Tiffany 46 Sportfish

Good morning, folks!

I haven't posted here in quite some time, so I figured I would check in and let you know how things turned out for us. I know this forum isn't necessarily big on old wooden boats or restoration projects, but I still wanted to share because this boat is a beautiful classic.

After a lengthy search and looking at many, many boats, last summer we ended up making an offer on a Tiffany that we actually looked at over a year prior but never thought seriously about until it was relisted. Everything fell into place and after surveys, closing, and having some work done, we ran her back to northeastern North Carolina from the upper Chesapeake on September 1, and her restoration will be ongoing.

She was built in 1968, and we are her fourth owners. She was repowered in 1993 with 3208 CATs which currently have around 950 hours on them. She's almost exactly 46' long, has just shy of a 15' of beam, and is about 12-1/2' a the transom. She is "batten-seam" built mahogany plank-on-oak-frame, with a double-planked mahogany bottom. Under load, cruise is around 18 knots at 2350 rpm. Slow, but she rides like my living room!

This is what has been done so far:

- rudder and intermediate strut backing blocks replaced
- all fluids changed, belts, basic maintenance, etc.
- new bilge pumps
- bow rail removed, holes epoxied and painted
- salon curtains removed
- salon windows tinted
- salon painted
- galley seating reupholstered (Sunbrella)
- galley seating area and port side walls sanded and painted (Interlux Brightside OffWhite 1990)
- latches, hatches, handles, and fixtures repaired/replaced/added
- all interior lighting replaced with LEDs
- starboard head wallpaper removed (revealing beautiful mahogany underneath)
- new carpet throughout
- new vinyl flooring in heads and under galley seating
- new rod holders

This fall/winter the bottom will be soda blasted and repainted.

After that:

- new topside paint
- new hull paint
- installation of new (used) outriggers
- new top
- redesigned flybridge
- new electronics

We went from a 21' skiff to a 23' center console to this boat...hence the name, ESCALATION.

P46, now that the flooring is finished, I will post some before and after photos once I get the chairs back aboard on Monday.

Apologies for placing this in the wrong section, I debated heavily before posting as to where it should go and chose wrongly!

Thanks for the correction, sir.

Ha...one of my favorite quotes from another forum speaks to that. It's a labor of love, but I think it's worth it!

"If you're asking whether you should buy a wooden boat, you probably shouldn't buy a wooden boat. If you don't already obsess about them, dream about them, hang calendars on your wall, post photos of them to Facebook, subscribe to Wooden Boat Magazine, and spend your every waking moment thinking about them, and every spare bit of cash on them, then you may not be up for the task.

Honestly, you're just not going to do it properly. You need a glass boat or something else instead.

In this day and age, you don't just DECIDE to be a wooden boat owner, it's already been decided for you by your inner makeup, and you do it because you just can't help yourself. You hear the soul of the boat call out to you, asking to be saved. That's something glass boats don't do. They're nice; some are beautiful, but they're silent.

Since there are many more practical options for far less total outlay in cash, time or resources, if you actually have to ask yourself, 'should I buy this wooden boat?' you should count yourself lucky."

You're absolutely right about that. There's no other way I'd rather happily piss my money away!

As much as I appreciate the offer sir, I try to limit my financially draining decisions to divorces, classic wood boats, and antique fire apparatus!

I'm working with a Carolina boat builder who has recommended against glassing the bottom pending having it blasted and inspected. It can certainly be done, but he reasons that it would be costly and the benefit would be minimal since it wasn't designed that way it could affect the ride. If I ever do glass it, it'll be from the waterline down. Just epoxying the bottom is an option as well but I'd be more worried about maintenance on that than just painted wood, and the builder said blast it and paint it or glass it but don't halfass it with just epoxy alone.

You're correct that she will shrink and subsequently swell back up when put in the water, however my understanding is that this method was popular in the northeast for boats left out of the water during the winter to minimize shrinkage.

She was out for a couple months after purchase, and had to be left in the slings for a while until she swelled back up and the pumps were checked (and re-checked). Another Tiffany 46 used to be nearby, I believe it was a 1972, and that boat had been glasses below the waterline. That boat was also fully restored. My restoration has just begun.

From a pragmatic standpoint, it would make more sense to not glass the bottom until when/if I repower. And these 3208s should (knock on abundant mahogany) should last quite some time. By that time, the boat may well have reached the end of its useful life, and I'll get my money back out of it just by parting it out and mulching the yard with her hull.

I'm not an expert, largely self-taught and educated through harassing with my questions those who build boats for a living, but cold molding, plank-on-frame, and batten-seam construction are all methods to build custom wooden hulls (Carolina boats, and I think Florida sportfishers as well). To complicate matters for you further, batten-seam is an evolution of carvel construction, and batten-seam is also a version of plank-on-frame construction. Even glassed-over wooden Carolina boats will take on water until they swell back up after being on the hard.

Well played. And back at ya, sir!

Yes, the covering boards are varnished and are treacherous when wet. With boat shoes, bare feet, or flip flops it's not an issue when dry. If they were teak, I would strip them and oil instead of varnish, but since they're mahogany, I think I'm stuck with varnish since it doesn't share the same characteristics as teak. I step on top of the transom to board, but there is a boarding mat on the starboard gunnel that's soon to be replaced.

So far the only injury (knock on wood) was when the boat was at the Tiffany yard and my wife left the Port hatch open while I was moving furniture and didn't know it. I fell in, and somehow only ended up with soft tissue injuries. It's a downright miracle I didn't break anything.

I've heard that salt, sand, or nonskid particles can be added to varnish but I don't have any firsthand experience. Salt is supposedly a traditional and easily maintained "non-skid" for the final coat.