New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

[Stoutcat]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Beautiful boat...

If yours ends up looking like the one in the old B & W pic, I'd rename the boat to "The Joker"... Looks like Nicholson in "Batman".



Alan

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Just wanted to throw a bunch more pix at ya. Feelin good about the deconstruction. A ton of bare wood in this baby. Still no rot.

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Cool mouse nest, complete with skulls. Remember that delam in the transom? I am very sure it happened in the factory. It's more like a nolam than a delam. The outside layer is thick and the inside layer is thin. Should be easy to fix.

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Here are some more pix with the cool stringer system. First shot is looking toward the bow. The last is toward the stern.

 

[oops!]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

man.......what a hull.

the forcastle just looks sooo.......skookum.

and those stringers......no problem glassing over those puppies......it looks like they just threw the cardboard tubes between the bulkheads....and glassed the whole thing togeather.......wild concept.....fast on the assmebly line.......a 5 minit stringer job.


and i cant beleive you aint found rot yet.....!......that just aint fair !

 

[mthieme]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Skookum ??????
I just had to google that...got my lesson for the day!

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

and those stringers......no problem glassing over those puppies......it looks like they just threw the cardboard tubes between the bulkheads....and glassed the whole thing togeather.......wild concept.....fast on the assmebly line.......a 5 minit stringer job.

You are right on the money. Very easy to glass. I saw a couple of the stringers going under the notched-out bulkheads, but you are right, most are in-between.

I don't know if you can see in the pix, but the bulkheads are bullnosed. This permits covering the wood around the edge with the glass. Hmmm.... does this give anybody ideas?? Bullnosed stringers perhaps? Looks like it is more of a challenge to get the screw in the edge of the plywood though. But worth it for easy fiberglassing.

I will be re-drilling all the limber holes a bit and sealing them with epoxy. Apart from a couple of nail holes to fill with 5200, it seems good to go. Every core sample came out solid, and all the glass/resin is strong/solid. No damage to hull. No cracks. What do you all think? What else should I be looking for?

 

[woosterken]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Artpop,
check your PM box
sent you some more info

woosterken

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Just a check in to let 'yall know we are still at it. OK... is there a slower than snails pace? Anyway, here are a couple of pics. I have been looking on CL lately for parts and materials to help out with the budget. So far we have scored a nice garmin fish finder for $10. A very cool stainless steel power inlet for $10. A new bilge pump switch for $10. Pics show progress on the transom rebuild. We are about 98% done removing the old plywood. We just completed cutting out the template. Ready to grind and add a layer of biax to the skin in prep for the new plywood. It turned out that the delam (or lack of lamination) was the inside most layer of mat (the one laid up onto the plywood in Bellingham.) The pic shows that it was not laminated about 2/3 the way up from the bottom. I noticed only three places where the plywood was clamped-on during the original construction.
There was a lip at the bottom of the hull that prevented the plywood layer from seating against the inner surface of the outer skin (does that make any sense?) I intend to grind off the lip to prevent that from happening again. Or should I just cut the plywood a tad shorter and go on top of the lip/seam? I am confused as to why there is a lip there in the first place. So… to attach the transom plywood, I will use some homemade epoxy putty, with wood flour and cabosil. I want to screw it with temporary angle iron to the outer skin using existing holes and a few new ones to do a better lamination. Then I’ll putty around the edges to attach the transom to the sides of the hull. Blah Blah Blah, This is all laid out pretty clear in many other posts. So I’ll just shut up now. TTFN.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

seal the bottom edge of the wood real good, don't worry about the lip, just fill in between them. i'm really glad to see someone took the old girl, and will make a new philly our of her.

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

It has been a long time since our last post, so I wanted to put some pix of the progress. We just went to the wooden boat show at Lake Union in Seattle. It was a kick in the pants to get us going on the resto.

I think I have read all the threads here regarding transom rebuilds, but am still not sure how to finish-off the top of the transom. I knew I wasn't going to make the sharp corner over the top when laying up the inner skin (especially with the thick biax I used). And I am not sure how to make a good joint from the top to the outer skin. Can anyone point me to the right thread for this job?

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Hello Artpop!

I actually remember the previous owners thread very well, her father had passed away and was asking what the boat was worth in our opinion...
I am very happy to see that the "CAN DO" is having another shot at life.

Best of luck in your resto, I'll be looking forward to following along with many others here

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Hello Artpop!

I actually remember the previous owners thread very well, her father had passed away and was asking what the boat was worth in our opinion...
I am very happy to see that the "CAN DO" is having another shot at life.

Best of luck in your resto, I'll be looking forward to following along with many others here

Thanks CheapboatKev, I am really falling in love with this boat the more we dig into her.

We have been out of town for 3 weeks. I went and bought a canoe while on the road. It was painful seeing so many lakes and not being ON them. I fixed it up and left it at the In-laws. They live on Emigrant Lake in So. Oregon. We were able to take it out 5 times while we were there.

Here are some shots I have been meaning to post of the progress on "CAN DO"

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

I think we just reached a milestone. All done putting a layer of epoxy and glass cloth on all the stringers and frames. Re-drilled all the limber holes larger and sealed with epoxy. Now we are ready to put down the sole. I would like to know anybody's opinion about deck drains. The factory sole had no drainage to the bilge. So what's the best way to go? Shouldn't we have a way for rain water etc. to get out. BTW the sole is below the waterline. I have not installed the plumbing for the bilge pumps yet. I am still wondering if I want to pump through the stern or the port.

We also had fun making emblems from rtv molds and epoxy resin. It was much easier than I thought it would be. No bubbles using the "bombs away" casting method.

 

[andgott]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Looking great! The Bell Boy is a real classic cruiser- You are lucky to have one, and it's lucky YOU found it! Certainly a worthwhile restoration project.

 

[jonesg]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Are you sure the deck doesn't drain into the splashwell ?
I wouldn't want the deck to drain into the bilge but some boats might be designed like that.
Mine self bails into the splashwell then drains out the back.
Enough water finds its way to the bilge as it is.

I would consider adding a second bilge pump with an auto float switch wired direct to the battery,
500GPM isn't much, they don't really LIFT 500gpm, thats just advertisement.
You're way under capacity as things stand now.

I installed my auto switched pump 6 inches higher than the other pump so its not constantly flicking on and off from water in the bilge and stays out of the flotsam junk that inevitebly accumulates there.
Heres a good bilge pump primer.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/bilge_pumps.htm


Great looking classic anyway.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

most bilge outlets are one the side were the helm is. this allows the operator to see the bilge flow.

 

[Artpop]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

Are you sure the deck doesn't drain into the splashwell ?
I wouldn't want the deck to drain into the bilge but some boats might be designed like that.
Mine self bails into the splashwell then drains out the back.
Enough water finds its way to the bilge as it is.

I would consider adding a second bilge pump with an auto float switch wired direct to the battery,
500GPM isn't much, they don't really LIFT 500gpm, thats just advertisement.
You're way under capacity as things stand now.

I installed my auto switched pump 6 inches higher than the other pump so its not constantly flicking on and off from water in the bilge and stays out of the flotsam junk that inevitebly accumulates there.
Heres a good bilge pump primer.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/bilge_pumps.htm


Great looking classic anyway.

Thanks jg, The two pump idea is what I had in mind. I have a 500G for the main to conserve battery. Perhaps it should be 1000G. I am thinking 1500G or even 2000G for the backup. Like you say, "higher than" the main. The sole is only 3 inches max from the bottom, so I think 3 inches up will have to be it for the backup. I don't want water coming up onto the deck before the backup pump kicks in.

The deck drainage problem still has me stumped. The sole is below the waterline, so I can't drain it to the splashwell. Maybe pump it from a sump to the splashwell? That would make 3 pumps.


Thanks TD, Good to know. I will outlet the pumps to the Port (if I keep the helm on the Port) I am toying with the idea of switching to Starboard helm.

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

what a neat boat, doing a great job of resto too!

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: New life for 56 Bell Boy cruiser

When I was growing up a guy on our block had one very similar to yours but it had twin outboards on it. Don't know the size of the outboards but I used to walk home from school everyday and look at that boat and think sure looks cool to have two motors on the back of such a small boat. Great project keep at it.