JennyMorgan

The Bonito, a friend and I built a close replica out of whatever we could scrounge and we rigged it with an abandoned cotton lugsail & mast that we 'borrowed' from one of the boatyards. The first uncontrollable blast across the Broad nigh on scared the pants off us both, well, she was untried and it was blowing a gale! We had a huge amount of fun out of her for that one summer but she became a casualty & died during the autumn when my friend gybed her & the deck parted from the hull, perhaps the sail was too big!.

Whoops! 'The perfect play thing?' Apparently not, even under sail!

. . . . . . . . . if she'll let you. This could bring a whole new dimension to body art! Lady's with a boat's name & registration numbers tattooed on their transoms .

Depending on the weight of the battens you might need to support them as the B-S cures, battens or garden canes from floor to ceiling. When I put rubbing strakes on my daughter's boat the grab and hold time was short but extra support can do no harm. Make sure that your wear your Marigolds, it's a right pig to get off your hands.

Marsh, thanks for the clarification. Have been past several times but never close enough to see what the contents were.

Not sure where the registration numbers would go so maybe a fine is inevitable.

Well, I'd go for Soudaflex.

Sounds perfect!

Marsh, re gabions, did they not use them on Duck Island? I though that there was one place where they had used them.

Re Gorilla glue, it likes moisture, to a degree, but I find it messy stuff due to the fact that I have never mastered quite how much it will expand by. Roof battens as on house or on boat? On boat, if she & the rails are both dry, I'd use the black stuff, it grabs and hold very quickly which epoxy doesn't.

I used 'black *hit', Soudaflex, eight years ago as a bedding for two deck cleats, no way on this earth could I shift them during the winter when I was recoating the deck so I left well alone. I've also made a 'sweep'/big oar and so far that has remained intact, the black glue line looking very smart. It's good stuff, in my opinion.

Might go sailing , , , , , , tomorrow, with Doris!

I taught it during the 1970's but I would struggle to recite it all now, certainly not as Vaughan just has. Not sure if it's down to the inbreeding, aluminium saucepans or the lead pipes, or a combination of all three.

Surely far more attractive to a man than a woman in high heels! The perfect play thing?

A Yorkshireman's alternative to his dog:

It's not well hung so maybe . . . . . . . . . .

Drat, foiled, I looked at the 'emoticons' for a sheep, Northern blokes, but no luck!

Is that how the boat was built originally?

It might be that the hull has a lip that the deck sits over, The idea being that the vertical edge of the deck moulding sits over the lip, resting on the knuckle created by that lip in the hull and therefore is flush with the hull itself. It does, if I'm right, create a pretty tough gunwale. Without seeing it in person, and the photo is not entirely clear, I am guessing but it was not an unusual technique in 1960's/70's small boats. Vaughan's advice on glassing the bulkhead into the hull is absolutely sound. Word of warning though, sometimes new resin won't stick to 1960's old glass fibre. Some yards are very successfully using West System epoxy resin but that is very expensive. There are some pretty mean silicon/bitumen mastics that were developed for building bridges and those are used by some yards, Martham Boats for example, their boat-builders call it 'black-****'. I've used it, can't think of the trade name, and it's amazingly good, but not as good as epoxy. If you are rebuilding the boat then maybe expense is not a major factor but if you just want to get afloat, and longevity is not an overriding factor, then maybe structural grade sealants could be worth considering.

Loads more in Rome!

Cardinal points are just so meaningful.

Best put a reef in then.

And so it was, I joined up with Broads aristocracy for the day and here's the tale:

Charlie, leave it to Robin to sort, ace fellow for leaving bow-fenders neatly in place.

Re bottles and clay pipes, I have thousands of the things that my children I have found over the years when we've explored spoil sites. Great times, good memories.