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Refastening vs. Reframing - an excerpt from correspondence with a customer
The procedural difference between refastening and new fasteners lies with the steam bent frames. A refastening procedure routinely involves installing additional fasteners adjacent to the original fasteners. This requires drilling more holes through the planking into the frames. On large watercraft where the plank widths and frame cross sectional areas are substantial, a refastening procedure can be effective and add years to the life of the hull for a small investment. On your lightly-built day sailer, the secondary fastener holes can significantly weaken the planking and the supplemental fasteners will contribute to splitting of the frames. A new fastening procedure involves splitting out and replacing the steam-bent frames, repairing the original plank fastener holes and installing new fasteners through the original plank fastener hole into new frames. It is an involved process, but you reclaim the original strength of the hull and are able to reuse much of the original planking. The normal exceptions to this are the garboard and sheer planks. The garboard has many more fasteners in it than a common plank, and the sheer is often finished bright and its appearance is sometimes best maintained by replacement. |
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