| Project by che | posted 917 days ago | 894 views | 1 time favorited | 11 comments |  |
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This was my first boat restoration. I had helped a friend of mine restore two Thistles and his Jet 14. They are both wonderful boats. The hulls are hot molded plywood which was used during WWII to build some British aircraft. The decks and bulkheads are marine plywood and the internal structure is a mixture of cedar and oak.
The first photo is how I got the boat. The hull was in good shape but there was some damage to the deck. This is a fairly typical condition. The hulls hold up amazingly well. Being soaked in formaldehyde glue helps a lot I’m sure.
The second photo is the finished product. I have since painted the entire outside of the hull white. The inside of the hull is bright as is the decks.
The third photo is the best finished photo showing the interior of the boat. All of the pictures I have show details of the different control systems. Racing boats have a lot of lines to pull on.
The boat has been raced fairly had for a couple of years now and I’ll need to do some touch-up work soon. I have another Jet 14, #16 which will be my next project.
www.jet14.com
-- Che.
11 comments so far
dennis mitchell
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3789 posts in 1207 days
posted 917 days ago
Looks like a lot of work to get to a lot of fun.
-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com
Bill
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2561 posts in 1054 days
posted 917 days ago
Very nice Che. It makes me want to build a wooden boat so I can go sailing again.
-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com
MsDebbieP
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14156 posts in 1054 days
posted 917 days ago
a “pride an joy”. Very nice.
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
mot
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4901 posts in 929 days
posted 917 days ago
My father used to build boats years ago. He loved to sail and the only available boats in those years, were ones you built yourself. It’s a daunting task and you did a great job. Thanks for showing us!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
jockmike2
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7299 posts in 1139 days
posted 917 days ago
Very cool, I’ve got an 18ft Sylvan thats my baby. I love the water. You too apparently. mike
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com
johnt
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27 posts in 928 days
posted 917 days ago
Che, that looks like one heck of a project. I’m not familiar with “Hot molded plywood” do you know of a site where I could read about it. I’ve been an avid power boater on the West Coast of British Columbia for years. There’s just nothing quite like it. I tried making a Hydroplane in my youth but that was a sad tale for another time. Good luck, johnt
-- jft
che
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123 posts in 919 days
posted 917 days ago
Hot molded construction would be almost impossible for a home builder. The process is almost identical to what is now called cold molded except it was before modern epoxies. The glue they used had to be heated and required an autoclave. I believe the boat pictured was built in 1959. I also have number 16 which was built in ‘56. There is a decent writeup here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito on the aircraft
West System Epoxy (Gougeon borthers) have some good literature on modern wood boat construction including cold molded construction.
The hull is 5 layers of 3” x 1/8” thick strips of mahogany oriented in +45, -45, 90, -45, +45
-- Che.
Steffen
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251 posts in 928 days
posted 917 days ago
I have a bunch of links to pages where I can buy boat kits/plans. I really want to build one eventually. Looks like you did a very nice job repairing this boat…
Steffen.
-- Steffen
PanamaJack
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4447 posts in 970 days
posted 916 days ago
Che, great workmanship shown. The boat restoration turned out great.
-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,
Napaman
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3482 posts in 970 days
posted 23 days ago
oooh…i hope you blog the steps on your future boat work…
-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...
a1Jim
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16683 posts in 470 days
posted 22 days ago
Looks like a great job.
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon