Advice on refasting

[Bob Williams]

Hi firts post been listening for about 2 yrs.A lot of good advice.I am restoring a 1930 43ft.Stephens Motor Yacht,Carvel planking of poft Orford ceader on White Oak steam bent frames.I have sisterd 26 frames scarfed in about 5 and replaced 2 floor blocks. The boat needs to be refastened and calked, my questions are. #1.
Should i swell the boat up a bit before i refasten existing and new frames She has been out of the water for 8 months,and will probably be out for another year. #2.
I buy a lot of parts at Nautical Flea Markets,I want to refastening with Silicon Bronze. Is there any way to tell a Silicon Bronze screw from Brass other than color.

THANKS:

[Bob Cleek]

I don't think there's much point to swelling up a boat before you refasten. Same goes for caulking. The trick is to not caulk her too hard if she is going to swell. That takes a fair amount of experience and can't really be described. It's a hands on thing. If she was previously caulked properly, and you haven't ripped it all out, you can put "slick seam" or soft soap into the open seams and launch her. She may take up pretty well on the old caulk. Best not to mess with caulking if you can avoid it. If not, you will know where she needs hardening up when you haul her out again. Remember that if she was tight when she came out of the water, she will almost certainly swell up back where she was originally.

As for fastenings, color is the best indicator of Everdur or silicon bronze. I would urge you not to get into buying used fastenings, however. Unless they are "new in the box," they really are a false economy. Myself, I never throw out a bronze screw. I keep coffee cans full of them in the shop. Once in a while I'll sort them. When I need just one or two for some odd job, I'll check the cans for them and pick out the best one I can find. However, if I need to really fasten something important, and a plank would certainly qualify on that score, I won't use anything by a brand new one. Your used screws aren't going to have sharp threads and they are liable to break easily. The slots are often galled and so on. They aren't worth it unless you just are grabbing one to use to hand a coat hook or something. Bite the bullet and buy new ones. They are considerably cheaper by the box mail order. Whatever you do, don't try buying them in blister packs at the corner WestMarine store! Jamestown Distributors is a good outfit with decent prices. Even if you don't need 100 or more, you'll have them in stock for the next job. Always good to have a supply on hand.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks for the advice Bob. I don't plan on using used fasteners, some times I come across new fasteners in bulk and want know I am buying bronze.

THANKS AGAIN