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?