The old headlining panels out of the cockpit roof and the Finesse 24 cabin sides sanded down

The old cockpit roof panels have been taken out because they are warped and are covered with the wrong material for the panels. 

Because of the extra weight of the carpet lining which is used to line out the boat hull it should not be used to cover overhead panels. Simply too much weight on thin plywood panels 

The underside of the carpets 

The panel under the toilet compartment sink is the correct material and weights about 1/3 of the weight of the other material

The owner of the Finesse 24 was over at the workshop and he as done a great job of getting the colour back into the cabin sides and will look a lot better with a few coats of varnish on them.

Just got to remove the varnish off the cabin front and the small upstand on the cabin roof and then the whole of the cabin sides will be done and the owner can get on a varnish the cabin sides and build up the coats of varnish before the yacht goes out of the workshop.

The change in instruments on the dashboard will make it easier to use

The old dashboard was a patch work of different instruments that had been added on over the years and now is it going to be a dashboard that is easier to use.

Now the dashboard is more simply laid out it will be easier to read the instrument and be more able to be used by the helmsman.

Getting to grips with the wiring on the Hardy 25 and other jobs

The wiring on the Hardy 25 as over the years been added to and spliced into to the point where it is no longer safe to use and the as wires have been clamped and not soldered and the wrong grade of wire as been used. One point was the engine main positive wire which just came apart as soon as it was touched. The wiring around the boat was not run in conduits or at least P clipped in position to take the stress out of the wiring and any joints in the cables, which when not done the joints breaks and the equipment fails when you least want or need it to happen.

So because is back to basics it is time to put right the problem that have been under panelling waiting to happen.

One job that is going to be done over the next few weeks is the making of a mock-up of the helmsman seat/ cockpit lockers which where originally built to housed the batteries and the starboard side  and on the port side the fridge. One job which as had to be outsourced is a new base for the navigation light mast as this is missing. Although one of the team can weld we do not have the equipment or the skill to do stainless steel welding, so this job as been outsourced to a company that can do the job.

Another job that is going to need doing is the recovering of the cockpit headlinings in the wheelhouse roof that as been covered in cabin carpet linings and not roof panelling linings. The cockpit will now be overhauled and made to look a lot better and nearer to what it would have been when she was first build. Ther main thing being the electrical wiring and systems will be up to date and the battery systems will be able to cope with whatever is asked of them and will be safe for years to come.  

So the jigsaw puzzle begins, putting the parts back together again.

A pile of cockpit panels which either have to go back in or get replaced with new paneling 

One of the easier panels to re-fix as it is part of the original boat construction which was adapted  at some time in the past to have the boat have a larger than standard tank.

The wooden panel although it was original as seen better days and will be replaced and the cover for the tank will be modified to be in one piece as it was when it left Hardy Marine in 1983 when this boat was built. 

The new panel will be made to have a bottom in it over the tank, however, on the upper part it wll be a locker for storage.

The next job in the cockpit will be the battery locker and the battery management systems to get it up to date and user friendly. To convert this area into a battery locker that can be used.

Refitting fuel tank and cutting the shower tray down to its correct height to fit in the toilet compartment

 Refitting the fuel tank as the first stage of starting the rebuilding process 

Re connecting the feed and return fuel pipes and the deck filler pipe.  

That's one space refilled with its part, now it is time to rebuild the locker round the fuel tank and then re-site the diesel space heater in a locker better designed for heater away from the area it was sited before.

The shower tray now cut down to its correct height to fit into the space for it in the toilet compartment.

The space where this shower tray is going to fit