28th March 2011

I found another soft patch in the hull, this time on the port side, near the bow.  Using the tried and tested method of:

1 - Chop
2 - Resin all surfaces
3 - Resin filler on all surfaces
4 - Screw the two pieces together
5 - Create a fillet bead around all edges

The patch was about 3' x 2' and only took about an hour to sort, its getting to the point where rot doesn't bother or upset me anymore and it doesn't surprise me as much as it did.

While chopping the old timber out I had to cut the old screws out of the chine using an angle grinder, however I slipped and for one nasty minute I thought I'd chopped my finger off.  I had a sick feeling in my stomach and it took me all my effort to look at it.

Thankfully the finger was still there, but I'd cut a groove in it, the below picture doesn't really do it justice, the wound was sealed by the heat of the grinder so there wasn't much blood.

I've also managed to get more paint on the inside front cabin, it looks so much brighter and cleaner as a result. You can see the small heater that I've been using to keep the damp off at night and help the water based paint to dry.

I also had a bit of a clean up around her and bagged up all the rubbish that I had been accumulating in her and under her. Looks like I'll be doing a few trips to the tip. 

6th March 2011

The transom has received its first coat of resin, ultimately I'll be painting it a the timber isn't in good enough condition to varnish.

     

I've put the new edging strip in place around Sabrina, its 3 inch by 1 inch hardwood, glued and screwed in place. To bend the timber around the bow I drilled the screw holes in the wood at the correct spacing and then used a 6 inch screw in a screw hole  a couple of holes further on than the screw I was ready to insert, to slowly force the timber into shape, tightening the screw slowly over a period of time to force it to bend.

The new rear doors look smart, the have been made out of solid hardwood as opposed to plywood as before to hopefully give them some longevity.

The timber that edged the bow broke when I removed it so it was time to splice in a new piece.  You can see from the photos the process. First attach a new piece of wood, larger than is needed, making sure its securely glued in place.

Once the glue has dried you can see the new piece in place.  The final stage is to sand it to shape, being careful not to over sand it.

  

You can see the finished look, complete with the first coat of varnish. Definitely worth the effort. 

 

The inside is looking better and better, the sadolin is going on very thinly and is needing 4 coats, but the satin white looks very good.

   

The 4 tiles that make up the splash back are in place and looks good with the granite effect work surface. The new kitchen sink is in place with its tap.

 

The new stereo is in place:

 

Time to make the front windows, not a job I've been looking forward to. The first stage is to make some templates out of thick paper. Its cheaper to buy a pad of A2 craft paper than it is to buy some cardboard, I taped two pieces together and used drawing pins to hold it in place while I adjusted it.

   

6th February 2011

The galley is coming together, B&Q had a kitchen sale on so I bought a cupboard door for £13 and used it to create a new cover for the engine. You can see the new hob in place, another ebay bargain its a spinflo hob and grill. Sabrina used to have a hob and oven on her, but I couldn't see me needing that so I've opted for the hob and grill and will make some draws to fill the gap left by the oven. 

I've made a new cover for the engine in the bathroom, 12mm ply and hardwood, its quite a substantial piece of hardware so should help deaden some of the noise from the engine when its running.

I've bonded the near piece into the rear deck, same way as before, thin paste of epoxy resin and filler, screwed with stainless steel screws every couple of inches and then filling the screw holes, then lots of sanding!

30th January 2011

Spent some more time working on the inside, the galley this time. The original work surface was 18mm Ply covered in a yellow patterned formica. As I needed to replace the sink the old work surface was going to need to be replaced. I looked for 25mm work surface, but couldn't find anything suitable and normal work surface is too thick. However, in B&Q they sell some cheap surface which is only 38mm thick and was ideal, its a nice granite colour so it will match the internal colours scheme. You can see the large tiles I'm going to use for the splash back, they are a slate affect so everything will tie in nicely. 

The layers of varnish are building up as is the paint in the rear cabin, its lifted my spirits a bit seeing her come together and I can keep warm in the rear cabin with the gas heater on. 

23rd January 2011

Guess what? More rot!!! I'd found a soft patch on the rear deck, and tried to seal it with resin, but in the end, like all the other rot I've found it was time to cut it out. Guess I know what I'll be doing at a later date...

17th January 2011

I decided to refurbish the interior lights, the chrome was discoloured, the glass needed a good clean and the back/reflectors were rusty and faded. These are the before images:

Brasso, elbow grease and a quick spray of paint on the reflectors and they look as good as new:

15th January 2011

I've spent so much time recently working on the outside and cutting rot away that I decided to do some work on the inside. Chopping the rot away has been demoralising and hopefully varnishing and painting the inside will lift my spirits a bit. You can see how the timber has come up with a simple coat of varnish, already looking a thousand times better. I've decided to paint the inside with Sadolin Superdec Opaque paint, its water based and according to the details I've read doesn't need to be sanded between coats, will not peel, fade or crack and doesn't need an undercoat and should last 8 years. 

  

 

  

I'd also routed the rear timber that covers the transom, it was an £80 piece of timber and I had to route and plane off about £60 to create the shape I needed. Its a pity I don't have a hamster anymore as I could have used the sawdust for it.