Construction of Tonina

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One of the things that makes Tonina and her sisters particularly special is the material in which she was fastened with; monel. Monel is a group of nickel alloys, primarily composed of nickel and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. It has unmatched corrosion resistance in the marine environment. 

Tonina is entirely fastened with monel; her planks, keel bolts, decks, house and even the trim. All of her monel fasteners (with the exception of the bolts) are Anchorfast nails (a monel ring shank nail specifically manufactured for wood boat construction). 

The true test of the longevity of these nails is revealed during a survey when a plug is pulled and a shiny anchor logo is gleaming back at you, as clean and perfect as the day it was driven home in 1962. Tonina has never had a rust bleeder and the cancerous rust rot that develops with steel fasteners will never be a problem. Bronze fasteners also have a fairly short lifetime in comparison and stainless steel cannot be used to fasten wood boats since stainless requires continuous oxygen to maintain its corrosion resistance.

Because of these fasteners, Tonina's hull and structure, in theory (with proper maintenance of course) will last forever.

Tonina's planks are 2 1/4" fir fastened to 3.5x3.5 steam bent oak frames. Her engine stringers are 8"x12"x36ft (running over half her length). With an 8"x16"x43ft keelson coupled to an 8"x12"x50ft keel bottomed with an 8"x3" lead keel shoe, Tonina's backbone is stout. 

Tonina, like any traditionally built, offshore trawler was designed to withstand what you see pictured above. The full length keel extends aft of her propeller to protect the running gear as well as support the large barn door rudder.  In the odd chance that the sounder provides inaccurate readings, extreme tides, etc., its nice to know that the hull which is your life resides, can handle a grounding and still be able to power away.

The photo above was a low tide grounding on a sand bottom, a common practice at many wharf's around the world. This particular incident occurred in Mexico in the 1960's and resulted in no damage, just a memorable picture

Lindwall used plywood to his advantage in several areas of Tonina that were not previously done on his earlier boats. 

Tonina's boat deck, bridge shell, bulwarks and deck boxes are plywood construction and cold molded. The ground breaking usage of plywood in Tonina came at her main decks. Plywood was used as a substrate below her 1.5" thick teak decks. The plywood added shear value as well as waterproof barrier between the interior spaces and the caulking between her teak deck planks. 

Fiberglass was still a fairly new concept in 1961 when Tonina's keel was laid. As Tonina was constructed, this new, cutting edge modern material found a place into Tonina's build. 

Several of Tonina's key features incorporate a "cold molded" fiberglass approach to the final product. Her chariot bridge shell, interior bulwarks, aft gussets and deck boxes all were all built from marine lumbers in the traditional methods and covered with fiberglass to create a smooth, watertight finish.