The day has come....... We are going sailing

After weeks of work we have now got a fully working boat. Our friend Tom went up the main mast today to return the jib halyard to it's rightful place... Not the deck! After a few failed attempts to launch it properly we have the furling gear all set up and ready to go. We have set up the staysail halyards and sheets and even better it all works.

We just need to lash on the small mizzen sail to the yard and we are go..... The forecast is giving us F4 - 5 from the east so it will be sloppy but hey who cares. I am taking timelapse photos and videomso will try to hash them together and put them on our FB page and website.

Wish us Luck.  

Blog soon

New images added of relaunch day.... Latest Update!

It has taken a little while but here are some of the photos of Our Daddy's relaunch day back in april, complete with it's motley crew. I hope you will agree that she looks beautiful on the water in Galmpton Creek. You can view all of them on the website HERE, thanks to Sylvia and Dennis for the images.

Latest news is that we have about two days work to go to have her ready for her first sail with us and we will be able to put up the lot, after months of stripping and rebuilding blocks we are getting very close to Sailing day. If it goes well we will be out as often as possible getting some air in her lungs to make sure that she is ready for when we hope to take her down to Looe in October to meet some of the Pengelly family who actually used to own her. We will be posting up dates for the 2015 season very soon so do keep checking the website.

Blog soon.

We have been a bit lax in our updaes....

Apologies for that..... Work has been progressing on 'Our D' after we bought her back round to Brixham in April.... has it been that long! Unfortunately as we also run an RYA training centre the work has been a little slow but we are getting there. When we took Our D over she was in a pretty sorry state, unloved for a few years and blocks were seized up, ropes were chafed through or that full of salt you could do the Indian rope trick with them, or poke someone in the eye from 10m...

A lot of the work we have had to do is time consuming, such as stripping the seized blocks down, turning new pins, bushing some of the badly worn sheaves, the refinished blocks are looking smart I think. We have both had to work on our spicing skills which have been long forgotten as we had a box of seized blocks and very little information on how the bowsprit was set up, some head scratching was done and trawling across the internet to find any old images of how she was set up, we found a lot of great pictures from a french photographer called Francois Madic, we are trying to contact him so that we can use some of them on the website, but they were good enough for us to see the way that the bowsprit was set up, well we got it all sorted a couple of weeks ago after having to have some new parts made.

All in all with the Sea school, which has been really busy this season and working on Our D it has been a hectic few months but we are really close to getting her ready to sail, maybe next week!! so if you are around Torbay and you see her blue hull and red sails out there give us a wave.

Blog soon....

Relaunch day is getting ever closer.....

Our Daddy is to be relaunched on Good Friday next week, after a, to say moist winter, we have a weather window for a few days to hopefully get the painting completed before she is relaunched. Steve is out on the water training so it is up Tim and our band of helpers to get it done. No pressure then.

Tim is concentrating on getting the stem scarf completed by the end of this week so that it can be sealed, painted and capped with the bronze alloy bow protector, this has got to be polished and lacquered before refitting. The baby bowsprit can then be fitted and the main forestay attached and tensioned. All the spars which we have not managed to varnish because of the awful weather will re put back on deck and the engine test run innthe yard before launch day.

There is still a mountain of work to do but at least our lovely Lugger will look great in her new colours, keep your eyes peeled for the gleaming Daddy coming round the breakwater at about lunchtime on Good Friday. She will be alongside the Heritage pontoon in the near future as the new generator needs to be fitted and a few other bits and peices need to be done while alongside.

It has been a journey of discovery for Steve and I and the weather gods have not been kind to us, but we hope to have Our Daddy ready for the summer holidays and will be involving her in Brixham's Pirate Thursday's and running half day and full day sailing trips around the Bay. We will also betaking her down to her original home port of Looe hopefully to show her off to the locals who love her dearly.

Apologies for the delay in the blogs but they will be coming thick and fast as we near relaunch day. Wish us Luck!!

Blog soon

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas & a Prosperous New Year....

It is our final office day today before Steve and I head off the 'alternative office' to debrief on the year 2013........... Well that's the theory!!

It has been a short year in the life of Our Daddy with us, but eventful, her renovation/rejuvenation is coming along. The weather is now a huge player in the equation, we shall overcome it somehow and carry on.

In the short few months we have been working on Our Daddy there have been triumphs and the odd setback..... as everyone in the Heritage fleet in Brixham keep telling us "that's wooden boats for you", thanks fellas. We are happy to say that this beautiful old Lugger has not given us any major surprises.

From both Steve and myself we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year and hope to see you aboard Our Daddy FY7 when she is working next year. A Special thanks go to our helpers who turn up regardless of the weather, Andy, Cameron, Kate Chan and Tim, without these guys help we would not be where we are now.

Blog soon

Tim

Well it had to happen........

Our Daddy is 92 years old and we have been happily stripping, rubbish, ropes, blocks, redundant kit, sails, paint, varnish, barnacles etc from her over the last few weeks. We have a shed bulging full of sails, ropes, blocks, various iron pieces and other sundry items.

Mmmm 92 year old kindling anybody?

We were advised by the surveyor to have a look at the stem of the boat, to the uninitiated that is the large timber which helps to form the bows of the boat, so check it we did. Tim started "checking" it last Friday and found the odd soft patch!! to say the least, weetabix was stronger, "Checking" was being done with a 1" chisel and a 1lb hammer, this meant Our D had a stem which looked more like a
game of Tetris with square, rectangular chunks missing. Well after Steve and Tim had a discussion about 'scarfing' in several new pieces of wood to strengthen the stem, they came to the conclusion that the best and long term repair was to be undertaken........ you can see the results of the decision to the right here..

The stem has now been cut back to good solid wood and a we are in the process of sourcing a replacement piece of seasoned hardwood which will be cut and shaped to fit the gaping hole we now have in Our Daddy's bow section. We are pleased however, that this is the only major area

Definitely something missing.....

of rot that we have found on her, a testimony to the build quality by the Cornish shipwrights of Looe that built her back in 1921. Not quite a triumph this one but of sorts it is, as we now know how solid Our Daddy actually is!

Other triumphs of the past couple of days, the hydraulic windlass on deck was looking decidedly corroded and tired, well a few of the nuts and bolts had succumbed to the ravages of time and the sea and were just a mound of iron oxide roughly shaped like a stud and nut. They were duly ground off and the weighty windlass removed. The corrosion on parts of it were very bad so we have had a new top plate made, new hydraulic coupling plate made and the whole thing has beed stripped down and serviced, We will add photos as soon as it is refitted. Not so much of a triumph! we also repainted the boot top line on the hull....... Shame most of it came off when Steve started stripping the paint off the topsides...Oops sorry Andy.

Our thanks again to all our willing helpers without which we would not be as far forward with the Our Daddy project. Role call this week, Cameron, Tim, Andy and Chan, thanks guys we hope you are not getting bored and continue to lend us a very welcome hand in renovating Our Daddy to her former glory. Well that's it for now, more photos on our Facebook and twitter pages.

Blog soon!!

The work starts now....

We have now received the hull survey for Our Daddy and have been able to set out our plan of works.....

There were a couple of advisories on the survey which needed further inspection, one of which were the nails attaching the hull planks to the frames. As you can see from the picture there is some rust staining along her side, this is caused by the small wooden plug that was originally used to cap the nails, shrinking or having fallen out being replaced with filler, water seeps into the wood and starts to corrode the nails. It has a lovely name 'Nail Sick' so because of this we had to pull several nails to check in their condition, now that was a task and a half bearing in mind some of these had been there for close on a hundred years!!

New

Old

We have to say that the nails we have pulled are in very good condition, that is a relief as having to refasten her hull planks would have taken a fair old time, it is not just a case of whack a nail in it is far more time consuming than that! That was one question asked resolved the second was the condition of the Chain stay bolts, well we have removed a couple of these and they are also in good fettle, all in all very pleased.

So the tasks begin, first up is to remove and fair up the topsides and get them primed and sealed for the winter, fair and prime/antifoul the hull so as to seal it, then it will be onto the bulwark timbers, again this is fairing the timbers, priming and top coating to seal the timber....... there is a lot of fairing and finishing to be done!!

Well enough for today, next Monday we are taking down the topmast so that can be..... you guessed it, faired, painted but 6-10 coats of varnish this time!!

We will be posting up the sailing schedule in a couple of weeks time so keep your eye out on here and the websites for the interesting places to visit and sailing trips we will be offering in 2014.

Blog soon

Keep you eyes peeled...

As Our Daddy is on the move. With a crew of 6 and lots to eat all made by the crew Our Daddy is shippin' out tomorrow at about 1030. We are heading for Galmpton where she will be craned out at 1545 for the start of her refit so that she is ready for next season. Give us a wave if you see us. Pictures and videos to follow.

Blog soon

The next chapter is about to start.....

Our Daddy will very soon be making her trip round to her winter home. On the 15th of October Our D will be making the trip with Steve and I and a few willing volunteers round to Galmpton to be hauled out for her winter refit, paint and varnish.  I have uploaded a few photos to the Gallery page of how she is now before any work has been done to her, click the photo below to go there.....

The plan of works has yet to be scheduled but obviously there is plenty of work to do to her ready for next season.

We will be repainting her hull in the original Pengelley family colours for Our Daddy which we understand were white boot top, pale blue topsides, Dark Blue bulwarks with a yellow pinstripe. The decks will be cleaned and the insides of the bulwarks painted in the cream of the coachroof, all the varnishing on deck will be stripped and replaced, all fittings on deck cleaned/polished if needed and painted if not.

Down below we will be refitting the galley, repainting, revarnishing, polishing, recovering and making sure she has a welcoming and comfortable feel to this beautiful boat.

Steve and I cannot wait to get started on Brixham Sea schools new flagship, Our Daddy FY7, we will be looking forward to working her out of Brixham in 2014. From now on the blogs will be coming fairly regularly as she transforms into the stunning boat she once was.

Keep checking back to see her progress and if you want to see where we are going next season why not sign up for the Our Daddy newsletter, we promise not to bombard you with them, we will just send them with information and latest offers.

Thanks for reading

Blog soon

Steve & Tim

A fantastic original of Our Daddy....

When Steve decided that he was going to buy Our Daddy we asked our friend and local artist, Toni Knights, if he could do a line drawing of Our Daddy so that we could create our logo. Well Toni came up with an absolute cracker... we currently have the originals which we will be having digitised and printed onto various things and you could also have them as a signed limited print from us.

Thanks Toni......We love them, they are true to Our Daddy in her current form and will be looking great adorning the walls of our office once we have them framed....

We will hopefully be bringing you news regarding Our Daddy in the very near future....

Blog soon.

Another new look to the website....

Well that was a mad few weeks, some sailing, some teaching some maintenance and some restoration... Phew!!

Hence the reason that not a lot has changed on the website recently, so today I have mainly been twiddling.  The look of the page has changed, for the better, I hope you agree. We will soon have a newsletter which you can subscribe to on every page, if you would like to keep up to date with what is happening with Our Daddy, what trips we are programming and of course if we have any offers available then signing up is a must :-)

As things start to slow down here at Brixham Sea school I will have more time to add the content to the site so please keep revisiting to keep an eye on me!!

Don't forget all the latest will be added to our newsletters so please do sign up for it, we promise not to bombard you with junk mail but only interesting topics and links to all things Our Daddy and Brixham Sea School.

A picture of our friends boat Sea Fish, a 1927 Worfolk Smack, this is the restoration bit of what we have been up to! She is up for sale if you fancy owning a classic.

 

 

Pretty isn't she...... interested? She is for sale for £25,000 not much to own part of the UK sailing heritage... Contact us if you are.

 

 

Blog soon

 

Tim

Afternoon sail on Pilgrim

I was sat in the office ploughing through the odd bit of paperwork as you do when Steve, the Skipper of @PilgrimBM45 put his head through the door. We are sailing this afternoon if you fancy it? Well, conputer screen or sail an old gaffer....... no contest, Pilgrim won! I have posted some photos on Brixham Sea School's Facebook page if you want to have a look.

Thanks to the Pilgrim team, a perfect afternoon.

Blog soon

Twitter account over 60

After a late #DevonHour tonight we have reached a milestone on our twitter account for @OurDaddyFY7 over 60 followers. We have been a bit quiet over the last week due to water activities but this will be resolved tomorrow. Follow us to keep an eye on Our Daddy's progress.

Website moving on......

And we also have our Facebook and Twitter accounts set up. Please like our Facebook page and follow our Twitter account

Facebook is - Our Daddy Classic sailing
Twitter is - @OurDaddyFY7

We will be updating all of these with the progress of getting our beautiful boat Our Daddy FY7 back to concourse condition. It is going to be a busy autumn and winter for us but it will be worth every minute of it to see this classic boat sailing again.

Blog soon

Welcome....

to the new blog for 'Our Daddy' our soon to be classic Cornish Lugger.  We will keep you updated on progress of her winter works and once afloat again we will be posting here all of the antics we get up to aboard this 1921 Classic.

Check back soon or add us to your blogger list to see how we are getting on.

Blog soon