Country Stoves E-76
Circa - 1986 or 1987
The hydroplane was originally built in 1978 by Ed Karelsen. I
purchased the boat in 1986 and raced the boat with my brother John
Woodward (we shared driving responsibility) and my brother Richard
Woodward as the crew chief. We ran as the Country Stoves until
mid 1987 when John flipped the boat at Lake Tapps, near Auburn, WA. We
rebuilt the boat with the help of Ed Karelsen over the next 15 months.
We updated the sponsons (the right one was mostly ripped off in the
flip), added the dropped center section and also added rear "shoes" to
the hull. We also changed cowlings as the original rear cowl is still
at the bottom of Lake Tapps (sure wish we had a little flotation in the
original rear cowling). We went to the newer style of Karelsen cowlings
for the rebuild as the mold was no longer available for the original
rear cowling, hence, the different look of the boat. We then ran the
boat in the last Region 10 race of 1988 and a few times in the
following 3 years. 1991 was the last time the boat was in the water. It
has sat in the garage since then.
Restoration
E-76 after 1987 rebuild but before 2003 restoration as a Vintage
Hydroplane.
View of bottom - wood in great shape
Another view of the bottom
View of the bottom rear of the boat and the shoes that were added in
1987
View of right sponson - step is too thick (2 each 8 mm thickness rather
than 1)
View of left sponson - step too thick
Right sponson rebuild begins
Left sponson rebuild begins
Nose skin stripped off
Right sponson with new wood - not yet glued
Right sponson - now a single 9 mm thickness step
Left sponson - new wood - not yet glued
Left sponson - now with a single 9 mm thickness step
Nose of center section with new skin on bottom side.
Front of boat - beginning to shape up.
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The rear shoes have been sanded
and are ready for finishing.
The entire bottom is sanded and ready for finishing, also the prop
shaft hole was rebored as it was not bored correctly
when the new bottom was installed in 1988 and the prop shaft was
rubbing against the edge.
View from the front with all the woodworking done on the tips of the
sponsons, sanded and ready for refinishing
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A closeup of the front of the
right & left sponsons.
After sanding and sealing with epoxy and sanding some more,
and varnishing, the bottom is done. I put
multiple coats of Epifanes Clear Varnish on the bottom with a
brush. It came out looking pretty good. The bottom
is done and the boat is flipped over. Yippee!!
The boat is right side up now. I need to do a little work on the decks
before re-glassing.
I peeled off all the original glass in preparation to replace all
the decks, but have decided not to do it.
The Karelsen trademark vertical fins on each side of the center section
will be replaced as one is delaminating.
The cockpit area looking towards the rear and the front of the hull.
You can see that some cleaning and refinishing are needed in this area,
but it is not too bad. After completing the refinishing, the steering
and mechanical bits and pieces will be reinstalled.
The original 273 that came with the
boat. It had sat for about 5 or 6 years with the ports open and as you
can see, there is rust in the ports of the heads and the bores on the
block. But maybe worst of all was the condensation that was in the oil
that caused rust on the crank.
All this can be fixed with a bore job, a valve job and having the crank
turned.
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This is another 273 I purchased as everyone was converting to the Chevy
305. It has been sealed up well and after opening it up this past
weekend, all is well. No evidence of rust in the top end or the lower
end. This is the motor I will run in 2004. You will note that the
exterior needs some wire brushing and a good coat of paint, but that is
easy to do. |
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Thanks for following along.
The time has arrived to paint the deck & cowlings. First coat of
primer is applied & sanded.
The boat & cowlings after the priming.
Cowlings are looking good.
My sanding crew is two of my daughters, 11 year old Jenny & 17
year old Amy.
These photos show the center section and the cowlings after being painted
black. I sprayed the boat with a borrowed Apollo HVLP turbine setup and
used Nason Fulthane 2K paint. The paint went on real well, though I had
little experience painting and no experience with the HVLP equipment.
Cowlings get their color applied.
The last photo shows the body of the main hull painted Orange with
the cowlings sitting on the boat to see what it all looks like.
Here is the boat being lifted from the dolly onto the trailer the old
fashioned way, lots of bodies!
The boat is now on the trailer and I am setting the rear cowling on
to see what it looks like
The boat is in the very messy garage with graphics being tested for
size and location.
The boat on the trailer after the 2004 Madison event. It came out looking
pretty good and ran even better at Madison
© Doug Woodward
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