1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

[218chriscraft]

I, like many of you, got a boat for a "good deal" from a friend. Just by inspection I knew that it needed ALOT of TLC. I normally work on cars 60's to 80's and know how to work with fiberglass & engines, But I lack the knowledge of wood, and the in-board out-board outdrives in boats. I figure I could learn and restore this beauty. The wood in the boat has been destroyed by termites (see pictures). Which I figured on the good side all the wood will be easy to take out now, however, I am unsure with what type of wood to replace the stringers/ribs. I have read many posts about PT wood and Marine grade wood, and every type of wood for transoms and floors, but nothing on stringers. Please do not start another post fighting on PT vs. normal wood. My question is simple, my stringers/ribs under the floor board are about 3/4" thick X 7" wide is this just plywood coated fiberglass? OR is it 2x10's cut down to 3/4" thick? I have about a month off of work and a good budget so any suggestions are excepted. Also much of the stringers are T'ed together i.e. fiber glassed in perpendicular. Were/Are fasteners used to hold the stringers together and then fiber glassed in the hull? Like I said before, I am new to the boat restoring world, but I can follow good instructions. Thanks for your future replies.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

Welcome to iBoats!

Chris Craft is one of the Finest Hulls Made! You have a GREAT PROJECT. When you are finished with her she will serve you well for Decades. Most of the guys on here use Ext. Grade Plywood for their stringers. 3/4" Arauco Plywood is some pretty good stuff. I can also recommend that you use laminating Polyester resin 1.5oz CSM mat, and 1708 Biaxial cloth. I have included some drawings to help you visualize how everything is fabricated. Hope they help

(Click the Pics to Enlarge)



3/4" Stringers




Decks


Transoms

 

[218chriscraft]

Re: 1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

Thanks that helped out a lot!!! Ill have to post the finished project so you can see how I did...

 

[218chriscraft]

Re: 1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

Well after a lot of time and searching I finally starting building a gantry. I ending up finding this one off another websites forum and it cost about $150.00 dollars to make. Man, bolts are expensive but building it saved me about $500.00 dollars beings that harbor freight with their "china metal" was the cheapest prefab gantry around. Alot of people knock on building gantries out of wood, by saying they would not hold the weight, but you have to think, planes are made out of wood, roller coasters are made out of wood, buildings are made out of wood. So for all the nay sayers out there that are against wood and the ability to withstand a little 500lb engine I say booya! Here's that URL for that thread. http://www.v-driveboat.com/showthread.php?4253-Wood-Gantry Also it said to use two 2x4's for the legs, and where I live somehow 2x4's longer than 4 feet are always warped so I just used 4x4's.

 

[218chriscraft]

Re: 1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

Here's mine, Ill have to hold off on pictures until I can find out how to down size the ones I have already taken. Also a quick question... It seems that Chris Craft encased wood throughout the bottom half of the boat i.e. for the ladder, transom, etc. I read on other forums people have taken off the cap or top half of the boat by unscrewing the sides and it somehow pops off. Is this hard? Is there some type of glue they use to keep them together too or is it just screws? I think I would make my life a LOT easier if I could do this... So any feed back is great!

 

[218chriscraft]

Re: 1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

FYI, To easily downsize your pictures just open them in "paint", zoom out, and save. They should now be smaller.
As for the rest of the picture here they are:

 

[218chriscraft]

Re: 1993 218 CD ChrisCraft restore wood questions

After ripping the engine out I was able to do some work on the floor. Mainly foam and termites.