All of our Luggers have been lovingly restored in our workshops in South Wales and you can follow some of their stories here. In 2022 we launched Just Lugger Joinery as a service to other Lugger enthusiasts, providing ready-made parts and instructional pages and videos for you to do your own restoration work.
Refurbishment in the Ionian
After over 10 seasons of being out on charter some of my Luggers were starting to look a little sad and faded. The sun, sea and use on charter takes it toll so some repairs and replacements were necessary
Rebuild and Upgrade of Tiki
Follow the complete story of the rebuilding and upgrade of Lugger ‘Tiki’ using components from our sister company Just Lugger Joinery.
Tiki Week 10
I now need to look at the renewal of the wheel bearings, followed by the replacement of the stub axles on the old Snipe trailer.
Tiki Week 9
This week I will focus on the repairs and restoration of the masts and spars, currently in a sad state of repair
Tiki Week 8
This is the day one waits for, getting the boat out of the workshop in all her glory. Those who have followed the Tiki blog over the past 8-plus weeks will recognise the complete transformation since the start of this comprehensive rebuild.
Tiki Week 7
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.
Tiki Week 6
For this week 6 blog before the short Christmas break I made a priority to complete the last of the minor glassfibre repairs and paint finishing so I could concentrate on the pleasurable part of this rebuild with adding all the new finished joinery and fittings. Firstly, I mentioned previously that the four 50 mm…
Tiki Week 5
With all the pre-fitting of new joinery, the Keelband was the last task which I jumped forward to document so there was continuity for the complete process. I must illustrate the last 2 components that are to be replaced. Original centre plate New JLJ centre plate This is the existing centre plate. Looking at its…
Tiki Week 4
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…
Tiki Week 3
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.
Tiki Week 2
Like all projects a good clean start is necessary to have a sound platform to work from. Tiki is no exception, she is over 50 years old and in need of serious repair work and updating with modern materials and bonding agents. So let’s commence with a full strip out of all joinery, junk and…
Tiki Week 1
Lugger ‘Tiki’ is one of the early Luggers produced by Honnor Marine in 1968/69. It was quite basic and more-or-less the front runner, and experimental in terms of the early use of glassfibre/resin to produce an inexpensive high volume production open leisure craft. This model was soon to be changed and upgraded to the Mk2…
Angie rigged and ready to go
After eight weeks, Angie has turned out a truly magnificent Lugger, totally rebuilt and with modifications to suit her new life in the Med including full Bimini sun shade and picnic set. It will be a pleasure to have her moored on the apartment jetty at Geni Garden Apartments, awaiting one’s desire and time to…
Angie – Week 4
So at last, Friday 28 May 2021! Angie is rolled out into the sunshine in Wales, a very exciting day to see the endeavours of the past 7 weeks come to fruition. You will note that I have managed to straighten and clean up the original 1967 builder’s plate. She is now completed with just…
Angie – Weeks 2/3
Whilst acknowledging her age now since she was built 53 years ago, it is evident that she has been used extensively, based on the damage and repairs that have been undertaken, some reasonable and others at best negligent in terms of safety of the craft. But yes, she has survived and will be of a…
Angie – Restoration Begins
So here she is on 10 April 2021, at last in Wales ready for work to commence. I’ve removed most of the clutter and debris that came with the purchase, it wasn’t even cleaned out! One thing I had not realised is that she did not have a Bumpkin stern spar, or rather there were…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Clara Restoration – Week 3
So here we are at the end of week 3. All the spray finishing has been completed to the cockpit in Manilla with the hull lower section in white and the top plank in a grey, and she’s looking good. The next stage was the fitting of the Iroko hatches and centre board casing cheeks.…
Clara Restoration – Week 2
The hard work on preparing the hull is over, with all the masking up done, and by Tuesday the upper plank was in grey and the lower part in white, all left to cure for 48 hours. Next was to prep the underwater area up to the white hull before roller-painting with a Seajet primer.…
Clara Restoration – Week 1
Clara with a hull number of 937 would have been an early 1970 boat and a Mk 1 model, still with the original short Gaff. Despite being a little dirty from some 4 years of being unused and left undercover, her hull gel coat was original, very little damage apart from some scratches. The early…
Clara – the refit begins
So this is Clara, an early 70’s Lugger bought just in the last week or so. She was owned and sailed as a part of a University Marine Studies programme in Cardiff, predominantly in Cardiff bay and the Bristol Channel. She has been lightly used and in a clean condition, requiring now to be stripped…