Prop shafts, engines and paint.

The last few weeks of hard work paid off with laughter this Saturday as 10 volunteers wrangled one 80 foot board onto the deck of PT-305 to make sure it was long enough. Laughing the whole time, the crew bent the board around the back of the boat, into the wood shop and curved up onto the deck. The original top layer of deck consisted of two inch wide mahogany planks in the longest lengths available at the time. This resulted in butt joints, where the flat ends of the boards are pushed together in the same manner as a wood floor in a home.  The last eight weeks have seen the completion of fore peak structure from the chine up and the final installation of all remaining deck and side hull ribs.

Doc is sanding a splice on one of the 80 foot deck pieces.

Frank’s crew, after finishing the work on the stem, have been working hard to finish fitting the remaining side hull ribs. These ribs need to be fitted into the side of the boat before the covering board is installed.  The reason this task has taken weeks to complete is due to the lack of good blueprints for the foreword section of PT-305. The volunteer marine engineers have been working on developing the curvature of the foreword ribs by following the survey of the original hull curvature. Because of this complication, Frank has had to fit each rib blank to the boat as its built. This means installing and removing the same pieces multiple times to make slight adjustments until they are properly fit. Now that these ribs are installed the covering board can be installed on the deck.

Frank works to fit pieces on the bow of PT-305.

The covering board is fitted to the outside edges of the upper deck; it covers the ends of the deck beams and the tops of the side hull ribs. The covering board needs to be installed in order to install inner layer of planking. 3/8” mahogany strips are laid diagonally between the covering boards the full length of the deck, forming the inner layer of planking. The installation of the covering boards was taken care of by the weekday crewmembers Bruce, Doc, Mark and Louie.

Bob Wade spent two weekends installing the Samson post and the engine cover hatch. The Samson post at the bow of the boat is as a hard point on the boat for tying off, usually the anchor line. Upon removing the original Samson post it was discovered that it could not be reused. A new Samson post was made out of solid oak, and the finished piece is roughly 5 inches square and about 12 feet tall, making it quite heavy. When installed, the post rests on the keel and is bolted to the crash bulkhead- the foreword most bulkhead that is meant to contain any damage from a collision. This completed the last major deck work before the task of laying the final layer of decking begins. The crew is looking foreword to laying the decking, in order to get ready to drive the thousands of screws and copper rivets that hold everything together.

This photo shows the Samson post and the construction of the forward part of PT-305.  The square section to the right of the Samson post is a hatch that leads into the forepeak. 

There has been considerable progress in the engine room in the last few weeks. The first engine for PT-305 is almost 100% restored. A few weeks ago the gearbox arrived from off site restoration and Randy’s engine crew completed rebuilding the supercharger. Both of these assemblies have been installed on the completed engine block leaving one completed Packard 4M-2500. Work has begun on a testing stand for the engine to test the capabilities of the engines. With one engine nearing completion the engine crew has their work cut out for them, only two left.

The 3500 pound engine takes quite a crew to move.  After putting the engine the crew had been working on onto a different cradle, the engine had to be wheeled out of the main restoration space, and around the corner to get into the engine room.

In order to allow further work in the engine room, Kali and Josh have been painting the lower section of the engine room.  Painting PT-305 is an important part of the restoration, and all of the spaces within the boat are being painted by hand.    The special marine paint used will help to keep water from seeping into the wood when the boat is in water.  In the engine room this is especially important, as it takes a significant amount of stress, making it even more important that the wood remain dry and retain its integrity.  Paint will also help the metal screws, bolts, rivets and supports from rusting, which can do significant damage to the wood, as the crew has seen during restoration.  The engine room is an especially complicated area to paint, with all of the added supports for the engines.  The bulkheads and deck ribs were painted in April with the help of a Navy crew, and with just one or two more Saturdays worth of painting left, the engine room is becoming bright white.

Painting under PT-305 is the only time sitting down on the job is allowed!

Under the direction of Jimmy Dubuisson, Frank and Norm have been working hard on installing the emergency steering shaft for the rudders and beginning the work of installing the running gear for the center propeller shaft. The installation of the struts that support the center engine shaft is a very sensitive project. Specifications for PT boats call for the engine shaft to be within .0001 inch alignment with the engine. This means that the shaft needs to be perfectly straight in its support struts and the engine needs to be aligned on the same line the shaft is set in. If the engine and shaft are not put on the same “line” the result will be severe vibrations and shaking, which is detrimental to the operation of the boat. The beginning of the shaft installation process involved a stripped down engine block with a laser light. The laser is aligned with the crankshaft in the engine, which will occupy the same “line” as the propeller shaft. The block was mounted in the center line engine brackets in the engine room. The laser demonstrates the center point of the propeller shaft line, showing where the shaft will penetrate bulkheads and the keel. These preliminary measurements will be followed by weeks of debate and problem solving with the project leaders.  More on this in the coming weeks.  

The propeller shafts are heavy and take quite a number of volunteers to move in and out of the boat as they work to align them. 

Photographs in this post are copyright of Jane Swaffield and Kali Martin.