These pictures give a good insight into the Lugger’s condition before I started the strip out on weeks 1 and 2.
In another productive week, the boat has had around 80% of its new joinery pre-fitted, then removed, and as one can see it’s much cleaner and so ready for the glass fibre work around the centre plate case pivot pin area.
I will then go through the pre-fitting of the new mainsheet traveller tube and face plates, followed by the forming and making of the JLJ aft Lazarette hatch structure. The picture inset shows the finished structure completed on Lugger Angie in 2021, now at my Lugger base in Nidri, and similar to the original Tiki. The aim is to get all this pre-fitting finished before getting the boat off the trailer and turned over on pads ready for the hull to be stripped of anti-foul and then repaired where necessary.
This reviews what has been effected to date by a previous owner, 2-ply pads have been encapsulated in mat and resin around the area of the pivot pin hole and a much larger pivot pin hole drilled. I will leave these pads in place and add the JLJ supporting plates and the correct centre plate pivot pin to these 2 faces.
It is clear that these plates are made to sit on the floor / keel line of the boat and are marked as such. The pivot pin still remains at the correct height above the floor. An initial pad of stippled mat with resin is sandwiched behind the two plates, and the pivot pin assembled but the nut just tightened lightly. The centre plate case cheeks are not strong enough to offer a resistance if one tries to tighten the pivot pin nut. With the Starboard side assembled and the bolt coming through, it’s time to add a saturated mat pad and the port side supporting plate.
It’s important to not use large sections of mat. Firstly when saturated in resin they become very soft and ‘floppy’ and difficult to manage. Also, with the crossover and overlapping it gives great strength to the assembly. The first crossover layer is well stippled and covering at least 70 mm each way away from the plates.
With the second application complete, note the translucent appearance of the structure and thoroughly ‘wetted out’ edges. Note that the bolt that comes through to the port side has to be cut flush with the tightened nut so the nut and bolt end are totally encapsulated with mat/resin.
Again for further advice visit my How to do it page. It shows the tools / equipment needed and the cleaning and preparation process.
A very common problem with the early build of these boats. This is the centreplate case floor supporting rib. Someone along the line has tried to affect a repair, but by not prepping the surfaces properly the Woven Roving tape has not bonded to the rib. This tape if not the best method, and I will use chopped strand mat to bond this floor rib in properly.
I have cut off within the floor area all the nuts holding the keel band and hull beaching rails and removed a few added screws. I have prepped these areas and I’ve glassed over these holes since I will drill all new hole positions as you will see later when I come to fitting the keel band and beaching rails.
Why did I forget this chap! Fitting the mast foot step block is such a small task but if not done at this stage it will cause issues when it comes to fitting the keel band. I’ve used a high quality adhesive / sealant to fix it to the floor, cleaning thoroughly the step area with Cellulose thinners prior to applying the sealant. The step block is now added and just had a small amount of pressure applied to it. The aim is to have the adhesive to form a gasket between itself and the floor and not to squeeze the adhesive out. Once the keel band bolts are drilled through they will tighten up onto a firm but compliant gasket pad.
Yet another original very bad concept for a main sheet set up. Yes, who would have thought of it, a couple of saddle brackets bolted through the the gunwhale rails and a length of 4 mm wire crimped into loops between. Just hideous! From our JLJ stock I’ve loosely assembled the pre cut 25 mm heavy duty 316 Stainless steel tube and traveller ring which acts as a fitting point for the main sheet block. I’ve pre-assembled this tube so it crosses the Mizen mast / rudder thwart between the Mizen mast slot and the back of the rudder slot, and marked its position ready to drill the 2 holes to take the 25 mm tube. These holes are in the cockpit moulding only and do not go through the outside skin of the hull.
My aim now is to achieve this finished new-style aft Lazarette seat arrangement. As one will note from the first picture below, the original lift-up glassfibre seats were bulky, heavy and now with a Mainsheet traveller tube, difficult to remove. Apart from which, where do you sensibly put them when you have them removed?
This I feel is a great concept. The Iroko lids just pull forward, they stack easily in the cockpit moulding, they are not heavy and look good. More importantly out in the heat of the Ionian they are not hot to sit on! It’s a vast improvement and the access is so good to the Lazerette.
To achieve this I first start by binning the moulded seats and then cutting off the lipped edgings. Whilst I have kept all the underside framework patterns, lid templates etc from previous jobs, each one of the JLJ modifications to the Mk1 Lazarette has differed slightly from the templates, indicating the original moulds were not uniform. Not one seat will fit the other side if turned over. My seats on Angie differ from these on new Tiki, so it becomes a case for applying a few skills to this task.
From a large stock of sawn 25 mm Iroko boards I can select what’s required. The selected pieces are thicknessed to 16 mm prior to being machine edged and bonded into one piece.
The finished modification will look even better after spray finishing and moulding of the seat edges with its Danish Oil application.
My plan now for the next series of processes for Week 4 of work is the following:
- We have now turned the boat over and lifted it off the floor to give me ‘sliding and wriggle clearance’ to be able to get inside the hull whilst turned over. This is in preparation for the stripping of the hull of the old anti-foul paint.
- At this stage also I need to pre-fit the JLJ keel band and beaching rails, all prior to a full spray finish of the hull, hence I need to get inside the hull whilst turned over to bolt down the keel band and side rails, all a pre-fitting process.
Please follow this next process which a few clients who have recently purchased these keel band kits from me are waiting in anticipation of getting my detailed format of how to achieve this task.
I’m always available if Drascombe owners wish to call me to discuss their problems. I have hands-on experience of all the tasks outlined on my website, and I’m the maker of all the joinery listed, all done in-house here in South Wales.