Thunderbolt by Bob Atwater, Seneca, South Carolina

This begins the planking. I cut the planks (3.25 " wide by 3/16") on my 14 " band saw using a super sharp ½" resaw blade and a homemade jig. Actually, I wore out two blades sawing some 400 feet or more of planks. The darker planks are sepele (dark mahogany type wood) and the lighter planks are Honduras mahogany.

The planks are bookmarked from the center out. After gluing the two center planks on the plywood deck with epoxy I worked with four planks at a time moving out to the side. The spacing between planks is about 3/16".

After some experimenting, I ended up using a standard Swingline paper stapler driving staples through small squares of cardboard to hold the planks in place while the epoxy cured. While the stapler worked on the Okume plywood, it would not work on fir or birch plywood (surface too hard?). After removing the staples I put a drop of water on each small hole created by the staples. Once sanded, the holes were no longer visible.

The transom was planked without spacing. Sepele was used for the coaming. The corners connecting the coaming with the rear deck facing board were made by laminating six thin pieces of sepele around a 12 inch radius.

I used Sandusky Chris Craft filler stains. The Sepele planks were stained with a mixture of two parts walnut and one park mahogany stains. The Honduras mahogany planks were stained with two parts mahogany and one part walnut.

First coat of Petit Old Salem clear sealer.

After 6 thin coats of Interlux varnish, the seams were filled with tan 3M 5200 adhesive/sealant. Other sealers were easier to work with. However, I could not find a light tan color only white which was too much of a contrast. Each seam was masked off. After filling carefully to minimize air bubbles, a 5/8-inch dowel was drug down the seam to provide a slight concave surface in the sealant. The masking tape was then removed and a soft plastic scraper was used to remove any excess 5200 materials on the planks. Occasionally, follow-up with a soft cloth and solvent was necessary. I practiced on a mockup for quite awhile before going for real on the hull.

There are six more coats of Interlux varnish over the decks and the 5200 in the seams. I sanded lightly between each coat of varnish. After every three coats, the sanding was fairly aggressive trying to obtain a smooth true surface. Following the 12th coat of varnish, I finished sanding with 2000 grit followed by buffing with 3M Finesse II and a power buffer with a 8 ½ inch foam bonnet at slow speed (less than 1700 rpm).

Time to move the hull to a new Shorelander trailer.

A 34-ton truck crane is a little overkill, but it sure beats a half dozen guys drinking beer.

I am the old guy at the front that will not let go of the boat.

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