New boat porn

[mmd]

I was at a client's boatshop today to check out the rebuild he is launching tomorrow. This is what happens to old 1960's vintage Northumberland Strait lobsterboats - the get rebuilt into raised pilothouse cruisers! Getting splashed tomorrow, trialled on Thursday, shakedown cruise to Yarmouth on Friday, and (barring any problems in the previous steps) departing for the Bahamas on Saturday. The owner plans to live aboard either in Nova Scotia or the Bahamas when not on contract in Africa.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pc2aaf17d5f411676de9a751ab5ba848b/fbf4abee.jpg

Particulars:
LOA - 40'-4"
BOA - 12'-8"
draft - 3'-4"
power - 120hp Isuzu
berths - queen in master stateroom, double (convertable) in salon
fuel - 165 Imp. gal.
water - 80 Imp.gal
speed (est.) - 12.5 knots max., 9.5 cruise

[Donn]

http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/icons/icon14.gif http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/icons/icon14.gif What a honey!

[videoguy]

smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif ....Phil

[Dave Fleming]

Oh No Michael Me Lad, ye are not getting off that easy!
<insert big wink here>

I/we wants da partikulars.
How much inside ballast, what was the house and salon made of, interior finish, any mods to the below waterline hull. Youse gets me pernt?

PS: Not too shabby either!

[ 06-10-2003, 09:57 PM: Message edited by: Dave Fleming ]

[Mr. Know It All]

Wow :eek:

[mmd]

Awright, Dave, awright! Sheesh! ;) :D

The boat was originally built as a cruising boat by a commercial Strait boatbuilder in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia in 1967. He used the same moulds and techniques as he used for fishing boats, and finished the boat to workboat quality and style. Her superstructure was rebuilt to create a small salon in the early 70's and she was sold to a new owner who voyaged extensively on the East Coast, Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, and up the Eastern seaboard. In 1996 she was sold to a new owner who hauled it out on the hard, buttoned up all openings, and let it sit for two years. Inevitably, rot set in in the superstructure. A new owner came along after an aborted rebuild attempt, and what you see is the end result.

The boat was built in traditional Strait Boat style of edge-nailed spruce strip plank on steamed oak frames. I believe the backbone is Doug Fir. After the unfortunate time on the hard, she was stripped to a bare hull, with all the original deck, superstructure and interior going to the dumpster. The hull was dried indoors for six months, sanded down, and the exterior sheathed in two layers of heavy fibreglass cloth in MAS epoxy. No modifications were made to the hull other than the fitting of an oak sacrificial shoe on the keel outside of the 'glass sheathing. The interior was painted with several coats of epoxy. The new engine was installed with flexible mounts and coupling and all new tankage fabricated. There is no internal ballast, as engine, genset, batteries, tankage, etc. serves that purpose, and the shape of the hull provides form stability.

New structural bulkheads of two layers of epoxy-coated 3/4" marine fir plywood were fitted and new sole & deck beams fitted. (To eliminate saying it over and over, all structural components are solid Doug Fir or marine ply coated in MAS epoxy.) Joiner bulkheads were of a single layer of 5/8" ply, as was the sole underlayment. The sole was overlaid with 3/8" oak flooring planks. The decks were made of two layers of 1/2" ply with staggered seams and superstructure of a single thickness of 3/4" ply. All exterior surfaces were sheathed with 15-oz cloth in epoxy. All exposed interior bulkheads were sheathed in 3/8" tongue-and-groove oak, finished bright. deckheads were insulated with rigid foam and covered with white painted 3/16" masonite held in place with varnished oak battens. All non-varnished surfaces were painted a semi-gloss ivory colour. The flybridge ladder and dinghy crane are welded aluminum and painted to match the hull. The swim platform is bleached oak encapsulated in epoxy. All exterior trim is varnished oak.

A few more pics below (please excuse the mess - frantic last-minute work was in progress to be ready for today's launch):

A view of the cockpit showing the ladder and swim platform.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/p7f6e5f643ff60671031e86358fe23119/fbf359b8.jpg

The salon viewed from aft, with the helm visible forward.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pa1d044eb01a015d5e3f15242f9919544/fbf359af.jpg

The salon looking aft as viewed from the nav station located just aft of the helm.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pf2e781ac6405c819e3aee186b574542f/fbf359a3.jpg

[km gresham]

Nice boat :D

[Bob Perkins]

Very Nice!

I especially like the upper deck seating area that can handle lawn chairs w/cup holders!

[Jerry Sousa]

What a handsome cruiser, I especially like the flybridge.

Could you make something clear for me please regarding the hull planking. When you said that it was "edge-nailed, spruce strip.."do you mean in the traditional carvel way only edge-nailed? Or was it diagonally planked, as from the pictures it (planking) looks to be running straight fore to aft. Also how thick would the planking be? Finally, are the original nails still in place and of what type are they. Thanks.

I wonder how all that epoxy will hold up under tropical conditions? Another coat of paint overall before she sets off would'nt hurt I would have thought.

[Tar Devil]

Sweet!

Later,

Phil

[mmd]

Jerry; The planks are about 2" wide, laid up like carvel planking, and nailed down through the plank width into the preceeding plank. At frames they are nailed through the frame and the ends clenched. I don't know offhand how thick the planks are, but I suspect between 1" and 1-1/4". To my knowledge the boat has never been refastened, and galvanized steel nails was the fastener of choice in the place and era of her origin.

I will also be quite interested in how she holds up in the tropics, especially as her owners plan to leave her in storage (probably on shore) for extended periods of time. Why do you think another coat of paint is needed?

[Jerry Sousa]

Thanks MMD, I believe another coat of paint will better protect the expensive materials used in the deck and the super-structure, namely the marine ply and epoxy. As epoxy resin's degradation is hastened by an increase in UV light then another coat of the same high quality paint should go along way to increasing the life and looks of the boat. Doing charter work in an environment less clean than Nova Scotia's is what this fellow intends, so he has to be prepared to clean topsides almost daily, and so this too, will contribute to the wear and tear of the paint.

I would also carry ample spare tins of paint of the same type for the next haulout or refit as it would be one less item to procure in a far away port. And maybe some mosquito netting for the door.

Best wishes to your client, he sounds an adventurous type and that there be more like him in this world! May his Northumberland Strait lobsterboat serve him and his clients well.

And please do keep us posted on this boat's journey into the Bahamas and Africa!!
P.S What's the guy going to use for a tender? Again, I appreciate your reply.

[ 06-11-2003, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: Jerry Sousa ]

[mmd]

Jerry: I think that there is enough paint on it already - three coats of high-build primer, one coat of finishing primer, and two coats of two-part linear polyurethane topcoat, one more coat on decks & roofs. More than adequate, methinks.

The boat is for the sole use of the owner and his wife - it will not be chartered. In fact, he expects to entertain few guests. Lack of use will be the biggest problem; he expects to be aboard for a total of about five months in the next three years. All windows & ports, including the ones in the three sliding doors, have screening.

The boat will be residing in the Bahamas with a planned trip or two back to NS in the next 3-4 years. The owner does contract work for for the Ugandan gov't, so he will store the boat in Freeport, Grand Bahama while he is "in country" at Kampala. The boat is a bit unsuitable for a trans-Atlantic crossing.

[Alan D. Hyde]

A fine vessel, mmd. Were you responsible for planning the re-build?

Did you not say what's being used for bottom paint, or did I just miss it???

He'll need to watch for scrapes and nicks. Wouldn't want to feed the teredos with such wood as this... Finer fare than they (the teredos) deserve... :D :D :D

Alan

[mmd]

Alan, I was sort of the "lurker" on this project. The builder and I talked a great deal about the how's and where's of the structure and layout, but my official involvement was limited to doing the tonnage survey and registration paperwork, designing the dinghy crane and flybridge layout, and whipping up a quick drawing for the metal fabricator to make the ladder from. I'm not sure what Scott used for bottom paint, but I suspect it was Petit Yacht Soft Copper Antifouling because it is inexpensive and the boat isn't going to be in the water long enough to warrant "the good stuff".

[Scott Rosen]

Nice looking boat. Why did the client elect to coat the interior of the hull with epoxy?

[Jerry Sousa]

Mmd, Oh I see, yes six and seven coats in total does sound sufficient and two parts of PU as well. Did'nt mean to sound presumptious about it, though I might have.

[mmd]

Scott, the interior hull structure is coated with epoxy after thorough drying to stabilize the wood structure to minimize the risk of the swelling/shrinking cycle causing the exterior 'glass to delaminate from the wood hull skin. Same procedure as done with new-build wood-epoxy construction except that you can't get epoxy on the faying surfaces between structural components 'cause it's already built. The presumption is that the cracks between timbers are sealed with the epoxy so no air/moisture can gain ingress and cause swelling and decay. I know of boats that have had this done for a decade or more without problems, but they all are here in the chilly north. This will be the first that I personally know of that will spend considerable time in the heat of the tropics/sub-tropics, so I will be interested to watch her progress over the next few years.

[Ken Hutchins]

Real nice smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

[oldriverat]

:cool: I love Lobster Boats.

[mmd]

... and it floats!!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/p1207b953803883f90dbb9cb2f6c2295b/fbf24ac2.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid65/pf2ac82e481fbed826fca66cdd56ddf00/fbf24ab0.jpg

A poignant event occured on board this evening. The original owner, now 75 years old and not in the best of health, drove an hour to visit his old boat in her new finery. He presented a photograph of her in her original form, taken in 1968, to the new owners and brought her log book, spanning from 1967 to 1997, to show to us. I'm sure I saw tears on his cheeks as he walked down the gangplank for what is almost certainly the last time.

[JimD]

Can't say the superstucture does much for me, but the hull, now that is pretty. Thanks for the pics.

[R.I.Singer30]

Hmmm Lobster boat... :D

[DugT]

I'd have to agree with JimD.