Rudders and Finns

At least the weather has been half decent this weekend which has allowed me to scratch the surface of the project. However I have also had to score some brownie points by doing some decorating and mowing the lawn - which had suddenly grown by about six inches. As all in the UK will know, spring is at least a month late this year and all the plant activity seems to be being concentrated. The picture in the last post showed a Japanese Magnolia and already the petals are turning brown and falling off. Here is a cherry tree taken three days ago and most of the blossom is gone already.

Beautiful but short lived

Most importantly I managed to clear most of the rust off the centreboard and was delighted to see that while there was a lot of corrosion there is still enough good steel. So a bit of rust treatment and suitably tough paint and I should have a board that will last at least a few years. I will need to replace the lifting ropes as they have seen better days but that shouldn't be too much of a problem and the box top, while functional, could do with remaking – easier to do while it's off anyway.

The other couple of tasks that have been completed (nearly!) is the old cross member has been removed and the grotty plastic tubing that had been put round the bow has been stripped off. Both areas need a little cleaning up now but the worst has been done. The plywood should arrive tomorrow so I hope to be able to cut out the cross member ready for mounting and I'll give it a coat of epoxy as that was delivered this morning. It's great to think that new parts are going on to the boat rather than old stuff coming off, though there's still more of that to do as well.

One other task I have managed is to roughly draw up the rudder and stock to scale and put a grid against the drawing. I'll try to tidy that up and put it on the WWPUK group files site. I'm confident I have the stock design (plan only) about right but the blade needs a little more work. As the transom comes down at a reverse angle the front edge of the rudder needs to be at worst vertical and at the moment it's following the line of the transom which won't work too well. Should have that done today but having said that my Dad has offered me an old Finn rudder which I may be able to make work though I suspect it will need some 'adjustment'. At least its basic shape is about right and I can dream my name's Ainslie but I suspect that pumping a Potter to windward in a Force 3 – 4 is probably missing the point of the boat!

Finn sailors are of course a special breed – I recall a story about Brian Saffrey Cooper, who sailed a Finn at the Tokyo Olympics, describing a hurricane as being “Top end of 4”. The boat certainly seems to be a training ground for some of the best racers around, take a look at the hall of fame – http://www.finnclass.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=14.

Spring has sprung

Having bought a new tarpaulin to cover the boat and wrapped up to keep her dry I realised this morning, after the rain had been and gone, that I should have set up the mast as a ridge pole. There was a large pool in the tarp where the cockpit is – it was obvious if I'd bothered to think about it. As Homer Simpson says Doh!!!

Still at least the weather has finally improved – one week of warmer temperatures and nature is up and running. The trees have suddenly started to look greener, the cherry blossom is out and the Tulip Magnolia trees are in full bloom.

Spring has AT LAST sprung

Like most working folk the time available for doing 'projects' is somewhat limited, particularly when there are lots of other things on as well. So I have been spending the odd moments (mostly at 3 in the morning – it must be an age thing!) thinking through all the jobs that have to be done to be able to put the little Potter back in the water and make her look presentable. It's a scary list taken as a whole but hopefully by breaking it down into small tasks I can make progress – as I said in an earlier post, eating an elephant in slices.

I thought it might be interesting to put some of these onto the blog if for no other reason it will provide me with more motivation to complete them so I don't look like a complete ….. (fill the blank with your own appropriate word). I've separated them into must do and nice to do tasks to help prioritise them, though I may be tempted to do some of the latter before the former to keep my interest high.

Key tasks:

• Replace rotten cross member and glass to centreboard case
• Strengthen centreboard bolt mounting and put in bolt
• Clean and paint centreboard or replace if too corroded
• Clean and paint interior
• Create bulkhead at front of rear locker
• Make rudder and tiller
• Build tabernacle and mounts
• Make pads for shroud fixings and refit (maybe renew with good bottle screws)
• Replace ring fixing at the bow * (see below)
• Sort out rigging
• Make woodwork for cabin interior
• Connect cockpit drain to transom drain
• etc. etc. etc.!

Pretty stuff!

• Grind out all old filler and crazed gelcoat
• Strengthen with glass (where needed) and refill topsides (hull seems OK)
• Sand and prepare for paint
• Paint topsides (I guess this is best done before putting any fittings back which may change the priorities)
• etc. etc. etc.!

And I still have to check if the sails fit!

*One thing I am pondering (among many) is that the ring that is mounted on the bow for attaching a winch is loose. I can't access the back of it as that's within the bow buoyancy tank. I suppose I could just fill around it with epoxy putty and hope it holds but that doesn't seem very satisfactory. So what I think I'm going to do is cut a hole into the tank to give me access (and allow me to see if there are any horrors in there!) and fix it properly. Then I'll seal the hole with a removable inspection hatch. Having looked there are hatches available up to about 9” in diameter so that should do the job and maybe provide somewhere to put things out of the way.

Right - off to buy my plywood!

So I've ordered a sheet of 12mm marine ply for all the structural and exposed stuff and a sheet of 6mm WBP for everything else - should be delivered on Tuesday. Hopefully that will do the job! I've also orded a West GRP repair kit to get me started and some extra tape which I know I'll need for bonding in the cross member. That should give me enough to learn what works best for the repairs before I spend any more and waste it.

Thinking about the rudder assembly, I'm hoping that I can use the ply to build that. I may have to epoxy coat it but that shouldn't be too difficult and I'd quite like to see the lines of the laminates come through where the rudder is faired off. Mind you that will take some doing to make it look good - might end up with paint on it!

London Marathon

Once every year, 35 - 40,000 hardened souls make their way to Blackheath Green in South East London at the start of a 26 1/4 mile adventure. Some will have completed it many times while for others it is a trip into the unknown. Nearly as many people volunteer to help out, at the registration and exhibition beforehand or at the event itself, handing out water around the course, providing marshalling and first aid services or in my case making sure the runners' bags that were left at the start are returned to their rightful owners.

The event is massive and hugely well organised, being part of it is greatly rewarding and a huge privilege  especially having run it some years ago. It meant an early start this morning to catch the coach, dropping off the club members who were running at Blackheath before making our way to the Mall. That gave us time for breakfast at a certain well known sandwich outlet, overlooking a sun drenched Trafalgar Square before making our way through security, heightened this year for obvious reasons, to our station for the day.

It really is a beautiful space early in the morning on a sunny day

Soon to be turned into a hotel

 The calm before the storm

Approximately 30,000 kit bags

 But what a beautiful day

Blessed by royalty - he's quite a character

The agony....

... and the ecstasy 

or maybe the sublime and ridiculous - must have chafed!

and some inspiring characters!

The crowds afterwards were amazing - lots of very pleased runners and over-attentive family and friends. Thousands running for charity - hope the money is used wisely

So after a long day, there were thousands of very happy runners and a hugely successful event. 

The effort needed to train properly to run a marathon takes many months of hard work and dedication - a little like restoring a Potter back to good condition. This week I am hoping to work on the centreboard to try and avoid having to replace it and make the cross brace to glass into the hull. I'm hoping to buy the marine ply today so I'll report on how good the Travis Perkins supplied product looks to be.

Raise the flags - the keel is out!

Probably the biggest challenge I saw with the project was sorting out the lifting keel. It appeared to be stuck solid and I wasn't sure where the problem lay, though the fact that the keel bolt was so corroded that it was impossible to put a spanner on it pointed to a problem there. So today, seeing as I had some time, I attacked the bolt with an angle grinder.

I ended up having to cut both the nut and the head of the bolt off before it would loosen up. Several whacks with a hammer and punch then what remained of the bolt shot out the starboard side of the keel box. Grabbing the end of the keel by the lifting shackle and it was clear that it was moving and lowered to the ground. Now the only task was to extract it from its home.

There was no way it would budge by hand so I tried attaching a block and tackle to give a little more leverage but to no avail. There was nothing for it she would have to be tipped onto her side and the keel extracted out of the bottom. A little brute force and ignorance along with careful placement of some carpet and she was balanced on her side and chocked in place.

Fortunately at this moment my Dad turned up and held the hull while I persuaded the keel from her home. It was clear that the corrosion was fairly advanced in places as the lower edge of the mild steel came away in large flakes. This was especially the case around the slot for the bolt as this part didn't want to release but with a bit more ignorance we managed to free it.

I suspect the rusted part may be too far gone to rescue so I'm going to investigate having a replacement made either in galvanised steel or aluminium alloy. I'll also reinforce the keel box very much like Bill Serjeant has on his C Type with some extra glass pads and washers. It is always good to avoid dissimilar metals from touching each other so a suitable plastic tube will go over the bolt.

Very corroded along the bottom and around the slot - otherwise fine!

and the remains of the bolt weren't much better

So I'm very pleased to have that job out of the way and I also took the old mast step off. I'm hoping to build a tabernacle for her so that can go into the bin or on the fire - it's the wrong size for the mast that came with her anyway.

New ply base to build along with a compression pad inside - then the tabernacle

and the compression post needs making as well

It once has a depth gauge!

 At least something fits - the drain plug screws all the way in

Next task - remove all the old wood from the cross brace and build a new one. Should be able to have that done during the week as tomorrow we're helping out at the marathon sorting out the runner's bags at the end. It's a long day, leaving the house at 6am and not returning until 7pm, but it's great to feel a part of an amazing event, though our thoughts will be for the dead and injured from the atrocities in Boston.

Joining the dots

My trip to Screwfix was a success - the Tyvek suit, goggles and respirator mask all seem great and the bonus was I found a tarpaulin the encases the boat completely for just over £11. That's been wrapped round her but it needs a bit more rope to stop it blowing around in today's strongish breeze so I'll have to do that before close of play today (for those in the US that is an expression from a game called cricket, which can last up to 5 days and still end in a draw!).

Almost tailored for her!

My father popped round early this evening to be introduced to the new member of the family. As is mentioned in an earlier post he spent many years sailing and still follows the sport avidly - he even still subscribes to Yachts and Yachting. So I think I may have whetted his appetite again and I expect he may be around to help occasionally.

Being a day for those of us still having to earn a crust I've only managed to jump aboard for a short time this evening. However I have measured up the cross brace that needs replacing. I'm not sure if it was the correct method but I used a batten, measured and marked out 3" spaces and then measured the drop from the top of the existing (though rotten) brace at each of those marks. It was very approximate but seemed to work OK.

3" spacings marked on to batten

Then I marked out the measurements on a piece of card, joined up the dots (I knew those books I did as a kid would come in handy) and cut out a template and back to the boat to see if it would fit. A little adjustment with the scissors and I had a reasonable fit. So I'm ready to rip out the old rotton wood and cut out some ply - it looks about 9mm thick. There are quite a few bits and pieces around the boat that could do with that sort of thickness so I may invest in a sheet. Alternatively I might be able to persuade Travis Perkins to cut some to rough size for me which would be simpler to transport.

Template pre-adjustment

Looking at the existing brace, it seems it was only glassed in where it attached to the hull bottom and to the centreboard box. It doesn't seem to have been attached to the side of the hull which seems odd. I think I'll be glassing there to build more rigidity to the hull unless anyone can think of a reason not to?

Finally I've been giving more thought to the layout design in the cabin. There's about 6' 6" from the rear wall of the forward buoyancy tank to the rear wall of the cabin. So it should be possible to build a full width bunk to sit on top of the centreboard box to make a reasonable bed. the trouble is what to do with the structure when not using it - maybe some clever folding mechanism? Clearly more thinking needed.

Work gets in the way

Definitely a work day today so there won't be much to report. One of my other 'hobbies' is helping to coach young sprint athletes at Lee Valley Athletics Centre – my contribution to volunteering and Cameron's 'Big Society' (Am I the only one who really hates political branding?). These kids are mostly from single parent families around the Tottenham, Edmonton, Enfield areas and to see them grow both as athletes and human beings is what makes the effort worthwhile. So that's what I will be doing tonight rather than scrabbling about the bottom of the boat.

However I have ordered the protective bits and pieces from Screwfix and will be picking them up later. I have to say they have a great service – order on-line and collect from the local branch – and the range of products is impressive. I would think that barring the specialist chandlery stuff they have most of the tools and equipment that anyone would need to build or restore a boat and at reasonable prices.

I've also discovered that Travis Perkins stocks allegedly marine grade ply rated to BS1088 in a variety of thicknesses from 4 to 18mm. While it may not be totally suitable for hull construction I would think it will be OK for the interior work I have to do and there's a branch a couple of hundred yards from my office. Once I've decided what I need I'll drop in there to have a look at the quality of the sheets - I would at least like the top surface to look half decent without the use of stains.

One thing that is puzzling me is along the inside of the cabin wall, either side of the cabin opening where the seats finish, there is a thin layer of glass moulding that wraps upwards. It is as if it joined on to something like a wooden panel either side of the entrance. I've just had a look on the WWP-UK group site and there are some photos there of a Nova (Molly) that looks useful with ply panels either side of the cockpit entrance – but if anyone has some better photos of these that would be very useful. In fact if anyone has any good photos from the interior of their Potters, preferably Type C, D or a Nova I'd be very grateful.

Random piece of fibreglass left unattached - any ideas?

Lastly, having a relatively blank sheet inside I'm wondering if there isn't an opportunity to design something really interesting internally. As I suspect the chances of my better half spending a night aboard are minimal then building her with a single berth might be feasible. All suggestions will be gratefully received! I even wonder if it wouldn't be possible to have a folding bunk arrangement that would sit above the keel box to make a double? Then maybe I could persuade SWMBO to join me.

Delighted its not a big boat!

Another day dawns with bright blue sky and a blustery wind. Unfortunately the wonderful world of work requires me to spend half of the day sitting in traffic and the other half producing a presentation for a client. Still the mortgage has to be paid and I want to begin assembling the necessary tools for the project that I don't already have so need some readies. One tool that I have invested in is a DeWalt random orbital sander that can be attached to a vacuum cleaner. It's still sitting in its box at the moment and as work on the GRP isn't planned until after the structural stuff it can stay there. However I will report back on how well it works when I do start to use it.

Given the lack of space inside the cabin, sorting out the internal woodwork is going to be a challenge for someone 6'3” tall. It's also going to be dusty so some of my first purchases are going to be a Tyvek suit, safety goggles and a respirator. Having worked with glass fibre many years ago I know how itchy it can be, have no wish to risk breathing in the fibres and with only one good eye need to protect it! A trip to Screwfix looks on the cards (other hardware outlets are available!).

One of the challenges I've already found is that the remaining fittings on her (shroud fixing, mast step etc.) are fixed with screws and nuts, with the latter on the inside. Given that my better half has other things to do I need to find a way of securing the nuts to allow the screws to be removed. The wood that the nuts are buried in is soft so it's a tough job and I don't particularly want to resort to cutting them off.

Quick update, I've managed to undo all the screws on one shroud fixing and have removed it but there's one stubborn nut on the port side. Still, this stubborn nut will solve it one way or the other. I've also chipped away all the rotton ply that acted as a pad inside on both fixings and the mast step pad - approximately 300mm square of wooden mush. As this clearly wasn't sitting in water I assume it is the effect of years of condensation and a lack of suitable wood treatment.

At least somethings not rotten!

I've also managed to put her up onto some blocks to level her out and be able to put the car back on the drive. I certainly couldn't have done that on my own with anything much bigger. The fact that she is virtually flat underneath also makes it easy - no need to make a V-shaped chock - but I have treated her to some carpet as you can see below.

Up on blocks and vaguely level - I must invest in a better cover though

I've also taken a closer look at some of the old filling patches. I think they're all going to need removing and replacing with a little chopped strand and epoxy rather than the tatty polyester that I suspect was originally used. So that's another couple of tools on the list - a Dremel (though I may be able to use the one at work) and maybe a grinder.

How not to fill cracks in the gelcoat

Finally I have to work out how to draw up that cross member that needs replacing. There's probably enough left to be able to do a rough drawing and I think I'm going to set up a batten across the top of its remains from where I can make regular drop measurements. Then I'll be able to do a full scale drawing onto a piece of suitable ply. Once I've done that I can set about removing the rotten timber - oh joy - and set about playing with glass fibre and epoxy.