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

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