[Restoration.]

We have reached a little of the chicken and egg situation. We cannot really do to much to rebuild the inside of the boat untill the planks are in the bottom, this because we need access to the planks from the inside to rove the copper nails. Nonetheless Will has made a start with the frame work for the gas locker and the shallow locker behind it. The second photo shows the plywood fronts which will have hardwood, probably sapele, tongue and groove facings. If you look in the bottom left corner you can see the cut out for the steering cables to run underneath the locker. The locker will have a plywood bottom with a finger hole so that it can be removed enabling access to the steering gear for maintenance. The locker tops will again be Sapele to blend in with the hardwood theme and also of course for strength as they will be the steps from the deck to the cockpit sole, highly varnished naturaly so wipe your feet !!

The next three photos are all of the new planking. We now have four planks, in the first photo shows the transom end with some sawn off others still waiting, the second shows the other end showing the different lengths depending where the rot finishes. The third photo is a little difficult to see but you should be able to see the reddish coloured ends to the planks to the left of the new ones, this where the mahogany ends have been squared off with a router to ensure a straight edge for the new wood to butt up against.

[Restoration.]

The rotten wood in the starboard cabin side has been cut out ready to take the new mahogany. It is remarkable how close in colour the new and fifty or more year old mahogany is, although when varnish is applied we shall see.

The new wood is epoxied in place and plugged. We think that glue failure is the probable cause of the need for this repair, if you look at the wood in front of the window you can see where we have rubbed it down, this looks to be ok, presumeably the weight of the roof helped to prevent water getting into the joint and therefore speeding up the rotting process.

The garboard plank epoxied and screwed in place.

[Restoration.]

Hi Jonny

In answer to your questions the ribs considering her age are remarkably good, we have a couple of broken ones aft and some which have sat in bilge water which are a little rotten, but nothing that a little application of epoxy wont put right. The broken ones we will probably double up which means running a new one alongside the old broken one. Of course we have yet to examine the front half of the boat, the bows taking the brunt of most collisions I am not necessarily looking forward to seeing what is up there, and apart from anything else we don't want to completely demoralise the boat builder.

As far as replanking is concerned certainly most of the aft 10 / 15 foot of the bottom seems to be a poor state. The sides apart from the waterline seems to be pretty sound, again not entirely sure about the bow section yet. The problem with mahogany and these types of hard wood they just do not like getting constantly wet, then drying out, then getting wet, especially in fresh water. So the very act of motoring through the water, then stopping, or even another boat going past will over a period of time cause the timber to rot. Those boats built of these types of wood which live on the sea have a much extended life as the salt water appears to pickle the wood thus preserving it. This is why we are replacing most of the planking with Russian red wood, a third the price of Mahogany and will still give forty years, and if treated correctly now,maybe more of life. When you consider that the Mahogany we are taking out is only forty nine years old, and much has already been replaced, no contest.

Any way I am rambling, I hope this answers your questions.

[Restoration.]

The second picture you see is the Russian red wood we have chosen for use in the bottom planking in the restoration. The grain is quite red in colour and reasonably straight, which I am assuming is a benefit to a boatbuilder or a joiner.

The first photo is of the new piece of garboard plank, as you can see it has been scarfed into the old wood I think for two reasons. One for strength two to create an uninterupted flow for any water that may lie in the bottom of the boat on it's way to the bilge pump at the lowest point of the bilge. I should add this has not been finally fitted there is still a considerable amount of fettling to be done yet.

The third photo is the new aft deck which also goes up the side deck some 2/3 feet as well. This has yet to be epoxied which will happen on Monday weather permitting. I am glad to say I managed to take that photo myself from four steps up the ladder, another first, so hopefully before to long I shall be able to get in the boat, then there will be no holding me, i shall be in everyones way.

Finally the starboard bulkhead is fitted in place so the structial integrity of the aft end is now at least as good as new, and when everything is clad and that glued with epoxy it in fact have more rigidity than when it was new.

[Restoration.]

Funny week last week. We only got down on Monday, Thursday was a washout. Will managed to give the coaming a quick rub down to remove the water staining and get a coat of let down varnish onto the wood to protect it.

We pulled up the saloon floorboards to reveal a very dirty bilge but nothing a good cleaning won't take care of. Of course there may well be some planks to come out of that area yet.

Along side the dity bilge we have laid some new floorboards which my son in law had left over. He has varnished his at home but I have been as one might say out voted on this on a noise / bare foot early morning tea vote, so carpet it is probably somekind of floatex style carpet in the galley. I think I am getting rather ahead of myself here but one does tend to think ahead.

Finally my enviable job seam raking, I have to say now I can stand it has become somewhat easier, but that sikaflex does stick and is a b****r to remove. Having said that I think on the whole it beats lying on the ground removing and replacing planks, although that must be very rewarding when looking at the end product.

[Restoration.]

Cabinboy.

Thanks for the kind remarks. I totally agree with you about the sheathing, not a good idea in my opinion.

Jonny

We have much to do in the cockpit, I think your eye has been caught by the ships wheel, rather nice though don't you think.

Again quite a slow week. Now that I can stand with a modicum of comfort, and more importantly balance, I can reach higher and get some pressure behind the bent file tang I am using to rake out the seams.The brown sikaflex which is in the seam is really difficult to remove and seems to take an inordinate amount of strength and pull to remove. I am not sure yet what we will put back in, I shall have to take advice. I at the moment am leaning towards what used to be called trowel cement, which I guess is just waterproof filler or putty. I just would like something that is sandable but will remain pliable.

The pictures show the new coaming around the aft well, and unfortunately the water stains that the old covers caused. These actually will come out withe some light sanding the we can get a sealing coat of varnish/white spirit on to protect it.

The side decks where they were rotten have been removed so more ply to be ordered.

[Restoration.]

Not much has been going on what with holidays and the like, but before he went Ivor had a look underneath the portside aft. I shouldn't be suprised if he never came back, the amount of wood to be replaced is a little daunting. As you can see in addition we have broken and rotten ribs to be replaced

We have invested in a decent one piece cover, with winter coming up the old bits and pieces were becoming a liability and difficult to use.

Whilst the covers were off we gave her an airing in the autumn sun

[Restoration.]

Some of you may recall in darkest December last we were being towed from Acle or there abouts when they managed to stuff us into the quay heading at Upton Dyke. After all tis time and with threats of solicitors the stem has been repaired and to my untrained eye looks satisfactory.

[Restoration.]

Jimbo I really must try and get more in touch with my feminine side as you so obviously are, I would NEVER have thought of that

Much thought and discussion has gone on as to what to do with the interior covering of the saloon bulkheads and around the windows. Will has come up with an idea which will use up all the offcutts from the Ash beams. He has cut them into half inch thick strips along their length bevelling each edge thus making an imitation tongue & groove. He has tacked some up so we could get an idea of what it will look like,all agree that this is definitely the way forward, apart from anything else it will give emense strength when epoxied to the cabin sides and the bulkheads.

The starboard planking is coming along and you can see the only timber we have had to replace/repair (so far) sticking up awaiting being fastened.

The final photo is of the cabinside repair not as yet glued and fastened and yet to be faired in and plugged.

[Restoration.]

I have possibly mention this before but the extent of the problem is far greater than I at first thought. This yellow nylon washing line has been used instead of caulking cotton on two thirds of the boat in fact everything above the waterline, it has then had liberal amounts of brown Siekoflex placed in the seams on top.The result is every seam will have to be raked out and recaulked with cotton. Probably the only saving grace was it appears to be above the waterline only. Where was Tonto when the cowboys were running amok.

[Restoration.]

Thanks Jill Thanks Jonny

Things seem to be coming together at last, the roof being watertight before the winter is a big relief, I am hoping we can get the decks watertight as well then we can work inside in relative warmth through the winter. We have ordered a new cover for her, we have been using cheap blue B & Q tarpaulins and also some not so cheap but they are just not up to the job so we have coming a PVC one piece cover which hopefully will be easier to use.

The new S/S gas locker has arrived complete with all the necessary fittings including polished S/S skinfittings gas pipe elbows et all. One rather nice touch by Ken Nevard is the machine turning so that when one opens the wooden top to the locker the inside has this rather nice turning, probably the nearest I will get to a Bugatti dashboard, a vintage one that is.

Work has now started on the starboard above the waterline planking, the portside as you can see is now screwer nailed and in some instances bolted with S/S bolts to give the old girl some extra rigidity. Cosmetic work has yet to be done plugging fairing etc.

[Restoration.]

So here we have the other end of the cabinside repair. The coaming from inside the aft cockpit, this as explained before was all taken from the one piece of Mahogany board. The piece for the other side, almost exactly the same, along with the piece of coaming to run across the aft end are being cut even as we speak.

The galley windows as you can see have some well past sellby date perspex in them at present. This of course we were going to replace anyway with glass, but the thinking at the moment is to have made some S/S or aluminium channels made to enable us to have a sliding widow on both sides to get good airflow through the galley. We may yet go with hoppers we shall have to see.

The picture of the cockpit shows the furniture removed and the hole in the bulkhead where one's feet would have been if sleeping in the quarter berth in the little starboard cabin. This will again be blocked off and the cabin made into a wet room / shower, or should that be a wet cabin.

The cabin roof is now epoxied on bothe sides and screwed down, and so is at last waterproof. There is still a way to go all the screw holes have to be filled and the whole has to be rubbed down before the scrim cloth can be applied. The other photo shows the ends of the tongue & groove showing these have yet to be trimmed and when the cloth is finally put on a finishing piece of timber will be affixed along the edge.

[Restoration.]

Hello all.

Last week didn't seem that busy but someone had been hard at it hence the marvelous repair to the cabin side and the new coaming for the aft cockpit, which in fact is all one piece cut from the board pictured.

The wardrobe is now rebuilt sanded and ready for varnish, it should look really good with plenty of varnish to give it some depth.

The other repair to the cabinside is to repair an old repair, we suspect this is where it was origionally glued as a two piece cabinside. Even in those days large wide pieces of timber were difficult to find and expensive by the standards of the day. The old repair was not full thicknes, but we are going to put full thickness in and with epoxy as the glueing agent should not give us trouble for a few years to come.

[Restoration.]

Hi All

The photo (not a very good angle) shows the rotten end of the cabin side removed One can see the piece of mahogany that is going to make the repair. The two halves will be glued together. Someone at sometime has run either a planer, but more likely a belt sander down the cabin sides leaving a bow in them, I don't quite know how we will overcome that yet, but I have every faith in our brains trust.

[Where ?]

Hello All

I will put you out of your misery. The house that stands is on your right as you approach Belaugh from Wroxham. I don't know what it looks like now as the last two times I have attemted to get up there I have beenunable to get through Wroxham bridge.

[Restoration.]

At last some wood actually going back in instead of adding to the great pile of junk that we have taken out of her. These planks are as you can see sapele, we already had this timber, when that is finished we will go over to the Russian red wood, purely on a cost basis.

When we pulled the formica off the s/board bulkhead we of course found, what ? You guessed it ROT. So the bulkhead we were leaving in is now on that ever growing heap, and yet more 20mm ply is on order. The second and third photos show the rot, although the shower was on that side we think the damage was done by water coming through the deck, she will be rectified when we put new ply on the decks and seal the whole with epoxy.The final picture shows the all too familiar open plan look of the saloon and galley.

[Where ?]

Hi Howard

You are certainly closer than Trevor but still no prize

[Where ?]

Sorry Trevor. Cold.

[Where ?]

Forgive the posseur in the picture but I was once young. Notice the wasp trap a jam jar with a little marmalade and beer in it a paper top with hole in it, once in they could not get out, got drunk and drowned, no life jackets see.

So where is this scene of torture ?

[Where was this taken ? in 1938]

Hi All

I have been thinking about this. In the picture are my mother and her father, they, and my other grandparents were on Golden Eagle from Oulton Broad so it could be south, or north

[Restoration.]

Not too much to report this week. We went down Monday and Will fitted the new bulkhead you see in the photos , the hanging cupboard still to be made with a new door to be made as well.

A little worrying we have found a small amount of woodworm in the saloon/cockpit door, we have of course treated for this and it is the first evidence we have found, they apparently like oak and the doors are veneered one side oak the other mahogany, as you can see they only touched the oak. Fussy eaters? So new doors there as well, good job Will has veneering skills as well !!!

[Restoration.]

The first photo is the coaming running at deck level inside the aft cockpit, a finishing piece if you like, not to bad, a good sand and a little scrapeing and away we go. No you forgot didn't you it's a wooden boat, next picture the other side of same piece of wood, rotten as a pea, which takes us to the next picture behind the coaming. Now this has had a little more of a dire effect, but we have managed to save the day by pooring a smidge of epoxy into the top of the rudder post to stop the progress of rot and to give it strength, it really is not that bad,but some of the timber around it is a little iffy.

Next, the edges of the transom are now trimmed and faired ready to take the new planks,

which hopefully will now be on order ready for the start of fitting next week

Finally the ply will have a coat of epoxy binding a layer of finely woven glass cloth, the strip of wood you can just see in the picture is for this cloth to be epoxied to to give a good watertight finish, the tongue & groove will then butt up to it to give a nice finish. A solid wood handrail will run from side to side on the roof to take water away from the aft cockpit

and also as somewhere for the cover to be fastened to.

[Restoration.]

Hello All

I shall try to catch up in some kind of order I have as usual been so busy, I really don't know how I ever had time to have a job/work.

First picture is Ivor removing planks from the bottom of the boat. I had thought they were rotten, but no apparently some bright or not so bright spark had put three short planks about a foot long, side by side and all finishing in a straight line across, a complete no no what's more to hide it, it had had a piece of ply wood nailed over it.

The next photo is looking up through the bottom of the boat to the cabin roof.

The next photo is the 6mm ply cut and trimmed to fit the roof, although it is screwed down it will have to be removed to prime the inner roof before the bonding coat is applied and the whole is fitted and screwed down through predrilled holes.

The portside bulk head that we thought we might get away with replacing the bottom half, don't be silly the whole thing was banjackzed so the photo you see is looking forward to where the bulk head used to be, also making one side of a hanging cupboard, which naturally was also useless, so what you see is the side of the boat and the end of the sideboard in the saloon.

The final photo is the new saloon roof looking forward with the bulkhead missing. Good or wot !

More to follow time.

[Restoration.]

Hello All

We had a good day on Monday the saloon tongue & groove is now finished but no photo I am afraid as Will had to rush of for boiler duty on Falcon the MOB steam launch. Ivor and I remained and the result is the last board is now on the transom bar the fillet at the top that is.

We had hoped to start getting the ply epoxied onto the tongue& groove on Thursday, England in July put paid to that with heavy rain showers and this is a job that needs dry weather with a bit of warmth for at least a morning. Oh the joys of working outside in an English summer.

The other bit of good news is personal, but I had my first walk on Tuesday, and to day I have had a date for a fitting for my new apendage leg/foot to you.

[The Old Boat Wreck in Salhouse Broad]

I too was told, in my youth that it was an old WW1 motor gun boat, and that she was built of teak which probably explains her longevity. I remember as a kid climbing over her, the foredeck was still complete in those days, but I never had the courage to go inside far to many spooks for me.