16ft Dinghy restoration begins

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Keith66
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16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

I have made a start on my unidentified 16 footer, might be 30 years late but better late than the bonfire!
Got her in the workshop yesterday & she is blocked up of the floor, got to let her dry out a bit but she is now pretty clean.
I am trying not to think about the thousands of rivets required.
Considering the length of time she has spent laying in the weeds she isnt too bad, deck beams all need replacing, A fair few ribs are suspect but mainly in localised area round the centre board case & under the mast. The oak keel is badly worn & split fwd so will have to be replaced. It will be fun bending the new one in as there is quite a prounounced rocker in it, it will be a steaming job for sure.
The rock elm Hog seems to be sound so far & the centreboard case is repairable.
This boat being carvel is a bit of a learning curve for me as i am used to building & repairing clinker boats much easier!
Keith66
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

I have spent some days this week laminating a full set of new deck beams for her and building a cradle to hold her straight & level. I am surprised that she has not gone out of shape at all. I suppose you have to have a bit of luck once in a while!
Rupert
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Rupert »

I've always liked laminating things like deck beams and tillers - getting the curved shape is somehow satifying, even if getting the glue off the hands takes a while!
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Keith66
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

All the fwd deck beams are now in and the kingplank is fitted. I think i was lucky to get away with the rot, it had just started in a couple of the old beams & in another year would have been into the beamshelf & sheerstrake in which case i think it would have been currtains!
Keith66
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

I recently bought a large chunk of English Oak, for the keel etc, got it from Lenham Oak near Ashford in kent cut quarter sawn at 17ft long.
Today i cut it roughly to size & ran it through the thicknesser, as its still pretty green i have left it slightly over size, mightly fine bit of timber clear as you like.
Now got to get the old one of so i can transfer its dimensions across.
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Nessa »

We need pictures! I do love the sound of the oak.
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Rupert
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Rupert »

Any pictures? Better to be able to run one's hand over a nice piece of wood, but looking at it is nice, too!
Snap Nessa, it just bounced my posting coz you'd sent one!
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Keith66
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

Got the old keel out this afternoon it was fastened to the hog with about 30 1 3/4" x 16 brass screws, half of them came out the others heads snapped of so i had to carefully drill some away & chisel others with a fine cold chisel ground from an old screwdriver.
Fortunately the original hog is hard as iron & sound. Centreboard case is also ok you may just see the 5/16" through bolts that fasten it right through, i have never seen this on a dinghy before, very accurate drilling!
Heres the link to the Photobucket album, i will be sticking more on there as i go.
It gives a good idea of her shape, similar to the Int 14s but beamier, still have no clue whatsoever what she is!

http://s641.photobucket.com/albums/uu136/muddundee/
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Ed
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Ed »

Did we never work out what she was?

For my money....I would say it looks like an Uffa Fox design, especially with the tumblehome.

Robert Veale brought a North Norfolk 16 to the Uffa Fox Centenary Meeting.

and your boat looks just like I remember that.

See: http://www.uffafox.com/lively.htm

Any other thoughts?

cheers

eib
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Keith66
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

Thats the closest bet so far but mine is wider at 6ft beam, which is a fair bit. She had a bowsprit sticking outboard by about 3ft as well & this appeared to be original as the deck was unaltered. Her mainsail had number two on it & an exact sister ship No 3 was still in existence at Oulton Broad some 20 years ago, so it looks like she had at least two other sisters. The funny thing was nobody at Oulton knew what the other boat was or who built her either!
Keith66
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Re: 16ft Dinghy restoration begins

Post by Keith66 »

An update for you all. She has been sitting in the shed all summer while a succession of paying jobs got done.
Got the new keel marked out a couple of weeks ago & cut it out with the skil saw, final shaping done & fitted in one day. I re assembled the centreboard case temporarily with studding & bolted the lot up so the new keel seasons in place. The bronze screws were eye wateringly expensive but heh ho i dont expect i will have to do the job again! Before the case was fitted i took the opportunity to fit some grown oak floors under the mast position & at the front of the case.
The new keel was slathered in a mix of linseed oil & stockholm tar & bedded on evo mastic oil based sealant. No epoxy on this old girl!
Shes out of the shed for a month while a GRP rowing skiff gets built but will be back in for the winter. Must say i far prefer the smell of the stockholm tar & linseed oil over the styrene!
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