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Hi Bill: I had too had to replace my old deck. Over the years, some of the deck frames developed flats spots, and they had loosened and allowed the boat to spread spanwise. I had to use pipe clamps to pull her back into shape and refasten.It was somewhat difficult to fair the new deck and to keep th...

Hi Bill: Yes, the lower curvature of the new frame will change somewhat depending on how much you refasten and tighten things up. Also the stiffness of your new plywood if used, will have an effect. After epoxing, screwing, nailing etc 1/2 the old frame together tightly. I used a sliding angle squar...

Hi Brian: I used my router, cutting the rabbets and the dado with a slot cutter and a rabbeting bit. I found a smaller OD bearing from MCLS which gave me a wider rabbet which I needed. I did most of the routing prior to assy. I cut the 1/8" slot first followed by the rabbet. By all means experi...

Hi Bill: I just finished a +2yr restoration on my 20' Offshore camper. I too had to build a windshield with just a half, for a pattern. I felt 3/4" material was just too flimsy. I opted to use 10/4" rough material and planed it down to about 7/8" finished thickness. As for dowels I us...

Hi George: First of all you have my utmost admiration for wanting to do a project like this! The first step in my judgement would to read Danenberg's books. Then make yourself a ledger sheet listing the pro's & cons of the project. Listing the things you know that are wrong with the boat. Trust ...

Calvin: I used a 2 part bleach kit I purchased from Woodworker's Supply on my 20' Offshore fisherman. I found it more effective than just Oxyalic acid. Some black stains on wood are a bugger to get out completely, requiring several applications. Try not to sand too aggresively, between coats as the ...

I have a 1967 20' Offshore camper Pestigo built. Has anyone had any experience or advice in replacing my entire propulsion package with a newer model or a different manufacturer in my boat. I currently have the original early OMC I/O with the 250 hp V6 and electronic shift installed now. Parts are g...

I noticed that when I walked about in my boat (I have an OMC I/O), the aft flooring was very spring in spots along the sides of the boat. I thought it was just a problem with the old original flooring. When I remove the flooring and galley, in prep to turning the boat over for bottom work, I discove...

George: Before you try the epoxy I would suggest contacting Steve Smith the maker of CPES and ask obout their 5 year polyurethane system. Additionally Smith's typically have a wealth of info on CPES, epoxy's, fillers etc. that they will gladly send to you. I heartily recommend them for their knowleg...

George: I have an early 1967 Peshtigo 20' Offshore camper which is similar to yours, hull wise except for the cuddy. My floor supports are the same as yours, running span wise with no screws on the outboard ends. Perhaps the builders didn't want to transfer the weight of the floors onto the ribs usi...

You're corrrect Andreas, I am talking about attaching a piece of oak to the outboard side of the stringers. I just haven't had any experience using 5200 in this situation and was wondering if a flexible ahesive woud be better that a rigid glue line, and yes I will be using 1/4" silicon bronze f...

I'm still working on my 20' Pestigo Off shore. While removing paint and sanding the bottom I noticed the bottom has sagged about 3/8" on both sides between the garboard strakes and the Chine area and 3' fwd of the transom. This condition has been apparently caused by the old problem of roller b...

I've used a couple of books that I can recommend. (1) How to restore your Wooden Runabout Volume 1 by Don Danenberg (2) How to Restore your Wooden runabout volume 2 also by Danenberg. Only Volume 2 has info on restoring lapstrake boats. It had the most info for what I was doing with my Thompson. Vol...

Yes, I can use the old parts for patterns. If I can't save them by sanding, bleaching and staining, then I'll have to make new. If I have to make a new assembly I wanted to know if it was feasable to make a windshield that opens instead of being fixed because of the heat here in the summer months. T...

Thanks guys for the posts. I've seen some Thompsons with aluminum windshield frames but I'm a traditionilist, I prefer the look of all wood. I have built a lot of cabinet doors, china hutches with glass doors,etc and the joinery of a windshield while exacting doesn't frighten me. I really enjoy wood...