Ginger rebuild Part IV, the front end

Ginger was wore out and in need of repairs. The planking had huge gaps between the seams and many of the steam bent ribs were cracked at the turn of the bilge. The entire FW stem of the boat was coming apart, she had huge checks in the forward timbers and the original bolts that held these timbers together had rusted thru. Many of the planks that were attached to this front timber were also pulling loose. The deck leaks had allowed water into the boat and rot had started in the planks and bulkheads. Over all, Ginger was like an 85 year old in need of some plastic surgery. So, the next step in the project was the removal of the forward stem and knee timbers.

Replacing the forward timbers was a tedious job which first required removing  the old calking from between the planks and then removing screws, lots and lots of screws. The entire forward part of the boat had to be un-screwed so that the planks would spring outwards to give me room for the removal of the stem assembly. To un-screw the planks though, you first have to find the screws! This is a challenge for they are hidden beneath years of paint and putty.

Some of the calking would almost fall out and some of it fought me every inch of the way.

 

Finding the screws and burning out the old putty.

Hundreds of screws to find.

Very time consuming to remove thewse screws.

  Then the garboard (the first plank next to the keel) and many of the bottom planks also had to be removed to gain access to the keel and the stem timbers. This job was one of the most dirty, tedious jobs of the rebuild. The slow careful removal of hundreds of screws that haven’t moved in 50+ years all the while having old bottom paint falling on your face or trying not to breath the vaporizing paint fumes from the heat gun (I’m sure that I lost some brain cells doing this part of the job). YUCK!

YUCK!

Planks are off and the stem is ready to come off.

 

Finally, I had to removed a few front ribs and then the old stem/knee assembly was free and could be carefully taken out of the boat. The original bolts that held this part to the keel were virtually rusted away so with the touch of a sawzall the two pieces came out of the boat.

The forward ribs had to come out.

Finally, the stem and the knee came out.

sitting on the floor waiting to be further disassembled.

Notice the large crack between the forward timber (right) and the knee?(left)

Ginger with no front end!

 

 Now, I have to make an exact replica and put it all back together again… Stay tuned!