My 1968 Olsen Nimbus restoration project.

[mickrick]

Hello Mik! Welcome to PH, and thank you for looking. What a surprise!

I would love to see some pictures of "Skiff", please post some up if you get chance.

Thanks for your offer of help. I have since spoken to Peter (Bjorn) Olsen, and he found two used fairleads. He kindly offered to send them to me but they where from a Nimbus 33, so too big unfortunately.

The material to make new fairleads should arrive this week, so fabrication should start soon.

In the meantime, a new toe rail has been glued up, but not shaped as we need to match the shape to the new fairleads. The forward fairleads will be made first, so we can start to bend the toe rail from the bow.
Also a new tiller in teak and holly (or it could be maple, I haven´t seen it yet, I gave Heiko artistic freedom )
New teak inserts for the cleats have been made,
20m of rubbing strake has arrived from Vetus and it´s perfect!
I also have new T track for the genoa, jib, and spinnaker cars.

I just realised the old track was imperial size, so the holes don´t line up with the new metric track! Oh well..

Thanks again for posting, congratulations and welcome to Olsen ownership

Oh, and if you ever need some fairleads (except the port aft of course) you now know where there are some spares

Regards,
Mick.

[mickrick]

Received the glued up toe rails today, they will be shaped when the fairleads that they fit into are done. They are in 4m lengths at the moment, for ease of transport, and will be joined later.

The wooden inserts for the cleats.

The tiller has gone back for a third attempt. It´s proving difficult to get right, as it needs to be the correct height for standing/sitting, the correct length for holding between my legs, have the right curve, and miss the cockpit coaming when hard over. We´ll get there...
Struggling for time to work on her right now, as we´re attempting to move house next month, so a few jobs to finish on my villa project.....

[mickrick]

No chance of that Steve, it´s a melted blob, in the back of a burnt out wreck, in a scrapyard somewhere in Spain.

Cheers KT Fortunately the fires where the other side of the mountain from the in-laws in Carnota. Still a shame as they´d re-planted that side, and it was just starting to come back, but it happens every time, and unfortunately it´s usually deliberate

Have you driven the road up the mountain from Muros towards Pino de Val? it´s

Cheers,
Mick

Edited by mickrick on Tuesday 1st October 08:15

[mickrick]

Dropped the cockpit sole in, although I still have to close up the maintenance hatch below it. I also dug out the lazarette covers from my shed.
The tiller is done. The fixings into the tiller yoke are machine screws, screwed into some threaded inserts, so I can remove the tiller for varnishing without woodscrew threads eventually pulling out.





That´s all for now.
Mick

[mickrick]

Thanks Chums I can´t take credit for the work though. I just tell the Guys what I want
My Kayak isn´t an inflatable one. It´s a folding one. A Feathercraft, which I´ve had since 1996 and is still as good as the day I bought it, even after paddling it all over. It was a good investment. http://feathercraft.com/

[mickrick]

A quick update. Fabrication is going ahead with new stainless fairleads. They´re very labour intensive, but should be pretty close to the original design.





Thanks for looking.
Mick

[mickrick]

They´re nearly done now. Just a bit of fettling to do.


Very close to the original shape too! I´m a happy bunny with these


My metalworking Guru will be starting on the aft ones on Wednesday. In the meantime, the shipwright Guru can start fitting the toe rails.
Fortunately I managed to bag another job to pay for it all! Phew!

[mickrick]

Thank you Gents.
New Job is Hydraulics. I´ve decided to go shore based, as no one seems to want a 52 year old bloke on board, and the owners don´t seem to know what they want, except to pick your brains for free. As soon as you mention getting paid to do their research, you don´t hear from them again.
The ironic thing is, I have 2 months work on a boat that recently turned me down for an engineering job, on account of "the Captain wants a younger age structure on board".
Looking forward to the learning curve. Earn as you learn! It´s been a lot of years since I worked with hydraulics for caterpillar Tractor Co. But I´m sure a lot of stuff will come back from the dusty recesses of my grey matter.
It´ll be nice to get weekends and public holidays off, and not get daft phone calls at 10 O'clock at night. Or have to put up with the Boss´s little darling kids. (early 20´s kids)
07:00 to 16:00 go home forget it. Oh, and August shut down, so I can go sailing

[mickrick]

Well, I officially started my new job on Friday.






But it was a festivity, so I had the day off Sometimes, just sometimes, you gotta love Spain.

[mickrick]

Hello bonkers mad boat fans
Been away for a while, busy with new job, new (old but another 7 year project) house move, but some progress has been had.
Fairleads now finished! So I´m back to where I was before one of the originals was lost in a fire.
Now I need to find time to fit them. I like them very much, pretty close to the original aloominum ones I recon
Oh, and a happy new year to you all!

Mick

[mickrick]

Give me a break, I´m still reeling from the bill for these!
Believe me, I can live with the cleats and tiller cover.....

[mickrick]

Cheers Fellas! Thanks for looking in.

Picked up the mainsheet car and track today.

I have a growing pile of parts to fit, just need to find some time..

[mickrick]

You'd be right in thinking the project has stalled again!
New job and house move has kept me busy!
I have started to get some fittings back on. The new fairleads, lower shrouds' and backstay plates, and pushpit & pulpit fitted. All dry fitted for now, to be masked and bedded down once I´m happy it all sits well.
Early start tomorrow before it gets too hot, to make a start on fitting the rubbing strake.
Shipwright to start fitting the teak toe rail when he's back from his hol's.
Very happy with how it's starting to look.

[mickrick]

Thanks Pal I have to say, my new job is the most physically demanding job I've ever had!
Been very busy over the re-fit period on some quite big jobs, and I now know, that if it's hydraulic, it's heavy! And not always in the best place for lifting.
If I manage to stay awake on the drive home, it doesn't take me long to drop off when I sit down at home!
But the work has dropped off now, so I've taken a nice 2 week break, and I'm getting a bit done

[mickrick]

Just looking back through the thread, and I see I was supposed to get the toe rail on last September! Crikey!
I wouldn't make a good project manager would I!
To be fair, I did also have some health issues towards the end of last year, then I had to fit a heart Op in a few months ago. Only lost two days off work, but did feel a bit rough the second day back at work. I think I should have taken a whole week off

[mickrick]

Simpo Two said:

The fairleads are sculptures in their own right; they'd look fine on a bookshelf!

They would! But I think they belong where they are

[mickrick]

Amen to that! Got down the yard early this morning, and set to with the rubbing strake.
The Vetus one I chose is very nice, I like it a lot. The heat in the tent made it very pliable and easy to work with, but I need to take it off again, as I made the fixings at 300 centres. and they really need to be half that to stop it sagging/sitting away between the screws, you may be able to see it in the pictures below, but apart from that I think it's going to look O.K. I have a navy blue insert to pop in that will cover the screws. The colour almost matches the dark blue around the gold leaf on the transom.
I'll seal it all up with Sika when my Pal comes over to stay for a week in September, he's promised me an extra pair of hands.
The 20 meter length went around the boat in one go with a couple of meters spare.



Here's a tip for anyone who hasn't done this type of work before. When going into GRP with self tappers, run a turn in the hole with the countersink bit, it'll stop the threads of the screw cracking out the gelcoat/paint/filler around the hole

[mickrick]

Thanks for the kind thought
My thoughts are starting to turn to her bum. It's a way off yet, but once her bottom has been blasted and epoxied, I was thinking of blue antifouling or should I go with the classic red? No boot stripe by the way...

[mickrick]

Black anti-fouling reminds me of my last job.. I'm just getting over the mental frustration of it all. Blue or red I'm afraid.
Anyway, my bottom is never dirty

[mickrick]

I always had a theory that dark colours attracted less growth, you never see much in an underwater cave..
But after my last Boss had me and my deckie sanding 0ver 200sqm of the black stuff in mid July, I never want to see it again! (up until the last two years of running his boat, I always had the boat ready for the season by Easter, and I still don't understand why he decided he knew better..).

But I recon growth varies from marina to marina. What works in one, doesn't in another.

Blue is my favourite colour, but I see a lot of classics have red antifouling, and as much as I don't like to see red on a boat, I think it does look classy on the bottom.
Seems to look nice on the link for the colour app too, so I'm not going to rule it out, I just wondered if I was mad

Thanks for your opinion's chaps