It’s now time to turn the boat over and discover what issues are buried under the years of antifoul applications, never a pretty sight! With myself, 3 pals from local units, 4 used tyres and a few old dust sheets made up into pads, she rolled over and when on edge walked, her gunwale slowly until the hull was lowered onto waiting boxes. The hull had to be at least 400 mm off the floor to give me access to the inside of the cockpit when turned over.
As I suspected the keel band had totally disintegrated. The aft section had already pulled off when on the trailer and the remainder just dropped off. All but two of the bolts that were holding the keel band on, of which there are a total of 6, had to be cut off with a grinder, but either end of the centre plate box the builders had just used wood screws instead of bolts, which just pulled away. It’s not good practice to use just screws from the inside.
There is only one effective method of removing the anti foul and that’s with an industrial chemical stripper. It’s not readily available unless it’s bought through a chemicals supplier. This product I’ve covered in 2023 when I was stripping a mast of its varnish. It’s a matter of ‘laying it on’, not brushing it like paint, and waiting for the chemical process to attack the antifoul; as noted it starts to bubble and lift the antifoul paint off.
Using a wide paint scrapper and wearing heavy duty rubber gloves I slowly scraped off the layers of paint. In this case I had to use 3 applications of the stripper to get close to the gel coat, and from there it was a case of completing the job with an orbital sander.
I will continue with this hull preparation and gel coat repairs prior to the respraying of the hull next week. For now I will continue with the pre-fitting of the keel band and beaching rails.
This forward bolt hole lines up with the internal mast step block, so from a measurement, drill the keel band with a shallow 12 mm counterbore hole into which the dowels that are supplied in the kit are fitted after the final fitting of the keel band.
I have checked what’s left of the old keel band with the new JLJ band to make sure all the slots are correct. There were a few rough moulds in the early days of manufacture which had a differing rudder shaft position. Note the difference in thickness from the new JLJ piece to the original one.
In a previous post I’ve noted that all existing holes through the hull have been glassed over, so I’m now drilling new 12 mm counterbore holes and 6 mm bolt holes.
With the longest bolt secured through to the mast step block I’m able to move from the forward position and fit each bolt so the keel band is slowly pulled into place, with the last bolt hole in the aft well used.
For the fitting of the centre plate slot in the keel band I use heavy gauge 50 x 5 mm stainless woodscrews. These are angled so the screws come through within the cockpit at the side of the centre plate case. This was a practice used by the builders in the early 70’s when bolts were also common practice. These will need to be glassed over inside the cockpit.
For the beaching rails I use 4 machine screws countersunk in the surface of the rails. Again, I do not use wood screws that the builders used originally, but all 4 positions are bolted. This process above is a pre-fitting procedure; everything is then removed for the hull to be sprayed. To give this blog continuity I’m going to skip the spraying process and move to the final fitting of the keel band and beaching rails.
With the hull sprayed, a sealant is applied just around the hole so when the machine screws are pulled down the sealant is spread under the rails. It’s essential not to tighten the machine screws too tight initially which squeezes the adhesive/sealant out, but to let the sealant form a ‘gasket/pad’. Only once it’s cured are the machine screws tightened. The same process applied to the keel band.
The keel band is then placed in position, with the stern of the band held horizontal with a support, and the first long bolt fitted through the internal mast step. Then moving forward, the remaining bolts are tightened up, allowing the keel band to take up its position in the well of the keel moulding.
It is noted in this illustration the hole for the eyebolt which is the rise and fall position for the centreplate in the cockpit at the mast step. It is drilled for the 8 mm threaded end and a 15 mm counterbore to take its nut and washer, and the angle is around 12 degrees off the vertical. The eye bolt is part of the fittings pack. Once the boat is turned back over I will show the eye bolt that comes through onto the main mast foot block.
The fitting of the screws in the rails that form the centre plate slot, deep into the counterbore. Again the keel band is only tightened down to a stage where the adhesive/sealant starts to ooze out from the sides of the band. Once cured, the machine screws are cogged down so the keel band sits on its gasket bed. These excess edges of sealant are carefully trimmed off.
Finally the Iroko dowel/tapered plugs are applied to the counterbore holes with a resin before trimming and cleaning.
I complete this process by running a bead of the adhesive / sealer down each side infilling the cavity left between the keel band and the hull moulding.
An excellent job achieved, made easier with the hull turned over. It also allows one to clean the hull back, attack any gel coat / structure damage, add new antifoul primer and with a new far superior JLJ keel band and beaching rails your Drascombe boat is set for quite a number of years of great sailing.
For those owners who would find this process beyond their comfort zone, there is an option for a 5 day turnover time at my facility in South Wales, and this work can be achieved by myself.
For Week 5 I will resume the preparation work prior to the full respray of the Lugger.