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Our 1964 17’ Chris-Craft Super Sport’s failed plywood decks have been replaced with traditional planked-and-seamed mahogany decking. The failed plywood covering boards are now also old-growth, quarter-sawn mahogany.
All of it has been stained with Mike Mayer’s Post-war Chris-Craft J’eld stain and sealed with four full coats of Smith’s cold formula CPES.
With that milestone fading into her wake, the now emerging truly elegant Super Sport is being flipped so we can remove her failed outer bottom planks and replace multiple failed bottom frames before installing her new SMB True 5200 Bottom Alternate.
All components of both skins, as well as all frame members will be sealed with four full counts of Smith’s CPES, which is applied to all edges and faces
Then, before proceeding with installing the bottom, we will apply three coats of Sandusky Paint Company Chris-Craft Mahogany Bilge Paint to the bottom framing, keelson and keel.
As with the traditional 5200 bottom, her new inner skin will be composed of six-inch-wide 6mm Aquatek strips, bedded in 3M5200 and secured with one-inch copper flathead tacks, and between-n frame battens, that will be bedded in 3M5200 - mahogany, and secured with #8x1-1/4” silicon bronze flathead Reed and Pearce screws driven through the Aquatek and into the battens.
Next, we will follow a road less taken as her outer skin is fabricated using 3/8” Aquatek plywood bedded in a monolithic layer of 5200 and secured by #8x1-1/2” silicon bronze, flathead Reed and Prince screws driven through both plywood layers and into the frames. We add additional battens, also bedded in mahogany 5200, behind each sheet-to-sheet plywood joint.
After allowing the 5200 to cure (about 8 days), we will apply yet another coat of CPES to make sure the interior surfaces all countersinks are fully sealed.
Fairing using 3M Marine Premium Filler comes next. However, unlike the traditional 5200 bottom, where the countersinks to be drilled are into 3/8” mahogany planks and can therefore be sanded mercilessly, great care must be taken to apply the filler and then scrape the putty knife clean across the countersink.
Why? Plywood is just that, a series of plies (veneers) glued together. The outer ply is a mere 1/32” or so thick. Sand through it and you face dealing with the alligator-skin-like under plies, which is no fun. Priming, with Interlux 2000E Barrier Coat - 5 coats - is next. Finally, apply four coats of Pettit Old Salem Copper Bronze Hard Racing bottom paint, giving each coat half a day or so to cure. Milestone!
Sources for all materials mentioned above are available at: snakemountainb....
23 авг 2024
