Going further back to go forward.

In my experience, building a wooden boat from scratch is easier than to restore a old repaired wooden boat.

I have built three wooden boats, one 17ft Sea kayak, a 7ft Lapstrake pram dinghy and  a 16ft Lapstake rowing boat of Iain Outhtred design, these were all built from drawings up. The thing is, that you are constantly working forward, starting at the keel and making the next piece until the boat is completed.

Renovating a wooden boat is very much starting with a completed hull, working back deconstructing and then building it again. The question is, where does one stop going back? and as I have mentioned, the more you uncover the more you see to replace or repair. This will also depend on what you want to achieve, a repaired wooden boat or a fully restored to the original classic boat.

Under the covers

In order to fit the fashion pieces and before the re-building of the transom can be completed, the side decking needed to be removed. I decided to continue to take up the foredeck as well while I was at it. The whole job took me the best part of a day to complete, using a wide chisel and a hot air gun to soften the glue. There where also many panel pin nails to pull out. Once all the decking was removed, there was access inside, all round the hull.

Carlin and Gunwhale

When I purchased the boat, I was informed about a hole in the topside that was repaired, with the side deck removed the damage on the port side is more visible.

After some sanding on the outside.

This must have been impact damage as the port side Carlin and Blocking was fractured. The Gunwhale was also broken and repaired by bonding  in a wood piece.

Compared to the Starboard side

Port side Carlin and Blocking

There is no doubt that I will have to replace the port side Carlin and Blocking and possibly the Gunwhale as well.

 The question is, do I leave the Fibreglass repair as is, or do I replace the entire topside plank?

  

How to eat an Elephant

The Foils - yes, that is what the rudder and centreboard is called

I slowly worked my way through the boat, starting at the obvious items, like the rudder that needed serious muscle to move up and down. Then there was the immovable centreboard, so I removed the Cb. pivot bolt, and manhandled the board out. After inspecting the centreboard and rudder, I found the wood in excellent condition and started sanding them down, only to discover that the best treatment for these foils would be to fibreglass and epoxy sheath the wood to give it better tensile strength. While I was busy doing this, the job came to a halt, as I needed advice on what materials to use.

The Floor - above the bilges.

During my rummaging around in the boat my screwdriver and various tools disappeared into the bilge areas, which I was unable to retrieve due to the wooden strips being screwed to the floor frames and which could not be lifted up. So I pulled up all the flooring and discovered that the transom looked different to the standard wooden Wayfarer. The transom floor frame that should be fastened along the bottom of the transom was fixed about 40 mm forward and not to the transom itself. After consulting The Wayfarer Restoration Manual, it was clear that there needed to be all manner of wood pieces attached to the inside of the transom. Also there should be a cutout at the top of the transom which was absent on my Wayfarer transom.

When I removed the Rudder, I noticed, that not only were the rudder pintles off-centre, but also that they were attached to high on the transom. This must have been done to clear the tiller above the transom.

The Wayfarer was designed with a cutout in the transom for the tiller clearance to allow for the rudder to be set lower down to ensure that the rudder is at the correct depth.

Looking aft along the side decks, I noticed that the port side deck was sloping more than the Starboard side deck. Closer examination revealed that there were uprights attached to the inside of the transom. The Carlins and side decks were resting on the uprights and were of unequal heights.Although it is quite a workable solution, however, if the transom was made correctly these uprights would not be there.

After trying unsuccessfully to remove the transom floor frame, I realised that it was fixed by screws from underneath through the hull planking. The transom was attached to the hull all round by a 300mm wide, heavy glassfibre cloth. This also covered the screws underneath the hull holding the errant transom floor frame. !?
Very workable and strong solution and more work, Ooh Boy !

"Don`t fix what ain`t broken"

. In my case that saying is more like " fix what ain`t there".

I took a deep breath and tried to figure out the shapes of the Transom frame and turned again to WRManual for advice, sure enough the transom was not  as it was shown in the manual. It is suggested that one should use the old parts as template in making a new one. The only thing is, there is only one old piece  for the frame in the boat.!

I turned to the UK Wayfarer association for help, the instant response and advice I received was incredible.!    I received a link to the Class measurements for the Mk1 Wooden wayfarer, which is a great help but did not give the radius height to the top of the Transom.  The Wayfarer International MIT Web site was also very helpful and I found the original Kit Assembly Manual for the original Wayfarer wooden version. However no measurements are shown, but at least I could see the sequence of how the boat was put together and the shape of the components.

Fashion pieces

The Transom frame is actually called the Fashion pieces, these are connected to the aft part of the hull planking and to the inner keel, the transom is then fastened to the frame. At least now I know what this frame should look like and by extrapolation, I may be able to work it out.

Like all fashion designs, I can only show you once I have made the piece!

Decking

In order to re-build the transom, I will have to remove the sidedeck on either side to get full access and as the sidedecks will have to come off, I might as well replace the foredeck as it is undulating with the very thin plywood that was used.

The other bug bear was the gunwales and rubbing strips, this was not to the Wayfarer specification. The sidedecks overlapped the hull planking and a triangular wood strip was placed underneath. Aesthetically it looked fine, however, it was vulnerable to damage. The gunwale will have be replaced according to spec.

The Wall

No, it is not a boating term! It is made of bricks and concrete, and at this stage of the project, I ran straight into one!

"The project is too large!?, all these things to fix and with every piece of wood uncovered I find more to do!"

Fiona reminds me often of a old African saying: " How do you eat an Elephant - One small bite at a time!"

Credit

It may be perceived that I am too critical of the previous rebuild, however I would like to express my gratitude to the previous owner for resurrecting the boat from sure demise.

He is a young man that had limited experience with the Wayfarer and did a great job getting the boat on the water and sailing again