Solo dinghy refurb' update 2

The weather here in the UK is pretty cold (for us) and working outside isn't much fun, but progress has been made...
The Solo has been glued back together again. I used 5mm elite ply, primarily for cost reasons but its also really light. I managed to get the original deck off in mostly whole pieces so I used it as a template for the new one. The new ply was bonded on with thickened epoxy and weighted down with sand bags, with spring clamps on the outside edges. Once cured it was planed back to the sheer line and the new rubbing strake offered up. As I was replacing like for like, the rubbing strakes are laminations as before. The class rules say minimum width of 30mm over most of the boat so that was three 10mm laminations. Where allowed, I reduced this to two. Where the sailor will be hanging over the edge I added an extra one.

On the GRP hulled boats like this one you are allowed to add a wooden bead along the inside edge of the deck. That's next once the rubbing strakes are shaped up a bit more. As you can see space is extremely tight and verging on the ridiculous!

Seine Boats

The local rowing club has four Seine Boats that need annual maintenance. They live on the beach all year round without covers and soon look unloved. Over the Christmas break I got cracking with sprucing two of them up. They were all originally varnished and this had to be removed by sanding, scraping and heat gun. The club's chosen finish is Deks Olje. It's a two stage process, D1 that soaks in and D2 that forms the varnish like surface. A couple of years ago we tried leaving the boats with just the D1 on them which initially leaves a satin finish. By the following year all the wood was silver and faded. They are less concerned with getting a gleaming gloss finish than keeping the boats serviceable but using both parts does give better protection. The oil was applied with a foam roller for the first coats. Subsequent coats were just wiped on with a cloth. This gives a decent layer of protection for the wood and is easy to sand off and re-coat next year.
The insides had some of the mouldings repaired. Then they got a clean and a lick of paint and non-slip. The keels on both boats have a few chunks missing from being dragged around and they could do with being repaired first next year.
Now these are done, it's on with the next two...

River Teign Rowing Club boats