March bulletin

Posted on by crestrestoration

Restoration this month has included ..

ENGINE WORK

Removal of the Crankshaft  from the reconditioned Lister diesel engine

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which required loosening and removal of the Flywheel Retaining Nut#.

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TIMBER WORK

The final shaping,  preservation treatment and securing of the replacement plank on the starboard bow.

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RIB removal and replacement.

In this section, a more detailed explanation of how the rib removal and replacement is given.

Removal of timbers is done so in a manner which creates as little damage as possible to the timbers to which they are attached.

Laid on top of the ribs are the stringers which run the full length of the hull.

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The stringers are removed as needed.

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The damaged ribs are removed in a sequence which creates as little stress as possible, eg. adjacent damaged ribs are not removed at the same time.

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After the copper nails are removed, each nail hole is filled with 2 part epoxy.

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Once dried, both external and internal surfaces are sanded.

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The replacement ribs have been milled, cut, and planed previously.

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They are steamed for up to 45minutes to allow for bending to follow the profile of the hull.

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The first to be replaced were 3 ‘sister’ or ‘twinning’ ribs.    IMG_3841

These are laid next to the full ribs (which run gunnel to gunnel) and are needed for hull rigidity below the engine bearers.

Once slid and held in place, 6cm long copper nails are driven from the underside of the plank while pressure, using body weight and/or a metal stopper is needed to keep timbers flush.

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When all nails are in, they are cut to about 2cm length and then bent and hammered over into the timber.

This last action requires a weight against each nail head on the other side of the plank.

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#A big thank you from the Cresters to ‘Wandy Bus & Autos’ on the Princess Highway at Wandandian where Wayne applied the impulse driver to loosen the flywheel retaining nut.

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