Work on the transom has begun. As you can see we have removed the majority of the outside shell. We can now see if there are any problems such as rot in the frames.
Update 08/23/2016
This is the process of removing the stringers from your Silver Arrow. First we had to remove the bolts from the braces in the front and the rear of the boat. Then at each frame running the length of the boat the stringers are through bolted to the frame.
In order to remove the bolts to allow the stringers to be removed we had to drill access holes in the bottom of the boat.
Now that the starboard stringer has been removed we can now remove the port side and then begin fabricating the new ones from douglas fir.
Here are some shots of the old stringer. There was a lot of rot that ran the entire length of the stringer.
Update 08/25/2016
The port side stringer was in such bad shape we had to attach a piece of wood to each end between the section that was missing. With that being done we can now remove the entire stringer in one piece and reproduce a new one the exact length as the old one. We are expecting to pick up the douglas fir that we will be using to make the new stringers tomorrow morning and then we can begin fabricating the new stringers for your boat.
Update 09/02/2016
The original stringers were exactly 2 inches thick. We have taken two 2 x 8 peices of douglas fir and glued them together with 5200. The 2 x 8 is actually only 1 3/4" thick so that being the reason we had to glue the two peices together. The 5200 that is used is a very strong marine grade adhesive. The wood itself would break before the adhesive bond.
Since the actual thickness needs to be exactly 2" and the thickness of the two boards together is 3 1/2" it needs to be planed down.
Once the boards are cut and planed down to the right shape and size the notches for the frames now have to be cut. We can do alot with power tools but this is something that is done mainly the good "ole fashion" way.
So here is the almost finished product. We still have a few more notches to clean up but should be ready to install next week.
Update 09/09/2016
Update 01/20/2017
We have been working hard fabricating your new seat bases. We have not only one but two sets of Silver Arrow seats to reproduce. Once we have all of the seat bases fabricated we can then turn them over to our Custom Canvas division and they can begin recovering the seats.
Update 01/23/2017
The front seat bottom to your boat is made up of a series of springs crimped together and fastened to a wooden frame. Here is a look at the process of hand bending the springs that will be used to make up the inner part of your seat.
As mentioned before each spring is hand bent. The first process of bending the springs into the "S" shape is not shown above but that process we also do by hand. So each spring starts out as one long straight piece of metal to eventually become what you see above.
Once all of the springs are bent we then crimp hangers onto each end of the spring then attach the hangers to the wood frame to secure each spring in place.
