Restoration of a 1961 Chris-Craft

 Before I attach the plywood, I am bending the intermediate frames which will be attached to the plywood on the inside of the bottom.  They are represented here by dotted lines. I soaked the frames for a week and then clamped them to the frames closest to where they will be installed.  I did both sides at a time.  I also created a pin system so that I can attach the frames by myself.   In the meantime I've been working on the transom where the first plank goes.  The keel had to be cut so that the first plank will be level with the plywood.  Here's pictures of the keel before, during and after.  Then the last photo is of the first plank steamed and bent into place. The first transom plank: Note to self, do not use a concrete rock to hold the plank down in the water troth, it will discolor your wood.  Fortunately, this plank is painted so it isn't an issue.

 Now that the planks are bent, I've moved on to the plywood bottom.  The original had 3 pieces and now I realize why some frames were built the way they were.  The first two from the transom to amidships were fairly easy.  I left an over hang which I'll make flush later.  Here are the first two after cutting and fitting. I attached these but before moving on, I had to address a frame that was very low.  When we bent the bow planks, we noticed a dip in the board we bent.  So, I had to attach a filler to bring it up to level.  When I was doing this, I remembered that I had a low frame and put off addressing it.  Well . . . the time had come. Once this was completed, I moved on to the other four pieces of plywood.  All my friends had been telling me that the plywood would not bend in two directions near the bow so I should cut foot wide strips to install at an angle, so the plywood was only bending in one direction.  However, I had ple...

Bending the bottom planks had some challenges.  My friend Al came over to help.  At first, I started with one at a time.  This if the first 2 garboard planks steamed and bent into place. To cut out some of these bow planks I had to clamp them down to trace their shape. I also had to create an improvised soaking tub.  The last one I made was designed for the transom piece I had to bend which was much shorter.  This is what I came up with in my trailer.  Worked well because to empty it I just let the plastic down in the back and moved the trailer tongue up the hill a little.   So after the first two, Al came over to help and we did the final 6 in a couple of hours. On the starboard side I had one board that cracked a little.  I repaired it with epoxy since it will not be seen once it's on the boat.  It will be painted where the crack happened.  After I removed them to do the plywood, I noticed another which I fixed also.