Switch around Wednesday

Today was switch around Wednesday with a number of boats going out of the workshop and getting ready for thier final jobs before returning to their owners.

The one below is Jasmine which has just its thwarts to go in and then get transported to for owner's sailing club.

This boat has just got to have its engine serviced and run up ready to go back to its owner's mooring  

The yard outside the workshop is now clear of any rubbish and is able to be used to have boats worked on in the yard when not needed to be in the workshop under cover.

The trailer front is now in the workshop so it can be worked on in the dry and have the GRP repairs done on it and the refitted to the rest of the trailer and then the rest of the trailer can be finished off and used as a motor bike trailer.

If was now enough, got an outboard engine in for work on its rope starting cord which has broken and is in need of replacement.

A good Monday's work with the whole team working as one.

The main job on the Motor Launch today was to get the cutlass bearing back in the stern tube and refit the propeller shaft and propeller and then refit the rudder. This was achieved as was marking out the new boottop  line on the boat ready for it to be painted once it is back in the workshop.

One of the less peasant jobs on this motor launch removing the fuel tank and getting the soiled diesel out of the tank and then finding foreign particles in the bottom.   

Jasmine the Halcyon dinghy turned over for the last time to get its bottom antifouled before turning it back over and putting on its trailer ready for its thwarts and few minor jobs on the inside to do before going back to its owner's sailing club.

The Finesse 21 getting its second coat of epoxy before the deck epoxy primer is put on the deck so that the rubbing strakes and deck to cabin side trims can be fitted 

The rubbing strakes being shaped and sanded ready to fit on the boat.

A Full restoration on a Cornish Crabber

This Cornish crabber is in the Yard for a total rebuild and restoration back to sailing condition 

One of the first jobs will be to make a temporary Shed to go over it while the work is done on the outside of the hull and the grinding off of the old bulkhead positions after they are all measured up and photograph to use when rebuilding the bulkheads and deck beams other fixtures and fittings in the boat.

One of the early jobs will be to remove the mast and put it in the workshop and hang it up in the roof space to keep it out of the way and also to dry it out before getting on with sanding the mast down and re-varnishing the mast later down the line.

One of the main jobs over the next few days is to take measurements of all the bulkhead positions  from a datum position and use this to make a plan to re-fix the bulkheads back in after the inside of the hull is cleaned of all the old matting that was leftover from when the old bulkheads were removed. 

All the positions of outside fixings and rubbing strakes and chain plates and portholes to be photographed so they will be refitted in the same position as they were removed.

Even the skeg shoe will need renewing as this is missing and a replacement will have to be sourced from the builders of the boat.

So there is a lot of grinding and photographing to be done over the next few weeks while we get ready to put her in the workshop and get on with her rebuild.

This is one job that is going to be interesting to do, To reinstall the centreboard case back in the boat after a previous owner decided to remove it and toyed with the idea of making the yacht have a fixed keel. However, the new owner wishes to have it put back in and put the boat back the way it was originally build

A fullon week coming up and a plans for the future as we build on last years work.

This coming week will be the first full length week for the Apprentices and myself, There is a lot to do this week and get done by Friday. The Finesse 21 should have its deck all finished and the deck fittings ready to go on and then the boat can go back to its home marina and back out sailing in the spring and when the day get longer and warmer. Also this week will see the finishing off of the Halcyon Dinghy Jasmine and its return to its sailing club, so that its owner can go sailing on the sailing club lake down at Forest Green in Herefordshire in the spring as well. Once these are done and gone back to their home bases. It will be time to make a start on the Hardy 25 and the Cornish Crabber and get their refits underway out in the yard. While in the workshop there will be MG 30 refit and the motor launch refit and the Bike Trailer rebuild to get underway as well. While this is going on there will be the refit to do on Mai-Star II to get worked on between the other jobs in the yard. If this was not enough we will try to fit in a couple of new dinghy builds as well. So there is a lot to get on with over the next few months. This way the apprentices will be gaining a lot of new skills to build on their new skills they have learned over the past three months since they have started their apprenticeships.

Busy end to the first week into the New Year

The ongoing servicing of the motor launch engine as brought a common problem with boat engines that have not been winterized when not used for a long time.

The diesel goes cloudy due to moisture in the fuel tank because it was not filled up to prevent moisture building up in the fuel tank. The next job is to remove the fuel from the fuel tank and remove the tank from the boat and flush it out. Then flush the fuel lines through to remove any dirty fuel from the system.

The decks are now completely covered in sheathing and just needs a light keying up and the second coat of epoxy to seal the deck sheathing before protecting the interprotect primer

The gunwales arew now glued up to to make up the total length of the boat plus a small amount