1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat: How to replace the Transom

1954 penn yan captivator replace transom

We are almost there. Beginning with two raw boards yesterday morning, Joe and RJ have fabricated all the parts to Captivator’s new transom.

We allowed the glue in the tongue-and groove joint between the two transom planks to cure for 24 hours before removing the clamps.

Today they fabricated the interior transom frame using oak for the bottom bow and two side frames and Honduran mahogany for the center frame.

The individual oak components and the transom blank were cut to shape using the old material as patterns.

What cannot be patterned simply are the bevels and continuously-changing radii of the transom blank’s ends and the oak framing that runs up the hull sides. Sanding in with a belt sander is both tedious and exacting, and requires continual test fitting.

With the individual components fitting well, RJ and Joe assembled the new transom temporarily before final fitting ensues.

Once we have an excellent fit, the components will be released, final sanded, bleached, stained with Jel’d stain and sealed with three coats of CPES.

Sometime early next week Captivator’s new transom will be in place, bedded in 3M5200.

1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat: How to Fabricate a new Transom

1954 penn yan captivator fabricating transom

Happily for her and her owner, we have been saving the last Pattern Grade Honduran mahogany plank from an order I made ten years ago for just the right application. It had been held in inventory for over two decade at the many small furniture shops that fell victim to the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The planks had been sawed, stickered and begun air drying a decade or so when purchased by the shop’s owner.

While our 1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat is losing her original transom, her “new” one will be fabricated using wood that is almost as old as she is.

It took a bit less than a nanosecond for us to agree that we will use that plank for Captivator’s transom planks and center frame member.

The original transom planks were glued up employing a splined joint – grooves cut in the two mating surfaces are joined by a thin strip of mahogany, aka the spline. However, we will mate the two boards using a tongue and groove joint.

Why? Joe, who spent years managing a commercial precision woodworking – custom window and door design and fabrication, has experience with, and has tested, both mating systems. His experience argues for the tongue-and-groove rather than the splined joint as stronger and better able to survive flexing and expansion/contraction cycles.

Joe cut the tongue in one and groove in the other soon-to-be transom plank using a table saw. Two pieces of scrap from the same planks were used for setup.

Finally, once they had been run through the jointer, Joe and RJ will set up a half-dozen pipe clamps, with three spaced along each side of the plank. Wax paper will be laid beneath the joint and copious amounts of Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue will be applied to all surfaces. (https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Titeb…)

Even though Titebond stipulates an 8-hour dry time, we will wait a full 24 hours before breaking the clamps down.

We will focus on her bottom once we’ve installed her new transom and its associated framing.

Happily, our worst fears, that we’d discover extensive garboard rot beneath the keel, did not happen. Despite the open seam along both sides of the keel-garboard joint, there was nothing but a tiny bit of rot way forward where the keel and stem join.

That said, once we have tightened fasteners where needed, sanded the bottom fair and applied three full coats of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer to both the keel and bottom planking, keel installation will be upon us.

We will treat the keel installation exactly as we do when installing external bottom planks in a True 5200 Bottom. Fifty-Two-Hundred will be troweled into the entire area beneath the keel, and to an about 1/8″ thickness. Then, as we sink the fasteners from the inside out,, we will be certain that the entirety of the mating surfaces are entombed in 5200.

We will clean the squeeze-out with Interlux Brushing Liquid 333 and then wipe the seam down with acetone, which will accelerated the curing process.

Then the real fun begins as all the seams between Striptite planks must be caulked using Interlux Seam Compound For Underwater Applications.

Why not 5200? Once cured it will not compress. Any drying and shrinking of the planks either breaks the adhesion, as we saw with this bottom initially. Any soaking-up and subsequent plank expansion threatens crushing the planks.

1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat Releasing the Transom (pt 2)

1954 penn yan captivator releasing transom

Part II continues chronicling our woeful discoveries.

Not only were our worst fears, implicitly expressed in Part I of this pair of clips, confirmed, I was blown away by the fact that the bottom “bow,” pronounced “beau,” were not only severely rotted, they were also quite wet. Honest! She has not been in the water since last fall, has been in dry cold storage since then and, yet, the bottom bow pegged our moisture meter and more.

As soon as we release the bottom transom plank and the framing, RJ will begin fabricating a new one. Replacing the transom’s interior framing was not in our scope of work, as we hoped against hope that the dark wood we observed during our initial observations might “only” be a bit of surface rot.

Not! This situation adds complexity to our project elsewhere as well. The two transom frames running behind the topsides are secured by copper nails driven from outside through the topside planking and into these frames.

Sadly the forward of the two courses of fasteners run through topside planking that is finished bright. We will do our best, but now fear that stripping and finishing the topsides anew has been added to the SOW.

RJ will fabricate and then he and I will temporarily install the bottom plank, the one we have just released, first, which will ensure the hull retains its proper shape.

1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat: How to Release the Transom

1954 penn yan captivator release transom

With the keel, outer stem and splash rails released, and having cleaned all of the 5200-like material out of the bottom plank seams, our attention turns to the transom.

The transom is two planks that have been fixed to both the topside and bottom planking, but also to a series of frames. Individual frames run along the bottom, sitting on the bottom planks, across the top and down the sides of the transom. A pair of inverted “V” frames stiffen the transom’s center.

Upon initial inspection RJ and I were troubled by what appeared to be very poorly conceived and executed repairs to the center and port frames. The “Dutchman” attempted at the bottom of the pair of center frames not only created a powerful water trap, the rot growing there propagated and destroyed the bottom bow – “beau”.

Part II continues chronicling our woeful discoveries.

1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat Post Stripping Findings

1954 penn yan captivator stripped hull

Yesterday we stripped her transom, flipped her, released her splash rails and stripped her bottom. Happily the splash rails are in excellent condition. They only want to be stripped, have some minor “bodywork” executed and refinished.

Today we released the keel and began releasing the keelson and the transom framing.

While the keel is in excellent shape, both in terms of being straight and sound, it has been off the boat at least once and sealant was given short shrift when it was last installed. As a result there is some rot, not so much that it cannot be repaired, on the garboards where they lie beneath the keel and the keelson.

Her owner informs me that the keel was not released by the shop that worked on her in 2007-08, but the myriad of plugged mounting holes tell us that it was released sometime prior to that work being done.

The paucity of sealant means that water will find its way into the bilge.

It will also sit in the bilge. That there is not more rot is testimony to the care given her by her current owner.

The rot we did find beneath the keel is far forward, and at the joint between the keel and the lower portion of the stem. That curved section runs from its joint with the keel up to the splash rails.

Once we have the keelson and garboards out of the hull, everything, garboards, keelson and keel, will be cleaned to absolutely bare wood. Once the components have been sealed and receive three coats of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer, they will be set aside.

Next comes the most fun. The failed transom, which we must replace, must be released from the hull. That it is secured with many, many copper nails, and not wood screws, makes this task particularly challenging, but doable using a FEIN MultiMaster and the thinnest, narrowest blade we have. (That they are copper, and therefore quite soft, should translate into the MultiMaster zipping right through the nails leaving a clean surface behind.

1954 Penn Yan Captivator Aristocrat Flipped

1954 penn yan captivator flipped

We’ve flipped all sorts of boats, big wide ones, long deep ones and now our 1954 Penn Yann Captivator Aristocrat.

Forget the winch. No grunting needed. Her size, narrow beam and cylinder-like cross-sectional shape made flipping her hardly different from rolling a 5-foot diameter pipe.

Now that her bottom is fully exposed, I must say that I was surprised just how little paint is on it. We will know better once we begun stripping, but my guess is a couple of coats of red lead primer followed by about as many of some sort of gray paint.

The garboard-keel seams on port and starboard, while open, appear to be less so that we thought they were while lying on our backs looking up at the hull.

Once we have released both splash rails and masked her topsides, we will reach for the Circa 1850 Heavy Body Paint and Varnish Remover and strip the bottom down to raw wood.

We will surely share what we find and how we will attack the issues we unearth then.

Meet Our 1951 Penn Yan 18′ Stern Drive President

1951 penn yan president stern drive

Her HIN is WR5167, and she is an example of Penn Yan “Stern Engined” inboard boats, powered by a twin carb Gray Marine Phantom 112-6.

According to Bob Speltz (Bob Speltz, The Real Runabouts VI, p. 213-14). Penn Yan offered four models. The Transport and President were utilities. The President and Aristocrat were runabouts. Three lengths, 16-ft, 18-ft and 19-ft were available, as were several engine options.

According to Speltz, “The ‘heavy stern/light bow’ balance produces uncommon action characteristics that delight all Penn Yan owners…

“A Penn Yan inboard could make the tightest turns, either way with a perfect ‘gravity’ bank. There was no skidding whatsoever. Running downwind in a heavy sea will find a Penn Yan being able to run wide open because it is light in the bow and heavy in the stern….

“The stern engine arrangement used by Penn Yan was used ever since 1932 and enjoyed great acceptance by all who owned such boats. Each Penn Yan inboard came equipped with a safety strut which was one piece bronze casting attached to the transom carrying both the prop shaft and rudder stock. It was so rugged it could hardly be destroyed…

“It has the effect of boat length behind the motor without hull buoyancy in that position, and that produced running characteristics we have already mentioned that were hard to believe.”

She must wait until winter 2019, but my goal is to preserve her then and have her on the water the following spring and summer.

1955 Penn Yan Commander Aristocrat Preservation Complete!

1955 penn yan commander aristocrat preservation

We could not be more pleased with the preservation results as this truly darling 1955 Penn Yan Commander Aristocrat, hull number is ORH 552832, who rides on her brand new, 2016 Load-Rite aluminum trailer, debuts post-preservation and is now available to the person or family who falls in love with her.

She is quite original, even to the point of retaining the original covering plate for the steering column hole in the dash not being used as the helm station. Her Taylor Made windshield is original as is her hardware, all of which is still with the boat.

She is powered by a 1954, Model RDE-16 25 horse Johnson Sea Horse engine. The engine, solenoid box and engine controls retain their original Johnson Sea Horse Green paint, all of which is in exquisite condition. Removing the cowl reveals an equally clean, bright engine that also retains its original Sea Horse green paint. Her ignition plate matches the rest of the ensemble in terms of its originality, color and condition. We serviced her completely, part of which process involved installing a rebuilt starting motor and new electric choke along with the standard plugs, points, etc.

As you will see in her post-preservation debut video, the engine starts, idles and revs up easily, smoothly and strongly.

The boat is interesting in that the center-steer station can be installed in either compartment. We plan to re-position the original Wilcox Crittenden steering wheel and engine controls to the forward compartment.

The Striptite hull and transom, both inside and out, was in superb structural condition when she arrived last fall, but now has been preserved to an eye-popping show-ready condition throughout. We retained the original and unbelievably rich color and varnish on the decks, and similarly for cedar and oak interior, as well as the oak gunwales by sanding all surfaces flat by hand and with great care.

The decks, gunwales and rub rails then received six top coats of Pettit Hi-Build varnish that was carefully sanded with progressively finer grades of paper, until the last pass with 500 grit following the fifth and in preparation for the sixth and final coat. I hope you will agree that, as presented in the photos and video that accompany this offering, she is a stunner who has not been spoiled by over-preservation throughout.

Perhaps the most tedious portion of the preservation process was first scrubbing her interior clean, followed by sanding with 180 and then 220 grit. Three coats of Sikkens Cetol Marine completed the interior preservation.

The finish on the transom, seating components and rub and spray rails just could not be saved. We had to strip to bare wood, sand, stain and seal with three coats of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. The seating then received three coats of Sikkens Cetol Marine. Twelve coats of Pettit Hi-Build varnish were rolled and tipped onto the transom and rub and spray rails.

We stripped the exterior hull to bare wood from gunwales to keel and sealed it with three coats of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer, followed by five coats of Interlux 2000E Two-Part Epoxy Barrier Coat which makes water infiltration impossible. We finished the project by applying six coasts of Epifanes Monourethane above and below the waterline.

Her 2016 Load-Rite trailer is brand new and comes with both a title and Bill of Sale. We will also provide a Bill of Sale for the Commander Aristocrat.

Here is an example of the best of Penn Yan who will be a strong contender to win Best of Class, if not Best of Show in any show she is in.

1955 Penn Yan Commander Aristocrat Finish Painting

1955 penn yan commander aristocrat painting

Epifanes asserts that its Monourethane One-Component hard high gloss paint “provides incredibly hard urethane abrasion and chemical resistance with outstanding gloss, durability, color retention and U.V. protection. It can be brushed or rolled with the application ease of an enamel.”

Our experience is absolutely consistent with that claim. We selected dark blue for the topsides and, as is correct for the Commander Aristocrat model, she will be light oyster below her spray rails.

We have continued our practice, one that is urged by Don Danenberg, of applying five coats of Interlux Interprotect 2000E barrier coat below the waterline, but have also applied three coats to the topsides to absolutely inhibit any water infiltration.

As Epifanes Monourethane explicitly forbids direct application over an epoxy primer, which 200E is, we followed the barrier coat application with two coats of Jamestown Distributors’ TotalBoat Topside Primer.

The existing finish on the splash, rub rails and coaming proved to be beyond saving, so we have stripped and bleached, stained and have begun varnishing them.

Happily we will be able to save the original finish on the fore and aft decks. A light sanding with 320 grit will be followed by 6 – 8 coats of Pettit Easy Poxy Hi-Build varnish.

The existing finish on the hull’s interior and bilge will be saved as well. We will clean vigorously with a brass brush, sand all surfaces lightly and then apply several coats of Sikkens Cetol Marine varnish.

1955 Penn Yan Commander Aristocrat Hull Stripped Bare

1955 penn yan commander aristocrat hull stripped

Sweet! We have the Commander Aristocrat’s hull cleaned to bare wood, and “Sweet!” is about what we discovered beneath all the paint.

Overall the Striptite planking is in great shape. There are no soft or black spots and no failed fasteners. Yes, we must set some of the copper nails, but are not faced with any re-planking.

One surprise, given the hull number, ORH 552832, we understood that her bottom planking and transom should be mahogany, which they are, but expected to also find mahogany topside planking, but it is white cedar for sure.

Finishing the topsides bright, as we understand this model was when it left the Penn Yan factory, means cleaning, resetting and then filling the fastener countersinks with appropriately stained putty. My guess is that we will be reaching for the TotalBoat Thixo Wood, which we can color using the same stain we will use on the topsides and transom.

As I closed in the last clip on this boat, there is nothing glamorous about stripping a hull except being done. Yeah!!!! We are done.