J-Star Marine Services Traditional Boat Builders & Marine Engineers

Tuesday, 20 January 2026

The differing types of projects which J-Star Marine Services undertake from small gelcoat repairs to major restoration of different types and sizes of vessel which come into the yard.

https://youtu.be/I52qE2pc29M

SharedThis week we have finally got the Wayfarer dinghy in the workshop now the Stately speedboat as gone to another yard to get the final work done on the veneers on the deck and reskin the transom with a new layer of veneer.n the meantime the wayfarer is now in the workshop and the stripping out of the old seats and floor boards as begun and get room to do the repair of the bow where the launching trolley put a hole in the hull which we are going to repair over the next few days.

Also in the workshop are a number of smaller projects which are in differing stages of work. Jobs such as varnishing the decks on the Enterprise dinghy and then refitting the deck fittings and making new transom flaps for the self bailers. We have to continue with the Windboats Pearly Miss and make up new mahogany trims for the inside of the gunwales. Other work includes removing the bow handle and getting it re-powder coated along with the other deck fittings and remaking a new transom pad for the inside and outside of the transom. The list for her goes on for a while. The two dinghies which are in the workshop have to have a lot of work done on them, The 8ft tender as to have its fore and aft seats glassed in after the transom as a pad for an outboard glassed in and then the aft seat can be glassed in position. at the same time the seat supports will be glassed in position and the centre thwart will be made and fitted.

The blue dinghy as to have the bilge keel runner will be glassed in position and then the hull will get its first coat of hi-build epoxy primer before the hull is filled and faired and then repainted and the inside can start to be refitted out.

So busy times down at the yard and workshop.

A new week at the J-Star Marine Services workshop and a new set of challenges ahead, a major restoration of a Wayfarer Dinghy and a number of other smaller jobs

https://youtu.be/Yb3A-wf-mmA

This week we have finally got the Wayfarer dinghy in the workshop now.

In the meantime the wayfarer is now in the workshop and the stripping out of the old seats and floor boards as begun and get room to do the repair of the bow where the launching trolley put a hole in the hull which we are going to repair over the next few days.

So busy times down at the yard and workshop.

Thursday, 15 January 2026

Boats in the workshop,lots of different jobs underway

https://youtu.be/BgNVzQVtiv0

At the moment we have a number of different boats in the workshop with very varied types of jobs needed to be done on them from cutting and shaping seat/buoyancy tanks in the new 8ft tender, to laminating veneers on a cold moulded speedboat to work on repairs to a wayfarer dingy which needs a hull repair where the owner put the launching trolley through the bottom. We are also restoring a GRP clinker pram dinghy which we are fitting new bilge runner keels to before we tackle filling and fairing the hull before respraying the hull to a similar colour as it was before. We are also going to be fitting new inwales and gunwales ands refitting the thwarts the varnishing all the wood work .

Monday, 12 January 2026

Removing the old bilg keel runner and making two new bilge keel runners for the blur pram dinghy

As part of this blue clinker dinghy's restoration, the bilge keel runners are having to be replaced with new bilge keel runners. one of them was missing and the one that was left was not in the best of condition. so it was decidede to replace this at the same time as doing the work on the rest of the outside of the hull.

Having machined up the blanks of the bilge keel runners they had to be shaped to fit the hull of the dinghy so that they can be epoxied in position and then fibreglassed in position and then the hull can be primed wit epoxy primer and then the hull can be faired with low density epoxy filler and then sanded and painted with a fresh coat of blue marine gloss paint.

Sanding back the hull surface to give a key for the epoxy filler to bond to to set the bilge keel runner on to before they are fibreglassed over.

Preparing the hull by sanding off any old paint on the hull surface.