Category: 1930 Dodge Runabout

Her original, totally rebuilt Lycoming flathead four is back in the 1930 Dodge runabout’s engine bay. But it did not go easily.
The engine hatch is so small relative to the engine, that even spinning it 90 degrees failed to give us enough room until we removed the generator.
But now it is in sitting on the stringers, secured to its mounting bolts, at least provisionally.
The prop and engine couplings do not quite line up, and almost is just not good enough unless you want your power train to vibrate the hull to pieces. Hulls can change shape when they sit for decade after decade, which, in this case translates into a shaft log and strut that are no longer aligned perfectly. The prop will turn, but not without a bit of resistance at some points around the circle.
We will be fabricating and installing shims until the two couplers mate perfectly and the prop turns smoothly when the engine is in neutral.

The Minnow’s original 1930 Lycoming flathead four engine is back in the shop following a comprehensive rebuild by Robert Henkel and his team at Chris-Craft Parts in Michigan (http://ift.tt/1w7jSRy).
As parts are beyond difficult to find for this engine, Robert faced and overcame the challenge by having specialists in his network fabricate such parts as valves, pistons and more.
By week’s end we will have dropped the engine into the Minnow’s bilge, have reconnected her prop shaft and prop, installed her rudder and begun the final detail painting of her engine compartment, seat frames and bilge.
Soon, and we hope by the end of March, she will be ready to sojourn west to her owners in Oregon, where he will enjoy completing the cosmetic work, having seating upholstered and cockpit padding installed. (Happily on this score, I found some original upholstery beneath the most hideous
vinyl you have ever seen today. Matching her original upholstery is made ever so much easier by this discovery.
She will leave us sporting a true 5200 bottom that is planked identically to what the Dodge factory installed in 1930. Trailer sailing her will now be possible where it was not before her preservation was entrusted to Snake Mountain Boatworks LLC.

With the application of her fifth coats of Interlux Perfection two-part polyurethane in Mauritius blue, Minnow is now sporting her new True 5200 bottom, save for the final coat of bilge paint that will be applied once the paint has cured and she is flipped right-side up again.
We are using this super hard epoxy paint in place of the antifouling or hard racing copper bronze alternative because Minnow will be dry sailed, and therefore not subject to bottom contamination from lake scum or critters that might otherwise adhere to it.
Having reached this major milestone, we have also reached a crossroads. If her topsides and transom are to be bleached, stained and varnished by Snake Mountain Boatworks, decision time is upon us. Once we flip her over, we simply cannot take the risk that anything, and especially wood bleach can migrate beneath tape and into the bottom paint.
We have given up on blue painter’s tape, or its much-hyped Frog Tape cousin. Duct tape leaves an awful residue. Our go-to solution for now is professional gaffer’s tape purchased from Amazon.com. It adheres tenaciously, yet leaves absolutely no reside behind when it is released.
Minnow will now sit until early next week so that her paint can cure completely.
With her Lycoming engine rebuild and a 4-hour run-in bench testing complete, Robert Henkel, Chris-Craft Parts, will be shipping it back to us at the end of next week.
Minnow will be ready to splash, probably before the hard water melts and our next boat season rushes in.

With the application of her fifth coats of Interlux Perfection two-part polyurethane in Mauritius blue, Minnow is now sporting her new True 5200 bottom, save for the final coat of bilge paint that will be applied once the paint has cured and she is flipped right-side up again.
We are using this super hard epoxy paint in place of the antifouling or hard racing copper bronze alternative because Minnow will be dry sailed, and therefore not subject to bottom contamination from lake scum or critters that might otherwise adhere to it.
Having reached this major milestone, we have also reached a crossroads. If her topsides and transom are to be bleached, stained and varnished by Snake Mountain Boatworks, decision time is upon us. Once we flip her over, we simply cannot take the risk that anything, and especially wood bleach can migrate beneath tape and into the bottom paint.
We have given up on blue painter’s tape, or its much-hyped Frog Tape cousin. Duct tape leaves an awful residue. Our go-to solution for now is professional gaffer’s tape purchased from Amazon.com. It adheres tenaciously, yet leaves absolutely no reside behind when it is released.
Minnow will now sit until early next week so that her paint can cure completely.
With her Lycoming engine rebuild and a 4-hour run-in bench testing complete, Robert Henkel, Chris-Craft Parts, will be shipping it back to us at the end of next week.
Minnow will be ready to splash, probably before the hard water melts and our next boat season rushes in.

With the application of her fifth coats of Interlux Perfection two-part polyurethane in Mauritius blue, Minnow is now sporting her new True 5200 bottom, save for the final coat of bilge paint that will be applied once the paint has cured and she is flipped right-side up again.
We are using this super hard epoxy paint in place of the antifouling or hard racing copper bronze alternative because Minnow will be dry sailed, and therefore not subject to bottom contamination from lake scum or critters that might otherwise adhere to it.
Having reached this major milestone, we have also reached a crossroads. If her topsides and transom are to be bleached, stained and varnished by Snake Mountain Boatworks, decision time is upon us. Once we flip her over, we simply cannot take the risk that anything, and especially wood bleach can migrate beneath tape and into the bottom paint.
We have given up on blue painter’s tape, or its much-hyped Frog Tape cousin. Duct tape leaves an awful residue. Our go-to solution for now is professional gaffer’s tape purchased from Amazon.com. It adheres tenaciously, yet leaves absolutely no reside behind when it is released.
Minnow will now sit until early next week so that her paint can cure completely.
With her Lycoming engine rebuild and a 4-hour run-in bench testing complete, Robert Henkel, Chris-Craft Parts, will be shipping it back to us at the end of next week.
Minnow will be ready to splash, probably before the hard water melts and our next boat season rushes in.

John is fully enjoying spending 6 hours per side sanding the 3M Premium Marine filler compound flat and then fairing the entire bottom. Starboard is finished. Port will be completed later today.

His process involves sanding cross-grain with the pneumatic longboard sander with 40 and 60 grit, and then sanding with the grain using 80 grit. To go further is to rob the surface of the “teeth” needed for paint to adhere.

While he sands, I will be employing a BAHCO scraper with our DeWalt, and carefully removing residual paint from the chines to the boot stripe. Once we are down to raw wood, I will sand the surface flat.
We will begin applying Interlux InterProtect 2000E Epoxy barrier coat tomorrow morning. Five coats later, we will begin rolling and tipping Interlux Perfection Mauritius Blue to the bottom. As always, our progress will be constrained by cure times.

Sorry about the typo in the title. Today truly is January 21. We finally found the plank we were looking for on the starboard face of the bottom. By the time we leave the shop tonight, the final six port “bow section” planks will be sealed and screwed down, and the first coat of 3M Premium Marine epoxy filler will have been applied to the fastener countersinks. A second application will follow tomorrow morning, at which time we will allow the 3M 5200 to cure for a week before we sand the countersinks and finish fairing the bottom with Premium Marine filler.
Yes, we use Acetone as our go-to solvent throughout the shop. In this application, and unlike Interlux 202, 333 or 216, the Acetone flashes immediately and in our experience and in the literature actually accelerates the curing process. (We tested the other solvents on 5200, only to find that they actually retarded, and in some cases seriously so, the curing process.)
We will begin applying five coats of Interlux 2000E two-part epoxy barrier coat next week, followed by three coats of Pettit Copper Bronze antifouling bottom paint.
Soon Minnow will be equipped with what in Danenberg’s world constitutes a true 5200 bottom.
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Installing the Minnow’s True 5200 Bottom is progressing nicely. Three-quarters of the bottom planks have been fabricated, which has turned into a near-Herculean task. Why? None of the planks has parallel sides, and the degree to which each plank tapers from chine to keel differs from board to board.
And using the boards from one side as patterns for the other? Well, they are close, but close does not deliver perfect mating with the two boards on either side of the one being fabricated.
John has patiently sanded every plank in using our 36” horizontal, stationary belt sander.
As you see, we lay all the planks out, placing one positioning fastener in each, and then laying out a grid for all the fasteners, and drilling all of the countersink holes, so that the planks end up screwed down where we want them to be.
We test as we go, choosing between #6 and #8 silicon bronze, Frierson wood screws ranging from ¾” to 1-1/2” long.
Why not stainless? Read Danenberg’s article in the Sept-Oct 2014 issue of Classic Boating magazine to find the clearest, science-based, and most objective explanation I have read yet.
Each plank is literally buttered with a 1/8” thick layer of white 3M 5200. Why not mahogany? It costs about 50% more because of the color alone. Since it will end up hidden by five coats of Interlux 2000E Epoxy Barrier Coat Primer, selecting mahogany just wastes money.
As you see, John drives the screws in with an impact gun, and then pounds and pounds the edge of the plank with a large rubber hammer. Doing so drives the 5200 all the way out and beyond the plank’s edge.
What we did not show was the next, not-so-fun step, cleaning the excess 5200 from the plank’s face, edge and surrounding area. Pay special attention to cleaning the trailing edge so that the next plank fits snuggly in place.
Interlux will happily sell you 202 or 216, or some other more exotic solvent. Acetone is our go-to solvent throughout the shop. Unlike the expensive thinners, it flashes off almost immediately, and leaves no residue behind, oily or otherwise.
As John remarks in the clip, “There is nothing clean about installing planks as part of a true 5200 bottom!
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