Having cleaned & compounded the wheelhouse it was time to highlight the necessary repairs and make a start on refitting the new rubbing strake

Having cleaned down the wheelhouse sides and roof and then compounded the sides and roof it highlighted the areas where it needs repairs doing to it before it can be refitted to the boat.

Some of the repairs are where fittings have been moved and have been repaired in the past.

Some of the areas are where gazing as been caused from fitting and other from bolting down too hard in the wrong place

A few repairs are where the edges have got chipped 

Here is a large stargaze caused by a foreign body not being removed before the roof was bolted down on to the wheelhouse sides

A drill hole for no reason

Starting to fit the new rubbing strake to the starboard side. Just got to get my steam box out and put the rubbing strake in the steam box to make it flexible to be clamped round the hull to bend to the correct shape.

 

Compounding the wheelhouse top and sides before doing the gelcoat repairs needed on the wheelhouse before it isd refitted to the superstructure

Having cleaned off any dry dirt off the wheelhouse sides and top it was time to compound the wheelhouse side and give the wheelhouse sides and top a good shine once more.

The sides have become faded over the years and a good compounding was getting rid of any fine marks and exposed area where a bit of reworking was needed to be done to get it back to a first class condition.

A lot of elbow grease and a small compounder was getting results 

the only area which needs to be done by hand is the area above the top of the window and around the window wiper arm.

 

The Wheelhouse off the boat and in the workshop to have the repairs done to the wheelhouse roof and polish the wheelhouse and the rest of the superstructure and then the hull.

With help from my former employee we were able to lift the wheelhouse off the boat and then get in the workshop to work on the wheelhouse at a safe working position. Cleaning off the old sealant off the cabin roof and along the sides where the wheelhouse sides were bolted to the cabin sides and top,

The wheelhouse now at a safe working height so the work can be done safely 

The first job was to remove all the old sealant from the windows holes and so get them clean ready to fit the new windows when they are made.

After the window sealant is removed the whole of the wheelhouse will be cleaned and compounded and polished.

 

Finally able to break the sealant bond between the wheelhouse and the superstructure of the Bosun so the windows can be removed so that new windows can be fitted.

After a lot of work removing all the fixings holding down the wheelhouse to the superstructure it came apart.A large number of hardwood wedge and cutting through the sealant around the bearing faces of the wheelhouse to the superstructure it came apart. 

The main place it was glued together was where the navigation lights were fixed to the wheelhouse, here was the aonly place on the wheelhouse sides that the sealant actually glued the two parts together.

Fitting a length of wood across the superstructure at the forward end made it possible to get to all the fixing, so it was possible to remove the fixings holding the windows in position.

Now comes the job of removing all the old sealant and then making sure the two parts fit together correctly once the windows are refitted in the wheelhouse sides and front.

Now comes the difficult job of removing the windows out of the wheelhouse sides and front so they can be send away to have a new set made to the original pattern using the old windows as patterns

 

Making teak deck spacers for the halyard organisers and sealing in the inspection lids on the custom water tank

The teak base spacers are so that the halyards will run over the deck without stopping any water on the deck collecting on the deck.

The organisers have deck spacers just a small amount larger than themselves so that any deck lines will not caught on the organisers 

Starting to fit the inspection lids down with sealant and then only parts to fit will be the level sender and the outlet in the bottom on the tank and fit the inlet pipe to the top of the tank

 

The five stages of making a new tiller for the Morgan Giles 30

Having machining up the strips of Mahogany & Ash it was time to glue the glue the strips on the gluing jig

Once the glue had time to cure over night it was time to start shaping each end of the tiller blank, the end where the owner is going to steer his yacht.

Then fit the tiller head to the other end where the tiller attaching to the Rudder 

Starting to shape the hand grip to a comfortable hand grip

Finally, having finished the shaping, it was time to start applying the first of several coats of varnish. 

 

Making a new Ash & Mahogany laminated tiller for the Morgan Giles 30

Having laminated the Ash & Mahogany together on the steaming jig,which in turn was used as a gluing jig. Once the tiller blank was put through the thicknesser it was machined down to the finished blank before work was started on the new tiller for thew Morgan Giles 30

The first job to do at the rudder stock end, was to fit the tiller head to the tiller blank in the same way the original tiller head was fitted.

Once the tiller was cut to the new length the owner requested the new tiller to be. So it was a matter of marking out the radius on the four sides.

Start to cut the radius on the tiller grip slowly being the size to the of a good hand size so that it is a usable size and comfortably to hold.

Once the radius is the correct shape and size it will be time to shape the end.

 

Getting to grips with the Wheelhouse & getting the fixings which the Wheelhouse in position

With the aid of my Son we were able to get the rest of the fixings holding down the wheelhouse  to the rest of the superstructure.  We had to remove the engine controls in order to gain access to the wheelhouse fixings behind the panel.

All the fixings now removed and now comes the more difficult job of breaking the sealant joint holding the two halves together. This is going to prove interesting to break the sealant joint which has been in place for the a good many years.

The gantry ahead of the boat will be used to carefully lift the wheelhouse off the superstructure, so that the windows can be removed.

Hardy bosun in the yard,now the wheelhouse can come off and get the windows out and off to have a new set made and fitted

Now we have had a move about in the yard it was time to get the+ Hardy in the yard so the wheelhouse can be removed and the windows can get removed and a new set fitted.

It will also give the team a chance to get the rubbing strakes fitted at the same time.

Just got to move the boat under the gantry and using the chain blocks ans a set of slings lift the wheelhouse clear of the superstructure of the boat and then lower the wheelhouse down on to a moveable working platform to work on the stargazing on the roof. 

 

Making the steaming jig for the new laminated tiller and steaming the Ash and Mahogany on the jig.

The first job was to mark off the board with a permanent marker and then fix the clamping blocks to the board. 

Once the blocks were fixed, just a need to check the blocks are in the correct position to clamp the Ash and Mahogany strips to the jig once the strips have been steamed for half an hour to make they plyable   

Just place the strips into the steam box for the correct time 

Setting up the clamps ready to bend the strips to the correct shape once they come out of the steam box

The strips now clamped into position and just left to cool off over night and using the same jig glue the strips together with epoxy glue and then starts the shaping and fitting to the rudder head fitting

Just double checking the shape is correct and the strips have cooled off then glue together.

 

Making a new extended tiller for the Morgan Giles 30

The Morgan Giles 30 that the owner and J-Star Marine Services are currently refitting as asked the team at J-Star Marine Services to make a new tiller, however, the owner wishes to have a new tiller 4 inches longer than the original and for it to be laminated from ash and mahogany. 

The first job is to set the tiller up of a flat piece of board and mark off the length and shape of the tiller and then get blocks to use a datum blocks to which to clamp the mahogany and ash strips to when laminating up the new tiller.

Setting out the clamping blocks to which to clamp and glue the ash and mahogany strips to so as to repeat the same shape of the original however make it 4 inches longer than the original.

Now the blocks have to be fixed in position and then it will be time to machine up the strips before gluing and clamping them in position

Here is the ash and mahogany selected to do the make up the new tiller.