woods best boat ...........

[650xs]

i,m going to do my best to do a rite up of the ligth restoration /repair of a classic 1936 herbertwoods  ligth class boat 

 

her name is "queen of light "

 

she now sits in one of our sheds in the boat yard here at wayfordmarineservices

 

she changed hands some time ago into the ownership of a great man who loves woodies and has a great love affair with the broads and the wooodies ,goood ole boy i say ......

 

 

we will try our best to fix her good and proper and report our works as we go ......

 

 

 

she has been sat on the hard standing for some time apppox 2/3 yrs the previous owner did love her so but due to a slight ick up with a great blood vessel thinghy near his heart which  sat him on his  **** and put stop to the planned works on her 

 

 

he owned her for some time and pulled her back from the thames about the same time the sister ship  "princess of light"left us to go to sandwhich  kent  to new owners sadly she is in a desperae need of a rebuild last seen on land with no internals

 

back to queen we lifted her  a week ago to place on slipway for a quick pressure wash to get rid orf the ole green stuff

befor enter to shed  for dry out inspection and plan of works to do 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hockham Admiral]

You do take on some challenges, don't you?   :bow

[650xs]

ahh at last a pic or two ......

looking a bit sad in the hoist .....

with a half hearted cover which was rottern and not cover the decks etc

all removed to get some air on her

she was attacked with the washer to get some ole loose stuff off her

left to stand the nite befor into shed where she.ll be for a week or two ...!!!!

next into shed ................nice and easy ..

[650xs]

here is the sister ship in better times .....

poor ole " princess "

she was lifted to go onto land for a few planks to sort out befor she go ....

whilst on the lam

nd at that time we had a one of the wayford mini tornados ......

which on that DAY LIFTED A 23 FOOT CRUISER and then decided to attack poor ole princess wheel house and with a huge amount or neg pressure blew the whell house roof off and windows out ..opps better make the call I suppose ...!!!!

was soon repaired amd she was loaded onto transport to a sad ole end years later

grrrrr

we did try to get her back to ...but to no avail .....

[650xs]

now back to ole queenie ..........

will she fit in that ole shud ....?????

gentle does it ........

all looks a bit awkward as some numtie put aload or ole quality stuff like rubble and wood opp the shud for awaiting use or around the yard to fix stuff like hulls and hoools in the yard......

[650xs]

in she goes all safe now ....

she will be set realy low to ground first to sort out decks and cabin side ......

we spent a further day or so trying to remove stuff jammed in cuboards and secret holes around the boat .....

the whole front end has been cleared out to access all the bilge and bunk tops and floors to get some ole 5 star wood treatmnent in there first .......

spray away I did ,while top boat builder "al " coughed his way along the day .......

sorry "al " I said ...umpphh was his reply .....

she has been set nice and square ish on the floor and loads of support along the chine to keep her shape tooo

when we lifted her she did,t move an inch as the ole keel on this one is huge ....which does help and built a little better than some of the ditch crawlers from around ere .....

she will need a good dry out on roof and decks etc

deck is laid type but sadlt she was liad on top of some of besy bill board ply and the year have not been kind to her so it orrf to the skip for this lot ...grrrrr

cabin side were replaced some time ago too and similar quality ply too ....ohh dear .....

elecs on her are good and engine was a sweet ole bmc 1.5 good ole girl, we still build them yer know .......

plumbing all modern too ...........yippee

galley is huge on this one and a modern one was fitted some time ago so good for a goumet cook I reckon .........

[C.Ricko]

Lovely job JJ,

With a title like that I thought we were going to see a

nice picture of Salvor.

is Leo on the job? I just bought his Grandads racing yacht you know..

[650xs]

ahh god ole salvor I could tell thee as story or two of her and many a trip too ..........

bring on the woods classics I say .........

good ole leo on the job and a little help too latrs .....

keep that ole yacht nice and get her to sail next year so she has a trip or two ......

[650xs]

removed some orf the poor ole smart deck now and so far the deck beams are ok and the carlins are a bit gone in places as to be expected but the beam shelf is ok ,all the full length so far exposed and just crappy ole ply wood deck covering and poor ole steel screws in places where they should not be ...grrrr

so " al" has been busy .......

next week we will burn some orf the ole paint orf and see the real extent orf what is wood and what we can do with what is left ....?????

" mr b " hopefully will still be smiling in a week or two s time ....!!!!!

[LizG]

Salvor and Cookie in the 60s - good memories

[650xs]

ahh salvor herbie wood tow boat spent many an hour on her tamming the ole 2.2 easing the throttle to stop the bow wave on way to jobs and daring me self to use the gas hob and ole coffee in the front fore peak .......

 

 

winchin boats off breydon with me ole mate mr yard manger at the time ......too

 

 

back to queeen she has a good portin or starbord deck removed with care so far and she was in a soggy ole state.....went lookin for ole paper work to see who on the thames fitted the afore mentioned ole classy deck stuff to no avail ...............bet it cost a packet fittin that ole cladding ply from some ole bill board from the smoke telling us to use this shampoo and no druff to worry aboot ..............

 

more burning ole paint and primer orf tuk other side to expose any rough ole wood ,joints and bad seames etc 

 

always looking for end orf plank rott /wet wood spreading onto plank hearts .....from those ole loose seams and bad caulkinh etc .................

 

 

not sure if we are going to epoxie fill /spline or tradi the seams yet ......

 

 

still more or deck beams  exposed and carlin etc all look good so far and not bad for her age ....

 

 

once she is a liitle more exposed i willl dose her again in my 5 star...................

 

 

re her bottom the whole bottom wil have new rake out and a two part flexi sealer once all recaulked 

 

all seams will have to be clean bare wood for this process to work correctly 

 

she is in need of some plank work too of coarse both top side and bottom ,keel good and thick and strong garboard joints need some tidy up and all the chine boarding which was extra on bottom and hull have been removed as uselees along with new bottom chine rubbers all below water added to protect her against the shallows and the nasty concrete steps at some moooring etc ....

 

 

these extra boards will go back on as we have had both queen and pricness in our yard befor they had both this set up too......so not uncommon.....

 

 

good job these board were taken off as they were badly deteriorated and hardly any sealer behind them and a set orf bad ole screws......................

 

not mush bronze or braas for the coffers ...... 

[650xs]

here is a new chopping board best used for cutting some ole sacrificed rottern local rud kill that all its fittt for............................!!!!!

some orf the pain staking slow removal orf the shabby decks dun in the south ......grrrrr

 

 

yuo can see from the pics i hope the reason to remove as the rott had spread from edges orff the ole toe rail and top rubbers into heart or the quality plywood 

 

 

and it was still wet ................

[650xs]

just found this one of her sister ship back in the day.....

a pic of princess out at yard for a quick lick over and it was too....

 

she then went to far away .........................

 

second pic is of the starboard side showing correct windows unlike the queen as she has sillly port holes 

 

 

last pic is of the last time i saw the princess on the hard in a mess at sandwhich ..............

[650xs]

i got these pics of queen over the years too...................

Sat on thames in the bason where she lived time was around 20004/5

Then in the 60s

Then 40s

[650xs]

more paint orf now and still in goood order as per our first inspection when we had a quick sound out orf her ole hull back a few months or so ....

 

 

seams are a mix or putty and ole filler from hard to soft ,a bit dry in places and falling oot too...

 

 

i will now spray behind the deck beam and down the back or hull where i might orf missed when deck was on so to get the ole 5 star in there i say .................

 

 

spoken to the owner the other day and he was shocked to find a rear tiolet still in place once we removed the stuff a and more stuff from the cuboards ,lockers and was was a tiolet too....... 

 

 

its looks more and more likely now  the cabin side will be taken out all round and new hard wood replaced to gain her apppearence to how she was when built with varnished cabin sides and the correct windows in rear cabin

 

 

good ole engine is good she was laid up by my self several years ago and still seem ok ,of coarse she is its a bmc 1.5 last for ever

 

 

loads of room in engine room to store stuff

 

battts are u/s and new will go in top notch poss agm etc

 

alternator was up graded by me too some time ago so should charge ok  we hope ....????

 

 

so far ribs / timbers look ok from what we can see with deck orf 

 

 

alll cleats and brass work to come orf and now go orf to be rechromed   owner has requested a middle cleat to use spring line etc as she is a big ole girl to steady while side moored 

 

 

if any body has pics orf the queen past present we would be gratefull just to help with history etc 

 

we only have two of her on the thames 

 

 

just found this one or princess hull damage when she was lifted and reason to sink or bad lift rottern chine etc etc etc 

 

she was reported to be rubbing on a stake .......

 

 

 

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Jon ,

In that picture the rubbing stake looks bad but the gap in the boards above looked worse.

On a job like that where would you start?

Regards

Alan

[LizG]

Prince of Light B64 seen at Griffin Yard in August 2011

[JawsOrca]

They are lovely looking boats! We hired Janet from Marthams one year and that was the best hire boat we ever hired. I can only imagine how much work they put in (my sailing boat is ply and she was hard enough!). Congrats for doing it and would love to see on the water

[650xs]

well with abit orf luck shell be on water sooner rather than later ....

she wil be moored with perfect lady from woods sailing fleet along side sat on barton broad we hope

more paint burnt orf in last few days

and more good wood exposed it look ok so far

all joints are good mostly with putty in place and only a few plank which have moved and split from natural movement

only one or two planks with bad knotts in which some have been taken out and filled

we do have a couple of planks which when fitted were not shaped to the full contour orf the ole hull ,so if yer run yer hand over the one next to her are cured then yuo meet mr flatt bad plank ....

this will be sanded to shape to match rest of hull.......

as i might orf said befor she has a wood burner as " uncle norman " prev owner spent months on her till it got too cold and his wife demanded he come hum to see what ahouse look like

[C.Ricko]

Nice wood burner, I have one on my old boat but the chimney comes out of the top on mine.

[650xs]

more work dun today by great ole" matt "...........................his turn for crap jobs so he is on punishment week ....!!!!

once some more ole paint orf now we can see the proper condition orf the hull seams etc ......

some planks were hidden with some little polyester filler and also some epoxi fillers to ..............theser had been scimmed over the top orf the affected areas and blended in ............

which would orf been beeter was to dig out the small affected place treat and then fill .....

better still scraf anew bit in or dig farther and see if heart orf the ole plank was gooone tooo..

middle rubber on the port side is hard wood and fairly recent tooo good order ,rubber on starboard is soft wood

ummmm......................

[650xs]

blast me pics are all out of worse focus than norm ...sorrry 

 

 

andway the bow has a little or distress to her so will have to adress that too......

 

stem need a tidy up and bit let in may be or replace her ..wait and see look closer ...

 

 

planks meeting the stem are dun badly not nice fitt or blended in will check srews too dont want no steelies in here

[LizG]

Any gribble worm holes in the stem?

[650xs]

helllo we have no" linoria lingnoram " yet  as the foriners would say .....or gribble worm ....

 

 

or toredo navilis ......

 

 

funny little creatures salt or fresh they bore into wood ,alot in common with me .......no..no..noo,sorry i got that rong  , i just bore ....!!!!

 

 

they feed on the celllilose and munch in and spit it out ...............

 

 

boring along the plank  going in small and coming out when full and fat 

 

or just might move on when boat prices go down .....!!!!!!!

 

 

seen load of it ..................

 

 

i have found it most prolific on boots which have been sat in mud or left tigth to a bank for long periods orf time ,well there my finding i,m no expert.............

 

 

we have a classic boot on out yard which her whole bottom on one side is attacked with gribble etc .....

 

talkin orf worm we did lift a boot once from a dyke in stalham and where the 46 foot cruiser had sat rubbing /laying along the bank for years the common earth worm had produced a similar state off the ole wood too 

 

i know this as there were some still in the wood ,or may be they had moved in while mr and ,mrs gribble were out ...!!!!

 

 

lot and lots orf worm tracs along the planks ....................tooo

 

 

well thats me dr in wood boring dealt with ............

 

 

i,m sure some one will have another commment on this and argue about it till blue in the face ....

 

i can only comment on what i see ,i,m not and expert .................

 

as i,ma good ole boy no staff workin on boots today i,ll let them orf.............

 

happy new year ....................

 

 

only typing this as a full house last nite went on till 4.30 ish and stil in a state or disrepair  so i,m the non drinker and got a fullhead of coke .........................waiting for me news years dinner ...........!!!!!

[650xs]

Any gribble worm holes in the stem?

hay yer got them in yer ole boot then ...................................??????

 

 

also not too be coinfused with natural woood fibre deteroation ....................

 

where it look similar yer know ................ well it does to me ................