Messages

Thanks Chadders - Im pleased to have a boat in the garage again. 
I remember Brian from past times in the fleet so may give him a shout.  I'm glad you have confirmed my suspicion on the bathroom / kitchen sealant.  Previous owners clearly had quite a selection as there's clear, white and brown in various locations!!  I thought the brown version was epoxy and microballoons until i touched it and found it was all rubbery! Unless it is and actually someone got the mix very wrong. At least it hasn't stuck to the varnish too well. Other than that and a bit of rot she is sound and has obviously been well cared for and fairly recently someone has spent a few quid on a very nice cover, decent strings etc. 
Annoyingly I cancelled my subscription to the NTOA last winter in a moment of supreme tightness - time to renew I think.
Here's to a winter of gluing, sanding, more sanding and maybe a bit of painting towards Feb if all goes well.
Cheers
 
 

I have recently bought N1851 which is my fifth twelve but my first proper 'old' boat. Having spent a bit of time having a good look at her I have concluded that she definitely is in need of some TLC - but nothing too serious. I'd appreciate any advice from those with more experience than me. I've listed out my main worries (for now).
 
1. The centre board case has signs of enough rot near the floor to warrant replacing. From what I can see without removing the case the hog and keel look sound though.  
 
Does anyone have any tips for replacing? My initial thoughts are to carefully remove, clean up the hog and keep, use the old case as a template for the new one, and rebuild from there.
 
Anything else I need to think about?
 
2. Quite a few planks have been sealed with bathroom sealant - to my mind this seems a bit strange but I thought I'd check that this is not a ‘vintage’ trick.
 
3. On the whole she feels a bit fragile / flexible and I think this may be as the joints between the planks are flexing more than they should. I think this is due to the fact the planks are not securely glued but also : -  

It appears a front bulkhead has been removed at some point roughly where a buoyancy tank would be in a more modern (four plank) boat. 
 
The side seat (I don’t know what you call it) has been shortened at the thwart and I assume it originally extending further aft. There is evidence of another set of knees about 2 foot forward of the transom which I assume would have been where the seat would have terminated. Or may have been an aft tank?
 
To my mind these things will all have an impact on the overall stiffness of the hull but have probably been done to save a bit of weight.

I appreciate this is a bit vague but any advice welcomed…  Especially in the order I should attack these issues?

Cheers
 
Ben
 
  
 

Yer Tiz has just moved into my garage in Essex. My first Twelve since about 2003/4 I think. She needs some TLC and little bit of work to get her looking at her best again and once completed she will be sailing on the opposite side of the River Blackwater to Chopper. 
If anyone has any photos of Mk 9's id be interested in seeing them. 
Cheers  
Ben