Restoration of a 1961 Chris-Craft

Today we steamed and bent the starboard chine.   After the issues I had with the port chine, we made sure that we were on the money or short of the stem.  I had issues getting the port chine to fit to the stem and the first couple of frames.  My friend Al helped me fit it and it finally is in place. Here's the port chine finally in place:   This is the starboard chine we bent today with the help of John and Al.  It will remain this way until I get back to it in October.       The towel is soaked with water to slow the setting of the chine into the wanted shape.  I did the same thing on the port side after it cooled and I moved it back just a bit to get it to fit better. Here the towel was removed and Al's big clamps.  I re clamped it out of caution and it will remain this way for sometime while we are away.  

 So today with the help of a couple of friends, we bent the port chine and clamped it into place.  I built a new 18 foot steam tunnel since the last time I had to bend wood I used essentially a plastic bag to steam which didn't work as well as I would have liked. This is the new steam tunnel made out of 8 inch duct and insulation.   Inside the tunnel I put doweling to insure ventilation around the board. Then I steamed the board and attached. Attached: After the chine cools and dries, I'll adjust it to fit better, then drill and attach permanently before routing it out like I did the keel.

We're on to the chines which will require soaking and bending.  They are 1-5/8" thick so they need to soak in water for 7 to 10 days before steaming and then bending.  My friend John lent me a 10 foot pvc tube to soak them in.  Both of them wouldn't fit so I'll have to soak one at a time.       First I cut the angles where they attach to the stem.  They are very weird angles.  I cut the port side first and it took 3 cuts and some grinding to get it about right.  The starborad side was just one cut and grinding to get it close.  After they are bent, I may need to adjust them slightly since I really didn't have a way to test fit them.   Below you can see the pvc tube soaking the port side.

 Routing the keel was not as bad as I had imagined.  If I had keep on it, I probably would have completed in just a few days.  But life happens and it took me a month. (We had a new driveway installed using 46.5 yards of concrete)  But I think with a few adjustments the routing will be fine. The first three photos are of the jig that I created to do the job.  Near the bow, I had to cut the back of the jig to allow it to bend better.         These last 2 photos are of the completed job. Now we're on to the chines.  See next post.