Major progress on the Shetland Family Four

The cabin and hull sides now  re-lined and looking a lot better .

Now the cockpit is now re-lined the last jobs in the cockpit can be finished off 

The cabin bunk fronts now fixed in position and ready to have the bunk cushions fitted 

The old bunk cushions put in position to check the size and position of the cushions before making new bunk cushions.

Working on the Shetland Family Four cabin lockers and bunk fronts

The berth fronts are now being looked at and found to be in a poor condition, so it is decided to renew the berth fronts with new plywood and carpets,  

The galley locker is now back in position and is ready to have its edge trim renewed 

The sink locker back in position and the bulkhead panel is now back in position 

One of the angle brackets holding the berth fronts in position, in need of cleaning and reusing 

The condition of the berth fronts is poor and in need of replacing 

End of another busy week at the Workshop

It is now the end of another busy week down at the workshop with a number of jobs done on the Family Four cruiser. The cabin is now lined out ready for the cabin lockers and bunk fronts ready to go back in as soon as they are retrimmed and reapairerd as necessary. All the wiring apart from the steaming light are done and have been tested and the new automatic bilge pump and float switch are fitted, only the pipe work to fit and the skin fitting to be fitted in the aft end of the boat to finish hat job off.  There as been a few boat movements around the yard to make room for the other boats coming to the yard for work to be done of the winter and for storage. During this time the team will make a start on Mai Star II and get her refit underway and get her work booked in around the other boats we have in to work on over the coming months. So it is going to be busy time in the run up to Christmas and into the new year.   

The Shetland Family four hull linings now glued in and now its time to put the lockers back in position

The hull now lined and it looks a lot better 

A lot lighter inside cabin and update with lighter linings 

The cabin now good better now the linings are finished

Start of another busy week

Get on with the Shetland Family 4 cruiser with its cabin linings going back in this week

The Enterprise to finish off its refit

The 8 ft dinghy mould to start to laying up a new hull

The new bit of oak for the Yacht Norma new deadwood to come out of this 

The last 8 ft dinghy ready to go its new owner

The Mai-Star Class dinghy just out of the workshop while the Enterprise dinghy is worked on and it will be back in to be finished.

Mai-Star II just waiting to get started on over the next few days

work in progress to sort out the wood storage area

The Yacht Norma new stern tube ready to fit in the new deadwood when it is back in the yacht. 

Roll coaster ride of a week.

This last week as been a rollcoaster ride with delivery trip down from my yard to the Thames on Sunday into Monday. Then back to the workshop to do a number of jobs round the yard including boat movements to get the best use of the space in the workshop and around the yard.

One job on the list is to sort out the brakes on my large flat bed trailer and and maintenace on the other trailers around the yard, so they are already for the winter. As there is going to be a lot of jobs that are going to need one or other of the trailers at some time during the winter.

One of my major jobs is going to make a good sized wood store to put all the plywood and timber in a place where it is out of the workshop, but at the same time under cover.

One of my less fun jobs to do is put my yacht's mast in the roof of workshop out of the weather until it is ready to go back on the yacht in the spring. Also another job is to make a over winter cover over the yacht so I can work on it.

So over next few weeks it going to be mixture of  workshop and yard maintenace and boat repairs so that the yard is going into the end of the year in good shape and ready for the new year.

Busy times down at the workshop and the boatyard

The 8ft dinghy now finished and ready for its new owner to collect and then on to the next 8ft dinghy or getting the Mai-Star Class dinghy back in the workshop to finish off fitting out and getting it out on the water.

The Jaguar 25 refit almost completed apart from a few samll jobs so she can be re-comissioned and taken back to its new home on the River Thames

A sterntube failure from old age, after 70 plus years it as done well

Now time to get back on with the Shetland Family Four and get her finished off  and get her up for sale.

The 8ft restoration dinghy now finished a off to its new owner.

The dinghy with a set of oars and beauifully varnish hardwood gunwales and rubbing strakes and a shiny hull

A good size tender for any owner to have behind their motorboat or yacht

Build with heavy duty hardwood trim to take treatment many tenders get in their working lifes

Heavy duty breasthook and knees 

A good size pad for an outboard to sit on and a full size pad on the inside to spread the load across the whole of the transom

Good size rowlock blocks to ensure they are up to the job

The 8ft dinghy finished and ready for delivery to its new owner

The dinghy is now finished with its last coat of varnish and the oars being leathered where they go through the rowlocks 

A far cry from the dinghy that came into the workshop in a less the float able condition 

We are always on the look out for old dinghies that owners wish to breath new life into and give them many years of service.

Relaunching Midas Touch after its refit

Getting ready to re-launch Midas Touch after its refit

Back in the water just got a few small jobs to do over the next few days to get her ready to be re-commissioned and ready for her voyage to her new home on the river Thames 

Getting the engine re-commissioned and give it a quick service so it is ready for the voyage down the coast.

Inspecting a yacht's stern tube and getting to grips with a dinghy that would not come out of its mould

Having removed the stern tube out of the yacht this is what was found.

A radiual fracture around the whole of the tube 

A possible cause is the rusted away bolts holding down the deadwood 

This dinghy refused to come out of its mould so now its going to be cut up.

The mould is now washed and polished ready to be release mould waxed and a new dinghy is going to be laid up.