This is the day one waits for, getting the boat out of the workshop in all her glory.
As you will all know who have followed the Tiki blog over the past 8-plus weeks, this was her condition when brought back to Wales for this extensive and comprehensive rebuild with all new fittings and spars.
One has to remember Tiki was built in 1968 by Honnor Marine in Totnes, possibly one of the first of this experimental model before they changed to the Mk 2 model in the early 70’s. There were a lot of manufacturing issues around that time, resins were in their infancy and the build was a labour intensive process. However, with today’s advancement in materials, spray paint finishing, new joinery and fittings these old hulls can be given a new lease of life and be of a better quality than a newly moulded hull. Tiki is going to be around sailing for many years to come.
For those wishing to upgrade their boat and add themselves the JLJ side cockpit framed hatches that I make here at my Tredegar workshops, the kits are supplied with a template and fittings to make this job achievable. For fitting it yourself I have provided an accurate template, so you can make the opening regular and have a guide hole for pre-drilling. This makes the fitting process so much easier.
The picture below shows the corner block and rail setup that are very accurately machined before bonding into a frame. They are made from a stock of sawn Iroko, machine-thicknessed to 20mm. They are made with hatches of solid Iroko, shaped to fit the frame and hung on solid brass ‘drawn’ hinges with an upper catch and finger hole. My preference is to use a Rustin’s Danish oil to treat them. It does get slightly affected by the Ionian sun which burns it off, however, it’s better than having a hard-baked finish that will get brittle and crack. This way I can periodically give them a once over with a cotton ‘button’ and they are back up again to that low lustre.
It is evident when one looks at the side walls of the cockpit that they all deviate in shape and no surface is the same. So when screwed into position these gaps, which vary from the top edge to the sides, are caulked in with a coloured caulking provided in my kit. So from a varying gap, once caulked in it’s a very professional finish.
Effectively I’m now at the final stage of fitting the anchor bags and their fittings. The neat storage bags sit on the side deck while the Delta anchor sits on its 3 holding shoes with 2 holding ties. The chain is spliced to the Anchorplatt warp in a smooth soft running splice, this to avoid any drag when run over the bow roller.
very important feature for using on my Luggers out in the Ionian Sea is the stern kedge anchor, very handy when running up onto a beach and deployed over the stern to stop the wind pushing the boat onto its beam. All neatly stowed away in its bag, and with easy access from the tiller position for the helm. Its warp runs easily through the Gunwale fairlead fitting. A great piece of safety equipment.
Tiki is now cleaned off and ready for a 10 week period of storage before leaving Wales for the overland drive to the Ionian Sea in mid April.
Why not use the best product around to protect this superb rebuilt Lugger? Yes, a winter fitted cover from Dick at R&J Sails of Clevedon, there is no better!
Very often what is hidden and out of sight is neglected. It’s not exciting work or creative, and compared to making the joinery and the spray work it is relatively tedious. This is your mode of transportation, the boat trailer and its structural pieces of equipment. Without these areas being safe, compliant and structurally sound your trailer is a danger to yourself, others and importantly for the security of the boat whilst being transported.
These pieces of equipment are in need of a thorough refit. In the case of this Snipe trailer with a transverse suspension spring:
- The bolted on stub axles.
- The hub and bearing set that connects it to the wheel.
- The quality of the wheel rim which are mild steel. The trailers are used as launching trolleys and so the rim partly gets immersed in sea water, not good for mild steel.
- The quality of the tyres.
For the Tiki week 9 rebuild I will cover the removal of these old corroded stub axles and the fitting of new ones complete with new bearing hubs. These pictures show the condition of the stub axle as it enters the bearing hub, It’s not a pretty sight and the thought of driving the 1900 plus miles on them in this present condition is madness and very dangerous.
So please keep following as I run then into the refurb of spars and the making up of running rigging and block and sheet sets.