Restoration

This week I am looking at the renewal of the wheel bearings, followed by the replacement of the stub axles on the old Snipe trailer. This model trailer had a transverse leaf spring as its method of suspension.

What I need is not just another pump of grease into the hub but to totally dismantle the hubs and tapered roller bearings. These bearings are a standard 1 inch stub axle with a taper so they can be adjusted by tightening up the ‘Castellated’ nuts which pushes the hub and bearing further onto the tapered shaft.

For this procedure make sure you have sufficient supports under the trailer when the trailer frame is jacked up. With the wheel off it’s then a straightforward process to remove the grease cap. This is where you will find the only nut that holds the hub together. The Castellated nut will have a split pin through its recesses. With this pin removed the nut will be easily wound off and then the hub complete can be pulled off.

With a little bit of cleaning we now have the old hub, bearings and tapered rings all quite worn. The option in this instance is to re-use the existing hubs and fit a new bearing kit, all readily available and not expensive.

The existing hub should be thoroughly cleaned in Paraffin with a small paint brush and dried with paper towel. Next you will no doubt notice any marks on the stub axle. This stub axle is a model with a rubber Indespension unit rather than my old Snipe trailer with a leaf spring and it’s bolted on stub axles. I have used a very fine Emery Paper to remove these marks, if one has ‘Score’ marks or ridges on the stub axle then you do have a problem and the stub axle and it’s complete rubber suspension unit will have to be changed.

However, the hub now is ready for the initial grease to be pumped in very lightly then slide the hub back on the shaft, then its large washer and castellated nut. It’s best to fit the wheel now before taking up the slack in the bearing. Lightly tighten the castellated nut and spin the wheel so it beds in. When it gets to the stage of a resistance and drag being felt, stop and fit the split pin through one of its external recesses. Complete the other side of the trailer, pump a good waterproof high resistant grease and take the boat trailer for a drive over several miles to bed the bearings in.

On return, jack up, take the grease cap off, remove the split pin and re-tighten, you will find the bearing has got a little slack. This can be checked by flexing the wheel from side to side; it’s good when there is no play in the wheel in the axle.

As an alternative to re-building the hubs with a bearing kit one can purchase a complete hub with fully fitted bearings. For Tiki I have opted for the new fully assembled hubs with the new stub axles, it’s a long tow down to the Greek Ionian Sea in mid April!

These Snipe trailers with the heavy transverse leaf springs (as opposed to the present Indespension compressed hard rubber units) I find are a much softer ride for the boat-laden trailer. The later models tends be a very hard bumpy ride and moreover it’s impossible to see inside these rubber units as to their state of ‘Compression’, very important in monitoring their state of road worthiness.

With the trailer fully jacked up and supported on axle stands, Steve my metal fabricator had the road wheels off and hubs removed exposing the stub axles. Then the matter of grinding off the old mild steel nuts which allowed the removal of the three bolts and the stub axle from the end of the spring.

The offending original stub axles were bolted on with mild steel M10 bolts and consequently the nuts were very badly decayed. Once ground off the bolts were easy to remove. With the stub axles removed I now have the end of the spring to check and clean. They are heavy duty 12 mm leaf springs and these are in good order. Do not be misled by the dull colour of these springs. In the high temperature process that’s needed to produce a spring from standard mild steel the colour and nature of the spring changes.

The old stub axles were a much lighter section to the new ones and from these original ones Steve was able to copy the hole positions and spacing onto the new axles. They were not in as bad a condition as I expected and with a clean up and new bolts would have been roadworthy for standard use and distances. However, with the 1850 miles in 5 days I felt it prudent to be safe rather than chancing it.

These bearing were certainly bad. The outer needle roller bearing was heavily marked and scored and evidence that salt water had entered the hub with deterioration of the cage that held the bearing together. The inner bearing on the right was in very much the same poor condition.

Both needle roller bearings travel up against the inner ‘Race Sleeve’, these surfaces were also badly marked and ‘pitted’. As a comparison this is the new hub showings its inner ‘Race Sleeve’.

This layout is the complete kit required to change the stub axles with bearings and new hubs. Not an expensive task but one which gives peace of mind when towing one’s beloved Drascombe to the waters edge and another adventure.

Returning briefly to the initial removal of the hub, firstly take out the split pin that holds the castellated nut on the shaft. Then you are able to wind the nut off the shaft followed by pulling the hub with bearings off the shaft. There are times that the bearings might be very firm on the shaft as I experienced on this one where the inner bearing was left on the shaft.

Returning back to the new hubs, with the bearings inserted I’m able to slide the hub unit onto the main shaft, place the outer large washer on before winding on the castellated nut.

With the nut on to a pressure that the hub is a firm fit but not locking the hub from rotating, grease is pumped in via the fitted small nipple. This nipple is also used to periodically top up the grease.

For the moment this is enough grease when it shows at the front of the hub and I can fit the grease cap to cover the bearing. With the wheel fitted, and from the back one can see the new stub axle and hub, a much healthier look compared to the old unit.

The final stage of adjusting the bearing I cannot document this week, I will have to take the trailer and boat for a 5 mile or so drive to bed in the bearing on the shaft. The process then is to re-jack up the trailer so the road wheel clears the floor, remove the grease cap and tighten the shaft nut. The tension one needs is to be able to spin the wheel freely and by checking the lateral play in the wheel for slackness – that’s from side to side. Once you have the right balance the split pin can be inserted.

For my trip to Greece I will repeat this last process of taking the trailer on a short road trip and another bearing adjustment. Again I must emphasise that this checking of the bearing tightness should be a regular consideration. Before leaving in April I will be applying more grease to the hub and with travelling over 380 miles each day I give them a short pump with the grease gun each day.

I do hope this has helped cover a topic that is very rarely mentioned, yet it’s so important for the safety of yourself, your boat and other road users.

My very best in you ongoing maintenance work on your Drascombe boat

My proposal for this week 9 blog was to complete the changing of the stub axles on its 40-plus year old Snipe trailer. However, my Hernia condition is not allowing me to lie under the trailer to grind the old bolts off, so it’s a matter of waiting for my steel fabricator to spare me a day to undertake this work for me.

Instead, I am now going to move on with the repairs and restoration of the original main and Mizen masts. Sadly the Gaff and Bumpkin were well past restoring and new ones have been pulled out of the JLJ stock, all fully varnished and ready for fitting.

The main mast illustrated identifies clearly the very decomposed and rotten foot of the mast which will have to be cut back by 60 mm, treated and then remoulded. The main body of the mast, which is Spruce, is sound apart from the blemishes under the badly cracked varnish finish caused by poor if no regular cleaning back and annual varnish applications.

I have never understood the practice of using leather strips or pieces of thick leather to act as a protection collar for the masts when they are up against the main mast thwart or when the Mizen mast if set into its slot in the Mizen / rudder step plate. To compound this use they use brass nails hammered into the mast to secure these leather strips. Just crazy! When this leather gets wet it goes extremely hard and cracks, so defeating the reason for having a soft and pliable material to act as a protection for the masts. When removed it’s clear the damage that has been caused by the copper tacks.

The last picture shows a much simpler method to make a protective collar for the spars. It’s a 4 mm braid whipping on the main mast, and for the Mizen step/rudder guide I use a 3 mm white line, giving the Mizen mast a nice snug fit into the access hole.

At the mast head was just a basic stainless ring floating on the top button pin that had connected to it the forestay and two shrouds. I have now replaced this with our JLJ mast head band, such an improvement.

The 2 mast head pulleys were in 2 units set in either side of the mast. These have been removed and I have mortised out a slot for a 59 mm Selden sheave running on a 12 mm spindle. Being a larger diameter sheave it’s easier to haul on the main halyard.

The mast has been repaired and sanded back just leaving a few surface blemishes, but in good order and ready for spray varnish finishing. Finally the mast varnish finish is completed and cured, with just the staining of the nail holes evident, however this is covered by my whipped collar as illustrated earlier.

I had the same problem with the Mizen mast in terms of damage from the nails that were hammered in to fit the leather collar. These nail holes were infilled with an epoxy resin before sanding back.

The completed mast with its whipped collar is such an improvement.

The Gaff was an original with 2 plywood cheeks screwed and fitted either side of the gaff to act as a support and guide when set against the main mast and lifted into its position. Alongside it is the new JLJ Gaff and stainless claw.

There has been a previous poor repair attempted to the original Gaff, a splice joint poorly executed to the side of the Gaff. The ragged joint has been infilled with an epoxy putty, and if any serious pressure were placed on the Gaff the whole jointed area would have come apart and the mainsail would have been flogging violently around the mast. Very dangerous indeed!

Very much the same poor repair attempted to the Bumpkin, a bad split has been glued back together and a bolt has been recessed through the base of the Bumpkin close to the pin.

With all the spars now completely spray varnish finished it’s time to fit the mast head band, the foresail halyard, the shrouds and the cruising pennants. The mast is all ready to drop on the boat’s keel step and secure to the mast thwart.

Whilst you will have noticed in previous illustrations I have fitted Belay pins to the main mast thwart, these are just decorative and use the pins to hang the slack of the halyards on, not load bearing. Both halyards are secured to two open-horned cleats at the mast base.

At an earlier stage I have illustrated the new tiller and rudder assembly. The attached illustrations show you as a comparison the original tiller and adapted extension.

I have replaced the rudder with a new solid JLJ model and a refurbished knuckle joint that came off the original rudder. This is now complete with a gooseneck tiller and extension connected to the knuckle head of the tiller with a bronze tiller head.

My final topic of this blog is the safety of the boat on the trailer when being towed long distances and remembering it will have all its gear and engine in the boat, this increases its weight considerably. I have seen owners using cargo webbing straps thrown over the boat and winched hard down onto the trailer rollers. Yes, there is a certain amount of stability for the hull of the boat on the trailer, but the pressure is in the wrong place and direction.

I consider the outrigged rollers only as a means of launching and retrieving the boat, not for them to take the weight of the boat when in transit. There is considerable ‘rocking’ movement from side to side and these webbing straps just damage the Gunwale rail. The outrigged rollers put pressure on the thin area of hull, on occasions punching holes through the hull.

One’s first consideration is to ensure the keel band is fully supported on the central rollers and pads. Ignore these outrigged trailer rollers for towing long distances.

Make up a simple former/frame to the shape of the underside of the hull. This can be bolted to the ‘TBar’ cross member of the trailer and has a protective pad ( piece of old carpet ) to protect the surface of the hull. In effect you have produced a cradle which the hull sits on. These two formers are in turn bolted to the cross member of the chassis of the trailer.

Then for holding the hull onto this cradle I have these ‘hook plates’ made in stainless steel, one each side to clip over the Gunwale rail, and the securing line pulls down on the chassis, so holding the hull nice and snug on the cradle with the weight distribution being taken not on single rollers but the full edges of the shaped padded cradle. I have trailed many boats over to the Ionian Islands by this method, covering a distance each way of 1850 miles without an issue.

Please keep watching. My next Week 10 rebuild blog of Tiki will focus on

1. The stub axle removal.
2. The replacement of hubs, bearings and wheels
3. The making up of the main sheet with blocks and the lifting gear for the centre plate.

Tiki Week 10 – The Trailer

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:

1. The bolted on stub axles.
2. The hub and bearing set that connects it to the wheel.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Tiki Week 9 – Restoring masts and spars

It’s getting quite exciting now that I’m into Week 7 of working on Tiki. With the exception of a Christmas break and a few days away on other commitments, it’s been full on with just myself working on the project.

There are only 13 weeks to go before we leave Wales for the long overland drive down to the Ionian Sea and a launch which will start Tiki’s inaugural charter life with Dragon Drascombe.
Martin, my pal and part time colleague who runs the mail order side of Just Lugger Joinery&more when I’m away in the summer, took a deep breath and commented when he saw the state she started on day one of this rebuild “That’s certainly one heck of project you have got yourself into for this coming winter”. Yes, looking back it did appear a daunting task ahead, but as it’s my twelfth rebuild and with all the acquired knowledge and experience of producing the joinery and parts for Just Lugger Joinery&more, it is very manageable.

I’m returning briefly to the laminating of the engine mounting bracket illustrated in this picture.
I am still convinced that this style of engine bracket and stern deck moulding needs a ‘re-think’. these 4-stroke engines are heavy, and with the power thrust they produce there still remains a weakness in its application. But we are were we are for now, and my recommendations are to replace ones existing bracket with a thicker laminated unit and to ‘beef up’ the moulding that it is attached to with my 12 mm marine ply sections as illustrated in my blog week 6.

Moving on to the laminating process, I’m using the existing Teak board that came off Tiki at a just under 30 mm in thickness. This teak board was in good physical condition, no splits or major defects, so by re-machining it to 21 mm then choosing a section of Iroko from my stock at 21 mm they are laminated face to face using West Resin as a bonding agent. It’s now ‘Bomb Proof’. Once made up and left to cure overnight it’s ready for reshaping and moulding.

Moving on I can now use the original shape of the Teak section to create the new thicker shape and mould all edges and produce the existing holes through the slab for the fitting bolts. This results in a completed engine bracket along with its JLJ fitting kit.

On one’s own it can be a little tricky to fit the bracket. I start with aligning the first bolt, which will support the bracket. Then move across to the second top bolt, use a long flat blade 10 mm drill bit to locate or open out the existing hole in the stern moulding, and the new hole through the added ply packer.

Once the two top long bolts are in place the lower ones are straightforward and it’s a question then of squeezing into the Lazarette, in the case of the MK2 and 3 to fit the large washers and nuts. For the MK1 one just needs long arms to reach in from the top of the deck and fit these nuts and washers.

It’s so important to have these nuts well tightened because with the vibration and weight of the engine you do not want the bracket to get loose and cause the bolts to enlarge the holes in the glass fibre mould. I keep an eye on these holding bolts on a regular basis, tweaking them up where necessary; it’s prudent advice.

A fitting task that I did not cover in Week 6 was the fitting of the port side centre plate casing facia that holds the hauling rope jammer to the ribs of the centre plate structure. With the pressure on this jammer it cannot be held with just a screw into the Iroko facia, but has to be a 6 mm machine screw onto a captured nut at the back of the rib structure. It’s much easier on the Mk 2 & 3 as it can be accessed via the bilge pump opening.

With the hole through the rib done and a ‘captured’ nut in place behind the rib I’m able to present the port side facia complete with the jamming cleat to it and tighten. The remainder of the fittings are 30 mm brass heavy gauge screws, and they only hold the facias in place.

My following illustrations show the following pieces of joinery in place.

The Mizen step/rudder guide in place. It is noted that I have reverted to using the original design of this piece, it being to have a full rudder guide made of black polycarbonate and no bronze rudder guide.

The forward main mast Thwart complete with our freshly turned belay pins for rope storage use only. The anchor pad is forward and this will be seen again in week 8 blog complete with its anchor, chain and warp with storage bag in place.

It’s time now to start fitting accessories etc. This is a stern kedge anchor chain and warp bag.

The cockpit now has 2 storage bags fitted, one each side. It is now noted that the Lazarette deck seat lids can be finally fitted with their location studs.

Finally I’m able to do the fitting of the stern transom board. Having been pre-fitted, its a straightforward task and since it has had well over 15 ‘Oil treatment’ procedures it’s important it fits easily, and so it does with all the 6 heavy gauge screws tightened.

While in this area I have taken from the JLJ stock a newly made and varnished Bumpkin with a 4mm whipping as a protective collar applied. It now needs to be pre-fitted for size, and the transom hole lightly ‘tweaked’ to allow a good secure fit with no play for the Bumpkin to move from side to side, yet to be able to fit and retrieve the Bumpkin from an inboard position. I have used a wood rasp to ‘tweak’ the corners and edges of this hole. They will be re-oiled over the next few days.

Yes, the Bumpkin is a good secure fit within the transom board yet it has a good slide movement from an inboard position.

To complete the movement the fairlead eye for the Mizen sheet clears the transom access hole. Two good jobs completed.

Looking now to Week 8, I will be concentrating on the fitting of the JLJ cockpit side hatches and offering advice and tips how this procedure is achieved, given the irregular shape of the cockpit side walls.

These made-up framed hatches with their catches fitted make so much difference to the appearance of the boat and they become safe and secure storage areas.

Please keep accessing the website and follow the rebuild of Tiki. The hull will be completed as planned by 20 January, followed by 2 weeks of work on the main and Mizen masts which I’m restoring. The Gaff was an old short and much patched up Mk1 gaff so this has been added to my firewood bin.

Tiki Week 8 – Ready for the Water