Vintage Race Boat Shop

  We maintain vintage wooden boats.

Babe

1956 Chris Craft Capri - 21 foot

Owned by Todd Brinckerhoff

In the fall of 2005, we brought "Babe" into the shop for a thorough survey, some bottom detailing, new cockpit flooring and of course lots of varnish. The first step was to hoist the boat off the trailer and setup on blocks. And as the photos show below, we shared all the fun with the crew at one of our Saturday Morning Gatherings. These guys are a little slow, but they work for coffee and donuts !!! 

After we got the boat off the trailer and setup on blocks, our first step was to aggressively sand the bottom to expose any wood issues and to remove the dull red bottom paint. We started with 60 grit sand paper to sand through the thick anti-fouling paint, and then followed up with 80 grit paper to prep the surface for the correct bottom paint/color for this Chris Craft - Pettit Copper Bronze.

We then applied two coats of bottom paint, sanding with ScotchBrite pads between coats.

After some minor wood/stain repairs to the hull side planking, the hull sides and transom were sanded with 320 grit paper to prep for the first coat of Epifanes varnish. Hand sanding was next, with Scotchbrite Pads. And finally, the first coat of Epifanes was applied, using our preferred "Rolling & Wicking" procedure. This puts down a very thick coat of amber varnish, which actually darkens and deepens the mahogany stain finish. Four coats of varnish were applied.

After two coats of varnish, the new bow numbers were applied and then we applied the final two finish coats.

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