This 1958 Cadillac Seville is an early example of cold-molded plywood hull construction. She has two cockpits, complete with two windshields. Her deck planks alternate in mahogany and avodire, which produces a striking result. Now that all the structural and most of the cosmetic work has been completed, we can begin reconstructing her. Wait until you see her original Evinrude outboard with matching Evinrude blue upholstery her Caddy Seville crowns and chrome moldings!
Let’s agree, stripping varnish or paint is just plain WORK! But it is the first step in saving an old wooden boat’s decks, gunwales and topsides, so here we are, almost finished stripping Green Mountain Buoy’s foredeck, while RJ, who is out of the shot, toils with the starboard topsides. Next comes releasing the white material in the seams before we can begin sanding the decks. Happily, we have discovered that previous work on GMB included digging out and replacing the original material with restorer-friendly silicon caulk.
The seams are next, but that’s also the subject matter of the next video report. Yes, she is ugly now. Just wait. Soon she will jump out at you. I promise.
We are nearing completion of a thorough preservation of this early example of cold-molded plywood hull technolong. The 1955 Cadillac Seville sports double cockpits, complete with double windshields. Leveraging a deal they made with GM at the time, she also is adorned with gleaming Caddy chrome trim and the Caddy crown crest. Here we have just finished applying the second of an eventual seven coats of Interlux Perfection Plus varnish.
Here is the second part of this Tee Nee roller and roller pin how to video. You will see and be walked through how we insert the pin-roller combination into the trailer’s tongue, and then how we remove the pins and their rollers from the trailer.
Then we will offer you our solution to the rusted, corroded pin problem that all Tee Nee owners and preservation shops face: the Snake Mountain Boatworks stainless steel Tee Nee roller pin. Other than being stainless instead of mild steel, these pins are exact copies of their original counterparts. They are available on eBay at $10 each, packaged in groups of 6 or 7 pins, plus $6.00 shipping within the lower 48 states of the U.S.
Eleonora looked a bit forlorne when he new-owner-to-be and I first climbed onto her, stuffed into a storage shed in Hague, NY. A Lake George (NY) boat, she’d been languishing in that barn for several years when Marselis Parsons and I inspected her, and I quickly concluded that he’d made one of those rare barn finds.
Snake Mountain Boatworks had the honor of bringing her back. There were some rotted planks and many failed fasteners from keel to gunwale, all of which were released and replaced. We removed both bottom and topside paint, faired all surfaces, and repainted her in copper bronze antifouling paint and Interlux two-part Jade Mist Perfection epoxy.
We gutted, cleaned and repainted the bilge, but only after replacing 17 broken, rotted and failed ribs.
Finally, Eleonora is back and swinging from her new mooring in Lake Champlain’s Shelburne Bay.
Enjoy watching her emerge from the SMB shop, be launched and dance across theLake !
UPDATE: Little Chief wins Best of Show in her class at the 2012 Vermont Antique and Classic Boat Show!
Little Chief is now for sale and seeking a new home. Contact us for pricing and terms. Come by the shop to see her up close and personal
She has not seen water for well over ten years. With her ground up preservation complete, we launched her into the waters of Lake Champlain in Vermont on August 4, 2012, and ROAR she did!
This boat now has a new 3M 5200 bottom. Any rib deamed even slightly compromised was replaced. Every framing, planking and deck fastener was released and replaced with silicon bronze. All wood surfaces were treated with Smith’s Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer, and all interior surfaces were painted with multiple coats of Sandusky Mahogany Bilge Paint. Every piece of hardware, all of which is original, was transformed in jewelry by D&S Custom Plating in Holyoke, MA. The original 95 HP Chris Craft Model K engine was completely disassembled and then rebuilt by Restoration and Performance Motorcars of Vermont.
Little Chief has now left the preservation shop and is in the Snake Mountain Boatworks sale inventory. We will be happy to explore with you how she can be yours.
Here is Little Chief on her new Sea Lion trailer and ready to leave the shop:
Watch Little Chief slide back into the water for the first time in over a decade:
Watch Little Chief roaring across Lake Champlain with Little Chief:
What a fantastic experience! Having completed her complete preservation that included entirely new transom, engine mounts, interior flooring, seats and instruments; as well as rebuilding her 318 Super Bee II Chrysler V8, and removing and rebuilding gelcoat on the entire length of the hull below the gunwales.
Watch as she emerges from the shop, preservation complete:
Watch her roaring on Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, VT with owner, Angelo Lynn, at the helm:
Words can hardly be found to describe what it feels like doing “only” 40 MPH in a boat having about 14 inches of freeboard! (She has a much higher top end, but the engine needs some run-in hours on it first.)
Yes, Snake Mountain Boatworks mission is saving old wooden boats. However, the transition from wood to fiberglass that pleasure boating experienced beginning in the late 1950s produced a few stunning examples. Among the most stunning was the Cutter Jet de Ville, built in 1959, and sporting big fins borrowed from the auto industry.
These early Cutters were powered by Mercury outboards. The Jet de Ville was no exception, and when found in the woods of northern Vermont, this boat still had her original Mark 55 Thunderbolt Four hanging off her transom.
She was also resting on on a very rusty, flat-tired, but original trailer. A fellow working with a large excavator nearby offered to lift boat and trailer onto my transport trailer. My crew just stared at me as I drove up to the shop, so I had to explain.
Every piece of her original Volwrath stainles steel hardware was intact, as were her original steering wheel and related lines. Yes, the upholstery was completely trashed, but we had enough for patterns.
And, she is left-hand driven, which means she was sold and used in oval circuit racing.
Her preservation complete, she is again sporting her original colors, Merc sunset orange over white. She now rests on the same trailer, which we completely disassembled, sand blasted and repainted. The trailer’s wheels sport proper, NOS 1958 baby moon hubcaps.
Watch as Val Desesare fires up and tunes the Mark 55 that he rebuilt:
She has moved from shop to showroom and joined our inventory of preserved boats for sale.
Come and see her on display August 10, 11, 2012, at the Lake Champlain ACBS Boat Show – at the Boathouse in Burlington, VT.
There is a new old Lyman sleeper in Vermont! And she’s being prepped for Lake Champlain at Snake Mountain Boatworks.
This barn queen has been “resting” for “several” years. Here RJ and I are using the infrared “Silent Stripper,” which allows us to remove paint down to the wood in one pass without exceeding 600 F. As such, we are protected from any lead vaporization. In fact, as you will see on the floor beneath the boat, the scrapings are dry and in virtual powder form when they release from the wood.
