The next restoration dinghy in the workshop to get a fresh lease of life

This 10ft dinghy was picked up by a client to have me restore it to a tender for their larger boat.

It is very much a blank canvas with no fixture of fittings so it can be made to be exactly what te owner wishes to have in this dinghy/tender.

There is a fair bit of sanding and grinding to be done before I can start the restoration process.

It is a challenge however, it is a  dinghy worth doing to get a boat back on the water without spending a lot of money on a new dinghy when a old dinghy can and should be restored.  

 

The picnic boat now filled and faired up ready for Hi Build primer and a change from the yellow rowing skiff

The topsides now have been filled and faired, so it is now ready for the first coat of High Build epoxy primer.

The hull now is in a position where it can be worked on at a reasonable height and the work on the inside can continue as well.

Just got to get the owner to supply the paint and I can continue to get the topsides to a position to get it ready to give it its final coat.

The owner as decided to have a small rudder under the boat and do away with the transom hung rudder it had before. Just got to get the owner to supply the rudder gear to install the new rudder.

So for the moment work has stopped on this boat while the owner get the paint and rudder gear down to the workshop so the work can continue. 

 

Starting the filling of the holes with epoxy filler after lifting the boat up to a more reasonable height to work on the inside and outside of the boat

Now that the boat is up at a reasonable height it can be worked on both the inside and outside and much of the work that could not be done before can be done now.

Starting to fill the knocks and holes where old fitting have been remove are being done now and sanding the hull and painting the hull will be easier now it is at a good working height.

Because it is at a good height and it now gives me more working room around the boat to do other work on other jobs at the same time as doing this boat.

This is the only place there is not a lot of room around the hull, however, you can not everything when you are restricted by length of the boat within the workshop.

 

Now to ghost coating the topsides to get it ready to start painting the topsides after repairing and filling holes in the topsides

In order to flatten the old paint, it is a good idea to ghost coat the topsides with aerosol paint that is darker than the hull so that you can see where the high spots are and when you have flattened back you can see any areas you need to fair up later  

It is a long and mind deadening job, however, the end result is worth doing.

The first sanding gives you a point to start from and then you can go down the grades of sandpaper discs to you are left with a flat smooth finish to build up the layers of paint

Seconf ghost coat and start the whole job off again

 

Final pieces of the keel glued and fixed in place and now time for the epoxy to cure over night and start the fairing of the keel down to its final shape

The final piece of the keel jigsaw puzzle place on top of the rest of the keel,just have to mark off the leading angle and then drill out the holes for the fixings to go through.

The final piece now glued and fixed down in place.

Now comes the fun part of the job sanding and fairing up the sides of the keel and profiling the bottom face . The front section is going to be remade after a pattern is made of the stem piece so that a new laminated stem can be made and steamed in place.

The keel is this deep because the boat engine needs a 12 inch keel ahead of the propeller to protect the propeller from damage

So tomorrow start the fairing up of the keel before it gets coated with epoxy clear coat and the Gelshield 200 epoxy treatment like the rest of the hull. 

It is being discussed whether or not to start to prepare the hull before it is turned back on to its  bottom, It will be easier to get it to pre gloss paint stage and the spray the hull once it is back up the right way up.