Hard at work

After a rather a rather enjoyable holiday and the completion of annual maintenance on Bobtail's younger sister, the old girl is back in a clean and tidy workshop.

Progress was delayed by unscheduled repairs to N3232 after an unfortunate incident with a small keelboat which was all my fault!

There are 384 little squares of plank, 46 ribs, 14 knees, 2 side beches, a thwart and a centreboard case to sand flat, then 2 more coats of varnish to apply in the search for the perfect finish..... Thank goodness she is only 12 feet long.

The ends of my fingers are worn smooth from sandpaper but I think the results are worth it.

This will be the last chance I have to work on the majority of the inside planking as the new decks will be fitted when we come back from racing at Thorpe Bay.

Now for something slightly different.......

Several litres of International original yacht varnish splashed on the inside of the hull.

Surprising how long it takes to apply a coat on

both sides.

Bobtail will now be storage until her younger sister is repaired and decorated for the coming season. This will also allow the varnish to time to harden before a light sanding and a final topcoat (or two...)

Varnish

Finally all new oak ribs fixed in place, all the deck framing secured and the transom replaced. Fixings for buoyancy bags glued in place, thwart and side benches reassembled.

Ready to varnish at last! I decided to use International Original Yacht Varnish - because that is what I have in the garage. The new oak ribs are much lighter in colour than the old ones.

1st coat of very thin varnish has soaked in very well. Amazing how much soaked and very quickly. 60 years since she was last given her base coat at EC Landamore Wroxham. New transom looks very good, a much better job than repairing the original.

A few more coats required over the coming week.....

Bored!

Bored having run out of glue and nails so decided to remove centreboard. This involved carefully hanging Bobtail from the garage ceiling and lowering the board enough to fee it from the pivot.

Very surprised to find such a high aspect "foil" maximum 10" wide, weighing in at only 25lb! Some slight corrosion but in pretty good condition.

Will get some more materials for the weekend and should finish riveting ribs and refixing frames by Monday.

Steaming Ahead

Green oak for ribs and copper nails obtained from the Boatyard. Green oak stored in a carefully controlled environment to prevent sawn small section 3/8 x 5/8 timber drying out - long wet grass! Oak planed and cut to length and correct cross section, remembering to clean corrosive sap residue from tools.....

Steam box built out of wall paper stripper, laser bottom mast and some gaffer tape worked very well. Ribs steamed for a good 30 minutes and then they bent easily into place . I didn't break any!

Pilot holes drilled with 1.5 mm ( I haven't got any imperial drill bits) before driving 14 gauge copper nails. I can now remove and replace the remaining broken ribs and finish riveting the nails mid week. A very productive days work.

Steady Progress

Knees and deck framing now epoxied to transom. The boat is starting to feel much more rigid.

Suitable oak for ribs found at the Boatyard. Should be ready to start steaming at the weekend. I need to connect the wall paper stripper to a piece of broken RS400 mast (I knew there would be a use for it) .....

Need to progress work as garage required at the end of February to repair Bobtail's much younger sister ready for the coming season.

A New Year

This year Bobtail will be 60 years old. I hope to have her back on the water for a party but there is still a lot of work to be done. However today saw a big change in her appearance.

With the loan of a bevel gauge, sharpened plane and chisels her new transom has been cut and shaped to fit. An easier task than I expected. Even carving the number wasn't too tricky. Must be the choice timber supplied by Aldeburgh Boat Yard.

Must go out and clean of the excess epoxy before it goes too hard. Next on the list are new ribs. Another trip to the Boatyard to find the right materials and advice.