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Permalink Reply by Roger Fletcher on February 14, 2011 at 11:01am

Jeremy, it's a bit difficult to tell from the photos, but if I had to make a guess based on these photos, I would suggest its a John Ostrem influenced boat, but home built. If the frames (as they seem to appear in the 2nd photo) are joined with rabbet joints, that is typical Ostrem. The bottom frames, however, don't appear to have limber holes -- something a home boat builder could easily overlook (limber holes allow acumulated water to flow between the frames. I'm not sure why Ostrem used that particular joint in his frames, but is something he might have picked up or developed when he built boats for john Henney at Boat Sepcialities in Salem, OR. I think they are a nice touch. A.J. DeRosa and some of his crew in Jackson restored an Ostrem (type) boat two or three years ago. Perhaps he will chime in.

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on February 17, 2011 at 7:15am

Jeremy,

 

Nice looking old boat you have there.  To me one of the joys of restoring an old boat is the chance to admire the craftmanship and wood from the old days. They don't make fir plywood of that quality anymore.

I like your thoughts about the restoration.  I have always been a big fan of oiled interiors.  Makes it easy down the road to just slop on some oil and wipe it down.  Oil, turpentine and pine tar have been the friends of wooden boats since Noah's Arc.  Since you are down to bare wood on the outside oil would work here as well.  Oil is a good base for paint so you can have it both ways if you like.  Run an oiled exterior to show of that old fir and put a coat of oil based paint over it when you are ready for a new look.  Kirby's Paints have a line of vintage colors as well as a wide selection of newer tones.  It is a joy to work with and is very tough.  If you give them a call you will most likely talk to George Kirby himself.  It's a family business that has been making high quality marine paint since the 1850's.  They know their stuff.

Epoxy/glass/graphite makes a good tough bottom.  Remove your chine caps, lay on the goo and replace the caps and you will be ready to go.  Use a good polysufide bedding material like 3M 101 or Boatlife to rebed the caps.  I just poped the caps off of my 15 year old Rapid Robert during it's 100,000 mile check up to find that all is well at the chine joint and glass bottom edge.  When you do it right the first time around things tend to work as designed.

As Roger mentioned in his post,  It's hard to tell about the origin from the pics we have seen.  Some images I would like to see are 1. detail of frame joint, 2. close up of passenger seat assembly where it rests on the frame support and 3. close up look at the flydeck cross member/kneebrace.  Those could be clues to it's heritage.  The Ostrem style was unique in those particular areas. 

 

Good luck with your restoration.  You will enjoy it for many years to come.  Would love to see it at the show this spring.

 

Cheers,

AJ

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Walters on February 17, 2011 at 9:19pm

Thanks to both of you for the information.

 

 I have attached some more detailed photos. You will see that the boat does have small square limber holes. I have removed the damaged fly deck and the knee braces were missing upon purchase. Hope that sheds any more light on its orgin.

 

I have a question for when I am doing the bottom that may be obvious. I have been lead to believe that one should not wrap the FG from the bottom up the side. Do I seal the sides to the bottom with the same epoxy? Also when replacing the inside transom frames should I use an above mentioned bedding material along with the fasteners?

 

Look forward to the feedback and thanks again.

 

JW

 

Attachments:

• Boat detail 004.jpg, 185 KB
• Boat detail 005.jpg, 180 KB
• Boat detail 007.jpg, 137 KB

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on February 21, 2011 at 6:22pm

Jeremy,

 

Those pictures showed me what I was looking for.  The frame joints are what Ostrem used.  The other unique thing is that the fly deck brace is on the transom side of the frames.  This is very unique.  I have seen it on three boats now, yours, the one that we restored several years ago and one at the boat show that had a name plate naming Boat Specialties as the builder.  Ostrm worked for Boat Specialties and it is unknown whether that is an Ostrem touch or one that he learned while working for them.  Roger might have a few more ideas after seeing these details.

There is no need to wrap bottom glass over the chine joint.  When doing a fiberglass bottom the chine caps need to be removed. Run the fiberglass and epoxy the very edge letting the excess hang over the side.  Wet out the glass a bit beyond the edge.  This gives a good bond to the very edge.  After the epoxy goes off it is very easy to trim it flush with a sharp utility knife.  Replace the chine caps and bed with a polysulfide marine bedding compound.  Tight chine cap screws just enough to get the bedding compound to ooze at the edges.  This cap protects both the joint and the edge of the new fiberglass on the bottom.  There are some who do like to wrap that glass over the chine joint but it involves rounding over the edge to get the glass to lay smooth and then back filling the gap once the cap is reinstalled.  This is more work and the results are yet to be documented as to whether this is worth the extra work.  My observations on all the hard working boats in our fleet tells me that the first method works just fine.

 

Epoxy or a polyurethane marine adhesive like 3M 5200 should be used in the transom repair along with appropriate marine fasteners.

 

Photos are of our restore of an Ostrem type boat.  Frame joints, flydeck brace and seat are very similar to what your latest photos showed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachments:

• P1160026.JPG, 474 KB
• P2010003.JPG, 448 KB
• P1160015.JPG, 464 KB

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on February 21, 2011 at 6:58pm

I love the tight jointery work at the chine notches and frames.  Or it could be that any gaps are filled with 40 years of mud, dirt and oil.

 

Pretty cool old boat there.  I want one.

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