snow Fields, Buffing & Polishingīe sure not to miss reading the detailed narratives that accompany each clip.Caulking-Sealing Seams Below the Waterline.Repairing Dents, Gouges & Splits – the Dutchman.How To Fasten Planks to Wood Boat Hulls.Navigating YouTube’s search engine is at best challenging, and at worst down right awful.įollowing below is a library of videos focusing on “how-to…” Our YouTube Channel, videos are organized by task. Now is the moment to take that sharing process one step further. “No! Don’t do that!” And our channel, was launched. Then one day I happened on a YouTube video offering (incorrect) guidance on bleaching wood hulls. How can we share what we are learning, including our mistakes, with other aspiring wood boat preservationists? I especially wanted to help owners and their families learn and use sources and methods that work for us. No longer intimidated by Danenberg’s blunt guidance, we also began evolving variations on his themes as we developed sources, methods and materials that delivered the highest standards of craftsmanship in a preservation environment where simply installing a new plank when an original one proves cranky just does not happen. Each of us had our own copies in addition to the one that, albeit a bit dog-eared by now, lives in the shop as I type.Īs we learned and as we first preserved “Class of ’49,” the Shepherd that started it all, and then “Little Chief,” a 1948 18’ Chris-Craft Deluxe Utility who now lives in Salzburg, Austria. Danenberg’s content is 100% actionable, if not just a bit intimidating to the uninitiated wood boat preservation wannabes like us.īut we preserved and we learned. Yes, its contents were just as true as other boat books’, but there was a major and material difference. Then Danenberg’s two volume The Complete Wooden Runabout Restoration Guide. So many of these books were packed with content that was true, but again and again, I found it wanting. Until I happened on Don Danenberg, doing so was an exercise in frustration. So… what to do? Given my 41 years as a college teacher, the answer was straightforward. An old boat is only old once, and that includes the original wood fastened to her as she left her factory. Nor would we “restore” one of these magnificent artifacts of history by replacing topside, transom and deck planking. No piece of wood that could be saved would be replaced. Ours would be a preservation shop, not a “restoration” shop. I made one decision that has guided all that we do. The challenges and techniques presented by preserving wood clock cases and movements, trimming out interior doors, and building kitchen cabinets paled by comparison to what this hulking beast that stood glowering at us would need. Even tall case clocks are miniscule compared to wood boats in general and the monstrous Shepherd.Ĭlearly I had much to learn, as did John Lafountain, an experienced finish carpenter and cabinetmaker, who would be my first employee. I knew much about wood from my 30 years preserving antique American clocks. I had just purchased my first wood boat, a 1949 22’ Shepherd utility, as I launched Snake Mountain Boatworks.
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