A busy 2019 and looking forward to a busy 2020

It as been a years of many ups and downs along the way this past year. The year started off well with a number of restoration projects continuing to be done. Mainly the ongoing major refit of the Hardy 25 which as taken a lot longer to complete as a number of next jobs needed to be done to sort the boat out than was first known about. The job did get many of the jobs done while at the yard before it had to go back to its new home down in the wet country near Bristol. There are just a few odd jobs to do before the boat is recommissioned.

The Hardy 25 back on its new mooring in Bristol 

During the year we had two Finesse yachts in the yard for re-decking, both yachts having much the same problems in that both had rotten areas on the decks around deck fittings and rot in the top planks on one of them. Both yachts are now back with their owners who have them ready for the new sailing season next year.

A Finesse 24 having under gone a complete main deck, re-decking  and sheathing 

This Finesse 21 having had the same job done earlier in the year 

Then we have the ongoing restoration project of the Morgan Giles 30 which is a ongoing two year project  which will finish in the spring of 2021 when the owner is going on an extended sailing programme.

The bottom of the hull as now been Gelshielded and now the attention as now moved to the inside rebuilding of the main bulkheads and other major structural work needing to be done for its new sailing programme  

The first of the pair of main bulkheads going back into position and being fibreglassed back into position with a increased amount of reinforcement in the amount of layup holding these bulkheads in place.

The foredeck as been strengthen to take an oversized windlass and to ensure that it can take the next stresses when riding over storms at anchor in the northern attitudes which this yacht is going to be sailing in a new sailing programme when it is recommissioned . 

Finally we have a 1960's wooden speedboat in for a restoration after the aft end of the boat became rotten from poor storage and rain water damage to the hull skin.

Busy Thursday morning with getting jobs done ready for the Christmas break

Now that the Little Mai moulds in the workshop, it as been cleared up and re-waxed with mould release wax. It as just had one coat of release wax today, however, it has to have two more coats of release wax before it gets a coat of  PVA release solution. Once this is done then the team can lay up the first of the coats of gelcoat which going to have two coats and then get the hull laid up with it layers of 600 g CSM to build the hull up to the correct thickness for its use as a yacht or motorboat tender when it is fitted out.

The Morgan Giles 30 is coming along with the second bulkhead on the port side getting glassed in with a 3.6 kg layup to to the hull and deck this heavy lay up. This heavy layup as been the same as with all the structural bulkheads throughout the yacht is requested by the owner.  So once these are glassed in the rest of the rebuilding can get underway with fitting of hatch and filling in more holes such as the fore cabin windows which were a source of a leak and which the owner wish to get rid of and are surplus to the boats future needs, once these jobs are done the rest of the fitting out of the interior can start.

Other jobs which have been done as been the sorting out the workshop and other jobs that were put to one side can be done and got out of the way to make more room in the workshop and organise the yard at the same time.  

Getting the materials together to build our first Little Mai class dinghy for the new year

Having got a space in the workshop we now have opportunity to start producing a run of new GRP dinghies.

The dinghies will all be trimmed with timber from FSC approved timber merchants and in a range of  timber to individual client;s needs and the fittings can be from galvanised or bronze.    

The dinghies will be laid up in either standard lay up or heavy duty lay up depending on clients wishes 

The Resin and Gelcoat are made to the highest standards and environmentally as  safe to the environment as possible.

Back to work on the Morgan Giles 30 and furniture restoration as well

Starting to glass in the port bulkhead, then do along the top and then fit the missing piece after the rest of the bulkhead is glassed in so the the small can be fitted in without the rest of the bulkhead moving around making it getting fitted difficult.

The starboard bulkhead now as the hole cut in it to gain access to the forecabin and the toilet compartment, it is roughly cut out until the boat is nearly finished getting fitted out so that the edges are not damaged through the refit

Another job that the team was given to do was to restore the top of this cabinet for one of its clients 

(Action Plan for the next year )Time of year to take stock of the that as just coming to an end

At this time of year it is a good time to take stock of the business and see how it preformed over the past 12 months.

Look at working methods and see where these can and should be improved to cut down wasted time. 

See if there are any improvements to be made and where any mistakes were made which could and should have been avoided.

 The biggest, single improvement that has to be put in place is the admin of the business which needs a good overhauling.

Also a look at what materials are held in stock and run the stock that is not moving quickly down to lower level and stock that is being used quickly keep an eye on and put systems in to log when stocks are  getting low and have them get flagged up in good time. Make better use of the workshop and yard to bring in cash flow over the whole year.

It is a Plan and now have to put it into operation. This is how to I will be spending my get few months and at the same time working on the projects in around the yard over Christmas.

Speed boat hull sides sanded ready to be painted in Letterbox Red

The bottom is now finished  and masked up to protect the bottom while we paint the hull sides in red primer and then full gloss Letterbox Red

The hull is reasonably flat, however, this will be seen once the high build primer is applied to the hull and sanded back to show if there are any high points which will need filling and fairing before the hull is finally painted with two pack Letterbox Red gloss

Carefully masked up so it is ready to go as soon as I get the paint to get the paint on the hull sides.

The bottom of the speed boat is now finished so it is the hull sides to get filled and faired and painted in Letterbox Red

The bottom now is finished and it is time to leave it to harden off and it is time to fill and fair the hull sides 

The hull sides now have to be filled and faired before they will be painted in two pack Letterbox Red paint so that it looks like it did before it was brought into the workshop to be repaired and restored back to a fully ready speed boat 

Once the hull is finished painted both the bottom and the sides the boat will be turned over to get on with the work on the cockpit and the decks and the engine re-installation. The work on the topsides will be done after Christmas giving the paint the chance to harden off. When it is turned there will be a lot of protection on the slings to protect the paintwork after all the hard work to get it to this point. 

First coat of White Gloss, just three more to go

After what seems a long time, the final stage of painting the bottom all the repairs has got here with the final coats of White Gloss being applied to the bottom section of the hull.  

Once this is done the side panels of the hull will be prepared and filled and faired before the hull is painted in a letterbox red colour. 

Once that is done the hull will turned over so that the deck and cockpit can be repaired and the 2 litre inboard engine can be reinstalled 

The final two coats of undercoat now applied to the speedboat and now ready to get glossed over the next week

The bottom part of the hull is now at the stage where it is ready to be get its first of two coats of Med White gloss which will be put on next week when the undercoat as cured off.

Looking a lot better than a few weeks ago when the boat had holes in the bottom and rotten parts in the aft end of the bottom, Now they are all repaired and after the bottom is glossed then it will b the turn of the side of the hull to be faired up and painted.

Soon be time to turn her over so the rest can be repaired and the boat can go out on its sea trials 

The first coat of four coats of undercoat and then it will be getting a coat of Med White marine gloss

The first coat of white undercoat going on, it is making the boat look a lot better with every coat 

The transom looking good now it as been filled and faired 

Th bottom now looks a lot bigger now that the white undercoat as been applied 

The beautiful lines are now showing up now the colour is now more like its finished white colour, just a lot of painting to go yet. 

Speed boat repairs coming along since it came to the yard with holes in the bottom

The rotten sections were cut out of the bottom

New framework was fitted and glassed in with epoxy resin and inter-roving matt  

This was repeated on both sides before the new hull skins were made and glued and fixed in position

New section of transom were made and glued and fixed into position to strengthen up the whole of the aft section of the hull

Once the framework was glued and fixed into position the skin was cut back to give the new sections of marine plywood some place to get fixed and glued into position

The first of the new sections of hull panelling going into position 

Then the second part being dry fitted before final fixing and gluing into position 

The second layer of plywood going into position and then getting glued into position

Then repeated on the other side

Once in position epoxy resin over the whole section before sanding and filling and fairing 

Then the first coat of underwater primer and then filling and fairing between each coat

Masking off the upper part of the hull which will be filled and faired and spray after the bottom is finished and the boast is turned back over on to its trailer

Now that is all done it is the turn of the undercoat layers before the hull is finished with several coats of Med White Marine Gloss