Bits n Pieces and the 'Bay...

Spent some time doing those annoying little things recently. Unlike the last update, this time there's been a fair amount of effort - but nothing much to show for it. This included strengthening the side 'lockers' by backing them with marine ply, rummaging around in the bilges to fit a new drain plug and pulling apart the old Ultraflex helm unit. This was found kicking around in the bottom of the boat when I bought it and was in need of a good clean up. The unit was stripped down, cleaned out and re-packed with grease. Sadly, the cable was not in such good shape and was not worth trying to rescue. Luckily, eBay came to the rescue and an exact replacement was found in great, unused, condition from the National A1 Marine eBay shop - a bargain - and Jon was a good guy to deal with. The helm unit was duly fitted - so another job out of the way. The steering wheel was another eBay find and will fit in well with the revised colour scheme of White, Teak& Holly, Turquoise and Grey - think Riva!

Moving astern... I couldn't resist the polished finish stainless bilge outlet (found you know where) - overkill maybe, but I think it looks so much better than the standard white plastic offering. One thing I am still seeking inspiration for is how to pick out the raised 'Broom' logo.

I originally thought this would have been a separate item but on my Saturn it is moulded into the hull. If anybody has any ideas I'd be pleased to hear them but I think it's going to be down to a sharp eye and a steady hand...

The weather has put paid to any painting jobs at the moment, but there is still plenty to do and many more bits and pieces to unearth. I'll finish this post with an appeal to any Broom owners out there to please get in touch and to John who left a comment - please let me know how to contact you so we can compare notes.

Rivetting Stuff...

Many boatbuilding jobs take a lot of effort for little visible reward - but this was not one of them!
The Broom uses an overlapping joint to hold the Hull and Deck together. Integral to this is the aluminium section that holds the rubbing strake:

With the existing rivets quickly drilled out, the new section was pre-drilled with evenly spaced holes - carefully calculated to avoid the locations of the old rivets.

It was then a simple matter of offering up the channel, drilling through the holes and popping in an aluminium rivet.


In no time at all the section was fitted - the results far outweighed the effort involved!

Paint and Cradles...

Following on from my previous post, I flatted down the hull with wet or dry and gave it another coat with the roller, laying it off as I went - it was definitely worthwhile. OK - it's not perfect, but most acceptable - I've even had the comment "You really did that by hand...wow" which did bring a glow of satisfaction:-)

I let the hull stand for a couple of weeks so the paint had time to cure and harden off. During this time some cradles were knocked up ready to support the boat when it was turned back over. These were lovingly crafted by my friend and neighbour Tony, (whose vast collection of power tools I have to admit to plundering regularly) - thanks mate!

With the hull paint dry it was time to turn her over and my good lady wife employed her press-gang tactics to 'rustle some muscle' to assist. The whole operation went smoothly (I like to put it down military precision in the planning stage).

The elegant lines of the Broom design are shining through now

One of the next jobs is to replace the aluminium channel which holds the rubbing strake. The original had been removed and long lost (obviously leaving 100+ rivets needing to be drilled out...) An almost perfect match for the section was found from 'Seals+ Direct' and duly ordered.

Luckily the original finishing caps for this were lurking in the box of bits - 1 x for the bow and 2 x for the stern corners. Needless to say, these chrome on brass parts were in pretty bad shape. I looked into the possibility of getting these re-chromed - but this was not really an option due to time and expense. Instead, I cleaned them up, filled the gouges with an epoxy filler, sprayed them with aluminium paint and gave them plenty of coats of lacquer.


So... we got the paint on just in time as it's getting too cold now to get a decent finish - and I'm off to find out about the wonderful world of pop-riveting!

Paint!

With all the repairs made it was time to prepare the hull for paint. The existing finish was flatted down and dings and bad scrapes filled. In keeping with my usual practice a coat of primer was applied, followed by further filling and fairing.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I don't consider myself to be a great painter. I used a close cell foam roller to get the first gloss coat of Blakes Enamel on (decided to go with good old white in the end...). This went OK, but there was no way was it going to be a 'mirror' finish. I decided to apply the next coat the same way but 'laying it off' with a brush in the recommended manner. Hmmm, maybe a slight improvement - but I think the use of the roller for the previous coat had produced too much in the way of orange peel. To be honest, it's not a bad finish and would probably look quite acceptable when polished up.

However, I've decided as there is never going to be a better opportunity than now to see if I can improve on it, I'm going to flat down everything above the waterline with wet or dry and then I'll have another go using the 'laying off' procedure - let's hope the weather stays OK...

I'll keep you posted!

Over she goes...

With the help of some of the local 'muscle', we carried the boat out of the (ahem) 'boat-shed' and rolled her over - using some pontoon fenders to cushion the blow (thanks Tony...) - it was then carried back in to the shed and placed on the same fenders, the front benefiting from the addition of a judiciously placed milk crate.

This was the first opportunity to inspect the hull/keel in detail. Remember the hull was said to be 'in good condition'? Well, apart from a very suspicious repair it didn't appear too bad - just the usual scrapes and dings that are to be expected for a neglected vessel of the 70's. The repair was to the keel and consisted of a couple of sheets of chopped strand mat (CSM) laid over the paintwork and soaked in resin. A little gentle persuasion with a screwdriver and the whole lot just broke away revealing... a hole! There was also evidence of a previous, but much more substantial (and correctly executed) repair.

As I have said elsewhere, these boats were constructed with a sealed 'buoyancy' tank, making access to the interior of the hull impossible without opening an access point through the floor. I had made this even more difficult by adding a further wooden floor - hey ho...

So there I was, an upside down Broom with a hole and no easy way to access the hull internally. An evening trawling around the net threw up a couple of useful articles about patching a hull from the outside and I decided to have a go at this option. To cut a long story short, the hole was opened up to ease access and the surrounding area chamfered down to produce a 'dish', everything was then cleaned with acetone. Luckily, the structure was dry - if there were any moisture it would have to have been dried out completely before work could start. I made a patch consisting of layers of glass cloth and CSM, this was soaked with resin as was the hole. I threaded some old bootlaces(!) through the patch and introduced the whole thing through the hole, using the bootlaces to pull it up and manoeuvre it into place. When it had almost 'set off' I started building up layers of CSM, each overlapping the last and also including a strengthening layer of glass cloth. Finally, the whole area was overlaid with a fine glass 'tissue'. I tried to get the contours as close as possible - but a little light filling was inevitable, again this was done just prior to the whole lot setting off - in order to provide a chemical bond between all the components (well that's what I've been told).

With the repair complete, it was sanded down and a light coat of primer rolled over it to reveal imperfections. A little further sanding and filling and the job was done.

The patched area is now clean and smooth and the repair appears to have been highly successful.

The moral of this story is to check that hull/keel for bodged repairs. It's only taken a paragraph or so to write this up but it was a couple of days of hard graft to get the thing properly repaired and seaworthy!

Planning Ahead

Remember those Bow-rail supports? Well they're all finished and the rails themselves were given a dose of steel wool and elbow grease. Couldn't resist balancing them in place to get an idea of how things will look:

...and while we're still dreaming of the future, heres a small sample of the Teak and Holly Laminate that will be used to cover the foredeck:

Hopefully we'll find a matching Teak only version for the sidedecks. At the moment the plan is to finish her in Blakes Pearl White, with a stripe (as per the original) in 'Bordeaux'. The plan is to fit out the inside in White, Grey and Bordeaux with a few highly varnished burr walnut veneered panels for the dashboard area.

Tents and Topsides...

The English summer continues and over the past few weeks the most effort has gone into pumping out collected rainwater and debris hurled at the Broom blown from the trees by the high winds. Outdoor boatbuilding has its drawbacks - something had to be done.

Trawling ebay turned up the perfect solution - a party tent! Although the driveway now looks as if we are hosting a small wedding reception at least work can carry on whatever the weather as the Broom has its own 'boat-shed'. The tent is pretty substantial and since its erection has guaranteed that there has been no rain and unbroken sunshine. One bright spark did point out that it cost more than the boat though...

The first job in the new boat-shed was to finish tidying up the transom well. This required some cosmetic filling, sanding, filling etc. Finally, a 'reveal' coat of Blakes white primer, followed by more detail filling and a light sanding. There will be more work in this area as fittings for the engine and steering control cables will need to be made along with the stainless strengthening plate referred to in a previous post.

The (almost) completed transom well
and the slide in cover that will hide the fuel/battery etc.

The rest of the 'topsides' have also undergone a similar treatment.

It'll look worse before it looks better - Don't be disheartened!

Plenty of sanding, detail filling and the use of fingertips to detect any rough areas - and it's ready for a primer/reveal coat.
Finally, following a wash down and a wipe over with thinners and a tack cloth, (the boat, not me...) the paint is applied. I have to admit I'm no great shakes with a brush and have found I get the best results from a close cell foam roller - these are also cheap and 'chuckable' (hands up all those that enjoy cleaning brushes). When this first coat of primer is applied it makes all the tedious preparation worthwhile - it's beginning to look like a boat!

Topsides in primer

Apart from the odd small job, work is now going to stop on the topsides. The plan is to slide the boat out, flip it over, carry it back in to the 'shed' and carefully place it on milk-crates / car-tyres / whatever... in order that work can start on the hull (and I bet that won't be as simple as it sounds).
Rummaging around on the ground I've already discovered a small - but not very well done - patch in the hull - let's hope there's nothing too nasty under there.
The plan is to complete the hull entirely - right down to final finish, flip the boat back over, place it on a cradle and complete the topsides and fit out - simple. When this is finally done, the overcoating times for the topsides primer will have been exceeded, but this will be lightly rubbed down and a futher coat applied. I'll keep you posted!

Take a seat

Marvellous! a day without rain - the perfect opportunity to get the rest of the major 'carpentry' out of the way. A decision was made to have all four seats facing forward, so a 'podium' for the rear seats was constructed.

This will take a pair of the readily available 'Plastimo' seats in white vinyl. They fold forward allowing easy access to fuel etc.

Front seating has yet to be finalised - so it's down to keeping an eye on ebay and trawling round a few boat-jumbles for inspiration. The old moulded supports for the front seating were also enclosed, providing a solid platform on which to mount the seats - all looking a lot tidier now.

One thing that has caused some head scratching is the way all these seats seem to be mounted. Typically, they are bolted through from the underneath, so if I fix all the top surfaces in place there's no way to get the seat attached - hmmm...

A thing of beauty...

Well, sometimes it's good to plan ahead and when this 6" Cleat turned up on ebay how could I resist?

From a classic sixties Chris-Craft, it has now found it's way from Florida to Sussex - just a little more work to do before the final fitting!

Bilge, buoyancy and the back end...

The Broom has a sealed floor, the void between that and the hull acting as a buoyancy tank. On my example this had a large hole hacked into it allowing water into the void.

I'm not sure why this was done, but I imagine if the boat was subject to a lot of 'incoming' the occupants might end up with wet feet. I decided to re-instate the buoyancy tank and filled the hole with epoxied marine ply, which was then faired in and finally sealed with glass tape. Various other holes in this area were also given the same treatment.

Whilst rummaging around under here it was time to inspect the transom more closely. Having restored two boats of similar age and construction, I'm very aware that transoms are always the weak area, replacement being a major job. Plenty of stabbing and probing with a screwdriver revealed the wood seemed to be quite sound - apart from a little 'softening' around the engine-well drain. There were no signs of flexing or cracking so I made a decision to 'go with it'. I did take the opportunity to strengthen the inside of the transom with 12mm marine ply, epoxied, screwed and glassed in place. The screws bit hard and deep - which was a good sign! I'll be fabricating a new stainless transom plate for the outside of the hull and an additional plate for the engine-well to provide even greater strength. Half a pot of Danboline bilge paint was discovered amongst the rusty paint tins in the shed, so after a quick clean and degrease this was duly applied.

This compartment (containing fuel, battery, bilge pump etc.) will ultimately be enclosed. I think the reason the transom was in fair condition is that this boat seems to have lived most of its life covered, on a trailer.

Rain Stops Play

Well, the wonderful British summer continues, so one of the 'indoor' jobs...

The original supports for the Bow Rails were found - again, looking a little the worst for wear. They'll soon be back to their original shape after a spot of dentistry:

Getting there...

A New Floor...

...or should that be sole? Let's not get too nautical here! Anyway, it was decided it would be better all round to tidy and strengthen the existing, rather hacked about floor by overlaying it. The modifications to the existing floor where the seats had been removed were checked for water-tightness and re-glassed where necessary. A new floor was fashioned from 12mm Marine Ply and epoxy coated on both sides.

This was then laid on a bed of foam expanding filler with marine ply offcuts filling any large voids to avoid any flexing.

A Closer Look

Well here it is in all it's glory!

The first job was to clear out all the rubbish and get down to a bare GRP shell. Rummaging around in the boat turned up a Teleflex steering system and a pair of original bow rails in very good shape. Pretty much everything else was consigned to the tip!

This model originally had back-to-back seating, which somebody had decided to modify. This involved removing half the seat podium - hence the untidy floor!

The deck was completely covered in very thick anti-slip paint. This was removed with a chemical stripper - being extremely careful to avoid any more than momentary contact with gel coat! During this operation a bizarre discovery was made - there was no gel coat on the deck surfaces - just bare GRP. This caused a fair amount of head scratching and was a bit of a mystery... well it transpires that some of these Saturns had a laminated surface!

A decision was made to re-instate this using a teak and holly laminate - should look good.

Any remaining hardware was removed and filling and fairing on all the numerous holes got underway. A two part epoxy filler was used, with the larger ones first being back-filled with GRP mat.

Welcome Aboard...

Greetings all! I'm here to keep an on-line diary of the restoration of my Broom 'Saturn' Speedboat. Built by Jack Broom of Brundall, on the Norfolk Broads. There are still plenty of these craft around - although some earlier models are looking a little tired now.

My boat was puchased for 70GBP - I bought her 'blind' from this picture...

The seller sounded genuine and said the hull and transom were solid - he was honest and I was lucky!

I have to say that I am not an experienced boatbuilder - but this will be my third 'project' and I learn something new every time. I know there are many fellow 'backyard' builders and restorers out there - hopefully you may learn something from my mistakes - and any exchange of ideas and advice would be welcomed.