Benren's Barbour
Wooden Boat and Outboard

The Silver Clipper Restoration

A 1959 Barbour, 16'

7/26/99

Wahoo!  The bottom's done! Photos will follow soon. Three weeks ago I turned the Barbour Silver Clipper over onto blocks and began the arduous task of removing some 600 screws from the bottom . Having removed what was once the keelson, and the chine rubrails, I managed to remove the two halves of the plywood bottom.

Oh my. What I found there was not quite what I wanted to see . The last 4 frames across the bottom were badly dry rotted at the bottom edge, and where they had once had a nice contour conforming to the graceful lines of the bottom, now had more ripples than a sandy beach. More evidence that the 11(or so) years sitting idle on her trailer was probably an understatement.

So I proceeded to take off some measurements for the frames, a new keel, and the six battens running the length of the boat (three on each side) and drove off to; New England Wholesale Hardwoods to pick out some White Oak.
OK, so the original Keel and Battens were Mahogany. They were also 7/8" thick.  My thoughts vacillated between purism and strength. Strength won.

The; new keel was cut from 5/4 (1 1/8") vertical grain white oak, installed with 2 1/2" #10 brass screws countersunk and lubricated with varnish.

The cross members (ribs) were replaced with the original dimension white oak. These were patterned off the originals, but only in so far as was possible to restore the shape of the original bottom. I spent many hours setting and adjusting them to attain a fair bottom. And a lot of time vacuuming.

Battens were cut (after another trip to New England Hardwoods) from 5/4 white oak, steamed , bent and twisted into shape for the points of intersection with the bottom framing. They also were attached with 2 1/2" screws.
Then, a little at a time, I sanded, planed and eyeballed the framing from all angles until the flares and curves appeared good. More vacuuming.

Then I put in the new Transom. Did I forget to mention that when I took the old one out the inner planks had so much dry rot that they snapped in half? Thought I did.

I did a whole lot of research and a whole lot more thinking before I made the following decision.

A trip to Boston secured two 3/8" x 4' x 16' sheets of marine grade fir plywood for the bottom and a sheet of 1" thick 4' x 8' Mahogany plywood for the inner skin of the transom. I felt that old Mr. Rivenbark would agree with my thinking that the end result will be a stiffer, stronger boat. At least at the stern.

I did have to remove 1/4" from the components of the motor well, as well as the last two ribs to accommodate the change, but she now has a solid piece from port to starboard instead of the pieced together vertical planking which was held in place with water based glue and a few screws.

The new inner was carefully scribed and cut to fit the planking, and thoroughly epoxied into place ; 1 1/2" screws added through the planking and bottom framing whilst the epoxy was still wet - I was sure to have enough 'glue' to allow it to squeeze out all around.

The two Transom knees were epoxied into place, bolted through the framing with bronze carriage bolts, and screwed through the forward frame and the inner skin of the transom. The original layout had been to bolt them in right through the bottom plywood. This was probably not the best solution as the heads had compressed the plywood over time and allowed some leaking to occur around them, contributing to the dry rot.

I opted for countersinking them into the 3 1/2" wide 42" long aft battens which you may remember were already 1/4" thicker than original. I also countersunk the heads into the inner skin of the transom, whereas the original method had been to bore a deep countersink into the outer skin and then install a plug to fill the hole flush.
My way, though patently not original, leaves less room for leaking.

Another trip to New England Hardwoods secured the outer planking for the transom, a nice 5/4 x 12" x 12' mahogany stick. This replaced the original outer skin of the transom right down to the widths of the original pieces. Each piece was fitted, then removed, coated in epoxy and re-installed with a liberal coating on the mating surfaces between the inner and outer skins. Clamps, and more 1 1/2" screws.

Mating edges were also epoxied  assuring a perfect joint which should not separate the way the original did.

All remaining screw holes were plugged with birch dowels and white glue to assure a good grip for the new screws which undoubtably would hit at least a few of the old holes.

I thought long and hard about if I should epoxy the bottom plywood onto the frames, but decided against it in favor of a liberal bead of Boat-Life white along all mating surfaces.

When installed , and screwed down (another 600 1" screws), the joint should prove to be both secure and watertight, but allowing for removal of the sheathing if necessary down the road.

Next, after one final trip to the Hardwood store, I cut and set aside the keelson and chine rub rails. This was because I coated the entire bottom with WEST epoxy , rolled on with a 'foamie' then tipped off.

After that cured, I attacked it with my d/a sander and 120 grit. Yeah right.

I put that sander down and picked up my 3 x 21 belt sander, and ground away the surface until it was smooth to the touch. More vacuuming. Then I went over it with the d/a.

Now I installed the keelson, and the chine rub rails, with epoxy behind them. I also added something else which wasn't on the original boat. Two short rails , 1 1/4" x 42" long, tapered to the same contour as the keelson, set 7 1/4" off each edge of the keelson. These rails were on the Tojan Marlin I refinished and added incredible stability to the boat at speed. Now think about this - the 80HP motor on the Barbour always had a tendency to try to make the stern feel like it was racing to get ahead of the bow. Believe me, that's not a good feeling for the person at the helm when you're out on the Hudson River! I'll let you know next week if they work on this boat. If they don't I can remove them easily.

Finally, I sanded again, vacuumed again and applied the final coat of epoxy. (Incidentally, I did not put in any mesh to the epoxy. I want to seal the wood, not make a fiberglass one).

After sanding I applied the bottom paint . I really wanted to use VC Liquid Speed, but that product is now off the market, like so many other good products, so I applied Woolsey 604, which also contains Teflon and has the appearance of the original Woolsey copper bottom paint. There is a black boot stripe to replicate the original, and then white side planking which I like and was one of the optional colors available for the Silver Clipper.

The 'Crew' helped roll over the boat before applying the boot stripe and side paint, and then the  trailer was slid in under the boat, which was hung from slings from the garage rafters.

I actually didn't manage to finish putting the wiring back together (though the hardware was on) before I left for vacation on the Sacandaga Reservoir, but the Sea Trials were a total success, with not a drop of water leaking into the boat.

I replaced the motor well bottom a few weeks ago, as it was pretty tired, and that's as far as I go for this year.
I have run on the Hudson River, and for anyone who's interested, the extra rails I added to the bottom made a huge difference in the handling of the boat. She will now run flat out in a tight turn without any skipping, porpoising or other questionable handling characteristics.

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Thanks to Wooden Boat magazine, to which I submitted an information request, I've received some 40 or more calls and numerous letters and packages, helping me determine the original paint scheme, stain colors, etc. and one nameplate needed for the port side. Thanks to everyone who helped. Click on the thumb below to enlarge. 2/10/06 I am working again to get a batch of these manufactured. If you need a pair please e-mail me. Make sure you change -at- to @ before sending the mail!

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I'm looking for any other Barbour owners, or anyone who knows about any existing Barbour boats to e-mail me.
I'm trying to establish a database of all known Barbour boats.
A note of thanks to all who have contacted me so far.
I have acquired a large collection of Barbour catalogs, photos and old advertisements. My thanks to those who made the sacrifices necessary to get these items to me. I will be happy to share these items with anyone who is restoring a Barbour boat.

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As things progress, I'll add more photos, with advance apologies for any slow load times!
To avoid this, I'm listing photos without Thumbnails, so you'll have to browse them to see what's there.

1. Barbour As Found 1
2. Barbour As Found 2
3. Barbour As Found 3
4.  1962 Color catalog These images are about 1/2 a meg each, so be patient! 1962 Back (go for coffee!)
5. Coming soon - Photos of a similar boat in the Maritime Museum, Beaufort, NC. I understand this is a 17' Anniversary Edition Silver Clipper.
6.  New 1/3/98 - a page of other Barbour Boats.

The top three are photos of the Barbour sitting in a barn near Germantown, NY, where she had been laid up for 11 years or so by the previous owner (who had brought the boat up from New Berne,NC.)

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Notes of Thanks Bill Doran, of Newport, NC, sent me a page of photos from the Barbour Factory . They are of the 17' Silver Clipper and include a picture of the late Mr.Rivenbark Sr., son-in-law to the founder of Barbour Boats.
I just received a copy of the 1959Barbour Boats, Inc. price list.  It's a 2-sided document so remember to come back and click here for page 2 . My thanks to Mr. Frederick Marks.
Thanks also to Alan Ramspeck and Phil Rumley, who sent photos from the Maritime Museum.
If anyone who sent me Barbour related items isn't mentioned here, don't be upset! I could fill a page with letters of thanks.

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