1955 Atom Skier Updates

Here's some pictures of the Atom, Since thursday we've: brought the boat home, built the boat stand, removed the bottom on both sides of the keel, removed the keel, & as of an hour or so ago, removed the starboard side plywood...Making nice progress so far.

Also, Looks like the boat will be white, with a red bottom & as we found tonight, it looks like it has a blue bootstripe, so i think it'll stay that way...

1955 ATOM Pictures

Nate

Wow, you guys that take on projects of that magnitude amaze me. But like Gary said, it looks like you know what you're doing. I guess when you can make that kind of progress in a few days, it doesnt get frustrating.

Nate very nice progress . L:ooks like you just jumped into it and took off ripping it apart .
Gives me some incentive to rip into my 59 .

Pete how do you get the oil out of the wood

our 59 atom

A little more progress tonight. Removed the Port Side plywood, so now there's no more plywood on the exterior of the boat. Also, we removed the stem, it was a little rotted, but we knew that going into it. Next step I believe is to find some mahogany & build a new stem before we start removing other pieces.

'55 Atom Pictures...More Added

Nate

Pete,the stern post is the vertical board shown in the transom? Did you have to replace any other pieces of the frame? I don't know why,but I'd rather look at the framework of a boat or airplane than the finished product. Is that strange or what? Farmer

Pete,
Haven't gotten into the engine as of yet, just been working on getting a new stem laminated up, along with the 2 horizontal supports for the transom, so we can then start taking each framing out one by one.

Atom Skier

I posted the pictures to a new album, b/c im getting tired of Facebook & when i Deactivate it shuts down the albums...

I'll have new pictures of the stem & stern pieces up soon.

Nate

Just cleaning them up & replacing the old plywood 'knees' with new, epoxy coated ones. They're all in pretty good shape, so don't worry, we're not actually pulling each one apart or anything, just making it easier to clean/sand each one, instead of having to climb inbetween each one to get into tight spaces. But once we have the stem and the transom fixed, we shouldn't have to worry about the boat moving on us & coming out of shape.

Nate

Nate,
Just be careful removing frames. The center ones may have some inward force on them from the gunnel support. I really feel replacing one side of the gussets is the better way than removing the complete frame. After the gussets are replaced, you can remove the frame one by one to clean them up. Mine really didn't need anymore than a simple wire brushing. The bilge paint on them is a very thin coating.

The outside hull side transom frames aren't laminated. They are however 4/4 and then slightly beveled to handle the curvature of the transom. (the center stern post too) A belt sander will do it.

You didn't have the transom? If not, the ply on the transom is two layers of 1/4" to get the curvature.

Edit: I see in your pictures that the transom was missing. Did someone start to rebuild it and then gave up??

Edit again!!!: I looked at the pictures again. Looks like someone did start to "restore/rebuild" it! Glad you are now doing it the correct way.
I don't have a closer picture of the transom. Hope my description and the existing picture will do. If not, just keep asking and I'll fill you in the best I can.

nates78ski wrote: on the transom, we're thinking about doing it in mahogany planking, like the deck will get, so we may do 1/4" ply, followed by planking, or just straight planking, I'm not sure as of yet. Nate

Nate,
I saw this statement earlier and was really wondering if I should even comment. If Billy was in on this conversation, he's be saying something about sows ears and silk purses!! You are making a very big mistake that you will regret. The older the boat is the more important originality is. With a wood boat of any year originality is key to any value what so ever. If you want to go through the trouble, money and time to plank this Atom, it's your choice. Expect to keep it for along time unless you happen to find a unsuspecting and uninformed buyer. Don't expect it to come out so glamorous that it will win awards.

Pete i have been following the thread and you know why. But seeing as to it is Nates baby I would not even comment as to the rhyme or reason behind his latest project.
No purses but chicken soup outa chicken sh it does come to mind tho....boat dr

Pete,

yes we do have quite a bit of mahogany lying around from other projects, as well as all the equipment necessary for resawing and planing everything, & i've got experience doing all of this. So, that's not a problem. The way I was looking at doing the transom like that is because the transom gets just varnished, not painted white like the rest of the boat, and i was planning on doing the deck in planking, because ive never really been a fan of varnished plywood (just my opinion) so i figured it'd be best if we matched it.

I understand your concerns about keeping it original, and i like like to keep it very close to that, though I like to 'improve' things as to my tastes. If i really wanted to be original, I wouldn't use epoxy & would just laminate the boards for the stem & transom with screws. I know that's taking it to the nth degree, but still I think you get my point.

I value your opinion, but I'm also entitled to my own as well, & since it's my project, where we disagree, ill take yours into consideration, but I'll continue moreso with my plans. It sounds jerk-ish, but it's the truth.

Boat Dr.,

Thank you So much for your opinion on my projects, because you know so in depth and have seen in detail any of my previous projects. Please sir, where you do not know, keep your mouth shut.

Nate

Nate, I think Wakeslayer has an extra windsheild off a Ski Nautique . You can cobble that on to finish off your resto.
As far as me keepin it shut, ain't gonna happen.I am a beleiver it keepin' it as it was, and if not , don't do it.

boat dr wrote: Nate.... You can cobble that on to finish off your resto.

Nothing is being cobbled together for this resto. So don't worry about that. & besides i looked through the reference section & i believe I saw that an option on these boats would be to have 'double planked mahogany throughout' & while I wont be double planking throughout... mahogany on the Atom isn't exactly cobbling it together.

Besides, EVERYONE who restores a boat and does it well, makes it BETTER THAN FACTORY condition... doesn't that make it unoriginal? doesn't using new sprayer technology to spray paint or gel make it unoriginal? should i just screw together all my laminations instead of using this new fangled 'epoxy' stuff? These boats were fairly poorly constructed when they came from the factory, a little extra here & there wouldn't hurt it.

So thanks again for your so eloquently written input, it will be filed appropriately.

Buffalo.. Thanks
Riley... haha that's awesome, you should absolutely use your scuba gear for flotation... but make sure your scuba gear is the same year as the boat.


Nate

no, we're not planning on epoxying the planking. I was pointing out the use of epoxy as a whole for everything else around the boat, seeing as how it's not how the boat was ORIGINALLY constructed

Well I built my wooden Kayak completely from scratch a couple years ago. But maybe that's not considered a 'real boat' by some people, but I take a great deal of pride in it. & my father has restored & rebuilt quite a few wooden boats, one was a '39 Chris 15 1/2ft Deluxe Runabout, a Garwood, and a couple other Chris' that i dont remember offhand. So what I don't know, he's got a pretty firm grasp on.

I love how this place is so great & welcoming, until one decide to make their own decisions & not go along with groupthink heaven forbid I should do my boat how I see it fit...

Nate

nates78ski wrote: Pete, The way I was looking at doing the transom like that is because the transom gets just varnished, not painted white like the rest of the boat, and i was planning on doing the deck in planking, because ive never really been a fan of varnished plywood (just my opinion) so i figured it'd be best if we matched it. Nate

Nate,
Since you didn't get a transom with the Atom, and the old brochures really don't show a decent rear picture, you may or may not know that the transoms were varnished.