Thinking ahead Eventually, we’ll need to paint the hull. Whatever product we choose, we want it to be something that has the least negative effect on the marine environment. That means a lot of researching and learning about anti-fouling. For our non-boaty readers, “biofouling” (or, as the cool kids call it, “fouling”) is the accumulation of marine plants, animals and other organisms that gunge up the bottom of a boat.… Read More »Adventures in Anti-fouling
Today, I’ve been looking for beer stein manufacturers based on maker’s marks. And this, naturally, has me wanting to share the story. I’ve got 2 beer steins with pewter lids. They were given to me after my dad died, and had belonged to my uncle who passed away a few years before my dad. I’m considering selling the steins and wanted to research their maker’s marks, so, I packed a… Read More »Beer Stein Stories
Chris-Craft has been making boats since 1874. In WW2 they manufactured landing craft, LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), also called “Higgins Boats” after the inventor. These boats were designed to be quickly and economically built, were fast, had a shallow draft, and could carry soldiers as close to shore as possible. As a result, they were made out of plywood. After the war, Chris-Craft began making plywood boat kits that… Read More »Hull Numbers and Chris Craft Archives
We removed the forward deck after discovering that the wood under the fibreglass decking surface was wet and rotting in places, and was the cause of some of the leaks from the topside. When that was done, we discovered ‘dry rot’ on the sheer boards. The sheer boards are a part of the overall framing of the boat. To resolve this problem, we weighed the pros and cons of a… Read More »Wooden Boat Report: Dry Rot & Progressive Bevels
When we got the boat, the first order of operation was to clean the bilge, which was a filthy, mucky, oily primordial ooze that hadn’t been cleaned in eons. We tried using vinegar, but that didn’t really work. Then we used laundry detergent, and that worked a bit better. Finally, we used a product called Oil Lift which worked very well. We scrubbed and scrubbed, then rinsed with fresh water… Read More »What to do with dirty bilge water
In April, we bought a 26′, 1969 Chris Craft Cavalier Futura. Now we’re refurbishing it, and learning so much. Stay tuned.