1955 CC Hurricane Restoration

Didn't get too many hours on the boat this weekend but I did manage to get the port side planking off. these photos are probably all starting to look the same but there is progress. I still have to remove the transom planking, I've saved that for last as it will be the most difficult to remove. It has been refastened in the past and the old 5200 is still bonding tough.




Here's a good look at the way the stem were put together.


3/8" strips of mahagony cold bent around the frame points. Lots of cracks and when unbolted the wood still wants to spring back. 5 layers of the stem have already been removed because they were rotted. I spent an hour or so figuring out how to repair this and decided to scrap the hole thing and make a new steam bent laminated piece. That was my stopping point for the day.

Hopefully I'll get some time after work this week to set up my steamer and make a template for the new stem.

This ones for Jbear, another Hurricane bon Fire to keep warm. That 55 year old lumber burns hot and fast.

jbear, Nice thing about bonfires this time of year... only the tough mosquitos bother you!!

Look's like the dog's are saying, can we go back in now....hehe


Nice photo Alan as always.

81nautique wrote: Here's a good look at the way the stem were put together. Hopefully I'll get some time after work this week to set up my steamer and make a template for the new stem.

That's a pretty gnarly looking stem Alan. Although not original (Don't tell Pete I even brought this up) but wouldnt this



be an acceptable means of rebuilding a stem without all of the steaming/bending effort?

nates78ski wrote: Very nice! We've still got the old wood on the side of our garage for patterns for the spray rails & such. Nate

I did save anything I need for patterns later in the game, just the inner planking's been burned so far, the final Bon Fire will be a scorcher.   

Larry, I hate to critic anyone's work or methods but I see to many things wrong with that method. Even sealed, the plywood will want to wick moisture up more than solid planks or multiple laminated solid planks. To much room for a delam problem there I think.

The other problem I see would be all the plank screws setting into the plywood, I don't think it would hold as well as solid wood there and the screws would open up even more entry points for water as the plywood tends to splinter more than a solid board would.

I'm going to go the route that Nate and his dad did on their Atom, that seems to be a solid stem they built. I tested my steam rig yesterday and bent one trial piece, it actually is fairly easy process as long as you wait for the wood to get fully heated.

81nautique wrote: Larry, I hate to critic anyone's work or methods but I see to many things wrong with that method.

Don't worry Alan, not offending me (or anyone else, I'm sure) I was just curious. That picture comes from an old boat building guide I ran across. Everything you say about it makes good sense.

oh, I can imagine the cost....you would have the only 2...lol
coming along nicely

form&function wrote: Coming along very nicely.

Thanks Ryan, Can you shoot me an emailI have a question about fabricating a new fuel tank.

Back from travel visiting family and of course right back at the boat. Made my stem form, soak tank and steamer. Cut all my pieces and let them soak over nite.


My steam rig worked fine but I needed some temporary repairs as the unit built steam the inlet pipe started to deform and close up. I'll upgrade to the delux unit next time.


Steaming is actualy pretty easy once you do a few pieces and learn how long to leave the boards in the steamer. You also have to work extremely fast as you only have about 30 seconds before the wood starts to cool and set once removed from the steam chamber.


All eleven pieces are bent, you can see some variance in the amount of bend each retained. Most of that is from a combination of learning how long to steam and how quickly we were able to get the pieces clamped. The finished stem will have a total build up thickness of 4-1/8 inches. Hopefully we'll get them glued up on sunday if the pieces dry sufficiently.

Got the transom planking and inner ply removed yesterday. The transom had been rebuilt once before so it was quite a job removing and took about 4 hours and a lot of patience not to destroy the framework in the process. Definately the hardest days work I've put in on this boat yet.

The stripped transom revealed another issue which I was aware of but was hoping for the best. Too many screws and a bad choice of grain on the lower frame lead to cracking, water infiltration and the dreaded black rot. There was no way to reattach planking without a repair.


After some thought I decided to route out some of the frame and laminate some new wood in.


I quit last night with an image of this in my head.

I've been very forgiving with the quality of the original woodoworking on this boat but this one just bothered me to much to let slide. Those small pieces of wood are fillers to mend sloppy joinery and there is a gap on both sides of the keel thats about 3/4" wide that was filled with bedding compound. I can't imagine any amount of caulking sealing this up so by the time I woke this morning the night shift had made a design change and it was decided to replace the entire frame. I'm going to laminate some 1/4" mahogony planks instead of steam bending a solid board as I think it will take the curve better and with alternating grain patterns should be stronger than one piece.

It's great watching a Master in-process!

I learn so much from this site!

That is amazing !!

Looking good Alan. You do great work man, nothing else to say!

Wow! That stem looks quite familiar. Good work! Keep it up Alan.

Nate