The carpet is now down and - wait for it... the screen surround is in place! Yes, I finally found someone who could do the job - SLS Fabrication in Heathfield, a local company who (amongst many other things) produces screen surrounds for kit cars. It's a good solid aluminium section and as you can guess, I'm really pleased - cheers Alan!
As soon as I'd finished the job, I got a call from John Broom Ltd. - yup, the original builders (who now operate primarily as a plant hire company).
Apparently, they still do odd restoration jobs on their boats and have been following this blog - so I was chuffed to hear from them. They did say that they could supply many of the original 'pattern' parts, including the screen surround - wish I'd known earlier - hey ho...
More kudos came in the form of getting this restoration featured across three issues of 'Boat Mart' magazine - last one coming up in July I think.
Graphics...
Good weather and the right temperature saw the striping tape and boat name applied. I used Funky Monkey for this and though not cheap, they deliver fast and the quality appears very good. They provide all the necessary instructions and even a free applicator tool.
It was a little challenging to get the stripes to meet exactly at the bow - but I hope you think the finished job was worth the effort.
Outboard, Remotes and Trailer...
All expensive items - and even hunting around during the winter 'off' season, I was having trouble turning up anything suitable within our very limited budget. Luckily, we had a change of fortunes when attending the CMBA opening meet at Basildon Motor Boat Museum (great place to visit by the way)!
A fellow member had brought down his Invicta Viper to see if he could find a buyer.
A 60's era 12' 6" speedboat, it had a rip in the hull and had taken on a lot of water, this necessitated drilling holes through the transom to drain it out.
I noticed that it had a good 25HP electric start Johnson on the back of it, all the steering/control cables, the remotes and even a fresh battery.
It was also sitting on an old, but sound, trailer - complete with good wheel bearings. Before long the deal was done.
I've got a friend who's going to take on restoring the shell and I've ended up with all the missing bits for Gina - a good result all round. The only downside is the outboard is a short shaft, but these old Johnsons are (allegedly) easily extended, so it's a question of taking advantage of the CMBA parts store to see if I can turn up the necessary bits.
So, as soon as I've relieved the trailer of its current cargo, it'll be out with the wire brush...
Still plenty left to do then and hopefully I'll be back to updating these pages more regularly.
Many thanks to all of you who have got in touch with encouragement and details of your own projects and don't forget to drop in at the new CMBA forum - well worth a visit.
2 comments:
First class, I,m starting a broom 16ft, need lots of advice: Who did your decking aND WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM POWER SIZE ENGINE TO MAXIMISE PERFORMANCE. nAME Roger Hole 01202 707835 Bournemouth any advice is more than welcome
Most enjoyable article, thank you.
I am thinking of buying a Broom Javlin runabout and want to know the pitfalls of restoration of this typical craft.
Markthearcher
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