Restoring PT-658

[AVGWarhawk]

Link does not take me to the picture.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Link does not take me to the picture.

try this:

[FIREWALL]

Any war history you can tell us about the old girl Niki ?

[AVGWarhawk]

She looks great. You worry about rot. We worry about rust.

[Chad]

Niki she looks great!

[Chad]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

The thing that drove me crazy were the people that had to come by and knock on the hull and ask if the boat is made of wood.

Wait wait wait, I know you did some repair with plywood, as seen with previous posts, but the hull is made of wood as well?

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by FIREWALL

Any war history you can tell us about the old girl Niki ?

To answer your question:

PT-658 was built at Higgins Industries Boatworks, New Orleans LA. Her keel was laid down 24 Feb 1945, she launched on 14 Feb 1945 and was completed on 30 Jul 1945. The boat was originally slated to be part of Squadron (RON) 45, which was never placed in commission. It was to consist of 11 Higgins PT's (649-660), and 11 Elco PT's (773-784) and assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Near the war's end in mid-1945, RON45 was scheduled to be "Lend-Leased" to the USSR. Several boats in the group (649-656) were already shipped to Russia when the transfer was halted, just before PTs 657-660 were to be sent over. The Elco construction contract was also canceled at this time. PTs 657-660 had been moved from New Orleans to Seattle on an LST, where they would be piggybacked onto a transport ship bound for Russia. When the war ended August, 1945 the shipment was stopped and the boats returned to Port Hueneme, CA. Then all four boats were reclassified as "Small Boat" C105342, 3, 4 and 5 (Crash Rescue Boats) in August 1946, and assigned to the Bureau of Aeronautics as "Remote Controlled Targets" at Naval Air Facility, Pt. Mugu, CA. (ex-PT-660 was actually sunk as a target by a "Bullpup" missile off Port Hueneme in the early 1990's.) PT-658 was reclassified again as "Floating Equipment" in Dec 3, 1948. Ten years later, on June 30, 1958, PT-658 was sold off as "war surplus" by the U.S. Navy to a private owner. PT-658 was acquired from the estate of one of these private owners (Mr. Orlando Brown of Oakland, CA) in 1993, who had intended on using her as a private pleasure craft. Very soon after the group acquired the boat, PT-658 broke loose from her moorings at Treasure Island Naval station and ran aground on a jetty, which pushed the starboard (right) rudder up through the hull and also created several holes in the transom. Soon after, the boat was refloated and transferred up to Portland Oregon by transport ship. Since 1994, PT-658 has been in the process of being restored by a dedicated group of PT Boat veterans and volunteers as part of "Save the PT Boat, Inc." at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center Pier.

bibliography:
http://www.hnsa.org/ships/pt658.htm

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Chad

Wait wait wait, I know you did some repair with plywood, as seen with previous posts, but the hull is made of wood as well?

The hull is 100% wood with a couple of internal metal support beams inside.

[nikimcbee]

Update: we've got the entire aft torn apart. Everything has been removed and we're pulling (slowly) off the deck. Don't slip or fall.

[Chad]

What are ya doin to the aft?

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Chad

What are ya doin to the aft?

re-placing the deck, it has bad wood rot.

[nikimcbee]

Current state of boat: 11-17-10
Watch your step.


Overall view of deck


Aft access hatch, fire surpression system






Engine room: ooh look, packard racing engines

[nikimcbee]

Spent 5 hour painting the lazarette(sp), aft crew quarters , compartment where the fuel tanks used to be. We are painting before we put the aft decks on, which we are really close to doing.

[AVGWarhawk]

Gosh...she is really getting a overhaul!

[nikimcbee]

as of 4.2.11

new deck: