1964 Burchcraft DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's Spring 2011 and I'm done.  The boat is done, the motor works and I'm happy!  Hope you enjoy the last pictures I've posted!

Almost there!!!!

Well as you can see, I've finished the bow, carpeted the inside floor and put dark stained cherry wood on the inside to spruce it up a bit.  I've got to put a varnish on the bow to protect it and then...we'll see if the motor works or not. HA!  I really don't even know if it works, I haven't tried it.  If not...then I've got a really nice row boat.  But I believe it will work. Lord Willing!  Enjoy all the new pics I've put up.  Thanks.

April 2011 Done With the Bottom

Well, April 3 and I'm done with the bottom YEA!  Painted and sealed with high gloss sealer. Yea. Thanks Don. This week I will be turning the boat over (For the last time I hope) and start back on the bow, the floor, and everything else.  I'm really going to try to make the inside very nice lined with resawn cherry wood. Well. That's all for now. I'm getting tired of looking at boat bottom photos. Ready for some new stuff.

March 2011 First Blog!! Still working! Nearing the End

Well, with all the rain here in Washington State work on the boat stopped for a while. But a friend allowed me this spring to put my boat in his shop and work on it in the dry which put me way far ahead.

Got all the fiberglass work done on the bottom, still have to repaint it. Right now I'm working on cutting wood strips of cherry to put on the bow.  I'll just post some pics so you can see what I've done.

4th post of restoration project

Well, I still have to put 2 more floor joists in but that'll come in a couple of weeks. I sprayed the inside of the bow and the floor with Elastomeric paint.  The paint expands and moves with the boat instead of cracking.  I primed the inside sides with an oil based primer and will spray the inside tan a little later.

I have FINALLY scraped and cleaned the steering wheel (I think the hardest part of the project so far), primed it and painted it an Almond gloss.

Now for the part I really enjoyed and am very proud of.  As you can see in the pics, the steering column had a very heavy chrome cover over it.  No only was it scratched but also painted on and anything I did to it just scratched it more.  It is very tough so I had to get tin snips and channel locks to rip it off.  Then the fun part, really...I enjoyed it...

I took little strips of  dark walnut and cut them in customized triangle strips, beveled the edges and glued them on one by one like a custom puzzle until I worked my way all the way around.  I sanded very carefully until it was smooth all around and all the edges fit together.  I double coated the inside with Gorilla Wood glue and specialized super glue.

Once smooth, I stained the wood steering column cover and added several coats of lacquer for a nice sheen. I think it's going to look so cool sitting up against the cherry wood dash board!

I've also got the first bow rib up and in place.

Calm Seas,
Dan

3rd post of Restoration

It is now July 28, 2010 just 18 days after my boat purchase and I am very surprised at how fast it's going.  Of course I get up early and try to work on things that are not TOO loud, for my family is still sleeping.  And almost every night I try to work 1-2 hours on it.  It's progressing well.

OK...what have we done since last post. James and I put in floor joists and I still have one more to go. I sanded all the paint off the gunwhale and sanded, sanded, sanded the inside to get most of the old gray paint out.  I vacuumed, vacuumed and vacuumed some more and then blew out the inside twice with an air blower. (I found a democrat who talked in front of my boat and all the hot air cleaned it out perfectly. ;-).

Anywho....I then bought Preserva Wood oil penetrator, stain and sealer and sprayed the inside and outside with that before I paint the inside and fiberglass the outside.

I found out that the boat hull is made of HARBORITE.  Harborite was a new idea and "THE THING" back in the 40's - 60's.  The following paragraph is what an article said about it at the time:

 "This is Harborite... a Super-Quality Marine Plywood with two tough, abrasion resistant surfaces of plastic resin impregnated fibre that are permanently welded together.
    Giving "Armor Plate" protection, the plastic-impregnated fibre surfaces of Harborite add greatly to the strength of the already strong plywood "core." AND that very important quality,  found only in wood, "resilient life" is fully preserved. "Resilient life" is why plywood boats seem alive, and out-perform boats built of other materials. Now the new Burchcraft Harborite boats are superior to all others.
    Design tops everything in boat building. Using the best in materials is one Burchcraft feature ...Good craftsmanship is another, and Burchcraft employs skilled craftsmen... but unless a boat has proper design and proportions, its performance will be disappointing... and above all else Burchcraft excells in performance! "

Interesting huh.  Well tonight I took a spray gun and sprayed inside and out with the oil penetrator.  My next step is to cut out the outside transom and laminate it to the back and start on the bow ribs then the dash and whatever else needs to be added to the boat and screwed from the outside.  Once everything is screwed in from the outside thru the hull, then the fiberglass will commence.

Calm Seas,

Dan

Part Deux, Continuing Restoration

Well, I've got the boat completely stripped down to just a hull.   I've inlaid Paduk (an African red wood) in the Gun-whale (top piece of wood running along the top edge of the boat that you grab to get in). Found some rotten spots that blew out so I dumped wood hardener in the holes, let it dry, filled with epoxy and wood filler and reinforced those areas. Then sand, sand, sand.

 I've taken the transom off (the part where the motor attaches at the back of the boat.) That's a lot of work! It was rotten.  I've taken 2 pieces of 1/2 inch marine grade plywood and laminated them together with a polyurethane based glue and put tons of screws in them to pull them together to make a 1 inch transom to fit inside the boat.  Then I'll take another  transom piece a little larger that fits on the back of the first one, laminate it to the other and we should have a new fresh solid transom. The transoms will then all be covered with fiberglass cloth and epoxy to create a water tight seal.

While the transom is drying (I've still got to cut it out) I am continuing to work on the little things like removing a little more old fiberglass, working on the front stem (very front part of the boat that runs down the middle and bottom of the outside of the boat, the part that hits the rocks first.)

I almost have the port side (left) of the gun-whale finished. I will be working on the starboard (right) side next to inlay the Paduk. I take hand tools to scrape and sand the old paint (3 layers) off down to the natural wood, then inlay down the middle of the gun-whale. The biggest issue I face now is to get the transom to fit in the boat and the outer transom piece cut to fit.

OK...I cut out the transom and fit it in the back and put about a million screws into it.  Now I have to cut out the outer transom after I laminate 2 more pieces together for that.

I've put an oak stringer across the transom for support as you can see in the pictures.  It's looking cool.  Stay tuned.
Remember just because you can see the flaws in your boat, doesn't mean it's ugly.

Boatin' Dan