Work coming along on the Little Mai dinghy/Tender and the pram dinghy/Tender

Dry fitting the quarter knees in the back of the Little Mai dinghy after the transom trim has been fitted with copper nails and roves

Once both these knees are fixed in position the gunwales and inwales and other trim will be varnished.

The breasthook will be fitted and then a bow eyebolt will be fitted.

The Little Mai Dinghy centre thwart seat blocks being glued in position with thickened epoxy before being glassed in position.

The pram dinghy centre thwart pattern being made up and made to fit so it can be used to make the centre thwart to the finished size.

The gunwales and inwales machined up ready to steamed and nailed in position with copper nails and roves as are all our restoration dinghies.

 

Epoxying the inner transom pad and setting up the seat positions and the centre thwart seat blocks

Giving the back face of the inner transom pad a first coat of West System epoxy before setting it up for a coat on the forward face 

Getting the pram dinghy seat blocks and their positions in the boat set up ready to glue the mounting blocks in position with West System epoxy

Once all the blocks are in position then the hull will be stabile enough for the gunwales and inwales to be steamed round and then nailed in position with copper nails and roves  

Just got to do a few repairs on the edges of the seats before they go in, they will be varnished as will the gunwales and inwales. the whole boat will be repainted in either light blue or cream. It is not decide on which as present time.

 

Finish off dry fitting the inner transom pad and dry fitting the transom quarter knees and dry fitting a possible outboard on the transom

Finished dry fitting the inner transom pad so it can be take out and epoxy coated on the transom face before it is set of a bed of sealant on the transom.

The top edge getting planned down to the finished height to fit a standard length shaft outboard.

Fitting the quarter knees so that they fit the new transom pad.

Fitting both starboard and the port knees 

Now the knees can be sent off to be powder coated and fitted when the other work on the transom is finished off.

Fitting a possible engine for the boat, this is a standard shaft outboard and will move this along easily. However, we would like to have something about 30 hp to make it really come alive.

 

Fitting the cockpit inwale mahogany trims and final fitting the seat backs and dry fitting the transom inner pad

Finally fitting the mahogany inner cockpit mahogany trims and final fitting the seat backs into position.

Now that the inner mahogany trims are fitted the seat backs can be strengthen up along the top edge and the fitting shoot bolts can be fitted to the top of the seat back to stop it moving when laying against it when driving the boat. 

Dry fitting the transom inner pad to see where it will need trimming to make it fi against the hull plating

The centre area will need to be cut down to to the correct height for a short shaft outboard, 

 

Busy Tuesday on different boat jobs

Having made the patterns for the seat backs for the Pearly Miss it was time to make the final seat backs out of 12mm plywood, each of the tops of the seats are the camber of the deck in each of the positions they are in with the correct amount of angle laying aft in it of their positions the plywood will be coated with primer and then undercoat and finally white gloss marine paint after they are given a batten along the top and bottom edges to strengthen up the plywood and where the back will be covered with foam and vinyl   

Now that the bilge keels have been covered with fibreglass it i time to move on with doing the inside of the hull and make and fit the gunwales and inwales and fix the seat blocks in position and make a new centre thwart.

The mahogany trims for the Pearly miss getting their final thinned coat of varnish  before they are rubbed down and iven a final coat of full strength varnish before they are screwed to the inside face of the cockpit.

The new battery box for the Pearly Miss getting its first cot of grey bilge paint a few more coats of paint to go on before that is refitted under the aft deck.