After all the 'burrowing' was done, I mixed up epoxy with fillers and used this "putty" 'and fiberglass fabric to both fill in and reinforce the missing plywood areas.  As you can see, a huge chunk of the stem was gone.  The area where the plywood was fastened seemed to be in good shape, so total stem replacement was not necessary.  Honestly, if this boat needed a new stem, I'd sooner have a nice "beach bonfire" with her and send her minerals back to earth, then start from scratch.  New construction is quite a bit easier than this type of repair.. but we perserver.....

Here is it all prepped.  The areas of bare wood have been treated with epoxy which really hardens things up, and waterproofs them.  I had to trim the stem back to good wood before shaping a replacement patch.

This is the "patch", ready to go in:



Monterey Cypress stem patch;
very decay resistant and lightweight



Scrape then Sand the whole interior, then primed.

Here's what we started with:

My Kids are ready and willing to help.  We discover that what lies beneath are a few problem areas with significant rot.  Adjacent to the forwardmost and rearmost thwarts (seats), rainwater probably sat and saturated the wood.  Over time, paint is no protection, and rot kicks in.  Some areas had no more wood and all that was left was the thin fiberglass skin.

We dug and vaccuumed away, but it started to get discouraging.

My helper finally straightened me out "it's not the end of the world dad!"...

Good Kid!

A quick run around the harbor.  Like all Bank Dorys, this one is quite "tender" at first (a tendency to tip easily and very quickly when center of gravity is high).

Lightweight Dory (or Pepe's old boat)

Back in 1978-80, I was a kid in the Sea Scouts, ship #128 "Flying Cloud".  Our skipper owned and lent to the unit, a variety of his personal "smallboats".  A beautiful Lap Straked "Wherry" was by far the best boat we had access to.  The Wherry "Cirrus" was unfortunately, stolen from the pier in Aquatic Park, a devastating blow by far.  It was replaced with a lapstraked "Banks Dory" (named after the "Grand Banks", Nova Scotia).  While the Dory was no where as beautiful as the Wherry, it was simple to build, and I decided at that point, it was the boat for me.

Years later, I run into Pepe again, and he has an old boat for me he has no space for anymore.  This "Lightweight" dory is a simplified version of the Banks Dory, tailored for rowing.

Here is our first trial after an overhaul in the last 4 weeks.

It's a lightweight boat, I suspect along the lines of the "Gloucester Gull", a Phil Bolger/Dynamite Payson design, but I don't have the lines handy. Anyhow, it can easily car-top on my small car and I think I can get away without having to buy a trailer.

I built a 16' Bank Dory from John Gardner's 'Dory Book' when I was 12 (well, it took me 6 years to complete, so really 18).

This was "Rosa", rigged for sail with steel plate centerboard:

This dory was built of 3/4" Phillipine Mahogany and she was very very heavy. Not a great sailboat due to the Bank Dory lines, but solid pulling boat. This boat definitely needed a trailer! I sold her off a few years ago as I just had too many toys to deal with, and very limited storage space.

The kids have always loved small boats, much more than our "big" boat "Spray". The opportunity to relate to the water is probably at the root of it.. they love to lean over the side and drag their hands along. Also, dad isn't occupied with ship traffic, engines, sails, etc.. a small pulling boat on a backwater or lake is just the ticket. I'm glad to have another smallboat.

I've decided to be much more serious about using "Blogger.Com" as a journal for my wooden-boat hobby. I have found that writing helps me organize my thoughts and problem solve much more effectively, and in the end, I have some sort of record of what I've been doing with all my time (so that's what you've been doing in the garage.....) ;)

A friend from long ago, in fact a friend who introduced me to wooden-boats presented me with a 16' lightweight dory he had owned and used for years:

Here the kids are checking it out. The lovely and supportive wife gazes upon our next endeavor.. ;)

Rebuild of a Matthews Power Cruiser

The Matthews Company, in Port Clinton, Ohio started business in 1906 building high quality yachts.

Their range of watercraft built over the years included sailboats, mid-range cruisers, and what today we'd call 100+' "Mega Yachts".


A series of Matthews 42's were at the yard within a couple months of each other. Unfortunately, one met the "Knacker" and was destroyed. Like again, so many boats of the era (1950's), these hulls were made of Mahogany Planking over Oak frames, but fastened with Galvanized Iron Screws. This one had very bad damage below the water line, especially up in the bow. A significant rebuild was in order here.





The man executing the repairs was a young German BoatWright who was employed by North Bay Boatworks. http://northbayboatworks.com/

"Anton" had quite a task ahead of him:

Here the stem has already been replaced with a new one (nicely made). All the black you see is evidence the Oak Frames have reacted with the Iron Screws, mutually destroying each other. There was not much holding this boat together and the water out. Long past due for rebuild and very dangerous if not repaired.












Anton had an additional restriction beyond the complexity of the repairs in that the owner had a very limited budget. Getting an accurate estimate of "how much it will cost" is almost impossible without ripping the boat completely open.



While the boat sorely needs a complete rebuild, this go-around was limited just to the bow. But this is the nature of Traditionally built wooden boats, they are repairable. In a few years, with more money saved up, hopefully the owner can get all the major work done and button the boat up for another 50 years.
















Here she is all planked up and faired, ready for corking, caulking, and paint.
















Here is an example of this series of hulls in a better day: