Sneakbox Restoration

Bob Reitmeyer

Bob Reitmeyer

Active member
It?s been a long time coming, but I?m finally moving on the restoration of a Sneakbox my Great Grandfather Carl Adams sometime in the 60?s. I believe it to be all white cedar, the deck being tongue and groove. What I had hoped to be a re-glassing has turned into a bit more. This is probably no surprise to anyone who works on wooden boats. Fortunately I have my Nephew to assist and bring energy. The first big step was getting the boat out of the elements so everything could completely dry out. Removing the old glass and epoxy was difficult as expected. All of the planks with rot came off intact so I will be able to pattern them for replacement. Next I will be sister some ribs and reinforce the tea some. Previous restoration posts have been very helpful since I?ve never tackled a repair this involved. Hopefully I will have this boat ready for sea trials in mid to late summer.View attachment 64F0AC31-F0C9-4AEA-B797-F598EBBDADB4.jpegView attachment 5A6D8554-EA74-4CD7-993F-82BA46DCBA9A.jpegView attachment F963352F-B986-4B54-BB8D-F79D1220982A.jpeg
 
Bob

Great start to a really cool project. I'm looking forward to this one.

Eric

P.S. Check your private messages.
 
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Good morning, Bob~


Sweet vessel - great photos!


Question: Did she have a skeg? Any photos of it?


All the best,


SJS

 
Hi Steve, yes it did have a skeg. I?m sure I have a picture of it somewhere and will try to post it. It seemed a little oversized. I?m not sure I will put it back on.
 
Bob great project, I watched David Clark restore your grandfathers 11 foot garvey last summer.
Keep the pic's comming
Phil
 
Phil,

Do my best. I've actually talked with Dave a couple times already for some pointers and he's been very helpful. Have also gotten some good information from Jode Hillman. I expect I'll have a few more questions as I move through this project.

Bob
 
Bob

You mentioned getting the epoxy and fiberglass off. Looking at the boat and knowing the age it is more than likely polyester resin and not epoxy. That being the case you can use a heat gun to help release the fiberglass and get it back to the wood for reglassing.

Eric
 
Eric, my Dad re-glassed the boat about 15 years ago with the West system. We did some scraping and some heat gun with limited success. Eventually we found a good day to carry it outside and sanded it for a few hours. Once we determined some boards could not be kept we sanded only where needed to access screws and joints so they could be removed. Saved a little sanding.

Things are a little curtailed for the moment, but that is giving me some time to think through the next steps. I think its prudent to sister some of the ribs and I'm deciding on whether to attach with screws or through bolt them. Same with the new planks - not sure I want to place screws in the same holes and may just through bolt them. I have purchased the planking so that is ready and waiting. Also, been spending time cleaning the original flat head screws that were removed with the idea of re-using them. Almost funny that the philips head screws my Dad used only 15 years ago are mostly not reusable because I cant clean the heads.
 
Bob

I think if it were me I'd sand the existing rib to bare wood and then coat it and the sister rib with straight epoxy and then butter the joint with thickened epoxy and screw them together. I'd counterbore the sister rib beforehand and sink screws to hold it together while the epoxy cures and fill the screw holes for good measure.

Just my thoughts from 750 miles away.

Eric
 
So fast forward three months, but really only a few opportunities to make progress. After some more relaxed examination I determined none of the ribs were damaged, nor was the transom. Since I'll be the one taking it out on the bay I decided I would sister up five of the ribs and to strengthen the transom. All the hardware is bronze. I am re-using some of the old screws, but did purchase a couple hundred Frearson head silicon bronze screws as well. Those things go in real nice! The old screw holes were filled with thickened epoxy although I hope to miss some of them. Each of the six planks to be replaced have been patterned, but my best option to cut them out is a band saw. This is working ok, but there have been some imperfections that I've needed to sand out. So far I've got three of the six planks in place and getting ready for the last three. Hope to finish the planking this upcoming weekend and then move in to the glassing. Fingers crossed! View attachment IMG_8231.JPGView attachment IMG_8232.JPGView attachment IMG_8233.JPG
 
The project is coming A long nice Bob.

The best thing I have found to cut planking, is the bandsaw. I cut everything slightly oversized, and then use a sharp hand plane to do my final fit. It?s a lot faster than sanding and once you get the hang of it you can fit a plank fairly quickly.

I?m sure Mr. Adams would be quite proud.
 
Great work, Bob!


re sawing our your planking stock: As you know, the biggest drawback of a bandsaw for this task is managing the length over the fairly short table of most bandsaws.


I have frequently sawn long gentle curves with a Skilsaw. Like Jode, I follow up with a hand plane. I am now considering a smaller circular saw for this (and other special) jobs.


https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-PCE381K-5-5-Compact-Circular/dp/B01MRBDZDX


One important feature of the smaller saws I have seen is that they cut on the left side of the motor - MUCH easier to see and follow the cut line for use by right-handed guys (and having vision in only my left eye now makes this setup even more attractive).



I will report in once I try mine. I hope to begin my Sneakbox restoration next month.


All the best,


SJS

 
Thanks Steve! I did all of the tracing with a 10 cent blue Bic pen so I could see the lines further off than I'm used to. I've addressed the length by having my nephew or my Dad support the plank once it a ways past the blade. All of the original planks have been tapered on both ends also. Good luck on your restoration!

Steve Sanford said:
Great work, Bob!


re sawing our your planking stock: As you know, the biggest drawback of a bandsaw for this task is managing the length over the fairly short table of most bandsaws.


I have frequently sawn long gentle curves with a Skilsaw. Like Jode, I follow up with a hand plane. I am now considering a smaller circular saw for this (and other special) jobs.


https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-PCE381K-5-5-Compact-Circular/dp/B01MRBDZDX


One important feature of the smaller saws I have seen is that they cut on the left side of the motor - MUCH easier to see and follow the cut line for use by right-handed guys (and having vision in only my left eye now makes this setup even more attractive).



I will report in once I try mine. I hope to begin my Sneakbox restoration next month.


All the best,


SJS
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