On Thursday, December 23rd, I began work on creating the new waterline for Froonie. The previously struck waterline was roughly an inch lower from the point where I decided to strike the new waterline. Still undecided if I wanted to add a boot stripe, I was sure that having a bit of the bottom paint riding above the true waterline would not trouble me. In visiting some traditional wood-construction boat yards in the New England area, I began to notice that boot stripes were not often part of the painting schemes; and the fact that the boot stripe was not part of the scheme did not take away from the lines of the hull in my opinion. I generally liked the look of bottom paint and finished, topsides paint, and so have almost decided to proceed without plans for a boot stripe - I can always add later if things just don't look right.
I used a process of striking the water line that I learned through reading notes by and speaking with a real artisan in fiberglass boat restoration - Tim Lackey. The process is relatively simple, does not require a lot of expense in tools and materials, but takes some time in set-up. The set-up consist of two horizontal timbers at bow and stern (set to the desired waterline mark at both bow and stern), a length of string, weighted on both ends, tape and pencil.
Shortly after arriving at Froonie, I sanded the general area of the waterline (roughly 7" above and 7" below where the waterline would fall). The first coat of Interlux 2000E (epoxy barrier coat) had yet to be sanded, so I took the opportunity prior to applying marks on the hull denoting the waterline to sand. Next, I turned my attention to leveling the boat athwartship (side to side). This particular process of striking the waterline requires the boat to be level only athwartship; bow to stern does not require level. I used a four foot level laid across the aft portion of the coach roof to aide my effort at bringing the boat level. It took about 5 trips up and down the ladder until I had reached a level athwartship position on Froonie.
I manipulated the stern set of jackstands - raising the port side while lowering the starboard side - until I reached a good, level position.
The next step in the process was to erect two horizontal timbers, one at the stern and one at the bow, which are both set to the level of the desired waterline. This process requires one to know where on the bow and where on the stern the waterline is to be struck. Once these positions are known, staging can be erected to create a planar waterline between the two points - bow and stern. I began with the bow by setting up a sawhorse on either side of Froonie, and securely clamping a vertical timber on each of the sawhorses. Next, I bridged both vertical timbers with a horizontal piece set to the waterline mark I created on the bow. From notes taken earlier in the restoration, I knew that my waterline for the bow would fall at 35" from the bottom of the cast bronze stem fitting. I taped a length of string from this point on the bow and attached it to the newly secured horizontal timber. Finally, I began working the vertical supports on either of the sawhorses until I had achieved a level timber (side to side) and a level string (from the bow waterline mark to the horizontal timber). This took some time, but was achieved after working the vertical supports, making slight adjustments.
Next, I set-up the stern timber. Again from notes, I knew my stern waterline would fall 14" inches up from the top of the rudder. I marked this waterline reference on Froonie's counter. Originally, I intended to use sawhorses off the stern as I had on the bow, but since the jack stands were in such an advantageous location, I used them. I simply clamped a horizontal timber to the jackstands, taped a length of string from the waterline reference on the counter to the timber, and began making adjustments until I had the timber level side to side and to the waterline itself.
The last component of the staging for the waterline process was attaching weights to either end of the length of string running from bow to stern. I had two lengths of chain, each about 6-feet long, that I secured to the ends of the string. The chain worked quite well for weighting, as it pulled the string taught end-to-end, but also would lay nicely on the ground promoting a good string angle as it met the hull and to which to apply tape - more on that later.
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