A very sad day

A very sad day today, the Aldeburgh Boatyard caught fire this morning and is a total loss. No one was injured but four boats were lost together with archive material that cannot be replaced. I will never forget working at the old yard at weekends and holidays or Peter's patience in teaching me how to repair boats. I hope he has the determination to rebuild and carry on.

On a more cheerful note 3434 is as finished as she will be this year. Despite a major disagreement with a new slot gasket, mkII worked and we raced on Saturday. Not Baggy T weather but still great to be on the water.

I didn't like the navy blue colour scheme, so after a few hours in the garage and she is now a pleasing shade of red. Hoping for more wind this weekend.

I'm still waiting for Bobtail's new sails to be finished and will then sort out her rig ready for a late spring launching party.

That time of the year...

Bobtail has moved next door for a couple of weeks so I can get her younger sister ready to go racing.

This year we have a different boat. N3232 has been replaced with N3434 the last Baggy T to be

built. Lots to do but nothing too drastic unless I replace the thwart which I think is in the wrong place....

A couple of pictures showing how the boats have evolved over 50 years.

N3434 is 12 years old and is out of date when compared to the latest generation of boats.....

Mast repairs

I have been putting this of for ages for 3 good reasons. Firstly I wasn't sure what to do. Secondly I hadn't got any suitable timber. Thirdly I thought it would be difficult. All the more difficult as the mast is too long to fit in the garage.

The solution to problem number 2 was obviously solved at the Boat Yard. A section of broken Loch Long mast was cut to length and then cut in half.

After many hours thinking about how to fix the mast and nothing else to do I decided to get on with it. The top section of Bobtails mast removed to expose sound timber and a scarf cut to each side face. The replacement port section was then cut to match and glued in place followed by cutting out the bolt rope groove and the hollow core for the main halyard.

The starboard side was then added with some rope packers wrapped in thin plastic (good idea Tim) to prevent any excess epoxy blocking the rebates and stop them being bonded in place. At this point things looked a bit crude with a large block of scrap wood stuck to the top of the mast.

About an hours work with a sharp plane and some 60 grit paper and things look much better. One scarf is longer than the other but they fit and that's good enough for me. All that is left to do is strip and varnish the rest of the stick.

The old top of the mast was so soft that a previous owned had used a pair of jubilee clips to hold the two halves together and prevent the halyard sheeve from falling out. Crude but effective for a while.

17 Months later.....

The hull of Bobtail is now complete and the builders plate has been re fixed. I know I have relied upon epoxy resin and it's gap filling properties and I couldn't have built a boat using 1940s materials. The screws could use some minor adjustment but i am very proud of my twelve foot national.

The completed hull ready for fitting out. I can't remember how many coats of varnish are on the decks.

I didn't want to use modern black plastic fittings where the shrouds pass through the decks to the chain plates. I can't remember what the arrangement was when I bought her so some new fittings were made from recycled tufnol lined with 12mm diameter stainless tube. I think they look the part despite loosing one tufnol washer on the garage floor and taking one and a half hours to find it.

The tufnol jib sheet fairleads and cleats were originally mounted on the side decks where they look awful and uncomfortable to sit on. They probably work best here but could be mounted on the the thwart. However the sheets will rub on the side deck when reaching or running. Any good ideas on other boats? No holes have been drilled yet....

The mast step is back on the deck. the front corners were cut away to suit the the original decking and washboards.

The stem fitting has been re fixed despite a small crisis when one of the bronze screws snapped. a small matter of digging it out and filling the cavity with epoxy has it sorted with visible damage.

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The centreboard has been sand blasted and primed with something very hard. It is now painted white and will be flattened back at the weekend. the rudder from 3434 is nearly as deep as the centreboard but considerably lighter.

Finally I have cleared up the garage and the old decking, washboards and other pieces of scrap burnt. The old varnish caught fire very easily. How close was bobtail to a proper bonfire?

Bobtail is in the the garage, sitting on a nice new trolley which shares the same road trailer as her younger sister. If the weather is right I will tackle the mast at the weekend.

Rudders.

It's still too cold to do much in the garage so after cleaning up the aluminium rudder blade I painted it in the kitchen. I have never seen an aluminium rudder on a twelve before and I can see why. This one weighs in at whooping 5lb 6 oz! It is the original so it will be used.

I need to get the centreboard sand blasted before I can repaint it.

The floor boards are now all glued together ready for varnishing. The boom is cleaned up and has had a thinned coat of varnish applied this afternoon.

With regard to weight I decided to compare it the rudder from N3434. I am pleased to note that the whole rudder assembly (which is need of a small repair and a coat of paint) is less than the aluminium blade on it's own.

Hopefully the weather will soon warm up so I can finish the decks. I then need to get on with N3434 as it will soon be time to go sailing this year.

Spring is on the way....

Suffolk is starting to thaw out and the garage is becoming suitable for boat building again.

Colin and Martin at Purely Metal have made a new launching trolley that fits my road base. I have bolted my fibreglass cradles in place (after some minor adjustments....) and it can now be dismantled and galvanised. Colin owns a late 1970s National 12. "Scooter" will be back on the water this year after many years stored at the brick dock. They also make lovely polished custom stainless steel yacht fitings as well as anything else out of metal.

This afternoon we turned Bobtail over and sat her on her new wheels.

It all appears to fit as expected.

And rolled back indoors with no trouble.

The list of jobs is getting shorter. The main ones include, more varnish on the decks, finish and fit floor boards, repair rotten top of mast and finally fit her out.

I have ordered new sails from Jeckells in Wroxham. They made the original and only set of sails she has had in 1949, so perhaps these ones will last another 60 years? This will be Jeckell's 3rd set of vintage sails in recent years and are a very competitive price.

SNOW!

Too much snow on the East Coast for boatbuilding at the moment. The cradles for the launching trolley were laminated before christmas and a second hand trolley found that can be modified to suit. Just waiting for the weather to warm up so I can get on with some work. N3434 is waiting to be painted and the lugger cleaned in preperation to sell in the spring!

Raced 3434 on new years day, single handed as Tom decided it was too cold.... Boat went very well, I would have won apart from rounding the leeward mark the wrong way! If only the crew had written the course down.....

Pictures of the snow as nothing else to post...