The guy who refurbished my 17's iron centerboard recruited the help of only one other, but it was a backbreaking messy job and he dropped the board when he tried to replace it: It was covered in fiberglass at that point and he had to touch up some damage. In case anyone is now curious, I wouldn't recommend the expense of having someone cover your old c-board in 'glass. I think it's probably more cost-effective to replace a heavily-deteriorated board with a less corrosion-prone (stainless steel?) copy. But when I came to that realization, I'd crossed the Rubicon and probably now have the only early Monty in existence with an iron-cored fiberglass board. ----- Original Message ----- From: "ron and cathryn goodspeed" <rcgoodspeed@mac.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 5:38 PM Subject: Marking The Waterline Well, "hula pie" is hanging from the rafters in my shop [with extra supports under the keel] and she ain't going back in the water until that new bottom is on, so I'm glad to hear the various ideas on marking the waterline. The supports under the keel are exactly level and yet the old waterline was about one inch higher on the bow- should it be exactly level all the way around? Something I never noticed until stripping the old bottom-what a horrible job that is! -that the waterline port and starboard are about 2 inches different and not even on the same strake! I am thinking of adding a boot stripe- do they look good on a lapstrake boat? What type of paint should I use for the stripe? While she's up I will be removing the iron board for sandblasting, etc and repairing the area around the stop pin where a previous repair needs some more work. How heavy are the old iron c-boards and how many people are needed to safely remove it without getting crushed toes? Any clever ideas on how to paint up inside the trunk? Thanks for the great ideas and info, Ron Goodspeed M17 "hula pie" #025

Hello Wayne, Yes, I am assuming that the bottom of the keel is parallel to the DWL- Maybe the cockpit seat should be used to level the boat, I don't know what conventions marine architects use but many drawings of boats in general show the horizontals of keel and seat to be parallel to the DWL. Maybe Jerry or Bob have some better info on this? If not I'll just figure something out- besides, You can't see it from the cockpit anyway and with a new bottom I'll be going by so fast........ : -) . Ron Goodspeed

Ron, Take pictures as you progress. Stan

Ron, I'm not sure the cost is reasonable, but WalMart-type superstore photoshops will put up to 40 35 mm negatives on CD so those of us without digital cameras or scanners can email their pics. I'm considering having this done with some of my Monty neg.s. --Craig ----- Original Message ----- From: "ron and cathryn goodspeed" <rcgoodspeed@mac.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 6:29 PM Subject: Marking The Waterline Stan, I wish I could but we don't have a digital camera- I'll ask if any of my friends have a scanner. This "marking the line" discussion has lots of ideas but I think the skateboard was the simplest. With a helper a water level kit hooked to a length of garden hose is very accurate and they are available at any hardware store- I used one to layout the shingle courses on my house and it has a combination of 21 inside or outside corners to matchup, came out perfect. The key,of course, is to get the boat level all the way around. I plan to use the old marks at the stem and transom, get them level fore and aft then level the boat port and starboard. I'll be using the water level for this part then try out the skateboard, or shopvac with casters to scribe the line which can be confirmed by the water level except aft where the DWL will have to be marked on a nearly horizontal surface. Wooden Boat #167, August 2002 has a good article on using a laser level for taking off the lines of historic boats. Ron Goodspeed M17 "hula pie" #025