Dragon Drascombe

Lugger Sailing in the Greek Ionian

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Clara’s maiden voyage

Less than 24 hours after discovering the leak and the damage to Clara, the repair has been completed and she sailed across to Frikes Bay. The daytime heat meant that the glassing had to wait until nearer to sunset, but the job was soon done.

So at 6.30am on Friday she was back on the water ready for the journey across to the island of Ithica and Frikes Bay. But first a stop at the bakery in Vliho bay for essential provisions!

The journey across to Ithica went smoothly with a little assistance from the wind. Stephen and Georgina, our transit crew, enjoyed a well earned swim break on the east side of Orkide island before sailing on to the destination of Frikes Bay. With Clara tied up at her mooring, ready for the Wilson family to begin their holiday, it was time for a late lunch at the Bay Taverna. Their Squid, Dorado fish and Tuna Salad is first rate, a fabulous way to end a day’s sailing!

The Dangers of Automotive Filler

To all DIY Drascombers, avoid using automotive body filler on your ‘Pride and Joy’, especially below the water line, it could be disastrous!

You will have ready my review of the rebuild of Clara by my cabinetry making company, Dragon Design in Wales. Despite a thorough check of the underside when we cleaned all the old anti-foul off back to the gel coat, we missed totally what now appears to be a cosmetic finish of a nasty cavity rip that had been packed with car body filler. It looked good but it let in vast quantities of water on Clara’s first launch.

We started just fine yesterday morning, up at 6 to miss the heat of the day and down at the slipway to pop Clara in the water. I moored her and resumed with launching Warrior Spirit, our Atlantic 21 ex RNLI B-Class Inshore Rescue boat. Two hours later I got back to the mooring to find the floor boards afloat in Clara. Did I put the bung in correctly, I asked myself? I bailed with a bucket, then with the hand bailer and finally a sponge, but I could see a constant stream coming from the back of the floor of the aft locker. No time for pics, it was a mad rush to get her to the beach at the slipway and get the camper hitched up with the trailer and retrieve her from the sea.

With so much water still in her when I got back to the boatyard it was quite obvious where the water was entering, because by now the process had reversed itself and the water was pouring out. With very little effort or force from my Stanley knife I exposed the offending material and the extent of the cavity. The water now gushed out from the boat and she was dry in a short time. This could have been a lot worse – that packet of body filler was just waiting to explode and fall out.

Looking at the long and wide cavity I still cannot see what sort of damage would have caused this 10 mm wide and 30 mm deep gash. The wooden keel band is not damaged and this is directly under the damaged area, so it looks like a de-lamination of the moulding. Has anyone got any thoughts on this or past experience of this happening?

So to work! I have only today, Friday 22 August to get this cleaned, prepped and glassed before Saturday when I will be delivering her to Frikes on the island of Ithica. The Wilson Family from Glasgow are picking her up on Sunday in the harbour for their 6th visit to Dragon Drascombe, this for 2 weeks of ‘Luggering about in the sun’.

It’s all cleaned and prepped (note the exposure of the gel coat) and I will be wrapping the chopped strand mat over this edge as well as plugging the cavity with thoroughly wetted mat. The wetting agent is a polyester resin, but with a temperature this morning of 35 and in the sun, I will wait until this evening to do this glassing. She has to be launched in the morning!

Back to Nidri

For those that have followed Dragon Drascombe, ‘Luggering about in the sun’, you will be aware of my return to Wales in mid-July to visit Steph, my daughter, who had just undergone surgery for ovarian cancer. Yes, the procedure at BMI, Birmingham has gone well, but the post operational period and chemotherapy is going to be a long road. However , she is making great strides thank goodness, all thanks to the early diagnosis and prompt surgery. Andy Stringer, my son in law, is trying to raise awareness for this cause, and will be taking part in the Great North Run.

So on Monday 5th August, Clara was packed and secured on the trailer ready for the drive to Dover followed by the overland drive of 1945 miles to Nidri, via Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania, entering Greece on its northern border near the University City of Ioannina, and from there a 3 hour drive to Nidri.

Tuesday 6th August saw the drive through Luxembourg to Neunkirchen where I had arranged an overnight campsite. For those who know the issues and dangers of towing caravans or trailers, these are significant and not to be taken lightly. I’m sure everyone has come across whilst driving, caravans overturned, trailers that have lost wheels and accidents caused by caravans swerving across the highway and hitting other vehicles. I have trailed eight boats in total to Greece over the past ten years and I still find it stressful.

Wednesday was a drive through Germany to get us close to the Austrian border. Germany was a nightmare, rain all day, holiday traffic and endless road works from Karlsruhe towards Munich and cold into the bargain, even Bengy was not impressed! My organised stop-over was a campsite close to the border with Austria at Chiemsee, I’ve used it before and it’s a good stepping stone to clear the border and crack on into Slovenia and head to the northern coast of Croatia, with a welcome day’s rest.

In the next few days I will bring you up to date with our camper breakdown in Croatia and the trauma of dealing with the AA in the UK and a crooked so called garage at Zadar, not easy! However, as you will see, Clara made it to Nidri.

Early Summer 2019

With winter cabinetry projects very close to completion and 2018 Lugger Clara totally refurbished it’s time yet again to gather my Lugger fittings and equipment together for packing into the campervan for the drive over to the Greek Ionian. Along with our tent based awning, it is home for us and Bengy throughout the summer set along the shore of Vliho Bay facing East looking across to Geni where my rental apartments are based. For my Greek dog Bengy, now 5 and rescued from a boat yard when he was 4 months old, it’s home for the summer, this in exchange for his winter place of work at my cabinetry making business at Tredegar, South Wales, is something of a contrast.

Last year we travelled via Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania, a great trip but you need 10 days to enjoy the drive, time this year I did not have. So I came via Switzerland over the Alps and down into northern Italy, progressing down the eastern Adriatic coast to Ancona for the crossing to Igeomenitsa.

My first charter crew arrived on 9th June, Tony and Helen from Melbourne Australia. They had arrived at Athens at the beginning of the month and had an itinerary that took them to Delfi, on to the monasteries in northern Greece and ending at Preveza on 9th June, from where my taxi collected them, a great start to their holiday. Read more about their trip here.

Early June was a busy period, the weather improved daily reaching an average of 32°C. Out on the Wednesday Easy Jet flight the next arrivals were Nick and Anne Marks. Nick had owned a Lugger previously so was well versed in sailing them, but wanted Anne to become happier sailing in the much more favourable conditions than their home at Lyme Regis, as you will note from her Blog, and she certainly did this. For a few days they teamed up with Tony and Helen and sailed off together during the day. On the last-but-one evening I arranged a taxi for the 4 of them to visit the bar of ‘Concrete Bill up at Peolokatouna, an interesting bar to visit and then on for supper at Dimitri’s Taverna just a short distance down the hill. It is always a great night, the food is wonderful and the views of the bay just breathtaking.

To prepare for the arrival of Richard and Cheri Crosley, Nick and Anne sailed the Lugger down to Frikes on Ithaca. I followed in the Rib Warrior Spirit, my 1969-built ex RNLI Atlantic 21 B Class Inshore Rescue boat, which you can read about here. We travelled back to Nidri very quickly with Nick at the helm. Nick has an association with the RNLI base at Lyme Regis and was interested in this elderly Atlantic Class Rescue boat.

Richard and Cheri Crosley were my guests last summer and decided for this year to team up with Gordon and Francis MacDonald for 2 weeks based down south at Frikes on Ithaca. However, very sadly for Gordon and Frances, their son in law died very suddenly at the beginning of May so they were forced to cancel their holiday. For Richard and Cheri their holiday started with an overnight apartment at the Gialos Apartments on Geni followed by a rib transfer to Frikes the following morning, arriving in time for breakfast at The Frikes Bay Suite, courtesy of Peter, what a great introduction to Frikes Bay.

During June I have been giving Lugger Jojo a full underside hull renovation. She is one of my most well-used boats and hence has suffered a lot of wear and tear. It started in 2017 with the replacement of the Iroko keel band and beach rails, all done in the boat yard without a hoist or lifting gear, just lots of cursing and regular infusions of Mythos beer to see the job done. This refurb process will be detailed in my Mid-Summer Report.

Final completion and debut of Lugger Clara

On a cold and grey Wednesday, 12th December 2018 at the home of Dragon Design, Cabinetmakers, Clara was wheeled out for the first time after undergoing a full and extensive refit. It has taken 6 weeks, not all full time work, and 280 man hours to complete.

As a Mk 1 Lugger, with a hull number of 937, built by Honnor Marine at their yard at Totnes in 1973, she inherited many of the issues boat builders were experiencing with glass fibre and resin lay up procedures. These materials and methods were in their infancy; the laying up of a mould was done manually, and consequently the gel coat was often penetrated and breached by this application of chopped strand matting, hence what I find when preparing the surface ready for spray finishing. The mat is so close to the surface, this requires a lot preparation before one can start the spraying process.

The woodwork, albeit only the Gunwhales and 3 sections inside the cockpit which were included in the boat, were all in Burmese Teak. When the Teak became very expensive after controls on its export out of the country by its ruling military junta were enforced, the industry turned to Iroko, an Asian hardwood which was primarily used for the floors and beds of trucks. Being very dense and fibrous it is very hard wearing. At that stage the Gunwhale section was made of 2 pieces with a scarfing joint connecting both pieces, and there is a significant difference in the colour of these two different materials. You will note from Clara’s existing Gunwhale, which is dark and rich in colour to the light and mellow colour of the new Iroko of the cockpit woodwork. As I have expanded on, early on in her rebuild all the woodwork had been treated in Rustin’s Danish Oil. Yes it burns out, especially in the Mediterranean sun, but will recover easily with a once-over with an oiled pad. So much easier than varnish which bakes hard and brittle. This surface cover then cracks, moisture gets under it and starts the rotting and discolouration process. For those who have sailed my Luggers out in the Ionian, despite the usage they get the woodwork always looks good.

For the overland drive to Greece via Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania, dropping into Northern Greece close to the provincial capital city of Ioannina, this being around 2100 miles, I have made a supporting cradle. I have found that the conventional beam rollers which are great for rolling the boat on and off are not good to support the side hull sections. The rollers have just 2 points of contact to the hull, so all the side movement is taken onto these 2 areas, thus causing damage. The full cradle which has total contact with the full surface of the hull is soft sprung fabric lined and this fully protects the anti-foul primer.

If you would like to sail this magnificent Lugger in June 2019, I still have sea-facing apartments at Geni Garden from 12 to 26th June 2019. Why not give it a go, have a look at the Reviews and see what they say out about the experience of ‘Luggering about in the sun’

Clara Restoration – Week 4

She is not quite completed as I had anticipated, and it’s the small and time consuming work on the boat in readiness for her launching in May 2019 that has taken the time.

The fittings have now arrived from Jimmy Green Marine Company to enable its last stage of fit out. The hull graphics have been done, making and paint finish to the aft Lazerette floor is now completed, the main bow anchor Iroko fittings are in progress and finally the important work to the trailer and its road wheel hub bearings.

When I collected Clara 6 weeks ago I was focused on the larger aspects of work to be done. It was only this week when I came to fit the tiller stock on the one piece rudder that I realised that the 25mm dia stainless steel stock was not straight, and further examination shows there has been a weld repair done, quite badly, leaving the stock out of line with the rudder. This is now with a fabricator to make a new stock and fit it to the rudder. I am constantly amazed at what repairs/ refurbishments have been carried out to boats.

How many times have we all seen trailers and caravans with wheel problems on the road side, the majority related to axle issues, especially trailers for boats that have been used as launching trollies? Yes numerous. Clara will undertake a road journey of 2100 miles in early May 2019, via Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, dropping into Albania briefly before entering northern Greece. Quite a journey, so from experience I want to have the peace of mind of knowing that the trailer is 110 % road worthy.

The Bramber trailer is original, some 45 years old, and from assessment of the bearings they are also original from the manufacturer name, so used for short road trips but with many dunkings into sea water on launching, and this is the problem. In the pictures you can see the scoring marks on the tapered ring and the damaged and missing roller bearings, not a bearing set that would withstand this long journey safely.

We have checked the rubber suspension modules and their fixing bolts, cleaned and replaced washers where necessary. Next is to remove the hub assembly from the stub axle, to reveal the 2 tapered roller bearings and the press fit tapered hub ring. It’s the latter that is difficult to remove, as it’s a tight press fit for obvious reasons and care has to be taken in its removal – a workshop environment is in preference for this task. Once removed the hub assembly can be cleaned, grease nipple cleared of hard material before re-making with new components. It is not worth cutting corners in this process. Having your lovely Lugger severely damaged by a wheel and hub shearing off on a highway is not an option.

Check back next week for her final appearance outside with all her spars and rigging fitted, ready to go for May 2019 – you will not believe how stunning she looks. Why not take a look at booking her for your Sailing In The Sun, Lugger Style 2019. If you need further inspiration just take a look at the 2018 client testimonials.