Things are moving along on this current project, with the outside now done.  Upright now.  The carriage bolts/cap nuts in the gunwale/frame structure, these are all plain Zinc, too..like most of the fasteners used by Hill.  I've found them spinning in the gunwales, with the cap nuts (acorn) mostly rusted-on as I began on the inwale.  I'll have to replace those now, back-filling the holes  where the carriage end is supposed to be 'captured' by the outwale.  I'll use epoxy and mill-fibers, with Dolphinite bedding compound after I re-finish the gunwales and frame-heads.

  It's instructive to re-work a boat  this age-to see what endured well and what didn't. I don't know how much the old builders  actually saved, cost-cutting and using "Quick-N-Dirty"  building/materials/assembly procedures, but I see, as I work over this older boat, the justification for good  Stainless, bronze and lots of bedding compound, as is the norm in professional wooden boat building as I was taught.. Cutting corners back then certainly has showed up negatively now.  It isn't so smart to scrimp, to pinch pennies on things like fasteners for what has to be minor (in the overall cost of the boat) savings. 

  If I simply ignored these  corroded gunwale fasteners and varnished them up..It would probably look ok for a bit, but the 'slop' in the connections, the 'dry holes' through frame and gunwale "working" as my client rows and floats his boat in it's natural environment (water) that would soon cause more problems. The gunwale structure in a rowing boat takes lots of stress, and in a framed boat, the gunwales are arguably the most important structure.

Getting the carriage bolts out:  I cut some big fat slots into the smooth head of the bolts, hold it from spinning with a large screwdriver and put my impact screw-gun on the acorn nut inboard.  I used Simple Orange and a propane torch on some of them to bust loose the rust in the acorn nut.  My 'wages' decline....

  The frames and all the "furniture" inside are again to be refinished with Dura Tuff.  I plan on oil finish for the sides and bottom, since they are quite age-darkened and a bit surface-checked.  There is no viable way, economically, to make this boat look brand new, so we've budgeted enough to make it function 'as new'   A link to my web albums with some more pics...below.  You might have to cut and paste.

  Don Hanson

  Northshore...boats?