The Mai Star Class dinghy is now almost finished apart from small items

The centreboard is now fitted and just  a few more coats of varnish and a pair of quarter knees and a rudder to make.

Now complete with a pair of traditional oars  

The centreboard just needs to befitted with the fiction pad on the front face of the centreboard to keep it in its position when rowing or sailing 

Looking more like the Mai class dinghy  that was planned for as the tender for Mai Star II

Because it is going to be working dinghy basic fitting to be fitted to this boat, However, any of Mai Star Class will be able to be fitted with bronze fittings  

Fitting the Rowlocks to the Mai Star Class dinghy, getting one step closer to its maiden voyage

Marking out and masking up the new varnished gunwales and sheer strake

Cutting the first part of the socket for the rowlock plate to sit in

The first of the two plates fitted

The first rowlock now fitted, just the second rowlock to fit and then just the bow ring to fit on the top of the stem 

Short half deck beams and the amount of wasting on some of the nails on Mai Star II

The side deck half deck beams now out of the boat and labelled up. Keeping these as patterns for the new deck beams 

Looking a bit worse for weather, however, they have been in place for over 70 years, so they done their job.

They were half dovetailed into the carlin and the top of the beam shelf. 

All the dovetails were different, however, when they go back in they will be either the same as each other or as close to it as possible 

One of the frame nails that came out of the boat, this is the worse nail, However, seeing as this is going to be a major restoration of the boat, there is going to be a drawing of  a number of other frame nails to see if it is the same all over the hull.

Plans for the weeks ahead

This coming week it is going to be a spilt between the Cornish Crabber restoration and Mai Star II's restoration. The Cornish Crabber restoration is starting to put items back together, such as the deck beams and the centreboard case. The main part to get refitted to move the crabber project ahead is the re-instating of the centreboard case as all the other interior fixtures and fittings are based off its position in the boat. So until it is fitted back in the boat the project can not go ahead. So the main job on the boat this coming week will be the re-glassing in of the case after grinding back hull in the bottom of boat where the centreboard was cut out by a previous owner who was going to change the boat into a shallow draft fixed keel yacht. That project as been scrapped by the present owner who wishes to return it back to how it was originally build.

On the Mai Star II restoration project, The start as been made on removing the damaged and broken frames and ribs on the port side forward of the mast position which at sometime in the past as been damaged. The next job in the boat is to take the old interior out and then remove the cabin superstructure off the boat and rebuild the cabin sides and front before refitting after all the deck structure is rebuild and the cabin structure can be refitted on to new deck structure. With the cabin and deck structure out of the way, it easier to sort out the frames and ribs that need replacing without anything the way. This restoration is going to be a keel to cabin top and from stem to stern restoration and replace everything that is in any way sub standard. So that's the plan for the near future.

Making a start on the major restoration of Mai Star II

This photo is of the fore peak of the yacht, On the port side it was inspected and find that all but one  of the ribs and and two of the frame needs renewing. The ribs were either doubled or tripled up because of damage she had earlier in her life. The frames are either broken of rotten at the top .

Down both side decks the half beams between the beam shelf and the carlins have been removed and marked up from the position they came out starting from the stem back as far as the aft cabin bulkhead. The the carlins and the infills around the cockpit have been removed and marked up in the same manner. 

One of the frame tops that as seen better days and will be removed and replaced with a new piece of oak as it was originally build with back in 1939.

The start as been started on the port side as it is the easier side to start on and is the side with the most damage as much of the starboard side appears to have faired better over the years. However, as my former apprentice and myself start to get to grips with this project we are sure to find more problems to solve along the way. We think it is going to take at lease 18 months to complete the project and get her back into sailing condition once more. However, as the project progresses the will be updates as we going along over the coming months.