RiversWest Salt Bay Skiff

[MarkR]

A couple of months ago John Ost became interested in the Salt Bay Skiff hanging in the rafters of the boat shop.  He thought it would be a good idea to finish this boat.  Over time, John got a few of us interested and we decided to do something.  Permissions were secured to finish the boat and work started by dropping it out of the rafters and slinging one of the Lake Oswego Boats back up there to provide us a building space.

As I understand the history of this boat, it was the original pattern boat for the Family Boat Build.  Over time it had been taken apart and put back together so many times that it was getting hard to reassemble.  So a RW group reassembled it with PL Premium and screws, but it was never finished.  To our knowledge it has never been in the water.  The hull is there, with quarter knees and breasthook but the boat was missing outwales, outer stem, thwarts, keel and keg.  If any of this is in error, please feel free to correct the record.



Last Thursday the dusty hulk was set on sawhorses in the first bay of the shop in the shadow of the Hall Templeton.  This Thursday, five of us: John Ost, Charlie Ehm, Russ Smith, Bruce Goodrich and I converged on the little boat to get her a bit closer to the water.



Bruce made new seat tops, Charlie and John ripped outwales out of shop stock mahogany and the whole group assisted in fitting them.  You can never have too many hands or too many clamps when doing this job!



Russ thought a better skeg material was in order and we found a piece of mahogany that would work if laminated for width.  The stock was prepared and Russ is going to laminate it in his shop at home.  At the same time a nice straight mahogany plank for the keel was found.  That was saved for next week.

[Charlie43]

Mark,

Who knew you were also an excellent photo-journalist? Good write-up.

Charlie

[MarkR]

Thursday, February 9, 2017 the group met again at the boat shop to move the little Salt Bay a little nearer the water.  Bruce did a final fitting of the seat tops and supports, while Charlie and John faired the shear.  





John & Charlie re-glued the transom panel which had de-laminated over time.  Notice the clamps shown on photo #3 of this post.  Mark fitted the aft seat & support.  The transom was then fitted with a reinforcement to support a small electric motor.  Back seat is shown in this photo with the transom reinforcement, not yet glued and screwed into place, on top of the seat.



Other tasks done this week included the rough finishing of the skeg, discussed the keel installation for next week and a great conversation on finishing.  More progress planned for next Thursday!

[MarkR]

Week three of our Salt Bay completion project went smoothly.  The new planer was set up and the keel and skeg were planed to thickness.  In this process I was musing about being a highly evolved outfeed support as my job was the 'catch' man.  Russ, John and Charlie applied the keel with PL Premium, just as the Family Boat Build boats are done.



Charlie fitted the skeg to the keel, holes were drilled and the skeg was glued and screwed to the boat.  



Russ had refined the outer stem at home in the past week.  It was a beautiful fit on the boat! We were now ready to turn the boat over.



The back seat support was fitted to the hull, then glued and screwed into place.  John made a cleat to keep the seat top in place.  This is a little innovation for this boat.  The back seat top is removable so the space under can be used for storage of small items.  Finally, the aft support ribs were installed and we were ready to sweep up the shop.  Ready for next week when we will begin to prep her for paint.

[MarkR]

Another Thursday morning and the Salt Bay is looking better and better.  John, Charlie, Bruce, Russ and I were once again working on the boat.



Charlie mounted the oarlock blocks.  John taped off the area for paint in the interior.  The idea is that the boat exterior will be painted, the interior oiled.  The painted floors of the interior will serve as a wear surface that should indicate when refinishing is required.



I started sanding the boat as Bruce and Russ made sure the flat head screws were counter-sunk to allow fairing to a smooth painted surface.  Russ took over the sanding duties after a while, which was welcomed!  By the time it was all sanded smooth, most of us had taken a turn.



Everyone chipped in to sand, file and smooth the boat.





Once that was finished, we all took turns applying fairing putty to screw holes, scratches and the like.  Next week, the boat will be sanded smooth, primed, the oiled areas will be masked off and the hull made ready for paint.

[MarkR]

This week's Salt Bay update is relatively brief.  Last time we had rough sanded the boat and done an initial fairing.  This week the hull was sanded and primed.  The excess fairing had to be sanded smooth with the hull and future oiled areas were masked off in preparation for primer.



Charlie and John sanded the boat smooth.



We found that the fairing had shrunk slightly in the deeper fills and will need to be lightly faired a second time.  Since that can be done after priming, we went ahead and primed the hull.  In the interior, the three masked areas were primed first.  Then the hull was turned and the exterior of the boat got its first coat of primer.



Saturday we will do final fairing, then next Thursday we will sand and give it a second coat of primer.

[MarkR]

Another Thursday Morning, and more progress on the Salt Bay.  John, Charlie, Russ and Mark were today's crew.  Last Saturday's fairing was sanded smooth and then the boat was rotated to an upright position.  The sole was sanded and recoated with a second coat of primer.  This coat was applied with a foam roller and tipped off with a foam brush.  

We rotated the hull again to apply a second coat of primer to the exterior of the hull.  We did yet another pass at sanding, catching spots that were not obvious before, tacked it off and again rolled and tipped the primer.



The corners were cut-in, the flats were rolled then the whole thing was tipped off.  The second coat of primer was uniform and nicely smooth.  When we shut off the lights, the boat was ready for a first coat of paint next Thursday.

[MarkR]

After a second coat of primer, the boat was painted with oil based enamel.  The floors were painted to provide a visible wear surface.  If the interior paint wears through, the chances are pretty good that the exterior will need refreshing.



The finish is semi-gloss on the interior and gloss on the exterior.



Once the paint was dry, the wood interior surfaces were oiled.  The first coat was Tung Oil thinned about 50% with pine turpentine.  A second coat was applied straight with scotch brite pads.   The scotch brite pads knocked down the raised grain.  The third coat was applied the same way.  John, Charlie and Russ with the boat.  Not pictured are Bruce & Mark.



The grain really 'popped' with the oil finish.  At this point, it was hard to believe that this is the same boat we started with!

[MarkR]

Launch Day!  The crew got lucky with the first really beautiful Saturday morning of Spring.  We hauled the boat down to the dock to launch.



John, our lead boatwright, was honored with the maiden voyage.





Later, Charlie took a turn at the oars.  The little boat performed perfectly!



One last shout out to the Salt Bay crew:  John Ost, Russ Smith, Charlie Ehm, Bruce Goodrich & Mark Ramsby.

[Charlie43]

Mark,

Seeing a finished Salt Bay in the water, rather than the bare hulls of the FBB, is really inspiring. Much thanks for documenting the project, and kudos again to John for his choice of colors.

Charlie

[MarkR]

Charlie,

Yes, this little boat looks great in the water.  I second your thought that John's color choice was excellent!

Mark