Restoration.

[Guest]

Hi Barry

shes progressing well is one right it thinking one had his hip flask on his person

Jonny

[Springsong]

You are quite right Jonny could have done with one.

On Monday the tongue & groove arrived and Will started to fit it. The first piece took the longest with quite a bit of cutting to be done. This first piece had to be glued, the strip at the top being too narrow to take a screw. The pieces under the deck will also have to be screwed, and plugged, to the stringers with epoxy along the bottom edge to seal the end grain and to make a waterproof seal along the seat, also to avoid water running down the edge of the seat and down into the lockers. The longer wider pieces have been epoxied to the bulkhead as well as screwed from the inside, in the galley area, through the bulkhead since this will be faced with a wood veneer and or stainless steel.

[Guest]

Hi Barry

the wood work is looking good did you have to replace all the wood inside or did you manage to salvage some of it?

Jonny

[jimbo]

Now that looks really posh Barry She is starting to look like a solid bit of kit now.

[Springsong]

Basically Jonny the aft 10 ft of the boat has had to be replaced including bulkheads, so none of that wood was salvageable. The saloon, the centre cockpit and the fore cabin all look to be pretty good, other than some planking, well actually quite alot of planking, but summer is now here so onwards and upwards.

Jimbo I am very pleased with the way aft end is coming along, solid I should say. Skiing and wakeboarding lessons off the back next year she is so strong. ( I hope)

[jillR]

hi barry

shes looking good

jill

[Springsong]

Not much happened last week unforeseen circumstances and the weather, we did get a little caulking done on the Monday but I promptly erased the pictures from the camera when I got home so there didn’t seem much point in trying to describe what is a really rather tedious if necessary process. Anyway here you can see the tails left at the transom to show which planks have been caulked and further along the tails showing how far along they have been caulked

[Guest]

so there didn’t seem much point in trying to describe what is a really rather tedious if necessary process

so the boat doesn't go blurb blurb Barry the wood gives off a natural shine

jonny

[Springsong]

Thursday was the first day this year that we have been able to get the cover back enough to get at the cabin sides, along with the fact that Jock with help from his nephews and a friend were able to really get stuck into the starboard cabin side with a belt sander and some manual hard graft with sanding blocks. The top edge is not so important as the epoxied scrim cloth will cover this and that in turn will be edged with a mahogany strip to finish it off. We are not looking to remove all the weather from the wood A: it would be almost impossible and B: it is at the end of the day a fifty year old boat. I should also add that there will be quadrant running between the cabin side and the deck, and that the new wood at the aft end of the cabin side already has a coat of 50/50 varnish/white spirit on it, the actual colour difference in fact being quite minimal.

Will has continued to work his magic on the tongue and groove the picture of the corner with its post and all the plugs place looking very fine he is moving so fast we are going to have to get the electrician in to play catch up.

Ivor has finished the midships planking on the starboard side and has gone on to fairing the hull with plane and belt sander. We are now hoping for some warmer and dry weather so tha he can resume his "favourite" pastime of replacing the boards underneath on the aft starboard side beneath the galley. I can just hear him saying oh joy.

[Springsong]

Will has been pressing on but has had to stop whilst we await the electrician, who is currently busy with other work, to put in the wiring for the stern light and the step lights in the well. I have taken delivery of the two 500 mm units and doors for the galley, maybe a little premature but they were both on offer at 50% discount so a no brainer really. I will post a photo when we open the boxes.

Jock has continued to do a great job on the cabin sides the port side this week. There are going to have to be some repairs made on the port side, there is one quite bad split half way up just forward of the cockpit which will probably require a piece letting in, also a crack you can see just below where the canopy cantilevers were fastened to the coaming. I don’t know what we shall do with that as yet.

Ivor has the first of many boards ready to put in on the underneath starboard side, as you can see equally as bad as the other side was. Dejaveu.

[Guest]

H Barry

I am thinking a little to far ahead but when the topside is finished fr the cockpit are you going to build a structure around the cockpit like some of the Martham lady's the have a canopy on top.

or is the whole saloon going to be covered with a canopy.

Jonny

[Springsong]

Hi Jonny

I guess you mean the cockpit sides. The picture shown below shows the sides up the previous photos show them in the down position. The only difference will be a hard canopy which will come down on cantilever arms and sit on the aft cabin/saloon roof. I hope this answers your question.

[Guest]

Hi Barry

i cant wait to see that

Jonny

[jillR]

hi barry

shes come so far and its a pleasure to see

another beauty saved

jill

[Springsong]

Thanks Jill but you're no slouch in the wooden boat stakes, a pity that you have to get off the water.

I suppose some of this is a little repetitive, but in part I am telling this story for us as a record of the restoration, so forgive me if it gets a trifle boring at times.

Ivor is making good progress underneath, the starboard side garboard plank is in place as would have been the next one as well if rain had not stopped play early today / Monday. The plank shown here is the garboard plank with the sikoflex already on and just awaiting some glue/epoxy on the scarf before being fitted, clamped and screwed in place.

The garboard plank fitted with the next plank offered up but still requiring a coat of primer and holes drilling but as I said above we had to stop early,

I have been putting yet more plugs in the plank Ivor has fitted, I unfortunately cannot get under the boat so he will have to plug them himself.

Will in the mean time has almost got as far as he can, he has finished all the long pieces but must wait for the electrician before finishing under the aft deck. Hopefully weather permitting on Thursday Jock will be able to sand it down and get a fifty/fifty coat of varnish/white spirit on to at least the long pieces.

[jillR]

hi barry

Hopefully weather permitting on Thursday

sorry to say i have a feeling that this week is a no go weather wise.

i found this link of oilers priceless for accurate advanced warning of whats coming on the day.

http://www.hebrides-photos.com/weather/Satellite.php

jill

[Springsong]

Ah Jill

Weather forecasts. I tend to see what it is like on the day, two reasons A: weather forecasts are generally not worth alot, this is of course a very professional and scientific understanding of all things scientific especially metiorlogical thingies and B: this coastal strip seems to bare little or no resemblance to anything an over coiffured person sat at a desk some 100 miles away is telling me.. So if on the day it is raining I shall go to my new varnishing shop, an area of a very large barn, or if it is fine I shall go to the boat. I have at least now the choise to be able to work in bad weather.

I am sorry for going off on one but I get so fed up with trying to organise myself around hugely expensive computer guesswork.

There I have finished now

[jillR]

hi barry

i know what you mean

that link was so help full for me last year as it is a satalite and accurate even though it

does not give a long distance forcast it gave me 3 to 4 hours notice of rain warning

and that was invaluable for varnishing. i could see wether it was a quick cover up

or a complete down tools situation on the way.

like right now id say we have till about 5 at least till we get more showers.

jill

[Springsong]

Hello everyone

The first image from last week shows three of the bottom boards in place, the next two shows, if you look right hand side of the second one, just one remaining board to be fitted. This then apart from that last board, caulking and "sikoflexing" the seams is the bottom aft end finished. The top end is getting that way and Will should be able to make a start on the galley in a week or so. Ivor then much to his relief will not have to be crawling underneath but can start on the bow and be standing up. These new boards all different lengths have to be better than the four we took out all finishing in a line with a piece of ply tacked on to try to make it waterproof

[Guest]

Hi Barry

keep up the good work mate

has the keel had any work done to it or was it in good knick when you took the boat out?

Jonny

[Springsong]

Hi Jonny

The keel and the hog seem to be pretty good with possibly a tiny repair needed to the hog, nothing major probably cured with an application of epoxy.

[Springsong]

We are back at the ripping out stage again, now that the aft end is looking a lttle better. Ivor started taking damaged and rotten wood out of the port side. We think that at some stage she must have lain against a tree root or somesuch because some of the planks around the waterline were damaged and quite thin.

We think we are going to have to build a steam box for some of this planking. They are starting off at around five inches wide which will have to come out of a six inch board, maybe even on some an eight inch board, these over the requred length will almost halve their width approaching the stem. To add to that they will have to a twist of almost 90 degrees steamed into them, hence the steam box. This is part of the black art of boat building to me but I shall be learning all the time from Ivor. Nowadays steam can be created so much easier by a wall paper stripper which already has all the necessary piping leaving only the box to contain the wood to be made. For narrower strips such as toe rails and rubbers drain piping can be used instead of a box.

We started on the starboard side yesterday. There is certainly plenty of bad wood in here as well, although it seems to be more on the bottom than the sides. We will have to move the drum on Thursday as some of the bad wood is where the drum is sitting on the hull.

Just going back to the hole in the skeg forward of the prop, a friend was looking at the site and commented on it by E Mail to an ex broadsman living in France, his view is that it was to increase the flow of water over the prop to give it more bite. Makes sense it will do for me.

[Guest]

Hi Barry

keep up the good work just think once you make a steam box you will be able to use it all the time rent it out you will be well away.

Jonny

[Springsong]

I haven’t posted on the restoration for quite awhile for a couple of reasons, my puter has been attacked by several viruses, Trojans and things so a puter expert chappie has been cleaning it up ; as well as the last Monday and Thursday were forecast to be wet , and Thursday was.

Now to business: Ivor has managed to borrow a steam box from a friend of his so that has saved a bit of time and money, and with Will’s wallpaper steamer we are up and running. The board clamped in place is a short board and twists through two planes as it were the result being it is very difficult to get the necessary curves especially as on the day it was not very warm and Ivor was having trouble getting enough heat into the wood.

I now have a secret location in a barn not far away were I have set up to do varnishing and bits and pieces of painting etc. This won’t affect this time of year as much, but in the winter I can go up there anytime and put some hours in. Hence the seeming pile of junk in the picture, it is in fact all the drawers companionway steps windscreen, in fact any removable wood that needs painting or varnishing.

You can see in the photo the drawers are beautifully made the saloon drawers having solid oak fronts and the fore cabin having solid mahogany the dovetailing and the mahogany faced ply bottoms. The bottoms I think slide out but as yet I have been unable to do this, as far as I can tell the back is on a slide but after fifty years is a little reluctant to move.

Finally the piece of timber lying against the bow is the sideboard which runs almost the length of the saloon on the port side. As you can see this is in a bit of a state but Will has run it through his planer, and thinks that with a small repair it will be ok. I personally prefer this to new wood, it is not a new boat after all but a restoration, apart from the huge cost of new oak which Ivor thinks will not be of the quality of the original wood

[Springsong]

Will has worked his magic yet again to give the original rear doors a new lease of life. The rather pretty chrome locks have been retained along with their keys, the inside remains plain mahogany the outside covered with imitation tongue and groove glued to the door to match the bulkheads.

Ivor meanwhile has fitted the short plank; it has a remarkable amount of twist in it considering its short length, I suppose in theory the longer pieces should be easier to fit, well I can say that can’t I ?

The “cocktail “ cabinet has suffered quite badly from the damp so Will is taking it home while he decides what action to take. He does this takes home pieces of junk and a week or so later reappears wit a work of art that bears no resemblance to the original pile of rotten wood.

I meanwhile have been at the barn getting a start on the drawers and other pieces that require varnishing, I have plenty to keep me going right through the winter.