MFV BF494 'Pansy', an old Motor Fifie Conversion

Still trying to beat losing the will to live with this old boat, so trying to get things moving again. Been a funny old year thus far, but at the end of the day If its gonna get done I'll just have to do it myself if its not to become another one of those 'abandoned projects' that seem to litter the country!

Had to move her today, the berth she'd been stuck in 'temporarily' while some giant floating gin palace was moved was needed for any potentiall visitors to the marina, as I I'm sure most people are aware that Walker is high on the agenda of the international cruising circuit! A delightful place for a visit and a gentle stroll along Byker Wall, its a bit like Hadrians wall but with less romans, although I swear I did once see 'romanes eunt domus' painted along it once, or something like that.

Any hoo, the old girl had to be coaxed back to life, engine not run in a year, and the engine room had been mouldering away in the damp and the dark with only occasional high bilge levels for excitement. Only a couple of things down there had suffered over the last year - the engine and the gearbox. The grease gun, hardened paint brushes, empty paint cans and (bizzarely) a bottle of washing up liquid and a grey sock (not mine, probably not grey originally) hadn't suffered a bit.

the nice shiny new starter motor I fitted was still nice and shiny (on the outside). The important whirry round bits inside it had seized solid. so that had to be stripped a few times. Engine Oil was checked, grey sludge on the stick being of sufficient quantity to qualify it as having at least some oil in it. I thought the mould on the drive belts would probably enjoy being made dizzy as they went around so I left them to there own sporish delights, connected up the batteries and turned the key. Yup bugger all happening, narry a click nor a whirr. Soggy wiring.

quick bypass of a few pseudo non essential bits of wire, and contact.... Amazingly, about 5 seconds of cranking and the old Ford Lehman started to splutter into life, so the I sniffed the unused can of easy start myself to celebrate

so one of the 2 things that has suffered is ok still (apart from desperately needing an oil change). So ropes off, into reverse (a bit stiff to be honest) and things started to move. Awesome. the feeling of euphoria was short lived though. Managed enough forwards and backwards type maneuvers to get her into a great postion just as all drive from the gearbox was lost and nice big gust of wind came to say hello and send 30 tons of boat scudding out of control towards some rather expensive looking yachts. Divine intervention came in the form of the marina manager in his rib who approached at ramming speed to divert the boat roughly in a direction where I wanted to go. At this point a couple of other boat owners fired there boats up and sensibly moved to the other side of the marina for the duration.

But she got to where she was going, didn't hit anything (much) and is now out of the way, rather disturbingly in suicide corner - every boat that goes there dies and sinks. luckily there's a queue at the moment, the one in front of us has maybe 9 months left!

Tied up and plugged in, thought it time to do some 'stuff' Shifted a a ton or so of ballast back to where it started, then started with a bit of caulking and sealing. A lot of the caulking had been done already, but the planks have opened up a lot so it needed hardening up a bit more first. Seams were primed with a bit of red lead, apparently its not very nice, luckily only got 'a bit' on me. then time to mix up the compound to pay the seams.

Lots and lots of debate out there on this subject. No single right answer to it either, lots of opinions and a fair bit of conflict of whats best and whats not. So for my recipe I thought for once, I'd go sheeplike with the majority (sort of)

So for filling the hull seams/planks above the water line the following concoction was created. Putty - the stuff folks used to use to put the windows in before all this uPVC malarkey came along, about, say, a grapefruit sized lump. To which is added a plum sized lump of White Lead, (really really not nice - got masses on me and probably in me) and a grape sized lump of grease (normal motor grease type stuff) this fruity mixture being garnished with a wee splash of raw linseed oil.

Now, all those nice people that recommend this mixture, there's 2 things they don't tell you, first is how to mix it together. There is only one way and thats to get your hands in. Forget gloves. I tried latex gloves, they got sucked into the sticky mess and have yet to surface. So It was bare hands. I'm still picking lumps of white lead out from under my nails now. Give some to the kids. tell them if they continue to bite their nails they will die, nice and simple!

So you squidge and you squeeze and eventually you have this sticky morass in your mits, perfect for sealing your freshly caulked seams. How the flip do you get it in, which is the second thing they don't tell you. I found poking loads in with my fingers worked, till I moved my fingers out of the way when half of it comes back out still attached me. But by the law of diminishing returns; keep working it in and eventually there will be a seam full, stuck nicely to the planks and the caulking cotton that was bashed in behind it, and smoothed off lovely with a putty knife

The Third thing of the 2 things they don't tell you is how long it takes to skin over so you can paint the damn stuff - I'll get back to you on that, hopeful we'll have an unseasonably warm december which might make painting a possibility

looks rough still but a long way to go!. Caulked seams and a couple with 'traditional' (pah!) seam sealant. I left the putty in the seams slightly concave. Figuring that when the planks take up again and it gets squeezed it might finish up flats

So there we go some 'stuff' has been done. More stuff to be done soon!

Boat building and ship wrighting in general is said to be 80% hard graft and 10% blether, although maybe that should be the other way around!

got an email about tools earlier, and thought It might be useful to share a little wisdom about the necessary tools in the boat builders arsenal, and explain their use and functionality as I have found it over the last couple of years, so here goes

Tools Explained

Drill Press: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it. Also Highly recommended as the tool of choice for snapping the only drill bit of a certain size in your collection right at the time when thats the only size you can use

Grinder with Wire Wheel: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light . Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh--!'

Wood chisel: mostly used for opening tins of paint and to scrape thin surface coatings away, particularly good for removing skin and small amounts of subcutaneous flesh

Angle Grinder/Cutting Disk: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short, and for precision embedding of red hot iron filings in surrounding paintwork. Also use for destroying the blade of wood chisels

Pliers: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

Belt Sander: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

Hacksaw: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

Mole Grips: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

blow torch: Used almost entirely for igniting various flammable objects around toyr boat/workshop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race, and setting fire to that huge pool of pitch which had been poured onto the rotten wood in order to hide it, thus converting it from a solid to a liquid whereby it drips through the rotten wood and sets fire to everything underneath

table saw: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall/hull integrity. and customising fingers

Hydraulic Jack: Used for lowering an extremely heavy objects to the ground trapping the handle and jack in the process.

Band saw: A large stationary power saw primarily used to cut good timber into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the bin after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

Circular Saw: Similar application to band saw but also good for cutting bits off your workbench and for slicing into the table you are resting on

Jig Saw: See circular Saw

Power Plane: Hand held tool for removing excess wood and converting slightly over large pieces of timber, to frustratingly too small for the job pieces. Also good for causing major skin abrasions and removing fingertips

2 Ton Engine Hoist: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

Phillips Screwdriver: Normally used to open paint tins and stir contents prior to dripping paint on floor or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads to render them unremovable requiring use of of pry bar (see below)

Cordless Drill: Universal High speed version of the above with 2 attachements, one for stripping the heads of screws entirely, the other for stripping the heads and then running across the surrounding area requiring remedial use of belt sander (see belt sander above)

Straight Screwdriver: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws, butchering your palms, and damaging surround timber calling for use of belt sander (see belts sander above)

Pry Bar: A tool used to damage the timber surrounding that clip/bracket/nail you needed to remove, and thus calling for the use of belt sander (see belt sander above)

hose cutter: A tool used to make hoses too short.

Hammer: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit and break them, or to improve the damage causing potential of pry bar when trying to remove stripped screws (see screwdrivers above)

Stanley Knife: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, invoices, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use. Also good for scoring timber underneath the object you were trimming calling for further use of belt sander (see belt sander above)

Block Plane: mythical tool believed by some to be capable of shaving minute wafers of wood to create perfect scarfe joints. Scarfe joints for those that don't know are 2 irregularly shaped end pieces of wood which only have minimal contact with each other and have gaps filled with masses of epoxy resin

probably a few that have been missed there, but hopefully will set people on the straight and narrow

Thought now occurs that I really ought to follow this up with a glossary of terms for all the bits and pieces on a boat ie:-

Scuppers: narrow slits between deck and gunwale to allow the easy exit to the water of any screws or small tools that you drop

Carlines:Cross timbers between deck beams to remove skin and hair when the deck beams didn't get you

Bilges: Inaccessible container for tools, screws and house keys that were too big to go through the scuppers (see above)

get the idea? needs some thought, but I expect a full glossary of boat terms to be published shortly.

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!