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!
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!
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