Crusoe 1

Crusoe 1

The first step is to remove the engine and all of the hardware . The plan is to replace the deck first , the bottom next , and then work on the sides and interior . There are a couple of reasons for starting with the deck . The 1960's plexi-glass windshield is going to be replaced with the correct one . The new windshield will entail several hundred miles of driving between the foundry , machine shop , plating shop and glass shop . It will also entail several months of lead time to complete . Since the windshield must be fitted to the deck it made sense to get this taken care of right away . Another advantage is that it will be much easier to seal the underside of the new deck when the boat is turned over to replace the bottom . Anyone who has ever painted a ceiling with a brush can appreciate this .

With the top transom plank removed the decay in the transom frame becomes visible .

With the deck removed it was easy to spot areas like this piece meal patch job in the stem area .

The covering boards are replaced first . All of the covering boards were sawn out of one large plank , and then re-sawn so that each side was book matched to the other . All of the individual strips of decking were also sawn out of one large plank for good colour and grain matching .

The decking was edge nailed with stainless steel nails , much like a hardwood floor . The lines are laid out with dividers , and the decking nailed from the outside in . It is pretty easy to get a deck with crooked lines using this method if you don't know what you are doing . After all you are dividing a curved surface into rectangles so the odd lick of a plane off of each strip is sometimes needed . The advantage is a finished deck with no screw holes or plugs.