Ray and I came up with a tool to make sanding the drums a lot more efficient
Now all I have to do is chuck the new tool in my drill and let the drill do the work it use to take over 10 hours to sand a drum now it takes 10 minutes thanks Ray
Charlie

Keep in mind I’m no expert, I have tried to learn all I can and read and ask questions as I am trying to reconstruct these boats. Merky built boats forever ( well a long time anyway) and can maybe give more insight than I can.
The cut back keel was an attempt to reduce the turbulence to the prop.
The racers that were running back in the day when they moved the steering skeg from the center to the sponson on the hydroplanes claimed they picked up 5 MPH, the cut back keel won’t do that but it may help.
I have considered cutting back this keel, it would be a bit of work and I might have to reinforce the insides some.
I am going to reinforce the two center stringers but there is no stringer over the center keel, the end of it is supported by the transom braces which extend about 18” or so towards the front.

Ray, i never knew such a small discrepancy would make for evil handling. Definitely going to go over the boats with a straight edge.

The keel on this 56 Rocket and my 52 DR goes all the way to the transom. On my D Clipper it ends about 1 1/2 feet from the transom. Can you please explain the reason for the difference?

BTW my clippers keel has a slight wiggle riveted into it well above water line when on plane, Friday boat I guess. There must have been some eyeballing going on at the factory.

MercuryMarc wrote: Ray do you think they used forms to get the shape of the boats when building?

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Their 1956 catalog mentions “stress hull forming on all round chine boats”, I assume the round chine was pressed into shape, the tumble home may have been pressed into shape too because it is not just rolled up, it is a compound curve, I had to reproduce half of the tumble homes on my Flyer, just rolling it didn’t work it had to be stretched into a shallow bowl shape to work.

Ray do you think they used forms to get the shape of the boats when building?

boatcrazy wrote: Dang 250 boats a week I wonder how many rivets that added up to can you imagine how loud it was in the factory I bet a lot of the workers couldn't hear after working there
Charlie

Never thought about that. Them dudes had to been ALL def. Back Then PPE probably was not even a thing.

Dang 250 boats a week I wonder how many rivets that added up to can you imagine how loud it was in the factory I bet a lot of the workers couldn't hear after working there
Charlie

How they got the bottom so out of shape is a good question, I haven’t figured out the process they used or the sequence of operations but I am sure the transom braces were the last thing in as far as the basic hull goes, they obviously had fixtures to hold the sheets in place, they would have had to do the bottom first and close the bow and rivet on the keel as the first operation, I think they would have put the stringers on next then the sides, everything was match drilled and there is a ton of rivets holding the sides to the bottom, I could be wrong ( edit I’m sure they had to rivet the bottom to the sides before they closed the bow seam) and they may have attached the sides to the bottom before they did the bow seam and keel, I would love to know. I am pretty sure the transom sheet was the last piece of the hull to go on, that was probably where they pulled the bottom out of shape and then just threw the transom braces in where they landed. I read a newspaper article somewhere in the Feather Craft archives that stated they were producing 250 boats a week during the busy part of the year, at that pace I can see some things being over looked.

boatcrazy wrote: Thanks Ray for letting me be part of your latest build here are some pics of the helm I have been working on

Dang Charlie, that jewelry is gonna look sweet, Ray is gonna have to outdo himself to have thay come aboard, some reason i believe it will be worthy

You guys hit it, the 4X4 has a 1-1/4” diameter steel bar through it for mass and a rubber pad to reduce the shock wave.