Swift Big D home

[curbman]

I never saw a Big Dee with full length air traps. Are those original??

I don't know for sure but look at this and judge for yourself. This is how they were attached and they were also molded to the inside of the sponson. I didn't get any pics of how the were attached to the sponson sorry. I am hoping someone will get in on this so I can get on with new wood or put the aluminum air traps back on. What do you think?

[Yellowjacket]

With the condition of your framing, you are probably going to need to use epoxy if the joint is broken loose.

I'm working on refreshing an older boat and it was originally guled with resorcinol . Resorcinol glues are great glues, but they need tight fits, high clamping forces, and are brittle. On my boat some of the joints in the framing had popped and the parts were loose. At the joints that were loose, the wood in the joint area had deteriorated and it wasn't a good idea to reglue it without grinding away the gray deteriorated wood. That left me with a gap of about 1/16 of an inch and when you grind away the bad wood. Those much kind of gaps are too large for resoricional.

Fortunately, gaps like that are perfect for epoxy. In fact, you don't want to squeeze out all the epoxy or the joint won't be strong, so a thickened epoxy is what I'm using in all of those joints.

To restore the joint, first grind out the bad wood, and then pre-treat with a coat of thin laminating epoxy (I'm using Raka, their laminating epoxy is very thin, 600cp and it will soak well into the wood). After that has soaked in, I bond the joint. For close joints, I'm using some wood flour to thicken it to a mayonaise consistency. For wider joints, bigger than 1/16 of an inch I thicken it to the consistency of peanut butter. If the gap is bigger than 1/8 of an inch I put in a piece of wood, and bond it in with the mayo consistency stuff. Most of the time the joints are just jigged, and if they need to be clamped, I only use light clampling pressure. So far I've had good results with the stuff I'm doing.

As for ring shank nails, I looked high and low and the best price I found for 15 gage nails was at Jamestown distributors ($17 for 800 3/4 inch long nails), or West Marine (1/2 inch long $5.79 for a pack of 100). I needed the 1/2 inch long ones and mine just got here today...

Good luck restoring a neat old boat.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

I have 5lbs of 3/4" silicon bronze ring shank nails. These are going anywhere from 17 to 18 US dollars per pound. Will take 12 dollars US per pound plus shipping. You can e-mail me at randbenter@eartthlink.net or PM thru BRF if interested.

[Ron Hill]

I don't know for sure but look at this and judge for yourself. This is how they were attached and they were also molded to the inside of the sponson. I didn't get any pics of how the were attached to the sponson sorry. I am hoping someone will get in on this so I can get on with new wood or put the aluminum air traps back on. What do you think?

I wish someone else would chime in, but I doubt that Swift ever bolted air traps on like this.

[curbman]

I wish someone else would chime in, but I doubt that Swift ever bolted air traps on like this.

I think your right, they sure worked good with the 40H on the boat back in 77 I think with a 58A power head it will be different.

[zul8tr]

You have your hands full in this restoration. Epoxy is the only way to go with the gluing because it is great for perfect and not so perfect joints that need a filler. I use fumated silica (Cabosil) for a thichner as it provides a good structural strong filler. Add to suit.

From what I recall the traps on these Swifts were wood and screwed into the chin for easy replacement to different lenghts. I think the aluminum was not original.

Here is a shot of a Big Bee in Feb 1958 issue of Boat Sport - wood traps are evident at least on this model.

http://www.boatsport.org/BSC/c65.jpg

Here is page 37 from the same issue with an add for the Big Dee looks like stepped trap design

http://www.boatsport.org/BSV65/p37.jpg

Post pics of your progress

[curbman]

Thanks great stuff zul8tr

[Ron Hill]

You have your hands full in this restoration. Epoxy is the only way to go with the gluing because it is great for perfect and not so perfect joints that need a filler. I use fumated silica (Cabosil) for a thichner as it provides a good structural strong filler. Add to suit.

From what I recall the traps on these Swifts were wood and screwed into the chin for easy replacement to different lenghts. I think the aluminum was not original.

Here is a shot of a Big Bee in Feb 1958 issue of Boat Sport - wood traps are evident at least on this model.

http://www.boatsport.org/BSC/c65.jpg

Here is page 37 from the same issue with an add for the Big Dee looks like stepped trap design

http://www.boatsport.org/BSV65/p37.jpg

Post pics of your progress

My brother had a C-D-F- X Swift from 1955-57, after he got out of the Army. He bought a Big Bee Swift that I wrecked pretty wellin A Alky Hydro, and Jimbo bought that from us. Ron Loomis had an Atomic A, but I never really saw a Big Dee up close.

Burt Ross ran an all natural Big Dee at Lone Beach at the '59 Provisional, but I only saw it run, never got down to see it up close...

The Atomic A, Big Bee and Bid Dee always seems to be SO COOL looking.... Thanks for posting the BoatSport page!

[curbman]

I started getting the frames out and cleaning them up. I thought some of us would like to see the inside up close. The Okoume plywood is marked HOLLAND if I find a better image of the stamping I will post it.

[curbman]

The second frame from the back forward.