Sept 27, 2015 – Removing Old Frames and Fitting New Frames – Part 01

Sept 27, 2015 – Removing Old Frames and Fitting New Frames – Part 01

With the first batch of “frame stock” made, it was time to begin fitting the new frames into the interior of the hull. Before that could be done, I had remove the old frames.

The top portion of the lower frame is fastened by a wood screw driven through the frame head, and into the chine log. I drove a chisel into the wooden plug that covers the head of the screw and “chopped” it out of the countersunk hole it was glued into.

I did the same at the bottom of the frame where a woodscrew was driven through the frame-foot and into the keelson; revealing the head of the screw there as well.

I have been finding that, most of the steel fasteners that are located close to, or in the bilge area, are “rotten”. The fasteners have either completely rusted away, or the threads have been “eaten” and are useless. The fastener just spins in a “stripped” fashion and won’t back out of its position.

You would think that it would be easy to get these old fastenings out! But, there is also old resorcinol glue that is present from the original construction and it STILL has a grip on some of the fastenings. This is really tough stuff!

To help with removal of these screws, I heated up the tip of an old screwdriver with my propane torch…….

……..and then I placed the “red hot” tip into the slot of screw head. The heat then transferred down through the threads of the screw, helping to break the fastener free from the resorcinol glue.

Once I could wiggle the screw “back and forth” with the screwdriver, I switched over to using my brace for more leverage to back the fastener out. The screws usually broke off before completely removing them.

With the fastener removed at the frame-head and also at the frame-foot, I used a multi-tool to score the interior face of the plywood skin; creating a “break” between the glue joint of the frame and the hull surface.

Once all of the preparation work was done on the inside, I moved outside to remove the fastenings that held the plywood skin to the frames. I used the exact same procedure that I implemented to remove the floor timbers.

I chiseled a “kerf” around the top area of each screw.

Then I cut around the screw using a holesaw with the pilot bit removed from the arbor.

Back inside the hull, I gave the frame a couple of “thunks” with a rubber mallet and it popped out of its position.

Here is an image of the fastener that was holding the foot of the frame to the keelson. The threads are gone!

Here is another photograph that compares the fastener that was at the head of the frame and the one that was at the foot of the frame. As I mentioned previously, I have been finding this to be a common trait in this boat. Nearly all of the fasteners that are near, or in the bilge area, are totally shot.