Restoration.

[Guest]

Hi Barry

man you must have spent a very long time varnishing every piece of wood it looks stunning

Jonny

[Springsong]

Thanks jonny it is what you might call a labour of love I suppose

[Springsong]

The original rear windscreen has been gathering dust in the barn since we moved in there. We have yet to make a final decision on what type of canopy to have but it is far too nice a piece of wood to just scrap and as you may remember I cannot stand this Sadolin; as you can see it is dark and dull not letting any of the wood's natural colours to show.

This picture does not really do it credit, the colours after scraping and sanding are great, lovely reds and browns which will show better with varnish.

I had a good go at the cockpit / cabin doors they are all stripped and sanded ready for varnish. The second from left has already had a couple of coats. The door to the far right is the oak faced side that faces into the aft saloon the one next to it is the other side faced in mahogany. The oak faced side near the bottom has some old woodworm holes, I have yet to decide how to fill these, anyone got any ideas. I think maybe oak sawdust and varnish or oak filler, The problem with this is one can never get a good match.

Finally for today the two aft cabin doors (cockpit side)with their first coat of 50/50 varnish and white spirit.

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Hi Barry, first off, great to see you posting up some more photo`s, and how good do they look?. Regarding the small woodworm holes, have you considered rubbing down the frames and collecting the "dust" and mixing it with cascamite?. When we helped in the fitting out of Black disamond (a friends yacht) in the 70s, he swore by this method, and i must admit, it gave great results, and the colour match was pretty good too. Another tip i was given years ago regarding small holes was to use a small drill to elongate the holes (slot?)and then fill them. This would give a type of "graining" impression, and if done nicely, again the effects can be pretty good. Regards ..................... Neil.

[Springsong]

Thanks Neil

I had thought maybe some kind of wood glue mixed with sawdust would be the way to go. Thanks for the tip.

[andyg]

hi barry,glad i took the time to catch up on this thread. the wookmanship is fantastic i really wish i had the skills. like everyone ellse cant wait to see the finished boat on the water. good luck with the rest of the restoration and like you say it really must be a labour of love. talking of restoration mr richardson any new photos of bv..

[C.Ricko]

Barry has put us all to shame with a busy yard I get put on a back burner, over the summer I took BV away from Stalham to make room, I only managed to get a canopy made, she will return to the wet shed for the winter, I may try and sneak in a couple of bits before the sumer

BTW, Well done Barry looking good as ever.

[Palmtree]

Barry,

Just out of curiosity how many tins of varnish have you used so far?

Ian

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Barry,

Just out of curiosity how many tins of varnish have you used so far?

Ian

Probably has`nt kept count Ian, as if he did, it would probably make him cry .

[Springsong]

Sorry about the delay I have been away abit of late.

Ian, tins of varnish I guess over a gallon but I can't get much closer than that.

Thank you all for your kind remarks it really does help keep me focused.

The starboard side deck is now removed, the deck beams are all repaired glued and screwed in total I think four were cracked/split. Everything has been painted with bilge paint including the plywood between the beams, which is infact the top of the sliding glass fronted cupboards over the starboard bunk/seat which you can just see in the second picture.

I thought I would just show you this photo to give you some idea of the size of this solid mahogany bulkhead. I can still hardly believe what we have found covered in paint and plywood. Once I have got it cleaned up, which incidentally is going to take some doing, we think we will rather than cover it again put some kind of booster rail right across as a back rest. The bottom six inches or so will be covered by the mattress/seat so will not have to be finished to quite the same level as the higher part. The grey marks are the remains of some kind of rubbery adhesive, the pale brown marks are actually pieces of delaminated plywood which have remained glued to the bulkhead. The grey adhesive leaves a rather unsightly oily stain, which I have yet to find a method of removing

I said before about the glass fronted cupboard which you can see on the right of the picture.

[jimbo]

I guess that must have been done to add some light to the cabin? Always seems a shame to cover up nice wood grain though hey!

[Springsong]

Hi Jimbo

I guess you are right fibreglass had only just arrived and I rather think that people were slightly blase' about wood, having used it for all those years. Why else would one paint it or cover it with pink / blue formica etc. etc.

[Guest]

Hi Jimbo

I guess you are right fibreglass had only just arrived and I rather think that people were slightly blase' about wood, having used it for all those years. Why else would one paint it or cover it with pink / blue formica etc. etc.

I believe the father of DIY telly "Barry Bucknal" was to blame for encouraging folks to cover that nasty old solid wood stuff with clean, modern hardboard cladding. Strangely, I seem to remember, that it seemed like a good idea at the time .......

Sort of an early version of that lacy collared and cuffed dandy that did changing rooms.

Boats looking good by the way .... propper job!!

[Springsong]

The floorboard where the steps to the cockpit sit is rotten in fact it was thrown away when the cupboard was rebuilt. The next board in has a patch that is soft as well you can see it roughly halfway down the first board. Alan was going to let a piece in but we decided to just cut it where the bearer is and put a new short length in. In the photo you can see the tool that Alan made being used to make a curve around the base of the sideboard, a great tool that.

We have decided to remove the window boxes for overhaul and cleaning. The jury is out as to what to do with the trim of varnished wood that is on at present. The existing wood will obviously have to go but what to replace it with. The options are varnish ash to match the cladding or varnished mahogany to match the bulkhead and make a contrast to the ash cladding, or use cheap wood and paint it cream to blend in. I am leaning to the ash.

The other main reason for taking down the boxes to to try and clean up the inside of the cabin side that show top right and bottom left of the windows. They have been varnished but never “finished†whether I can get a decent finish remains to be seen.

[Springsong]

Well here we are again. A Happy New Year to all our readers.

Monday 3rd was our first day at SP for quite a while, I don't do ice and snow, especially the ice bit, very well at all and quite honestly it is just too dangerous clambering around nine foot in the air in the conditions we had before Christmas.

Anyway we decided that Alan would make a start on removing the window boxes in order for us to clean up the inner cabin sides. The port side forward one came off very easily, it would appear that the retaining screws were well greased when originally fitted as they all came out easily: in fact when we came to take out the one that had already been removed it proved harder I guess because of the newer sealant.

Having removed both the window cases the whole expanse of the mahogany cabin side is revealed and of course both Alan and I cannot resist the look of lovely wood, soooo we are going to see if we can clean it up enough to make it viable for finishing in varnish. The window boxes cover quite a bit so there wont be all that much to clean up so it may well be possible, especially as we have the area that shows through the glass to do anyway. This is all in the thought process at the moment, we would of course still clad the galley bulkhead in ash but not either side or the cockpit bulkhead. It will save a fair bit of money and time, I have yet to run it by Jock who of course has the final say.

[Springsong]

A month since I last posted on this restoration, i cannot believe it. Having said that much of the work we have been doing is quite repetative so makes for boring reading.

Anyway the forward bulkhead. Having been confronted with this area of paint it has been a daunting task to go from the first photo to the second, I have to say I think it is going to be well worth it. Alan has bought a new random orbital sander, this has made a big difference to the sanding of both this bulkhead and the cabin sides.

The journey of the cabin side from the first photo to the second has been quite exiting. I found myself spending much time on areas that are hidden by the window frames especiall at the galley end where it come quite close to the bulk head and will infact be seldom seen being covered by curtains eventually. If you look closely at the second photo you can just about make out where the window frames sit. The picture was taken just after the whole was treated with cuprinol *****. To the right (forward end) you can see the dark staining, this is in fact a split in the wood, it will infact on the outside be hidden by the deck quadrandt and covered by epoxied deck cloth so will effectivly be filled with epoxy. The inside will also be filled probably with epoxy mixed with mahogany dust (of wich I have plenty). I have made enquiries from a friend who knows about these things with reference to the dark water stains from the split, the water has travelled along the wood fibres darkening almost the full length. Oxalic acid is apparently the way to go. Wash first with soda crystal solution the apply oxalic acid solution at 8 parts water to 1 0f acid crystals by volume. Wash off with methylated spirits and whilst still damp sand away the stains. Simples ??

The cockpit bulkhead you have seen most of it before but it pretty well stripped now, the bottom half is going to be a bit more of a problem, we may have to cover it with the seat backrest.

You can see in the middle on the top edge 4 holes with a larger one in the centre, this was for an original art "decoish" light which lit a mirror below.We have the mirror but it was not in very good order, so Jock has had a new one made by a friend with Star Premiere engraved on it in the bottom corner in a font lifted from the bow script in the photo of her at the 1959/60 London Boat Show, I have not seen it yet but it sounds rather good..

Finally the last photo shows the cabin doors. I have really struggled this winter with cold and damp conditions, so much so that I had to strip the right hand door right back and start again so in this photo it shows it with just 50/50, the others seemed to have escaped.

Now finally finally.

I can now reveal as notice has been given, that, in late April we will be moving to Martham Boat Development.

The main reason is that we shall be going under cover thus avoiding the removal of the cover on every visit which has precluded my going on my own as I don't feel too safe on deck eight foot up without hand rails.

Secondly Ian Curtis has given us a favourable quote for fitting a new front cabin roof with ash beams to match the saloon and galley. This quote includes an escape hatch and new cabin sides and front which is great as in saves an aweful lot of scraping and preparing in the forward cabin, as we are replacing all the decks it makes sense. The hatch incidently will be of a traditional type, either lifting or hopefully sliding if there is room.

That's all for now folks sorry to ramb;e on

[Antares_9]

You ramble on all you want with stuff like that Barry.

Nearly there.

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

You ramble on all you want with stuff like that Barry.

Nearly there.

Totally agree with those sentiments Dave. I find boat restoration a fascinating subject, and have even been involved with a couple of projects in the past. It`s a subject i get a lot of enjoyment reading about, and a lot of satisfaction when being physically involved with. Keep up the good work Barry, and please keep on "rambling" as you put it. Regards ............. Neil.

[jimbo]

This has been a great thread Barry! Loving seeing this project come together

[Springsong]

Thank you all. Your combined generosity is only exceeded by your individual good looks.

[diesel falcon]

Thank you all. Your combined generosity is only exceeded by your individual good looks.

Thanks!!

seriously nice to have an update....keep em coming!

[Stranger]

omg Barry was it a dark night whos got good looks lol keep the brilliant work up m8

[Springsong]

April is fast approaching and work will be starting on the front cabin roof. I am off to B&Q on Monday to buy the tongue & groove for the said front roof, and some primer undercoat and as both our sanders have expired two new sanders. One a detail sander and the other a half sheet orbital. I have done a little research on this and to get a commercial weight sander we seem to be talking over £100. So I am going for the B&Q own make sanders at 150w and 400w respectively. They have two year guarantees so if they only last 18 months we get new ones and anyway the job will be finished by then.

Getting back to the tongue & groove it will have two coats of primer undercoat and three coats of pale cream enamel on one side only, with a good rub down between coats. The one side only is because the ply which goes on top is stuck to it with epoxy which wont stick to paint or at least doesn't like it.

[Springsong]

On Saturday last I took myself off to the barn to make a start on the front cabin roof tongue & groove. It was a beautifully sunny day with little or no wind and a good temperature. I managed to get a coat of primer undercoat on all the wood, more than 40 x 8' planks. I used a foam roller and tray. Next is the lovely job of rubbing them all down to do it all again.

Amongst all that lot is a narrow strip which is going to be fixed on small blocks to cover the ventilation holes drilled in the backing of the sideboard, this strip will have the same treatment as the T&G. ie 2 or 3 undercoats and 3 coats of cream enamel.

Monday another cracking day sunny but with a cool wind, not enough to deter us from getting at least one side fully uncovered. Two reasons for this, it enabled Alan to do more work repairing deck beams and preparing them for painting next visit.

The second reason was to give me daylight for the attempt at using Oxalic acid on the cabinside.

I am going to give you some before and after pictures here so bear with me

Before

And after. I was astonished, I had been told that it would be reasonably instantaneous but the results were beyond my expectations and really easy to obtain. The most difficult part was getting hold of the crystals, eventually my friend Derek lent me some saving me shopping on line.

Firstly I washed the area to be treated with methylated spirits which I then patted dry with a cloth.

I then painted the area with a 1'' brush and a strongish solution of the acid crystals. I left it until the edges were starting to go white with the drying crystals, not more than 10 minutes but not less than five. I then painted the area with methylated spirits again but before it dried lightly sanded it all down. If trying this yourself use old used sand paper because it is useless for anything afterwards.

I then wiped the area with a clean cloth which came away very red from the mahogany.

Just by the way I was wearing latex gloves all the time and a pair of goggles. (Very fetching)

[Antares_9]

Coming along Barry, that Oxalic acid is spiteful suff isn't it, great on GRP too.