August 2000 Update:

The boat once owned by Bob Speltz, a fourteen foot Chetek outboard runabout, is being restored by BSLOL members. Now located at the home of Larry Quinn, the boat has been stripped of all hardware, seats, decks, and framing. The fiberglass coating has been removed and now most of the bad planking between the spray rails has been take off. The western red cedar-strip planks as well as the steam-bent white oak frames are pretty much "history."

New bead-and-cove planking as well as cedar garboard planks and a new keel are the next order of business. A white oak outer stem has been steam bent thanks to Sherwood Heggen.

Once a month a crew of about four or five have been working on the boat. She ain’t pretty at the moment, but one of these days she'll begin to look like a boat again!

Thanks go out to Dave Doner for having the Tee Nee trailer sandblasted and prime painted. All the extraneous items were removed for the trailer as well. We are in need of replacement fenders, the unique tear-drop shaped ones used by Tee Nee Trailer Company.

If you’d like to help out, give Larry Quinn a buzz at 952-937-5891. This is a BSLOL group activity, so it will be nice to have greater participation from more members.

May 2000

Bob Speltz 14' Chetek Runabout Club Project 
by Larry Quinn

Work on the Bob Speltz boat has started again. At its previous location, the deck was removed, all the hardware taken off, and the fiberglass removed from the hull. This work was accomplished thanks to the efforts of Bob Buttery, Andreas Rhude, Bob Clark, Fred Boss, Sherwood Heggen and John McCurry. Also, the 25-horse Johnson motor and tank have been restored by Jerry Valley. 

The boat has been relocated to my garage in Minnetonka. On Thursday, May 25, three club members got together to work on the boat. Bob Buttery, Andreas Rhude and I flipped the boat over and set it up on sawhorses. The keel was removed by cutting the nails between the ribs and the keel. We also started removing the gar planks. 

Our plan is to remove the gar planks and damaged cedar hull strips up to the splash rails. The splash rails will also be replaced. A new oak stem has been cut and steam-bent to shape by Sherwood Heggen. A new keel will be cut from a pattern of the old one. After the hull boards are temporarily refastened, the boat will be flipped over. The next job will be to steam bend and replace the damaged oak ribs one at a time. After the bottom is refastened to the new ribs it will be ready to be fiberglassed as it originally was. Then the deck boards can be replaced and the boat painted and finished to the original style. 

At our next meeting in June we will continue to work on removing and then replacing gar planks and cedar hull strips. BSLOL members are invited to attend and help rebuild a cedar strip boat. The following is a list of dates that we will be working on the boat. Please call to get directions if you would like to participate. 

Thursday, July 27 
Thursday, Aug. 24 
Thursday, Sept. 14 

Larry Quinn (952) 937-5891 
(located near Hwy 7 and Woodland Rd) 

September 1998

by Sherwood Heggen

On Sept 19,1998, a number of BSLOL’ers showed up at John McCurry’s garage to start restoration of Bob Speltz’ Chetek. We did an inventory of the hardware and a general survey of the things needing attention. The boat appeared to be in useable condition but had some obvious concerns which would need correction. Starting at the decks, there is deterioration in the form of cracks and old age. The decks between the fore and aft cockpits had some novel strips of wood nailed over the seams in a board and batten style. Who put those on or why is unknown, but we decided they would not remain when the new deck was put on. The boat hull and decks are built of Western Cedar and the topsides and bottom are covered with fiberglass. The cedar appeared to hold up under the fiberglass but some of the oak steam-bent ribs appeared questionable. 

General assignments for restoration were handed out. Jerry Valley took on the assignment of restoring the Johnson 25hp outboard. Bob Buttery and Fred Boss took on initial tear-down. The boat was turned over to prepare for a removal of the fiberglass.
At a later date, the fiberglass was removed and a more thorough assessment was made of the boats restoration needs. We determined that the stem, keel, and all of the ribs and a forward section of both garboard planks would need replacing due to rot. The stem is steam bent as well as the ribs and would require a steamer. Since steaming is a new process to everyone on the team, research and development to meet needs was necessary. A steamer was available to us, but it used and open flame to heat the water. Because of the element of danger due to fire and working at someone else’s property, we were inspired to build our own steamer using a heater element from a hot water heater from ideas we have seen published. 

That is where the project is as of mid-November. Our next effort will be to shape, steam-bend, and install the stem. After that, we will replace the keel, turn the boat over and begin replacing ribs.

The project team is open for additional members. If you would like to get involved in this chapter project and enjoy working on boats, you are welcome to contact me at 432-4345.