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CREW 2004

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THE REFIT 2004

2004 was a banner year for Dolphin, a great deal was accomplished.  The biggest milestone was the completion of the steel framework repair and replacement. To accomplish this, all of the remaining rusted frames to be replaced were removed, new ones fabricated and painted, then installed with bolts and welded, then painted again.  All of the longitudinal stringers from bow to stern were either replaced or repaired, welded, ground, primed and painted.  The butt plates joining the butt ends of all the planks were installed and fastened.  All of the rust and scale remaining on the old frames, floors, longitudinals and bulkheads was removed with air powered needle guns, then wire brushed, primed and epoxy coated.  

In order to repair the last six frames at the stern, the transom and about 10 feet of the stern section of the hull was cut off and disposed. Everything from the Pilot house aft was rotten and beyond repair, so it was thrown away to be rebuilt anew.

After removal of the old stern section, a batten form to create the hull shape was erected.  The batten form was used to lay out and bend into shape the new frames, floors and longitudinals.  The original KFK design called for a double ended or “canoe” type of stern.  Perhaps the first 100 hulls were built to this plan, before it was changed to a small sloping flat transom, which was easier to build.  But the transom was very small, giving the hull a tight and “pinched” hind quarters and aft deck. It was decided that, since we were completely rebuilding the aft section anyway, we would relax these tightly pinched lines somewhat, making the aft section a little wider and longer, giving a more graceful line to the transom, with a larger after deck area. Approximately two feet were thus added to the length and width of the hull at the stern.  The batten form was constructed to these new lines, adding shims to several frames forward to fair the lines into the existing hull shape.

Once the batten form was complete, a plywood transom form was added, and the whole assembly was stoutly braced to the scaffolding below.  First order of business was to replace the horn timber from the rudder post to the transom, as the old oak one had long ago rotten away. A new steel backbone was fabricated, tying into the remaining horn timber well forward of the rudder post.  Next the frames were marked and laid out inside the form, bending the steel to conform to the hull shape, tack welding braces to hold them in shape so that they could be removed for welding.  Out of the boat the frames were welded together, the braces removed, then the frames were ground down to clean steel and primed with Ospho, a phosphoric acid etching liquid which converts iron oxide into iron phosphate, an inert mineral.   

From the bow though frame station 45, just under the aft end of the pilot house, the frames were painted with two coats of marine epoxy anti-corrosive paint before installation.  In the stern area, there was so much welding to do in so small a space, it was more efficient to install the primed steel before painting, weld it all together, then do the final grinding, wire brushing and paint the whole assembly in place. As can be seen in the pictures below, it was tight quarters working inside the stern framework.

Once all of the new frames and stern framework had been installed and welded in place, the remaining old planks and batten forms, which had been used to preserve the hull shape, were removed for final painting and to begin planking the newly restored hull. Now that the steel framework was complete and painted, planking could proceed in earnest. The remainder of 2004 was spent spiling and making out new planks, fastening them in and caulking the seams.

By then end of 2004 approximately 110 feet of new longitudinal stringers had been installed, 32 frames, 12 floors, 18 deck beams and 23 planks along with many butt plates and several thousand fastenings.  The seams were caulked, the new planks planed fair and sanded, almost ready for primer. The through hull fittings had been overhauled and installed. The hull was finally beginning to take shape and look like a boat again.

(2004 Dolphin photo credits: Kara Salvagno, Eric Trautman, Maureen DaCosta, Wilson Allen and Sequoia Sun)