MFV BF494 'Pansy', an old Motor Fifie Conversion

Whilst mooching around the internet to stave off the christmas boredom, came across this little gem. A lovely old wooden ringer (ring netter) being built. From the drawing board to launch.

Superb bit of film. The caulking bit of the video was a treat. Kinda get the idea these guys might have done that before a bit! The fact they are building a wooden boat with virtually no power tools as well is a skill that is pretty much lost today as well

probably the best wooden boat building video I've come across. The music's seen better days though, the commentary is the poem “The Building of the Ship” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ( he of "I shot an arrow into the air...." fame)

*What's gannin on here like*

It only took them 18 minutes!

Great video.

no hang on thats the wrong way round, you get the idea though. Got down there bright and early. Operation cover boards underway. A couple of pieces of oak I had been coveting and had squirreled away for the purpose where whipped out of their damp dingy hole (that'll be anywhere inside the boat then) planed up to the right sort of width & thickness and chopped up to suit the holes as I went along. Had to get radical with angle grinder and sledgehammer first though in order to remove the Land of The Giants size mooring cleat. The neighbours must have been pleased listening to that as they ate their Frosties this morning

The cover boards have come out alright as it happens, done all down one side, right up to the pointy bit at the front... where in a fit of pique I decided to start attacking another major grot spot - top shear plank and rubbing strake. Achieved using the hanging over the side of the boat upside down with a mash hammer and chisel technique... got the nasty bits off though, so next mission is going to be the replanking and rubbing strake. I've got no larch for the planks though so might have to go hunting for some. Had a major find at the weekend though for the rubbbing strake. Rarer than a rare thing in this day and age. Some seasoned English Rock Elm. So now spoilt for choice for the rubbing strake & beltings Oak or Elm?

Gonna go back and get a bit more of the Elm though as I realised today, some of the planks that I was offered were perfect for a new rudder. 24" wide, 3" thick and 14' long should do the job nicely.

So, operation cover boards mission accomplished, well half accomplished any hoo....

Bit fiddle shaping the zillion angles involved but they're in, caulked with masses of cotton and the seams sealed

looks canny though. Just needs a string bending to fit and then the Comedy sized Cleat refitting.

One good thing about removing the big cleats though, which were fastened through the frames with huge bolts and big steel pads.... It means that the name boards can go on. She can have her name back for the first time in years.

Had a new, and hitherto reluctant helper today, I believe the correct term may be 'boat widow'. Think she may just be pitying me or trying to humour me a bit though.

Time to get the seams caulked and the last few lengths of deck plank laid. The planky bit was easy, kinda got my eye in now, although, there'es still one short nibbing piece about a foot long thats still not nailed down - ran out of sikaflex!

So after giving my nearest and dearest a quick crash course and handing her an 'ammer, a ball of cotton and the caulking irons left her to it while I cleared the decks and started oiling. Home brewed 'boat soup' being the concoction going down, linseed oil, thinned right down with naptha to let it get deep into the wood, and a very large dollop of Stockholm Tar which had been heated sufficiently to make look a bit less like a tin of Tate & Lyle Black treacle on a very cold day

Said mixture mixed up thoroughly and thrown about the place, got a good 9 or 10 coats on half of the deck, so they're colouring up nicely. just another 40 or 50 coats to go maybe, reducing the thinners gradually till its just raw oil and the wood can't take any more

Determined to lash enough of the stuff down to keep the rot and nasties at bay for a very very long time!

Over on the other side the fair hands of TK got to work on the cotton & caulking combo

She's a brilliant knitter at home, so obviously its a natural progression. Least thats what I told her anyway. Twist the caulking cotton nice and tight, feed it in and then harden it up with the caulking irons - simples!

tappety tap tap! If she didn't hate me and the boat before, after being bent over caulking the deck all day she probably does now. I will report back next time she speaks to me

Long way to go on the caulking from yet though, but already the seams are tighter than Peter Mandellson's arse on national 'insert a pineapple in your favourite politician' day

Once caulked up, there'll just be the seams to pay (cash or cheque??) and that'll be that.

Its painfully slow and bit like being at a test match. The covers are on, the covers are off then the covers are on again and finally bad light stops play. Pretty much finished down the one side at least. Bit off jiggery pokery with the deck planks needed though. Some of the rotten deck planks that were ripped up were iffy repairs from times past, and in places a few timbers at once had been replaced with a variety of planks of different widths to fill the gap. The new deck planks were laid nice and neatly from the centreline outwards, which was all going a bit like my tools (swimingly!), till I got to the bit where the butts had to staggered with the remaining deck planks - there was a gap!

So had to work a plank up a bit wider than the rest to get everything lined up again, well did 2, so I can put one in on the other side so it looks looks nice and symmetrical and anyone looking at it will think its a design feature! T'other side to finish off, cover boards to make and then caulk and seal

Just need a few dry days now.... in november?? in the UK?? as much chance of that happening as there is of Gordon Brown dropping his glass eye in Peter Mandelson's coffee for a laugh! Politician of the year FFS!! Mandy will be Jockey of the year next year for rogering tony blair all the way to the EU presidency no doubt

So plenty water in the bilges via the dodgy deck for the foreseeable future then!

Checked on the Tote and they've stopped taking bets on her being sank by christmas.

getting there slowly, bit of hammery stuff to do with the caulking cotton and caulking irons, pay the seams with some goo and jobs a good un

Quick up date after a bit more nail bashing the day. Its entirely possible that I've now become a woman as I can multi-task (apparently) spent the day with the WhyAyePhone glued to one ear, plane in one hand, hammer in the other, nails clenched between buttocks and shoving planks through the table saw with me foot - a man (or woman possibly) has got to do what a man (or woman) has got to do, if this thing is ever likely to look like a boat again before I die.

Pansy the 'half decker'. The final leg of deck repairs (almost) just another half to go, and cover boards, and caulking, and seam filling, and sanding, and oiling and...... Ok miles a way yet then from being fully repaired

view from below... watertight? buggered if I know!

Just when it was all going so well. the drizzle cleared away, it even warmed up a bit, the tarps were off, chance to get some more of the deck laid. Busy day down there today, lots of boaty comings and goings, and a few people dropped by to say howdy doody which was canny, so had the makes of a good general messing about in a boat sorta day, On me todd again, and cracking on with the deck, got a few more down, definitely into the groove with that now, but a major disaster right at the end. Got a few of those jobs that we put off for a few years to do back at HQ. The sort of little jobs that only take an hour and we really should of done a long time ago, and our nearests and dearests have indulged us by not having a go about them. So thought, right then sunday, finish a few things around the house. Need to take some of my tools home for that so, clambered around the deathtrap for a bit gathering things together, packs a tool box nice and neatly, and fills a plastic storage box with all the necessary power tools for the job......

so there I am struggling down the pontoon, big heavy toolbox and box full of power tools when disaster strikes, storage box gets dropped and power tools go swimming, so lurking somewhere in St peters there's now a router, a jigsaw, a bosch cordless drill, a dewalt cordless drill and several boxes of router bit, drill bits, screws etc - gutted

The good crew of 'Escort' lent a hand and had a fish about for a bit, but all that came back was a cheapo electric drill, thanks though lads, much appreciate the morale and physical support!

So might be a bit of a pause for a bit on the fixing front till till I finally find a magic money tree to replace some essentials

anyone wanna buy a boat??

and it was all going so well! At one point I even had a self indulgent jump up and down for a bit on the new deck - just because I can!

it even looks nice from underneath

Any one remeber Top Deck - that sugary sweet drink that passed itself off as shandy way back when? used to love it when I were a lad!

Any hoo, more revelevant deck repair matters to report, been down and done a bit today, quite chuffed with me bit self and still have all my fingers as well (I counted them all out and I counted them all back in!)

first little(ish) job was to fit sweep boards or a nibbing piece or a coverboard mould - depending who you talk to, or I as prefer to call it, that curved bit of wood that runs around the edged of the deck before the covering boards!

Next, time to lash the first plank down. The planks need a bevel first though, for caulking and deck seam sealer and stuff later on. First thoughts were plane the plank bevels by hand. Took the lazy route though and got jiggy with power tools. Made a jig for the chabble saw, well, I say made a jig, I clamped 2 bits of wood to the table to guide the planks through, dropped the blade, set it at a suitably jaunty angle and hey ho, whizz a plank through and a nice bevel and no fingery accidents

Next up get the first plank fixed, easy really, mark the centre line and nail the bugger down. Next plank (and subsequent deck planks) were a bit more problematic. Need to clamp them up tight against the first plank before nailing. Thought about hiring a flooring vice, but there's no way one would fit over the big shiny newly repaired and replaced deck beams, so found a neat solution. Clamp a big clamp to the beam and tap a wedge down to butt the planks together, quick buzz with a forstner bit to make a plug hole, then a little pilot hole and then apply the geet big nail and geet bigger hammer technique:

Simple as! Clamp the clampy thing to the beamy thing then hit a wedgy thing with the hammery thing till the planks are butted up tight. Forstner bit first to make a plug hole, then a pilot drill then big nails!

on a roll now! got a few more in before rain (well drizzle anyway) stopped play, couple of days graft should see the lot down hopefully. Oh yeah and at no point whatsoever today were there any Tom and Jerry moments where I stood on the unsupported end of a plank of wood across the beams causing the other end of said plank to rise up rapidly and whack me in the face at the same instant that gravity decided to suck me down through the deck into the hull. That absolutely did not happen. It also did not happen twice either

got a few nailed down anyways, so at least I can walk on something other than thin air now

ok, bit splurge of energy today, plan was do last bits of 'stuff' to get deck ready for replanking. Sauntered along the marina to find No 2 have a small lie down on the pontoon dressed in overalls and knee pads. Didn't have the heart to tell him he had the knee pads on the wrong way round. First job, remove the winch, that became second job as first job was get angle grinder and grind off several hundred 16mm bolts that had rusted solid. A cunning combination of swearing, leverage and some dragging got the winch over the void, down to the side of the boat, up and over onto the pontoon - all quarter of a ton of it singlehandedly!

remaining bit of deck was ripped up, and lo and behold a nice big clear area ready to run some planks on. Looks to nice to hide really, so might abandon the wooden planking and cover it in perspex instead, be great for looking up ladies skirts, but in that vain, kilt wearing scotsman will have to be banned from setting foot on deck

No 2 had by this time moved from the prone working position, to the sitting down in the punt working position to rake out more of the seams. His position on the port side easily identified by regular smoky fug rising up above the bulwarks!

so there we go, all knee'd up and beamy ready for some thumb bashing fun which will no doubt be part of the deck laying procedure.

Did also do a bit caulking with no 2 as well. The planks haven't half opened up with being stood for a year. whilst the venetian blind effect is quite pleasing to the eye from below, I suspect it may impair her sea worthiness a bit. A few quick sums, and we've only got about half a mile of the flippin stuff to hammer home then primer, seam sealer, paint..... and then the coachroof and wheelhouse. Although a certain trawlerman thats currently visiting these parts, and who shall remain nameless (James Jack!) has offered to bring his big hammer down and help with the wheelhouse adjustments. he'd best get a move on though, anyhing over a Force 5 in the next week or 3 will probably do the job for him

lots of nice new oak beams and oak knees, vaguely interesting that all the rot was starboard side, port side is all pretty sound

oh yeah, nearly forgot about the spam! The blog has been getting spammed to buggery and back the last few weeks, people leaving trackbacks - basically a link to their site hiding as a comment. Don't mind publishing track back links to other sites, but it would be nice if folks asked first!

finger out, big push to get the deck on before it gets finger bitingly cold... Finally got the beams finished today, made loads more sawdust and wood shavings with the last bit of shaping for the sweeps, last of the knees all snuggly bolted in, gonna rip the tarps off next week and start bashing some deck planks down, although there is the small matter of a quarter of a tons worth of winch to temporarily relocate first.

Had loads of emails and folks looking in here after googling ford lehman 2715e Marine diesel engine info, so am gonna add what few new pearls of wisdom I might be able to share, but do have one thing that a lot of the 'lehman lurkers' (say hello FFS!!) might find interesting. Inherited a huge pile of old boat magazines, PBO, Classic Boat, Wooden Boat, etc etc, going right back to the early 70's, some cracking stuff in there for those with a nostalgic bent, but one feature did leap out, so I've scanned it and PDF'd it and all that sorta jazz. It was titled 23 steps to cheap power. Basically the whole marinisation process in 4 pages of converting the Ford 2700 - 2715e series of Road Diesel engines to marine diesel engines. Its got pictures and everything - click the link below

Marinising the Ford Lehman 2700 - 2715 series of Diesel engines

Got a few other bits and pieces I've unearthed recently about the Ford marine Diesel, part numbers, equivalents etc, will make a post with them all on at some point

Despite being laid low with swine flu (yup I've got it and am pig sick of it!) managed a few days this week, creating more sawdust and wood shavings, but finally, the big stuff is virtually done on the decky front. Beams are cut, last one just needs leveling and then can be fastened in to place, the knees are almost all sorted, and even the knackered knee is on the mend

might even be a threat of all the crap and debris coming finally to an end, over 100 bags of bits of wood removed, just a few more to go, although there's probably as much chance of the old girl being rubbish free as there is of Baron Mandy admitting he knows where Gordon and Tone buried all the bodies!

Externally, there's nearly no paint left on the hull, and therfore the risk of No2 setting fire to himself and/or the boat is diminishing also

another full days graft and I can get laurence llewellyn bowen to flounce down the pontoon and do the big reveal as the tarps come off, mind you, they'd sharp have to go back on as I'm buggering off for some R&R next weekend, and doubt the deck will get laid before I go, but hey ho, little by little, the beam/knee mission will be finished.... and I never mentioned knee tremblers once

nearly there!, bit more touchy feely needed then the last knees can be fitted and fastened. The old girl is knee deep (doh!) in wood shavings and sawdust, but is threateningly close to finally being bottomed