17/11/07

Well we started on her today by emptying out the fuel tanks; while that was happening it was a case of remove all the electrics from the cab.
When she came out of the water I noticed that the starboard keel was spayed out by a couple of degree's so finding the cause of this was high on the agenda. First job was to remove the carpet from the inner cab and in doing that I found a couple of problems. The glassing at the top of the strengtheners on the starboard side had cracked so it was now a case for finding out what had caused the cracks. This wasn't too difficult to trace as it could only really be thing.. the main supporting beam that holds the hull together and in the correct shape. The beam and bulkhead was two of the only parts of the boat that I never replaced when I first re built her.... big mistake
I discovered that the hardwood beam was in fact only soft wood and very soft at that This meant that the securing bolts holding the centre part of the hull up against the beam had pulled out through the soft wood causing and thus allowing the starboard hull to splay out.
So now I've got another job on to the list I already have

18/11/2007

I did a bit more work on her today and I think I've found the cause of the problem. Water seems to have seeped in through a small crack between the bulkhead and the cab roof, it's then got into the plywood and worked it's way down and into the adjoining beam. i pulled away some of the ply and it was sodding by also had white fungus in it. So I now know what has caused the beam to go soft. It looks like the boat will be moved midweek into a new space so come the weekend I can really get stuck into the work.

13/12/07

was over at the boat at lunchtime today and decided to take some pictures of the problem areas
This is the bulkhead where the damage started, the water managed to get In at the top of the ply and seep down allowing wet rot to creep in. The ply and beam were that soft I removed that material in seconds with my fingers. Lesson learnt.. don't cover up bulkheads with carpet.


As a result of that wet rot infecting the main beam it allowed the centre hull to drop by roughly 1". You can see clearly the gaps between the wood and the wood & hull


With the centre hull dropping roughly 1" it caused the starboard keel to splay out by around 2 degrees


So the job for this weekend is to remove both engines & gearboxes. Then level up the boat and jack the hulls back into the correct shape. Then clamp it in that position so that the beams can be replaced inside

15/12/07

Well today Linda and myself spent the morning working on the boat, in the space of 2 hrs we had managed to remove both engines and split the gearboxes off them. The prop shafts are now removed with only the stern glands to come out now. The engine bay's were both power washed down and cleaned up a bit.
So tomorrow it's get the engines & boxes over to storage at my Dads, then remove the stern glands. We will probably level the boat off also and see if we can get her jacked back into shape

23/12/07

been working on the boat myself for the last two days, I still managed to get the inner cab completely cleared out of everything that wasn't glassed in. I've removed all the through hull fittings with the exception of the anodes & exhaust outlets as my arms weren't long enough to hold the bolts on the outside I also levelled the boat off and jacked the starboard keel in 2 " but it still has a bit to go. I have to wait till the outer cab is removed before it will go back into it's correct shape.
Today I started to lift the deck.. ouch.. the glass was fine though I cant say the same for the ply I was removing it in handfuls as it was that bad and completely sodden, it is also full of fungi
So next up is removing the rest of the deck, then the outer cab. Once that is done she is going to be down to a bare hull again Then it's a good clean out with a fungicide and the rebuild begins

30/12/07

Yes Phil I think she has earned it, we were down there for a few hours today. Linda is now got her ticket for using a 4" angle grinder and 2' crowbar at one point she was attacking the deck like a woman possessed
Anyway the deck has now been removed, only the framing to come out. I removed the stern rail and the main transom beam so all that's left to be removed is the framing and the outer cab.. then the rebuild begins

12/01/08

Spent a bit more time down at the boat today and removed most of the framing round the transom, I also took some pics of her.
first up is a pic of the handrail around the bow for Sammyjo



This is the framing that was under the Glass & ply deck, you can see how sodden the wood was as that's the stain from it all over the hull



This is a closer view looking toward the outer cab



After taking this lot out


this is how it looks now



In the bottom centre of the picture above is the inside part of one of the two patches that are to be replaced, this is the centre one viewed from underneath and the other is just at the stern.

20/01/08

Well, Thats the boat nice an snug in its wee Temporary home for a few weeks. We did this yesterday...and ran out of wood...200mtrs too....the Blue tarpualins will be being replaced by the same setup as on the rear of the boat...




The Celtic Support, as the H & S.guy wasnt doing his job properly....Especially taken for Gordon (Ticketty)



Billy The Joiner doing "The Titanic Experience"


We also had visitors,..Woss all this then ??


The last piece of wheelhouse comes off.. Timberrrrrrrr !!


02/02/08

Well I toddled down to the boat this morning through a dusting of snow.. got the gear set up and started doing a bit of sanding as prep work before I get to the stage of glassing. The phone goes and it's our Norrie " are you down at the boat" was the question" then "good cause we are on our way over"... so change of plan
I removed the tarps that were on the front of the boat and started to get everything set up for building the second half of the Wendy house. Unfortunately we were that busy (even Norrie) we never got a chance to get any pics of the finished product (I'll do that tomorrow) but the boat is now totally covered, warm and dry so I've no excuses now

Davy, I got a couple of crap pics on my fone, but it was getting dark...here they are...will just have to do for now..

Imagine ME forgetting my camera....thats what comes of getting dragged out my bed on a saturday morning...





Number 666 Glasgow Road , Clydebank , ask for Samantha !!! ... Pity we could'nt put those new Marley roof tiles on...but Council Tax is dreadful on a second home

06/02/08

Well the wendy house is doing it's job, today outside was 5 degrees, inside was sitting at 16 degrees but still rising when I left. Humidity has went from 98% down to 71% so things are looking good for getting started on the rebuild soon. I've ordered the new deck beams (pitched pine)and they should be ready to collect next Tuesday.

The boat is sitting almost bang on level and after a fair bit of messing about with jacks she is also sitting in the correct shape with both keels sitting at 90 degrees. Also the 1" gap between the hull and the main beam has closed up to nothing so it's all looking good. Tomorrow I'm getting the marine ply for the new bulkheads so will be able to get them cut and dry fitted.

The big job I have now prior to anything being fitted back on is the preparation of the hull. I spent 4 hrs this morning with a belt sander and have about 1/2 of the port hull done.. so plenty more sanding to do

08/02/08

Well tomorrow is D Day, the day I start putting things back on the boat

The job for tomorrow is to fiberglass up both patches on the centre hull and epoxy in the cab supports back in place so things are going in the right direction now

I only have 2 bits still to remove, the main support beam and the main cab bulkhead. I don't want to remove these until the replacement parts are ready. The deck beams should be ready by mid week and fingers crossed i should be starting to fit them by next weekend

09/02/08

Well today went well, first off was a trip over to the other side of Glasgow with the trailer to collect the new deck beams & main beam. I had been laminating them up myself but time is at a premium now so opted for 3" x 2" pitched pine beams (same as what was on the boat). I got 8 off 3" x 2" x 12', 6 off 3" x 2" x 14' and 1 off 2" x 10" x 12' and a bundle of offcuts for £120 quid so was well pleased.
I'll get them cut to size and shape, dry fit them then give them a few coats of epoxy just to seal them.

Back at the boat we unloaded the trailer and stacked the wood underneath the hull just to make sure it stayed dry. As the sun started to come out the temperature shot up to 20 c in the hut so It was full steam ahead with the fiberglassing. We had a wee production line going with Linda cutting the chop strand mat and me laying it up and after a couple of hours work, quite a few meters of matting and a couple of gallons of resin We managed to have one patch finished and the other 90% done. All we were short of was some filler for round the edges, so that will be done first thing tomorrow and the glassing finished.

17/02/08

Well things are starting to go back on the boat at last

yesterday I made up the new main beam out of a 10" x 2" x 12' bit of pitched pine, it's a fair bit more substantial than the one that was on her so should add to the strength. I also opted to form the bottom of the beam to fit the hull rather than fitting a piece of wood as packing. This is it sitting alongside the old beam prior to the dry fit.



Once the dry fit was done, I filled the old screw holes and drilled new ones through the centre of the hull. Then I put down a bed of epoxy and secured the beam from underneath with some temporary screws ( will replace these with heaviest gauge screws as soon as I get them). I then gave the whole beam a coat of epoxy just to seal it before it's glassed in.

Today we started on the deck beams and managed to get 5 out of the 7 shaped and cut to size. Now I need to notch them out and epoxy them before fitting to the boat. We also made up the 2 new bulkheads for each hull out of doubled up 12mm marine ply. I've brought them up the road so that I can give them a coat of epoxy before they are fitted to the hull & deck beams.

I've also ordered up the new 1 1/8" dia prop-shafts and new stern gear to suit and a full set of new engine mounts as the nuts had fired up on a couple of them.

I'll probably have an evening or two down working on her this week since I'm giving myself this weekend off for a spot of fishing

18/02/08

I was working at my proper work today so nothing done on the boat during the day

I nipped over to the yard at lunch time to check the readings on the temp gauge.. 19 degrees with 52% humidity .. superb

this evening I've took over the kitchen and started to give the bulkheads a coat of epoxy to seal them before I fit them on the boat

19/02/08

well that's the bulkheads given a coat of epoxy and are now ready for final fitting

Today I turned my attention to the repair / refurb of the gearboxes, as the 1.91 counter rotational box is obsolete and in the worst condition I had decided to try and obtain a refurbed counter rotational 2.1:1 box to match my other one. Well someone upstairs is definitely smiling on me just now, I happened to mention to the yard manager about this and he said he might have something in the workshop that might interest me... low and behold it was a completely refurbed counter rotational 2.1:1 box still in it's wrapping, so tomorrow it's negotiations time

20/02/08

Anyway I went back down to the boat this evening and checked the bulkheads still fitted in their positions, I cant fix them in yet as they are going to be attached to the cross beams also to give added strength. So the next job is to fit the last two cross beams and the 4 longitudinal beams, mark out where they all have to be notched out for the joints between them.

24/02/08

Well I didn't plan on doing any work on the boat this weekend as I had intended to spend 2 days up in the frozen North east of Scotland trying to get my first ever Turbot. As I had managed to catch one during the meet I decided to head down the road last night and spend today working on the boat.

So the plan was to finish cutting the deck beams and dry fit them all, unfortunately the tarp on the roof of the shed was starting to develop a few holes so the boat wasn't as dry as I had been expecting

So the first job was to rig up another Tarp inside the shed covering the whole boat, once that was done and the deck dried up I got back to the job in hand. I had managed to cut a few of the cross members to size last week so I only had two cross members left to do. I then had to notch out the beam at the main beam to fit round the bulkheads. Once they were done it was time to cut the 4 longitudinal beams to size and sit them in place.



next stage is now to mark them all up and notch them out so that the beams will all fit together, then it's a case of epoxying the whole lot together and to the hull.... next week and weekends job

02/03/08

well another two productive days, yesterday after checking and making sure the hull was sitting correctly and in shape I epoxied the main beam to the outer hull and fitted both forward bulkheads


Next week I'll give them a complete coat of matting to give a bit more strength, though I've upped them from 8mm ply to 24 mm thick marine ply. The are also onto the main beam with 6mm Stainless screws and the first deck beam will alcow be epoxied & screwd to them.

next up was to start notching out the deck beams, so we had a wee production line going..and made sort work of it





Next weekend after cleaning out the hulls & prepping the area should see the aft bulkheads epoxied into position, the deck beams all epoxied and fitted into position.. so things are moving on

09/03/08

Well we had a busy weekend but not really a lot to show for it, the deck beams have all be epoxied and are fitted together with epoxy & stainless screws for good measure. I also put 4 x 5mm x 70mm stainless screws up through the hull and into each beam, the beams were then coated with matting and epoxied to the hull. It's a bit over kill but there is now no way the hull can move out of shape

I also started on the transom part of the frame today and will hopefully manage a few evenings this week working on that and sorting out the rudder assembly so things are moving on in the right direction

16/03/08

Well another productive weekend working on the boat and things are starting to look a bit better. During the week I removed the hardwood edging and capping from both gunnel's as I wanted to put a bit more strength into the gunnel's. The plan was to fit a length of 3" x 2" along the inside of each gunnel, the wood was dry fitted first then the mating faces were given a coat of epoxy then clamped together. I then added a bit more security with 12 x 6mm x 70mm screws through from the outside and the wood was then cased with cms just to finish it off.

I also finished off the foundations for the transom and capped it with some 12mm marine ply to give me a flat surface to take the transom beam.

Today we gave the ply a coat of epoxy and encased it with cms just to finish it off to make sure it will stay water tight. The transom beam was also sanded down and has been given a coat of epoxy just to seal the wood and is now ready to be bolted back on to the boat. I also fitted the first two parts of the main bulkhead that holds up the cab and epoxied them into position and secured them in with a few ss screws for good measure.

17/03/08

Went down today at lunch time and took some pictures.

The transom with the beam sitting in place


A view of the transom from further away


The start of the port bulkhead & gunnel


The start of the starboard bulkhead & gunnel


and some graffiti that has appeared


another job I have to do is sort out the air bubles that have apeared after we left last night before I do any more to her.

18/03/08

i spent a couple of hours down at the boat after work today. While I still had some heat in the shed I did some tidying up of the epoxying that had been done at the weekend, fixing air bubbles and taking off any sharp edges. Once the temp went I started work on the upper Rudder support on the port side, I just need to add a shim to one side of it and then it's ready to be fixed to the deck beam above it.. I'll probably do that tomorrow night and make a start on the starboard one. Once that is done I can fit the connecting rod then work out the new length of the cable I need.

24/03/08

well that's another three days of work done and things are moving on.

On Saturday we managed to get all the marine ply cut for the first stage of the deck and Linda gave the bulkheads and main beam another couple of layers of epoxy & matting so that's them all done.

On Sunday Ticketyboo came over to help and we managed to get the rudders & steering gear finished, the transom beam fitted and also cut and fitted the flooring in the stern quarter and the cab. Linda was the epoxy queen again and finished off the deck supports in the cab so that's them fitted and glassed in.

Today we started off by cleaning the whole area down again then gave all the deck beams another coat of epoxy & tape just to build in some more strength. Linda then started on painting all the deck & flooring ply with a coat of resin to seal it. I dry fitted both the hatches in the front bulkheads, they will be fitted once the bulkheads get a couple of coats of glass to make them water tight. Then I fitted down the first two sheets of the deck to give us a platform to work on. We also measured up the steering cable so a replacement will be ordered tomorrow.

25/03/08

Yup she is starting to take shape and now we are starting to get to the painful bit.. replacing the worn out parts

I sent an order away today for:
1 x 6.25m steering cable
2 x Oil Coolers
2 m Exhaust hose
2 x exhaust outlets
1 x water lock ( replaced one last year)

already on order is:

8 x engine mounts
2 x stern glands
2 x cutlass bearings
1 x gearbox refurb
1 x refurbed gearbox

and that's just the start. I also need to replace one of the water pumps, both prop shafts and both props. That's what I can think of at the moment, no doubt there will be a few additions to those lists

I'll not post up the new toy's list just let... in case Linda sees it

29/03/08

Well today wasn't as productive as we had hoped, even in the shed with a heater on we struggled to get more than 12 degrees

Due to this and the fact that I managed to break one of the pumps for the epoxy we didn't get anywhere near what we wanted done. Instead we cut and fitted plugs in the transom to cover up the fixing bolts, fingers crossed the epoxy will have went off by tomorrow and we can get them sanded flat (pics tomorrow)

While Linda started painting the inside of the hull, I started fitting the mahogany facing for the gunnel's,. As we are re using the original wood for the facing and only replacing the capping the wood had to be sanded back first. Also as the replacement capping was only rough sawn, it had to be sanded also.

We will see what tomorrow brings temp wise and alter the work accordingly

30/03/08

Well another productive day, first up was to sand down the plugs in the Transom & the transom it's self.



A closer view of the plugs, only two are covering bolt holes the other two are plugging up the old holes



then after a bit of chiselling & sanding they looked like this, the dark rings are where the epoxy has soaked into the wood, this will be hidden when the rest of the beam gets a coat of epoxy.



Next up was to fit the new capping on the transom, first any holes, low parts etc were sorted by the epoxy queen



I then started the fit from the Transom moving slowly forward using 6mm x 70mm SS Screws to secure it down.



As you can see 150mm x 25mm mahogany seldom comes bent to the shape you need, so I had to improvise with a strap to pull the cap into shape as I screwed it down



Almost finished, just needs the holes filled with an epoxy wood mix and they will never be seen again

The whole procedure was done again on the port side so I now have two nice new gunnel's fitted ready to be epoxied

01/04/08

another wee update.. spent a few hours down at the boat today after work. I finished off both gunnel's, then did a dry fit of the handrails. I managed to get the broken epoxy pump working so made up a few mixes and coated the transom and the gunnel's to seal in the wood. I also made up a mix of wood/ epoxy and filled the screw heads on both gunnel's. I'll probably go back down again tomorrow night and give the lot a fine sand before it gets a second coat and the handrails are fitted permanently. I'll get some more pics tomorrow.

03/04/08

I didn't spend as much time down there tonight but managed to get a few more jobs done.

I finished the glassing on the last two bulkheads, they had only been given one layer of tape over the join onto the hull so another two were added. The gunnel's and transom were still very slightly tacky, so rather than sand them down, I opted to give them another coat of epoxy and they will now be left till Saturday to dry properly before they get a light sanding before they get their last coat of epoxy.

I also managed to get another fair sized bit of the port hull scraped.. only 3/4 of it left to do

I did take a couple of pics tonight but they didn't come out very good due to the low light levels.. I'll try and get down tomorrow to get some more.

09/04/08

Well things are slowly moving on, I've now got the stern tube assemblies, the new shafts should be ready next week, new engine mounts, exhaust outlets, waterlocks.

We have made up new flooring for in the cab hulls and have painted the hulls in there also. The hatches in the forward bulkhead are now fitted in place and the fuel tanks will go back in over the next few days. I'm now half way through sanding the hull down ready for it to be given a few coats of epoxy to seal the hull before the antifouling goes on. The handrail is also now all fitted back on and I have the old engines and one of the new ones are in under the boat ready for swapping the parts over. I'm still waiting for the steering cable and cant move on with the deck until it arrives (supposed to be posted out today).

I cant upload any pics just now as my pc is offline due to us getting central heating fitted in the flat, but I'll add them as soon as it's back online.

13/04/08

Well more progress though I'm being held up waiting on parts arriving

Steering cable still aint here, tis now been 4 weeks finally got my stern gear after a 5 week wait

So I've now dry fitted the stern gear, I cant fit it permanently till I get my new shafts as I wouldn't be able to get the shafts in with them in place, given that I cant drop the rudders and push the shaft in the way. The other main job we have been doing is scraping the hulls back to the gelcoat, it's been a long slow job but we now only have half of one side of a hull left to do. Then it's a case of clean it all down with acetone prior to putting on an epoxy barrier.

I've cut the wood for the keels and the nylon should be here soon so that's another job to do, the wood will be epoxied on to the keel then coated with matting to seal it and secure it to make sure it cant come off hull. Then the nylon will be screwed & sicaflexed on to that so there is no more holes through the hull for the keel bands

I'm also waiting on 20m of bilge pump hose, clips, one way valves and a second manual pump arriving so they can also be fitted

14/04/08

some pics of what has been done of late;

this was the first delivery of new parts



the hatches nave now been fitted in the forward bulkhead and the inner cab given a coat of paint.


the dry fitted exhaust & water lock, the water lock is only supported with wire just now till I get the proper supports made up.


The dry fitted stern tube assembly, once I have the shafts and test fit them, the area can then be cleaned down and the tube support can be epoxied in place

15/04/08

well I spent another couple of hours down there tonight, Still no joy on any of the bit's I'm waiting on so i spent the time working on other bits I'm now almost finished laminating up the wood for the keel band... I'll get that finished tomorrow. In between times I went back to the worst job on the boat.. scraping the hull, but it still has to be done. The good thing is I'm down to my last half a half of a hull still to do and as per usual it's the worst bit that's been left. I have the two inside parts of the hull sanded down, both the inside keels and the outer starboard keel are sanded down and the outer port hull and keel scraped just to be sanded. So plenty more of to do

16/04/08

I finally got the steering cable today and the bilge pumps and bit's also arrived so it was down to the boat for a couple of hours after work.

I started with the steering cable and soon discovered that i need an adaptor kit for it so fingers crossed that should be here for the weekend. Rather than leave the cable sitting out I fitted it in place and ran it along under the deck to where the new helm position is going to be. once I get the adaptor kit and fit that I'll secure the cable up onto the underside of the beams.

With me having done as much as I could with the steering I decided to fit the starboard manual bilge pump and run the pipe for the automatic pump. I had planned to fit double clips to every connection but the connections on the pump and the non return valve (fitted to the automatic pump only) only give you enough of a landing for one clip.

the setup:

17/04/2008

having an evening off tonight but still planning away

I'm hoping to make a start on the keel bands this weekend, I've laminated up 2 lots of 20' of 2" x 1" marine ply strips for attaching to the keel as a base for the keel bands. The bands themselves are en route just now and should be here tomorrow (cheers Steve )

I still have to finish sanding the hulls down first though, it's hard going scraping 4 layers of epoxy, 1 of undercoat and 2 or anti foul off a glass hull then it's a case of fill in any marks and make sure the profile is correct to take the keel band.

once all below the water line looks like below I can get that started (once I do yet another tidy up )

19/04/2008

well another busy day and at last jobs are being finished

First up for today was to fit the steering cable, as it was slightly different to the original cable I had also to get an adaptor kit for it After a dry fit the helm was fitted onto the cable and the stroke was checked. It was not too bad at 11" of the available 12" so i can live with that as it is still more than it used to have.
Anyway after a bit of footering about it looked like this:


A quick shot with a hacksaw seen the bolts cut down to size then the wood was given a coat of epoxy. the main bit of deck ply was then screwed down into position. Both bit's of ply over the hulls will be screwed down tomorrow once I've fitted the support straps for the exhaust pipes and fixed the steering cable up onto the underside of the beam.

Next job was to fit the bit of flooring below the manual bilge pumps, this bit of ply will be epoxied to the hull and sicaflex used to make a seal round the hoses where they go through the ply. This way, should the skin fittings fail any incoming water will be dispersed over the deck and out the scuppers rather than into the bilges.



Once both were epoxied to the hull it was time to start on the ply to cover up the pumps and transom, it now looks like


I've left a big enough access panel to get at the pump & hoses should I ever need to, this will be epoxied then fitted on using screws and a seal of sicaflex so it can be removed again if it's needed.

20/04/2008

Well another productive day, Linda finished cutting the ply for the transom




I finished off the uplifts for the hand bilge pumps, putting a stainless tube end on the hose and fitting it right down almost against the hull so it should be able to remove just about every drop of water from the keel when it's used. I also fitted the supports for the exhaust hose, using Ally flat bar rather than the temp wire mounts.

The steering cable is now fixed up against the underside of the beams and is well out the way of everything

We also finished the last bit of laminating on the marine ply for the keel bands then after a quick sand of the hull we secured the wood to the hull using balcotan. I opted for this method so that it could be done quickly and because it is only to hold the ply in place so that it can be laminated in with epoxy. The other reason for using it is because it foams up filling the joint completly so taking care of any low spots.


I'll give them both a day or so to make sure the glue has well set then I'll sand them down and fill any holes with bridging compound to get a nice smooth base for the epoxy.

22/04/2008

well the latest batch of goodies arrived today, my remote greasers I wanted to get the stern ones fitted before I put the last bit of deck down. My prop shafts should be ready tomorrow as they were on the last stages of machining today. I've restocked on Fiberglas tape and bought 4 rolls of surface tissue for use in the epoxy barrier on the hull. The plan being putting two layers of that over the whole hull below the water line just to make sure there is no chance of osmosis. fingers crossed I'll make a start on that tomorrow evening

23/04/2008

well the plan for tonight has now changed.. my Port 2.1:1 gearbox has just returned after being refurbed and the good bit is the company that did the refurb are sure they can repair the Starboard 1.91: counter rotational box even though it is obsolete. So it's off over to my dad's to collect that box and get it sent away tomorrow

27/04/2008

still making progress although it's slowing down a bit now, a lot of time has been spent on prepping the hull ready for the epoxying all the wee dings and dents have been repaired. I hope to be tackling that job very soon probably next weekend, though we need to try and clear out a bit more space around the hulls to give us a better workplace.

The big job for this weekend was the second stage of the deck which was fiberglassing in sheets of 1" closed cell foam so that the deck was raised up and allowing me to create 1" x 1" gutters across the deck and around the hatches.

So the deck has went from looking looking like this :


to looking like this:


I now need to tidy up a few wee blemishes then give it a another coat with finishing mat then make up the frames for the water tight hatches and fit them.

The big problem today and I never thought I would ever say it was the temperature we had 34 degrees in the shed which made for a very short pot life for the resin mixes.

04/05/2008

I didn't spend as much time at the boat this week and out of what time I did I spent a bit of time sorting out how I was going to seal the water tight hatches and then building the framework in place. Another job that was done was the transportation of the new engine and the removal of non required parts from it, it just needs cleaned down and a coat of paint now

Yesterday we did the small repairs on the deck then put down the last two layers of glass on the deck so the main part of it is completely finished glassing wise and is only waiting for the anti slip coating going on it. I've still got the hatches to finish off before the deck is completely finished.
Today we spent the morning down at the boat jumble and managed to get some of the bit's that were on the shopping list, including extras like an Anchor Ball and a new horn

When we got back it was time to get messy again, I put prepped starboard keel and ply ready for a coating of tape & epoxy. I put a layer of 6" tape round the ply and up onto the keel, then a layer of 3" tape over that along the side of the keel.. so that should be quite secure Next up is a quick sand down then a few coats of epoxy paint, then partially fit the nylon keel bands. Then I can move the supports to the finished part and finish up the last two parts of the keel that I can access just now. Then it's a case of repeating the procedure on the port keel and that's another job completed

I've also decided to slow down a bit on the work as it's been a long haul and I'm starting to feel the effects of it so I'm putting the estimated date of finish back to mid to late June rather than May.

05/05/2008

Well I went down for a few hours and by 6pm the temp had dropped to 36 degrees

So plan A went out the window and plan B came in, this was to jack the boat up and move the supporting wooden blocks right to the stern so that the whole keel was cleared for working on and fitting the keel bands. I had to do this now before any more weight goes on the boat as I didn't want to put too much weight on the hull it's self. Once the blocks were moved I was able to get the last bit of wood sanded on the starboard side and any bit's that needed it filled with bridging compound. I also sanded down and filled the complete port keel so that's now ready for the epoxy sheath. Working with the bridging compound was rather difficult as I only had a pot life of 3 min tops so it was a case of mixing little and often.

So the Starboard keel now looks like this



And before anyone asks, no the plastic cup is not holding up the boat

So now it's a quick sand down then a few more coats of epoxy before I fit the keel bands and sit the boat back down on the keels. When she goes back down on her keels I'm going to remove 1 layer of the blocks so the boat is sitting roughly 10" lower that way I have a bit more space up top when i go to build the new cab.

07/05/2008

Went down this morning before I came into work, the temp was sitting at 18 degrees, 25% humidity and it was still only 8am

As we are planning of epoxing the Port keel tonight I've had to leave the door open to try and keep the temperature down a bit or we won't be able to do anything tonight as it will be too warm.

I had went down last night and finished the last 2 feet of coating on the Starboard keel and put a couple of feet of sheathing on the stern end of the port keel. This way we have a straight run at it tonight with no fiddly corners to work round. Then I'll be back down on Friday night to prep it and fingers crossed get the first coat of epoxy undercoat on the hulls. That will mean on Saturday I can spend the day just putting on coat after coat of white epoxy paint till I finish the tin.

07/05/2008

Well everything went according to plan, Linda met me at the work with a change of clothing for me and we headed over to the boat. The temp had dropped to a nice 31 degrees up top but was a bit cooler under the hull which made things a bit easier.

We were just getting everything setup ready to start the epoxying, when a car pulled up outside the shed it was Keith the yard manager. he had stopped to let me know my other gearbox arrived back today.. all repaired and to have a look at what has been done on the boat so far. Now the last time he seen her was just before we put the shed up so he had his eyes opened to say the least and his first comment really made my day.. "why are you not doing this for a living". To say I was chuffed would be an understatement
So after he left it was back to work and we made short work of the keel, so that's it all done and bar a quick sanding it's ready for a few coats of epoxy paint then the keel bands fitted and screwed into place.

09/05/2008

spent a couple of hours down at the boat after work tonight, first job was to drill and countersink two holes every 8" along the keel bands and prep them ready for fitting. After prepping I decided to go ahead and fit the starboard band using sikaflex and No 10 x 1" A4 SS CSK screws leaving only the last 3' at the bow end of the keel unfitted. I'll do the port keel tomorrow morning them move the supporting blocks back to under the keel I'll finish of that bit on both keels then it's just a case of painting the hull with epoxy paint and the job's a good un

10/05/2008

Well today I managed to get both keel bands finished off, the boat moved so that she is now only sitting on the keels and I managed to get the Starboard hull almost it's first complete coat of white epoxy. Tomorrow will be clearing some more of the no longer required stuff out of the shed and then coat after coat of epoxy paint on the hull.

I also managed to acquire myself a new wee toy for the boat, A Lowrance Windlass with 8mm chain Gypsy that has never been fitted to a boat let alone used



the foot switch is there, the control panel is there and the relay box is there, the only things missing is the key from the drive shaft.. not a problem though as I'll get that OK and a user manual. The only down point is that it's a 24v unit and the boat is all 12v so a slight modification will be required

11/05/2008

well today we put two coats (1 gallon) of white epoxy paint on the hull below the water line


the hull is pretty much sealed now but I'd prefer to get another gallon and give it another two coats just to make sure. I had been thinking on going with copper coat, but I'm going to stick with the tried and tested 2 coats of undercoat and two coats of normal anti foul.

Another job, which was no fun at all was to replace the bow pillar cleats. I had to grind the head off the bolts to remove them and both cleats broke while removing them.


Now to replace them it meant squeezing in through the hatch in the front bulkhead


And then bolting up through a nylon pad and into the new bollard cleats


and this is the finished job

14/05/2008

Well I went down to the boat after work for a couple of hours today with a plan of giving the hull a light sand before it gets it's last two coats of white epoxy paint. On closer inspection of the hull I noticed the white paint had highlighted a few more wee dings and gouges in the hull. Another thing I found was what looked like pin holes in the paint, being a bit concerned about these I decided to try drilling one out to see what the problem was, it turned out to be bits where the epoxy had been pulled into small bits of damage on the gel coat. So I opted to be on the safe side and drill everyone of them out, about 12 per hull and fill the countersunk hole with epoxy filler. So now I have to sand down all my wee repairs before I can get the next coats of paint on. Fingers crossed I'll get the sanding done either tomorrow or Friday night then I can get the painting done.

16/05/2008

Well last night seen me back down at the boat sanding down the repairs I made to the hull. With that done I decided to get the roller out and give the hull another coat of white epoxy, so that's now 3 coats over the glass so should be enough to keep any water away from the hull. More so once it's had a coat of undercoat and two coats of anti foul over than.

The plan for tonight is to check over the hull making sure I've not missed anything then now the hull is almost finished go back to finishing off the deck & hatches. Then it's on to cab building and fitting out

17/05/2008

well it had to happen.. I had a really bad day today with very little going right for me.

Started off trying to plan out the new cab but just couldn't get my head into gear and come up with ideas.. so I gave up on that one for the moment. Next I thought I'd sand down a couple of bit's on the top half of the hull that I had repaired, 2 min into the job the sander makes a few not nice noises and stops working.. 1 dead sander

So I thought Ok I'll leave that and get a new sander later on, so I decided to move on to a bit of metal work. I had a couple of ss plates that I used to spread the load of the bolts on the bit of wood in the inside of the stern gear. first job to do to them was to open the 6mm hole out to a 10mm hole. So sets up the pillar drill with a 10mm drill and drills the first hole ok, sets up for the second hole gets about 1/4 of the way through and I loose all power on the drill. It works fine until you put any load on it.. not much use for drilling SS I managed to finish the hole off with the hand drill and just to compound things the tip broke off the drill bit as it went through.
Next up was to give the plates quick de burr with the sander, all goes well till I'm on the last bit of the second plate then there is a loud bang of death from inside the grinder and the disk instantly stops moving.. we are doing well
I decided to do a bit of an operation on it and see what was wrong with it, so unplugged it and set about taking the screws out. 3 out of the 4 came out ok with the last one refusing point blank to move. So I gets the small pistol drill out and starts to drill the screw out, next thing I know there is a strong burning smell then loads of smoke from the motor.. death number 4

I then gave up before I broke anything else and came home dejected

fingers crossed tomorrow is a better day.. it cant be much worse

18/05/2008

Well today went a bit better

we put the last coat of white epoxy on the hull below the water line, so it's nice and shiny and ready to be painted over again with undercoat for the anti foul. At the moment looks like this



once the paint had gone off it let me fit the skin fittings for the engine water intakes and the 2 fittings for the toilet. As I have moved the toilet from it's original location I've had to patch up the old holes and make two new ones slightly further forward of the original ones.



They are all only lightly tightened just now till the sikaflex goes off then I'll nip them up tomorrow.

I also started to epoxy in the last bulkhead that holds the stern gear in position as I have worked out I can still manage to get my shafts in with this in place. I put some filler in the gaps between the hull and the bulkhead and a couple of small bit's of tape epoxied on to it just to hold it in place so that I can remove the tube & bearing again to epoxy the bulkhead up correctly.

19/05/2008

well another productive day, first up was to epoxy in the last two remaining bulkheads, I forgot to take some pictures today so I'll get them tomorrow.
As the temp went up over 30 degrees I decided to spend some time working on the engines underneath the boat in the nice cool bit. I discovered a technical hitch when i went to start building up the new engine.. the water outlet comes out right where the engine support bolts on. So I would need to strip the injection pump off and change the water pumps from an Escort one to a Mondeo one, with that in mind I've opted for a slight change of plan and am now just going to put both the original engines back in for the time being. I'll do the timing belts before I put them back in so that should see them through to next year Ok. Once I have a bit more time I'll make all the required changed to the other engines and keep them as a spare set.

So tomorrow I've got a bit of running about to do to pick up some bit's n pieces then I'll be doing the timing belts on both engines.

20/05/2008

well today I finished off the bulkheads as there was a bit I couldn't get to due to the exhaust hose, so they both looked like this



After a bit of sanding they are now ready for a coat of paint. I also fitted the skin fittings for the water intakes for the engine and the bolts for taking the anodes.

As I got the timing belt kits & water pump for the port engine I decided to fit them. Now everything went well till I tried to remove the timing belt idler.. it just refused to move. Ok time for reinforcements and out came the impact screw driver after quite a few whacks with a mash hammer we were no further forward other than the spline in the bolt was pretty much destroyed OK I was now not taking any nonsense from it and got the 4" angle grinder out and proceeded to dismantle the idler in place.. that sorted the bugger out

The new one is on the left btw



I also had refusals from the bolts that hold the water pump adaptor plate on the front of the crank, rather than fighting with them to get them off I took the easy option and cut a bit of the lip of the pulley away so that I could remove the belts

So everything was put back together and given a quick clean down, I'll get the wire brush on to it before painting the engine. anyway the port engine now looks like this



I'll fit the new alternator tomorrow, the new drive plate and the replacement raw water pump will be here for the weekend, once they are fitted that's the engine ready.

I also fitted the new ball valves for the toilet and fitted it in it's new location, I've still to fit the hoses for it but that will be done over the next few days.

21/05/2008

Well today's first job was to fit the alternator on the Port engine, ok small hiccup.. it's the wrong hand, I couldn't even spin the front plate as the holes were out of position so it had to go back to be swapped over. Next job the timing belt kit on the Starboard engine, it went without event and just as I was finishing the job my dad turned up to take the alternator away. So I decided to kidnap him while he was there and go and get the ply for the deck hatches and the cab.

With that done next job was to start on the scuppers and epoxy the deck to the hull, at the end of play today both sides looked like this

Tomorrow I'll tidy up the outside of the scuppers and finish them off, once they are done the top half of the hull only needs a light sand then it's ready for painting.

22/05/2008

Well I started off working on the scuppers, dressing down the rough glassing then filling any bit's with an epoxy filler mix. So tomorrow I should be able to give them the final bit of dressing.

I then had to nip over to the work to pick up the propellers and take them round to the engineering company for the bores to be done. I was that glad to see them arrive I forgot to take a photo of them.

Then it was on to the deck and engine hatches, the first part of the job was to build the reinforcing framework for under the 12mm ply. In between times while waiting for the glue to go off so I could clamp up the next bit I fitted the remote greasers for the stern gland and the rudder gland. I also fitted the alternator and did a bit more work on the engines.

So tomorrow I hope to get the ply for the hatches cut to size and fitted onto the frames and fingers crossed make a start on the framing for the new cab.

23/05/2008

Ok today I had an easy day of it, started off sanding down the epoxy around the scuppers then continued along the hull giving it all a light sand getting it ready for a new coat or two of Oxford blue epoxy.

I then got sidetracked and ended up working on one of the other boats in the yard. It was only a wee job dressing up the damaged threads on the end of his prop shafts but something different to do.. and it's nice to be nice

I then got a phone call from the work.. can I help with a breakdown.. so it was a case of over to the work and pick up the trailer. The timing was rather good as I arrived at the office just as my parcel from ASAP with the drive plates & water pump arrived

When I got back I did the last bit of work to the scuppers, epoxying on a bit of finishing mat going between the deck and the outer hull. This makes sure the only place for the water to go is out the boat and not down between the deck and hull. All it's left now is a is a light sand down on the scuppers and they are done.

Just as I was packing up I got a call to let me know my through hull speed & temp gauge had arrived. So I'll go and collect that tomorrow morning along with the epoxy paint for the top part of the hull. I needed the speed & temp gauge first as it is going in underneath the starboard fuel tank, which I need to fit before I can get on with the inner and outer cab. BTW as it's a Raymarine gauge it means I have to get my C series toy now

25/05/2008

well today we managed to get a few more jobs done and get the boat a stage closer to launch

Linda started off laminating up the top of the new deck hatches



While she did that I sanded down the top half of the hull then attacked the mast. the mast now looks like this:



I then got started on painting the top half of the hull, it's now over 3/4 done with 2 coats of epoxy paint and looking very good. the white will give me a 1" boot top once i put the undercoat on for the anti fouling



and with the painting done even the scuppers look ok

26/05/2008

Well today Linda started off with the hatch covers, trimming down the glassing and then painting the underside of them. I got stuck into a clear out under the boat so that I could finish the last bit of painting on the hull. Next up was fitting the speed & temp gauge then putting both fuel tanks in place ready to be fitted in.

Next up we started cutting the sides for the new outer cab, this is being built with 6mm ply with a 20 x 25mm reinforcing strip round them. This will all be encased with 2 coats of matting on each side to give added strength. By the time we got both sides measured out and cut, then cut out for the windows we decided it was time to call it a day.

By this time the hatch covers were dry and ready to be put in place, they have still got then neoprene seal to be fitted and the hatch catches to be fitted. Unfortunately we only picked up two hatch catches at the boat jumble so we need to try and source more of them

Anyway this is the new Port engine hatch complete with Linda kidding on she is sleeping and behind her on the left is the port side of the outer cab.



This is the aft port side storage area hatch in place

31/05/2008

well today was probably the worst conditions for working in, we arrived down at the yard at 8.30am and it was already 28 degrees in the shed. So first up was to remove the inner tarp to help cut the heat down, even with that done the temp shot up to an almost unbearable 50 degrees
This caused a major problem as the plan for this weekend was to get the outer cab built and glassed up ready for fitting. So we had to work outside the shed most of the time only going up onto the deck of the boat to dry fit and measure the parts.

We also had to cut away a chunk of the inner cab which will give a lot more space in the outer cab. this is the chunk we removed, anyone that's been on the boat will recognise it and see that the new outer cab has only been moved forward by 18"



The front of the outer cab is cut to shape and profiled to follow the curves of the cab, I've still to measure up the window openings and cut them out something we have already done on the sides.





Once the top half of the outer cab is built and all the strengtheners fitted it will be encapsulated by 4 layers of glass inside and out to seal in the wood and add the required strength to the whole structure. So this cab will fraction of the weight of the old cab but far stronger

The outer cab is exactly 6' high from the deck at the sides going up to 6' 8" at the highest point in the centre. This means that inside the cab the headroom will be 6' 5" at the sides going up to 7' 1" in the centre.. so there is going to be a fair bit more space in the outer cab even though it's actually lower down that the one I removed

to be continued: