Vintage Boat Preservation How-To
Don Danenberg is a champion of the True 5200 Bottom, which he has memorialized in several books, but also an excellent and seminal article, “What is a True 5200 Bottom?,” Classic Boating, September / October 2014 (click here to view the article).
This section’s content offers a visual and written textbook aimed at answering Danenberg’s question.
Remove Bottom Section
1956 Chris Craft Capri Bottom & Stripping
Our 1956 19-ft. Chris-Craft Capri has had a tough life, what with being assaulted by inept and worse “restorers” a ...
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How To Remove Bottom Fasteners in a True 5200 Bottom – 1938 19′ Chris Craft Custom Runabout
That Flyin’ By’s bottom was original to the boat is absolutely certain. How do we know for sure? After stripping ...
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How to Open Countersinks and Remove Fasteners from the bottom of a 1938 19’ Chris-Craft Custom Runabout
We clean fastener countersinks using a Blair Equipment 11090N Rotabroach Cutter Kit, which is available from Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Blair-Equipmen...)Yes, even if ...
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1953 Shepherd Sportsman Removing Bottom Plank Fasteners
There is no glory in removing fasteners from the bottom of my 1953 Shepherd Sportsman. It is all about being ...
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1959 Chris Craft Sportsman Porcupined
Yes, it is Memorial Day, but we have a boat needing a new bottom, so have dropped all else to ...
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Install Diagonal Planked Inner Skin
1950 Shepherd Runabout 5200 Bottom Hullsides Update
While waiting for the Meranti mahogany planking that we will mill into bottom planks so ...
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1940 Chris Craft Barrelback 5200 Bottom Planking
Priscilla, our 1940 17-foot Barrelback became our lab rat today as we tested what we ...
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1940 17 Chris Craft Barrelback 5200 Bottom Planking Update
Priscilla, our 1940 17-foot Barrelback “lab rat” experiment is progressing rapidly now that we finally ...
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Install Bottom Planks
How to Install Bottom Planks in a True 5200 Bottom – 1938 19′ Chris Craft Custom Runabout
Installing the bottom planks can be tedious and is fraught with all manner of challenges ...
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1946 Chris Craft Brightside U22: How to Plank Bedded in 5200
Bedding the bottom planking in a 1/8” thick layer of 3M5200 without making a huge ...
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1946 Chris Craft Mahogany U22 Bottom Planking Fabrication
Our 1946 Chris-Craft Mahogany (Brightside) U22 project enters the bottom planking fabrication stage today.We will ...
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1959 Chris Craft: How to Install Bottom Planking When Fabricating a 5200 Bottom
I have had several requests for a video showing our crew installing the bottom planks ...
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1953 Shepherd Sportsman: How much 3M 5200 is enough when doing a True 5200 bottom?
One more milestone is disappearing in the rear view mirror. My ’53 22’ Shepherd’s port-side ...
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How to Install Bottom Battens in a True 5200 Bottom – 1938 19′ Chris-Craft Custom Runabout
As is typical of all Chris-Craft utilities and runabouts, this 1938 19’ Chris-Craft Custom Runabout, ...
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Pre-Soaking, Priming & Painting the Bottom
1948 Truscott Barrelback Runabout True 5200 Bottom
Our 1948 Truscott Barrelback Runabout has almost blasted through her True 5200 Bottom milestone! Her ...
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1948 Truscott Barrelback Runabout Danenberg Pre-Soaking Experiment
The extensive write-up accompanying our July 8, 2022, update on my pair of 1948 Truscotts ...
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1948 Truscott Barrelback Runabout Danenberg Pre-Soaking Results
Our 1948 19.5-foot Truscott barrelback deluxe runabout survived Don Danenberg’s “Pre-Soaking” step in the process ...
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1930 Dodge Runabout Barriercoating the True 3M5200 Bottom
Our “True 5200 Bottom” project on the 1930 Dodge Runabout, the Minnow, has reached the ...
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1940 Chris Craft Barrelback True 5200 Bottom Milestone
Priscilla, our 1940 seventeen-foot Chris-Craft Runabout has blasted through her True 5200 Bottom milestone! After ...
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1953 Shepherd Model 110 S Sportsman True 5200 Bottom Update
The July 9 ACBS show in Gravenhurst, Ontario is racing at us. We are committed ...
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1946 Chris Craft Brightside U22: How to Paint Bottom
Paint! I could claim that it seems like only yesterday when we launched the preservation ...
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1946 Chris Craft Brightside U22 Bottom Paint!
Since the last update video, we have applied five coats of Interlux 2000E two-part primer, ...
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1956 Chris Craft Sportsman 5200 Bottom
We are just two coats of Pettit Old Salem Copper Bronze Hard Racing Enamel away ...
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1948 Truscott Barrelback Runabout True 5200 Bottom Update
Our 1948 20’ Truscott Barrelback Runabout “graduated” from Danenberg pre-soaking with flying colors. We, well, ...
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1950 Shepherd Runabout True 5200 Bottom Complete
Yes! Our 1950 22-foot Shepherd’s True 5200 Bottom has been fully fabricated, installed, filled-and-faired, and ...
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1947 Higgins Speedster Primed True 5200 Bottom
Finally, this 1947 Higgins Speedster has a solid, sound, and rock-solid True 5200 Bottom that ...
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1947 Higgins Speedster True 5200 Bottom Milestone
Our 1947 17’ Higgins Speedster finally has proper bottom framing with a doubling of the ...
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1950 Chris Craft Riviera 5200 Bottom Update
Our 1950 18-foot Chris-Craft Riviera is well on her way to having a new True ...
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Excerpted from “What is a True 5200 Bottom?,” Classic Boating, September / October 2014:
Danenberg_True_5200_bottom