Grand Laker restoration

Trailer adjusted to fit, and shrink wrapped for January travel

 

Recent winter storms in New England not only dumped lots of snow and knocked power out, but the roads were full of salt and ice preventer.

 

Wrap likely wont last the 1000km, but will get us over the majority of the way without a layer of salt and dirt inside

Not too much overhang, not bad for a full 19'8"

 Ready to roll, a mild weekend thaw was the perfect opportunity to run to Maine to retrieve it

 Somewhere around Albany NY it started to slowly unravel, but no matter since the sun was out and the pavement was dry

Unloaded and unwrapped before it goes in the shop

New rails tied inside, to be installed as part of a working restoration

 

Solid stem, planks and ribs. 

Solid transom and thwarts, broken rails

 

Spruce rails will be replaced with ash. 

 

 Seat and knees are solid

Transom plates inside and out to keep the engine bracket from biting into the wood

 

Half ribs, interior is a candidate for sealing and painting with marine enamel, and will likely get painted. Fiberglass is well adhered so wont be removed, work starts next week

WD40, busted knuckles and progress

An hour makes a big difference, along with the air tools. No need for the torch yet!

All to be blasted and put back on, except the fenders that are galvanized

 

LED lights, and bunks to be reworked

 

Main frame to be knocked down next, all to head into the blaster

 

Almost apart, shackle bolts and leaf springs to come off the axles

Trailer build

Need a trailer for the 20' Grand Laker for next spring, the trailer we have is way overbuilt for a boat under 200 lbs, and heavier than it need be.  A lightly sprung boat trailer is in order, but altered and stretched to accommodate the length.

Nicely fit trailer above

Nice lightweight trailer, but too much hanging off the back to support a 90lb engine for the longer trips we'll be doing

Supported transom, nice unit

Lengthened to fit, maybe a bit overbuilt

EZ Loader model, this one galvanized and close to $1500 all in and still needing modification. We'll be a third of that all in.

Dragged this POS home with no spare and one light working. Apparently was in the mood for risk taking during a 2 hour drive. Thank you Kijiji ? lol

Made it okay, which is good since there was no real back up plan. 

Bolted together frame, will be totally dismantled, blasted clean and painted, and reassembled with new hardware. 

How do you bend the crappy welded on jack?

Likely the same mishap that bend the coupler. 1 7/8, will be changed to 2" when the new longer tongue is put on 

New LED lights will take care of this sweet wiring harness

Overall solid,  just not pretty.

Half way to making it home

Nice quality finned hubs

5 bolt hubs, 12" tires will fit great, or any combination of rim/tire with a 4 1/2" on center pattern. 

First is knocking it down...

New Cruiser build - Christmas Eve Steambending

Spruce rails, necessary and authentic, either bend easily or completely fail if there is a knot or cross grain in the area of the bend. 

This one had a small knot, discovered after milling, figured a 50/50 chance of success, and came up short

The reason we mill 3 at a time

 

Steaming away while the temperature was at 0

On the way to 200, after ends soaked for a day 

 

Right around the forms after 10-15 minutes 

Not entirely dry, still flexible to get on the form 

Nice curve established

On the form ready the stems to be set, then ribs and planking. 

more to come.

Equipment upgrades

A great deal came around and has allowed us to upgrade to a 2hp dust collector from the current 1hp unit, and to move from 110v to 220.

The biggest improvement is the 2hp 220v planer, up considerably from a bench top Ridgid that uses replaceable blades that are designed to not be able to be resharpened. Besides the cost and flimsier construction, it struggled with larger hardwoods and was at capacity. This is a vast improvement

A shaper is a great new addition for making pieces like gunwales. Looking forward to using this in the future.

 

Nice big old Walker Turner jointer, still tagged DND, Department of National Defence and obviously sold of as surplus. Likely move this on to a new owner as we've already rebuilt a Delta thats in use.

 

220v motors, always good to have and hard to find at good prices , even the offshore units. Tuck these away for the future

Prefire Cruiser replica, finishing touch

The shape is right, on to a second build after the first found a new owner.

A party being guided by Thomson

 Thomson loaded and heading out

 Decks fit before the crown is carved into them 

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 Correct circular cut out, the guide models did not have the heart shaped deck the pleasure models originally had during the early period of construction

 Plain maple deck with slight crown

During 1917 when Tom Thomson died in Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, Canadian currently was largely opposite of what we use today. Nickles and dimes were tiny, and pennies were still large. The small pennies we knew until recently removed from circulation, weren't introduced until 1926.

Measuring at 1" in diameter, a forstner bit makes a perfect countersunk hole to mount in the deck. 

A test in an old deck from a past restoration shows well, this will be a nice touch to any future boats we build. 

Classier than a decal!