This may not be earth shattering news and have little relevance to the outside world except that Commodore’s Boats have done a fantastic job at branding as the “wood boat experts” of the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Islands of BC. We hear often its a dying trade and there are hardly anyone building or restoring wood boats any longer. This may be true; its up for debate. Likely a good conversation to be had over a few pints of ale or litres of port. However its important to note on last vessel query search there are still over 2000 wooden boats registered as operating vessels in British columbia. Several hundred of those wooden vessels are work boats either as tugs or fish boats. No tell on how many wooden boats are still floating in the Pacific Northwest which includes the state of Washington. This writer suspects 5000 or more. this likely is a to-do project to establish a firmer number.
The reason for this news blog is not to once again to showcase commodore’s Boats skills and expertise as the wooden boat experts (our website has numerous wooden boat projects for you to scan through) but is an attempt to disclaim the notion that commodore’s are “ONLY” wooden boat experts.
As an example yesterday this writer was speaking to Hector a customer with a fibreglass restoration in the shop and he indicated at his marina with his circle of friends and marina patrons that they were shocked to hear that Commodore’s Boats did anything but wooden boat repairs. Why are they working on your glass boat? was the question being asked.
We thank the boating community for recognizing us as a credible wooden boat experts and yes we still position ourselves as wood boat experts but this news blog will showcase a couple of unique fiberglass projects currently in the shop.
65′ Fibreglass Ketch – bow thruster installation
Customer approached us with his 65′ fibreglass sail boat he had recently purchased and wanted a bow thruster installed in order to easily maneuver his boat when docking or leaving the dock.
The challenge being that there was no bow thruster previously installed so Commodore’s had to establish the best location in consideration of what would be in the way when deciding on where the holes would run from port to starboard side on the bow structure. That included climbing into the front of the boat, removing the floor structure in the shower compartment to ensure that cutting and drilling through the fibreglass would not disrupt the integrity of the boat as whole.
The first step in the installation was to clear out the shower in the bow of the boat in order to ensure the tube could be slid through the holes unobstructed. This involved removing the shower catch pan and floor in order to get access to the head.
The edges of the two holes were then ground back three to four inches for good fiberglass adhesion and the tunnel was pushed through, plugging the holes. Using alternating layers of fiberglass cloth and chopped strand mat, our fibreglass expert then glassed the tunnel in place. As he did so, he built out the tunnel’s leading edge to help the water break away and prevent it from swirling into the tunnel at higher sailing speeds, thereby reducing turbulence.
While the outside glasswork was curing, we also glassed the tunnel into place from the inside to form a watertight seal. As soon as the glasswork was fully cured, the motor was installed. With the unit wired up and tested, all that remained to be done was to install the propellers after the inside of the tunnel was painted with bottom paint. Once the painting was finished the props were mounted and the boat was ready to launch.
34 Silverton – davit system install
Customer approached us with his 34 Silverton fibreglass boat. He also purchased a used davit system out of the United States. The davit system was an older Roskelly- Ollsen system built in Seattle. The purpose of the system was to swing his 500 lb dingy off the stern of the boat. The davit system weighs approximately 200 lbs.
Challenge was to ensure that once the davit system was installed it appeared as if it belonged. It was necessary that the system was aligned correctly onto the swim platform so that it appeared aesthetically pleasing to eye. The bigger challenge was to ensure that the swim platform was reinforced to ensure that the added weight of the davit and dingy did not create stress and damage to the transom or swim platform.
The solution was to install the davit centrally and as close to the transom as possible such that the dingy would raise and lower without hitting the swim platform. It was than decided to reinforce the swim platform with stainless rods and have them tied directly from the base of the davit carrying the weight through to the transom thus alleviating any added stress to the swim platform. Finally all the electrical would be run through the transom and onto the batteries providing the power required to raise and lower the dingy.
