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A very warm :default_welcome:from me and the Wench (some call her Inge) Shemaha and seasons to boot

6 minutes ago, Gracie said:

So as not to go too off topic

Cos youd never do that would yer darlin????????????

 

7 minutes ago, Gracie said:

I'm loving this thread Socrates :default_icon_clap:

I think we all are darlin, its amazing how a woodie during its restoration, transforms from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan isnt it.

Charlie

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  • 1 month later...

Not posted for a while because we have been busy. S here we are ensconced in Beccles and thawing out after a day in the famous Somerleyton shed. Things have moved a bit since the last post, so I will attempt to provide some updates during what is turning out to be a busy week. As usual, we have a plan, and as usual the plan will fall apart. Plans tend to do that. 

We replaced some of the rotten wood on the starboard side and treated the rest with a well-known wood preserver and paint. This has now been covered with 18mm marine ply.  The old cabin sides have been temporarily put back with clamps so we can get the shape of the decks right. Tomorrow these will be removed in order to draw round them and prepare to cut the new sides. We hope we can get this done in one piece using magic! 

We have enlisted the help of a good friend who has worked on another Ripplecraft, he, will provide up-dates if he so wishes to do so. Following a lengthy discussion, we have decided to have lifting rather than original sliding hatches. This decision was not taken lightly because we want to restore BG to as near original as we can. However, we agreed that sliding hatches provide too many spaces for water to gather and the dreaded rot to set in. A further meeting agreed to replace the windows with new ones which look as near to the originals as possible. 

From the pictures, you will be able to see the starboard decks, aft cabin sides and aft decks starting to take shape

Tomorrow, will see us drawing the patterns for the new cabin sides, continuing to sand and prepare the hull for painting.

stbd deck ply.jpg

aft cabin stbd.JPG

aft cabin 3.JPG

rear cabin wood 1.JPG

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Today was a day to pray to the Grand Geometrician of the Universe. The problem being this: can we get two cabin sides from one board of mahogany? A considerable amount of deliberation and calculation, with a similar amount of sucking teeth and examining our mahogany boards resulted in the answer. The Grand Geometrician of the Universe did not favor his mortal subjects. Alas, we can only get one side from a board. This means we  may not have enough wood for the sliding roof and the sides.   We wanted to ensure the wood was from the same tree and the sides were not jointed. In that way, there would be uniformity of grain along the whole length of the boat. The old side was placed on the board and drawn round. For those who like to know such things, our cabin sides will be made from African Mahogany.

Other jobs completed was the finishing of the  sanding of the sides. Messy and dusty, so when the snow started to fall it was a case of calling it a day.

 

cabin sides template.jpg

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4 minutes ago, Polly said:

Just caught up with this thread, Socrates, most enjoyable.

Thanks Polly, would have posted more but ended up having an impromptu meeting with Madam Captain about the nature of the new windows. I have to add that while I was freezing in the shed, Madam Captain was chasing up supplies of wood preserver, window rubbers and such like. 

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39 minutes ago, Polly said:

In a nice warm chandlery? :12_slight_smile:

Knowing madam Captain I'll bet it was a nice warm place n warmer than the shed , its blinking freezing in there right now as i found out on Monday :default_biggrin:

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So here we are another day in Suffolk, and another day in the freezing shed. The boatyard this morning looked (and felt) like something from former Soviet Union. I recall in a previous life, studying pictures of various installations in what was behind the "Iron curtain", Somerleyton, at 08.30 on a February morning would be an ideal location to recreate one of those installations. Mud and the remains of yesterday's snow combined with a general air of desolation and abandonment. First things first things first was to find some water for a soul restoring coffee and contemplation of the work ahead. Madam Captain was back in Beccles, this time she had a hair appointment, coffee with a friend, and somewhere in the middle of this socialising , some non-boat work. 

Looking at Grebe on blocks in the shed, makes me realise how big she actually is. I know that she is dwarfed by certain other boats on the Broads, but or a 1950's Broads Cruiser she is actually rather large. Well, if you had to sand the rest of the sides down you would  soon find out that for one man with  sander she is a big boat. To warm up I completed the sanding of both sides. After another coffee, i was time to get out the filler and fill the dowel holes etc in the sides. (see pictures). Whist the filler was hardening into the bilge for a good old clean in preparation for painting later. 

Yet more cleaning of the new decks took lace in order to prepare for the eventual fitting of the cabin sides etc. The decks on the port side are now fully covered in 3/4 marine ply, they will be covered with scrim and then painted cream. The rear deck was also finished with a bit of a clean and very light sanding. By the afternoon I was able to give the bare wood a coat of primer. 

Meanwhile, back in the bilge, I coated the bare wood with plenty of preserver in preparation for the later painting. I was able to inspect the steering gear in what I call the Tiller Flat, but is really a little cupboard under the rear steps which contains the rudder head and steering gear Incidentally, the Ripplecraft steering gear was originally from World War 2 vintage military vehicles purchased after the conflict. As far as I am aware, Grebe's steering gear is original, although I have attacked it with a large hammer in order for it to get past the new woodwork we put in last year. 

Having drawn out the shape of the cabin sides on the mahogany boards, the boards were trimmed prior to being machined. More of this later as it is a story in itself.  

Note the contrast of the starboard deck toward the front of the boat with the photograph in a previous post, you can see how the rot has now been removed and new wood put in and shaped. An interesting point was that the previous owner had replaced some of the deck, and for reasons best known to them angled the deck so water gathered in this corner!

starboard deck front.JPG

side before primer.JPG

side primed.JPG

side primed 2.JPG

aft cleaned ready for painting.JPG

starboard deck cleaned up.JPG

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39 minutes ago, socrates said:

So here we are another day in Suffolk, and another day in the freezing shed. The boatyard this morning looked (and felt) like something from former Soviet Union. I recall in a previous life, studying pictures of various installations in what was behind the "Iron curtain", Somerleyton, at 08.30 on a February morning would be an ideal location to recreate one of those installations. Mud and the remains of yesterday's snow combined with a general air of desolation and abandonment. First things first things first was to find some water for a soul restoring coffee and contemplation of the work ahead. Madam Captain was back in Beccles, this time she had a hair appointment, coffee with a friend, and somewhere in the middle of this socialising , some non-boat work. 

Looking at Grebe on blocks in the shed, makes me realise how big she actually is. I know that she is dwarfed by certain other boats on the Broads, but or a 1950's Broads Cruiser she is actually rather large. Well, if you had to sand the rest of the sides down you would  soon find out that for one man with  sander she is a big boat. To warm up I completed the sanding of both sides. After another coffee, i was time to get out the filler and fill the dowel holes etc in the sides. (see pictures). Whist the filler was hardening into the bilge for a good old clean in preparation for painting later. 

Yet more cleaning of the new decks took lace in order to prepare for the eventual fitting of the cabin sides etc. The decks on the port side are now fully covered in 3/4 marine ply, they will be covered with scrim and then painted cream. The rear deck was also finished with a bit of a clean and very light sanding. By the afternoon I was able to give the bare wood a coat of primer. 

Meanwhile, back in the bilge, I coated the bare wood with plenty of preserver in preparation for the later painting. I was able to inspect the steering gear in what I call the Tiller Flat, but is really a little cupboard under the rear steps which contains the rudder head and steering gear Incidentally, the Ripplecraft steering gear was originally from World War 2 vintage military vehicles purchased after the conflict. As far as I am aware, Grebe's steering gear is original, although I have attacked it with a large hammer in order for it to get past the new woodwork we put in last year. 

Having drawn out the shape of the cabin sides on the mahogany boards, the boards were trimmed prior to being machined. More of this later as it is a story in itself.  

Note the contrast of the starboard deck toward the front of the boat with the photograph in a previous post, you can see how the rot has now been removed and new wood put in and shaped. An interesting point was that the previous owner had replaced some of the deck, and for reasons best known to them angled the deck so water gathered in this corner!

starboard deck front.JPG

side before primer.JPG

side primed.JPG

side primed 2.JPG

aft cleaned ready for painting.JPG

starboard deck cleaned up.JPG

Happy new mallet ! Yea I know the hull sanding scenario , instantly you wish you had a smaller boat , as for the steering area have you been in there yet I did on another ripple craft , its shall we say  cramped .

All in all its coming along nicely .

All boat yards are cold in winter lots happens in winter work wise its a good way of staying warm n toilet break's tend to be on the short side especially with the outside loos  :default_biggrin:

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An answer and a question:

An answer: woodies get painted a. because over years the replacement planks can produce a patchy appearance , and b, varnish needs more coats and care really.

I wanted to take Brilliant back to wood as she originally was, but was firmly counselled against it!

My question, Socrates, would Danbolin not be a one coat bilge solution?

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7 hours ago, Polly said:

An answer and a question:

An answer: woodies get painted a. because over years the replacement planks can produce a patchy appearance , and b, varnish needs more coats and care really.

I wanted to take Brilliant back to wood as she originally was, but was firmly counselled against it!

My question, Socrates, would Danbolin not be a one coat bilge solution?

Indeed, we wanted to varnish the whole hull like Polly. We also got the same sound advice.

Dambolin would be a one coat answer but some of the old wood needed a bit of treatment just to be safe.

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10 hours ago, Lulu said:

Loving this thread. :)   What is your timescale on project Grebe?  

No that Im not getting impatient to see her on the water or anything ..... ;)

 

We hope to be back in the water mid-May. This is what we usually aim for and achieve. This year we have a lot more work and are now going to replace the sliding roof sides in addition to the planned work of painting new cabin sides, decks and hatches. We sort of plan to make the May meeting of the NBN, Hopefully we will get an escort across as we will still be taking up.

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10 hours ago, psychicsurveyor said:

Why with all that beautiful wood above the water line do so many woodies get painted.?

In the 50s a lot of hire boats had varnished hulls, which were painted white later on. I can think off-hand of Jack Powles, Brooms, Wards, Martham Development and of course, Moores. Oh yes, Richardsons also.

Varnish is actually easier to maintain during the season, as a quick touch up on Saturday morning will hide all the little scrapes and rubs which show up so much on a white hull.

It needs more careful work in the winter as all screw holes must be dowelled instead of just filled, and seams must be of even colour. A big problem is that it bleaches in the sun. Modern varnishes are said to have a UV filter but I have never been sure if it works.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

In the 50s a lot of hire boats had varnished hulls, which were painted white later on. I can think off-hand of Jack Powles, Brooms, Wards, Martham Development and of course, Moores. Oh yes, Richardsons also.

Varnish is actually easier to maintain during the season, as a quick touch up on Saturday morning will hide all the little scrapes and rubs which show up so much on a white hull.

It needs more careful work in the winter as all screw holes must be dowelled instead of just filled, and seams must be of even colour. A big problem is that it bleaches in the sun. Modern varnishes are said to have a UV filter but I have never been sure if it works.

 

 

Nipper is still in varnish after 68 years.

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Some of the earlier Ripplecraft were varnished for awhile. My brother's 1934 Mayfly is still varnished. Some years ago some of WRs structure had some 'bodging' done which means returning to varnish would involve big structural money being spent. Good luck

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Back in the day most boats such as Broadland Grebe would have been completely varnished, what we have to remember is that these boats are now pushing 60 years old,  and the past 60 years have taken their toll. As far as Grebe is concerned previous owners have poured copious amounts of filler, Dulux house paint and garden furniture paint into the hull. As much as we would have liked to have stripped the hull back and varnished it, the task  was close to impossible. Photographs of Ripplecrafts do a show a white hull with a blue stripe, this is what we opted for. 

Today was another cold day in the shed, but there is always plenty on the to do list. Bilge painting continued at a rapid pace. The rapid pace was more due to the cold than any work ethic. This being completed, the remaining rubbers were sanded prior to masking.

The real fun began with the commencement of the removal of the port beam shelf. We have always known the port side was worse than the starboard, this was mainly attributed to the poor maintenance and the fact that the boat was moored port side to under trees throughout the time she was with her previous owners.    

painted bilge.JPG

painted bilge 2.JPG

removing beam shelf 2.JPG

removing beam shelf.JPG

view from above.JPG

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