Any 'shoestring' sailors?

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D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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Was sailing last Wednesday in a Platu 25, very much like a big dinghy and incredibly weight sensitive - I'll be joining them for races whenever I can, so hopefully learn a bit then.

I did sail dinghies as a teenager, but that was a long time ago now!

Our tender is actually an old GRP Optimist, I keep half an eye for a rig but it's low priority. I do have an old Merlin Rocket rig and sails at my parents house which I might one day chop down to do the job - but an optimist isn't going to sail very well with me in it biggrin


bristolracer

5,569 posts

151 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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You should cross post in the council thread.
Old broken boat on the drive is definitely council behaviour.

Your thread does send me looking at 'cheap' boats, good luck with resto 2

D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
quotequote all
bristolracer said:
You should cross post in the council thread.
Old broken boat on the drive is definitely council behaviour.

Your thread does send me looking at 'cheap' boats, good luck with resto 2
I feel that to qualify as fully council it needs to sit completely untouched for at least 5 years!

In fairness we've tried to placate the neighbours with promises that it will be moved on asap... though now I know it fits I'll probably bring the other one home over winter!!

Arnold Cunningham

3,789 posts

255 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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My boat regularly sits untouch for a year or more at a time on the drive.

I say regularly - I have left it over a year for a few times, followed by a flurry of activity to get it seaworthy again and use it once before leaving it for another year.

Captain Answer

1,358 posts

189 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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bristolracer said:
You should cross post in the council thread.
Old broken boat on the drive is definitely council behaviour.

I feel it needs to be an old speed boat under a ratty & torn tarp missing the engine to be properly council

OutInTheShed

8,054 posts

28 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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Captain Answer said:
bristolracer said:
You should cross post in the council thread.
Old broken boat on the drive is definitely council behaviour.

I feel it needs to be an old speed boat under a ratty & torn tarp missing the engine to be properly council
Truly Council would be missing half the engine?

Around here, some of the best houses in town have one or more old boats on the drive or in the garden, more so in Winter.

Arnold Cunningham

3,789 posts

255 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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Captain Answer said:
I feel it needs to be an old speed boat under a ratty & torn tarp missing the engine to be properly council
Almost my driveway. A replica of a 1967 speedboat - but engine is in - under a frame & tarp.

Jaguar steve

9,232 posts

212 months

Tuesday 28th June 2022
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Captain Answer said:
bristolracer said:
You should cross post in the council thread.
Old broken boat on the drive is definitely council behaviour.

I feel it needs to be an old speed boat under a ratty & torn tarp missing the engine to be properly council
Full house at Council bingo here in the Essex Badlands requires at least one burnt out jetski, a moldy faux leatherette sofa as well as the detritus from the last violent domestic liberally scattered among the weeds in the front garden.

hidetheelephants

25,486 posts

195 months

Wednesday 29th June 2022
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D1bram said:
Yeah I take your point, it’s largely location dependant though; in some areas boats are so plentiful nobody wants an old tub. Not so much in the north east though, usually a good demand for cheap and ready to go small boats. I’m certainly not planning on making a living from it!!

We even discussed last night in sticking one in another location for some holiday sailing
With a trailer moving it between distant cruising grounds becomes feasible; the west coast of Scotland beckons, bring waterproofs, insect repellent and sunscreen.

In the wilds of Argyll driveways do have derelict boats; that's been there over 30 years. hehe


D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Sunday 22nd January 2023
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Ok, so boat two has not progressed much for one reason or another, but are you ready for the ‘real’ season two?

Agreed a deal on this beauty yesterday.



Hurley 27, and yes she is lying exactly where we found Ada last year…


Captain Answer

1,358 posts

189 months

Monday 23rd January 2023
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I put a new cover on my laser 2, once it starts warming up (and work calms down) I'll work out what I need for the re-rig and have a play with getting her rigged and the sails on etc on the drive then try and get her out this year

sanguinary

1,355 posts

213 months

Monday 23rd January 2023
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D1bram said:
Ok, so boat two has not progressed much for one reason or another, but are you ready for the ‘real’ season two?

Agreed a deal on this beauty yesterday.

Three now? You'll be moving on from Shoestring if you're not careful! hehe

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

255 months

Monday 23rd January 2023
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sanguinary said:
D1bram said:
Ok, so boat two has not progressed much for one reason or another, but are you ready for the ‘real’ season two?

Agreed a deal on this beauty yesterday.

Three now? You'll be moving on from Shoestring if you're not careful! hehe
With three he's already at shoeplait and heading towards shoerope.

D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Monday 23rd January 2023
quotequote all
Yep, 3 now! Though hopefully down to one.

Rough plan is, sell Ada (boat one) which frees up space for this new one. She’s advertised and I already have some interest so hopefully not long.

Restore the latest (Astra) and bring her home to Sunderland. I need to work fast as the yard owner want her gone ASAP

Then finally… boat two. She’s on my drive, so costing nothing to store. So sorry neighbours but she is the lowest priority. I will start work on her again late spring but in the meantime if someone comes along they can have her for what she owes me at that point in time.

D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Tuesday 21st February 2023
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It is about a month now since we took on this latest boat, it's been a hectic one with life and all the plans we foolishly made assuming we wouldn't have black hole of a boat project to swallow our time... but we have made progress.

Our first full day at the boat was a Saturday, spent excitedly assessing what we have and what is needed. The needed list kept growing and growing...

At first glance she needs:

- Rudder refitting (oh and it's been chopped off!)
- Mast rewiring, new blocks & sheaves. Luckily the standing rigging looks very good
- Mast refitting, oh yeah the tabernacle is bent!
- Interior, well where to start? She's got the space we craved after the 22 but its... grim
- Rubbing strake on port side replacing
- Windows fitting (replacements came with the boat)
- Full rewire
- Service and recommission the engine
- bottom paint
- Seacocks

Apart from a million other little jobs and niceties that's about it... easy!

Well no, this is a much bigger project than Ada was.

Speaking of which, job number one the following day was to sail her off to her knew home. She sold very quickly to a great guy who is new to sailing and as he was moving her just a short hop down the coast to Hartlepool we agreed we would sail her down with him.




A few photos from that first day aboard Astra as she is known currently...






So far we have outsourced the engine service and overhaul which is done pending a couple of remedial jobs, found someone to tackle the welding and steelwork on the rudder and other odd jobs like straightening the tabernacle which is currently underway and commissioned a new rubbing strake and companionway (more on that later) from a local joinery shop.

We have meanwhile been tackling that interior which I will go into with my next post

D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Tuesday 21st February 2023
quotequote all
On to the interior.

She's not capacious by modern standards, with only 8 feet of beam, but she is deep and with the floors in will still offer standing headroom throughout (6'3" in the main cabin reportedly). She has a fairly traditional layout with a separate forecabin, narrow but with two full size bunks and some standing room, a toilet compartment and hanging locker opposite amidships, then a saloon with a dinette to one side and galley opposite behind which is a large quarter berth which comes well into the cabin so will offer additional seating.

The floors as you will have seen in my last photos are missing, but we have these as home. The previous owner had commissioned a full set in solid Iroko hardwood along with a new set of companionway steps (these are of spruce I think). They're very beautiful and while it's probably an expense I wouldn't have stretched to personally they will be a fantastic finishing touch.

Meanwhile, she clearly needed work everywhere, so

My wife, Bec, immediately declared that she was starting in the forecabin and set to work cleaning and scraping, while I started at the companion way bulkhead suspicious poking some soft looking patches.

It wasn't long before Bec called through to say she had also found evidence of the dreaded rot too.

There was only one course of action really. Retire to the pub for a pint and bag of dry roasted to ponder the next move.

Only one thing for it we decided, and the cutting commenced....





I started off taking out small sections, hoping in vain I could patch it... but that just uncovered more rot!



So I kept cutting...



And ended up with big hole!



This needed more pub time of course, but I think I have come to terms now with what we have on our hands

Arnold Cunningham

3,789 posts

255 months

Tuesday 21st February 2023
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Certainly it's the right move to replace all rotten bulkheads and such like - some of what I see there is structural!
I once had a boat where the rotten wood was laminated in - and so badly rotted that once I peeled the laminate off, I could remove the wood with a spoon. No joke.

A set of 30x15 battens, or similar, from B&Q will help you get the bulkhead templates to the right shape and size. much easier than measuring for a one off:



Don't worry about using Lloyds certifed marine ply, just use a good grade WBP. They are the same spec, often as not, but the marine stuff just has a lloyds stamp which they charge a lot more for. So with WBP you can get a better wood for less money. Unless you want to go crazy and use robbins timber - which is both lloyds approved and top quality - albeit you pay handsomely for it.

The boat above, I used a good grade okoume WBP. It's not Lloyds certified though (not necessary since I didn't require CE certifcation of my boat), which meant I ended up with a better quality wood for less money than "marine ply".

Lots of people may tell you marine ply is better than WBP. Generally this is incorrect - in fact, a lot of marine ply is pretty rough quality, but it's just got a lloyds stamp confirming so.

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Tuesday 21st February 13:16

D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Tuesday 21st February 2023
quotequote all
Hi Arnold, I have already bought the Marine Ply unfortunately! Luckily though took the main bulkhead out in enough good sections (the smashed up bit you see above is a cupboard behind it) to be able to produce a carboard template (you can see below, screenshotted from our project instagram account my wife set up) which I'll take and fit/adjust accordingly before I cut. I think I will use your trick on the cupboard bulkhead behind though.



Can I have your opinion actually... tabbing the new bulkhead in will be impossible from the blind side I think, so my proposed solution is to fit a 'dwarf' bulkhead which I will then epoxy back to. I also am in something of a quandary as to whether I need to spaced the bulkhead from the hull, these sketches hopefully explain:


hidetheelephants

25,486 posts

195 months

Tuesday 21st February 2023
quotequote all
Do not butt the plywood directly against the hull; it creates a hard point. It should be spaced off a few mm.

D1bram

Original Poster:

1,514 posts

173 months

Tuesday 21st February 2023
quotequote all
hidetheelephants said:
Do not butt the plywood directly against the hull; it creates a hard point. It should be spaced off a few mm.
Thanks, this is the conclusion I am coming to