Last week was a week of up and downs as many week's during this Covid situation

 Last week was a week of up and downs as many week's during this Covid situation has brought up. Some jobs were put to one side and other were got underway in a big way. One job that as been put to one side is the speed boat refit which is waiting for some new parts for the trailer to arrive and be fitted to the trailer so that the boat when it is turned over any go straight on the new rollers and carpeted rails and then the work on the deck and engine refit can get underway. The Cornish Crabber workshop is waiting for a heater to be purchased so that the temperature in the workshop can be higher enough get the fibreglassing to go off during the day and keep a small amount of heat in the workshop overnight.

The motor launch is now back on its trailer and ready to go in the workshop to have its outer keel removed and start work on fitting the new stern tube. Once the stern tube is fitted then the floor and engine bearers can be fitted and the whole of the bottom of the boat will be a lot stronger and able to take the loading from the engine.

The refit of Mai Star II is on hold again while the work in the workshop take over priority as they time and temperature sensitive so that they have to come first. If I have time in the evenings I may get a couple of hours work in on the removal of the last of the starboard top plank and the the chain plate fittings. Also I have to get on a sort out the new ribs to be made and also the parts of the frames that need to be renewed and the parts where the frame nails have given out and the planks have come away from the frames and made steps on the inside of hull as well as the outside.

The major job this week is on the decks of the Morgan Giles 30 which need grinding out the old filler before painting the decks with epoxy primer as the decks get ready to be water and weather tight.

The deck masking up and getting ready to paint its first coat of epoxy primer

The masking up and cleaning the edges of the toe rails the most needed part of the job so that the epoxy goes on the deck and no where else 

The decks are reasonably clear of filler, just a few areas where it is damaged from removing the old deck covering

 

Busy week ahead at the boatyard

 Busy week ahead with a number of projects all needing to have work done on them. The major work on the Morgan Giles 30 is to get the deck prepared to have the holes filled which happened when the old deck covering was removed and in places damaged the deck surface. Other places where whole areas had to be build up to the original level of the supporting deck, such an area was the foredeck where a whole section was lower than the supporting deck. It appears that there was to be a foredeck chain locker hatch in the foredeck which ever got cut out and a foredeck chain locker hatch lid fitted. It was filled in for years with a piece of marine plywood which over the years had been damaged and in place had gone rotten. So the present owner asked if this area could be filled in and leveled up to the rest of the surrounding deck, so that the deck would look as if there had never been a hatch in that position in the first place.

So there is going to be a lot of filling and fairing on the deck so that the deck looks flush and fair and then it will be painted with an non slip deck covering towards the end of the refit.

The other job on the superstructure is going to be preparing the cabin sides and the cabin roof.

The speed boat as now been painted with its first coat of blue gloss and now will be put back on its trailer, now that the trailer as been repaired and repainted. The trailer just needs it new rubber rollers and wooden rails refitted now that they have been carpeted and once those jobs are done the boat will be put back on the trailer and moved outside and turn back on to its keel down position and lowered back on to the trailer to have the work done on the deck of the speed boat and the engine refitted.


The Cornish Crabber centreboard case forward end will have the mast support post glassed in and the epoxy fillets are made up and fitted to the edges where the matting as to go round the edge of the support post on to the centreboard case.

So all in all a busy week ahead should be good fun or at lease that is the plan.

This weeks work on Mai Star II

 This week I got round to finish cleaning off the last of the top plank on the port side and at least there is not rot on the second plank on the hull. The major job on the port side is now to replace the broken and rotten ribs down the port side and to sort out the frames on the hull above the turn of the bilge which are either rotten or broken or both. From what appears to the case the port side appears to have come in for a lot more of damage and rot over the years. The port side of the deck beams to the side of the boat appear to have the worse rot and are the ones that have been broken and sistered up more than the starboard side over the years,

Also the planks on the turn of the bilge have moved out of position on the turn of the bilge giving the planks a step on the inside and outside. The lower edge of the planks which should be flush against the frames are in some cases up to a 8 mm to 10 mm gap . So it is going to be a matter of removing the nails through the frames in these areas and cleaning out the back of the frames and then pushing the planks back into position and refixing the planks with fresh nails and an extra fixing to ensure the plank stays in position.

Before I can do this the seams on the hull will have to be cleaned out to let the planks move freely and go back where they are going to sit correctly against the frames.

Another job I am not looking forward to is removing the cabin as this is going to be a handful and is reasonably heavy to move about. So that will have to wait until I can get the use of a forklift to lift it clear of the boat and put in the area ahead of the boat so it can be worked on off the boat and out of the way while the work on the continues.

Making a start on sanding down the decks and cockpit to get it ready for sealing the surface with epoxy so that it can be painted

After a lot of grinding and sanding back the layer of filler as been removed to show an intact cockpit deck and can not find any reason for the fillerto be there in the first place.

The cockpit area now a lot cleaner however, a long way to go until it is all cleaned up and ready 

 

Restarting the refit on the Morgan Giles 30 sorting out the cockpit and sanding down the decks before screeding the decks with filler

Cleaning up the cockpit coaming and sorting out the old filler put on the deck earlier in the year

A major investigation needed here to get to the bottom of this old filler and why it was done 

The starting point to sand the decks down and highlight the damage to the decks that need filling and then sanding back 

The before and after photos of getting rid of the old sealant off the cockpit base

 

The speed boat as changed colour to its final colour apartfrom the red chine line and the repaired trailer

Over the weekend the hull topsides were sprayed their final colour apart from the red chine line which will be painted in as one of the last jobs to do on the hull.

The final coat will be put on once the hulll is back on the trailer and the other work is done of the top of the boat.Sorting out the deck the edging of the deck to hull joint and refitting the engine and the outdrive leg.

The traileris now repaired with new steel members in the trailer and now fitting the wooden rails for the hull to be supported on when being launched and recovered after doing its sea trials 

 

The major parts of the structure that need tackling first, the ribs and the keel bearers.

The first of the ribs to be removed from the port side of the hull, The major problem we have here is that the plank nails have stretched and the planks have moved and the planks have now got steps on the inside which needs to be tackled first before the new ribs can befitted back in position.   The main problem is that it as happened on the frames along the port side, and so the frame nails will need to be removed and any rubbish collected behind the frames will need to be removed.So the planks seams will need to be cleaned out as well so that the plank can return to their correct position

The keel bearers are going to have be replaced. The best way to make new keel bearers will be to laminated new keel bearers out of oak which the old bears are made from and have lasted 80+ years. 

Just got to get the old keel bearers out and make patterns from them and make up a jig to build new keel bearers 

 

Getting on with removing the interior wood work so that the repairs can take place on the hull.

Now that the bulkheads and bunk fronts and top are out of the boat it is a lot easier to work on the inside and get to all the parts we need to remove.

Just got the two last bulkheads at the back of the cabin to remove and cut the cockpit bulkhead off at the deck beam level and  cabin roof can be removed to make even more room to work in.

The major areas which need replacing are the forward frames which are the frames which take the stress from the rig and are in the worse condition. 

The two deck knees supporting the backward pressure on the Samson post  which appear to be in good condition and hope to reuse these in the restoration 

 

Mai Star II Restoration

The first part of the top plank on the port side is now removed and as exposed a fair amount of work that needs doing in the area 

The inside bunks are nowremoved so we can access to the inside of the hull to do the repairs to the planking and the ribs 

The main part that needs sorting out are the upper parts of the frames where they are either rotten or broken 

The starboard top plank is the worse of the two planks with a rotten top edge for most of its length

 

Finally bit the bullet and started to take the top planks off the hull and dismantle the inside to gain access to the hull to repair and replace the rotten and damaged parts

Cutting off the top plank with a reciprocating saw to get rid of the plank is the best way and then chisel off the parts attached to the ribs and frames  

The aft part of the port plank now removed and it as exposed the rotten and damaged frames and damaged to the beam shelf 

One of the frames which is in need of replacing as it is broken lower down and had a piece let in when it was first fitted in 1939 when it was the wrong shape and fitted a wedge to make up the difference

The top of the frames in a bad way and are both broken lower down. The two that are in the worse condition are the main chain plates and the lower stays on both sides of the hull 

Next job on the forward end of the hull the replacing of the ribs after they are removed and the new ribs are made and steamed into position 

The starboard bunk is now being dismantled 

 

Cleaning off the old paint and flow coat off the inside of the hull

All cleaned off apart the bit in the centreline where the old centreboard slot is which will be cleaned off shortly

A lot of grinding and sanding done, just a small bit left to get done over the next few days. Then I will inspect the hull to see where the weak spots are and repair these.

Now the fun starts with getting the inside of the hull ready to set out the floor bearers and the engine beds after the rest of the grinding and sanding is finished

 

Clearing off the paint off the inside of the hull, so can see if there any repairs to be done before the floor bearers are fibreglassed into position

At first it was coming off at a reasonable rate around the top, however in the lower parts there was a lot more paint and old fibreglass to grind off

The hull is reasonably flat a smooth which is good as it should make fitting the floor and bed bearers a reasonably quick jobs  

It is now getting there in the aft end of the boat 

A long way to go