Going Dutch

Both chine rails were somewhat the worst for wear due to damage caused by travel-hoist slings. The fix - a stainless steel plate screwed over the top to protect the wood - caused rot where the water had penetrated between the steel and the chine rail

Not wanting to change the whole rail, I decided to cut out the rotten wood and place a new piece in, suitably glued and screwed. These pieces are sometimes called "Dutchmen" (because they plug a hole) or "graving pieces".

Picking up the old hole positions was achieved by taping some tracing paper over the old rail after removing the fixings. the classic brass-rubbing technique with soft pencil, located the holes fairly accurately. The tracing paper was then transferred to the new lump of wood and the holes marked through with a bradawl. The end holes were drilled first and the piece temporarily screwed in place to check alignment. At this point one or both of the end holes can be remarked if necessary.

Once satisfied, the remaining 12 holes were then marked and drilled. On fitting the new piece again, 13 out of 14 holes lined up with the originals. the odd one met up with another fixing in the chine log. It was opened out to allow the screw to find it's previous hole.

The rot was then removed using a power planer, mallet and chisel and block plane. It's worth ensuring that all the old screws and nails are located and removed before doing this, otherwise, you'll get nicks in the blades of the planer.

Once satisfied with the fit, the new piece was epoxied and screwed into place with new fixings. Slightly proud so it can be re-profiled to match the shape of the chine rail. the screws are deeply countersunk and filled with suitable filler.

Just got the other side to do now.


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Now playing: Candy Dulfer - Lily Was Here

Epoxy Easter Eggs

The South East of the UK suffered a grey and wet Easter weekend, except for the Monday when it was warm enough to apply three coats of epoxy to the cabin sides in one day which was all touch dry in time for the cover to be pulled back over in the evening.

The fore--cabin roof has also been recently painted in grey primer, and a coat or two of varnish applied to the bright-work.

Next job; flatting back the epoxy ready for blue undercoat - she'll start to look like a boat soon - and of course de-winterizing one of the working boats ready for the rally season.

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Now playing: Clannad - The Other Side

A Touch of Glass

Finally, after weeks of filling and sanding, I've managed to get half of the cabin roof glassed. And a right faff it is too! The compound curvature of the roof means that the cloth has to be pulled all over the place in order to get it to lay flat. In the end, although I cut a single piece of glass for the port side, I finished up cutting it into three bits so I could get it to fit easily around the hatch frame.

The glass is laid onto the roof dry and then resin is poured on top. A squeegee and foam roller are then used to spread the resin over the cloth. This I find gives a better finish than wetting the wood first as any dry areas can be topped up with more resin as the job progresses.

The glass is left long around the cabin edges as this helps to hold it tight against the edges and corners. It'll all gets trimmed up with a knife and sanding block once cured.

Also in the photo you can see the completed main hatch frame and in the distance you might be able to spot the bottom of the windscreen frame, glued in place.

It almost feels like progress.


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Now playing: Enya - Trains And Winter Rains