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What would it take to sort this boat

soldthehouse

By soldthehouse
in Boat Building & Maintenance

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Arthur Brown Influencer

Arthur Brown

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MY thoghts were that hauling to a willing boatyard and budget £1K a week for skilled craftsmen to work for a year on it should get it restored to a sound hull and a sturdy engine. Then it's up to you how you restore the cabin and covers -the plastic tarp may be functional but it doesn't look trad!

 

Remember that you never own one of these it owns you and you are it's carer and curator. Ultimately you have to hand this on to another bulging wallet prepared to care and curate it.

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Travis Community Regular

Travis

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Ahem....Strip the engine/gearbox/propshaft out and find anything of value you could put into a new boat. Right down to old hinges and screws. Check under the cabin floor for those bits that were lost under there decades ago.

 

And buy it late Octoberish. :rolleyes:

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carlt Veteran II

carlt

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It would take a lot less to get this hull into mint condition than to have a mid-range cloneboat builder build an "authentic Josher replica".

 

Hardy cost £27k to rebuild, not including the labour, and it was a lot worse off than Dane is and, with the exception of Ian Riley and Chris Collins masterpieces, the best wooden hull on the water, imo.

 

If you were to offer the restorer of Hardy £1k a week to restore Dane I've no doubt he would be living in her back cabin tomorrow, until the job is done.

 

Once the cost of the clonecraft is spent on the rebuild your annual maintenance fees would be comparable.

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soldthehouse Influencer

soldthehouse

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It would take a lot less to get this hull into mint condition than to have a mid-range cloneboat builder build an "authentic Josher replica".

 

Hardy cost £27k to rebuild, not including the labour, and it was a lot worse off than Dane is and, with the exception of Ian Riley and Chris Collins masterpieces, the best wooden hull on the water, imo.

 

If you were to offer the restorer of Hardy £1k a week to restore Dane I've no doubt he would be living in her back cabin tomorrow, until the job is done.

 

Once the cost of the clonecraft is spent on the rebuild your annual maintenance fees would be comparable.

Doubt it will hang around for long, surely you could do it justice, i,d have a go if I had somewhere to do it near to home but the logistics are prohibitive

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carlt Veteran II

carlt

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Doubt it will hang around for long, surely you could do it justice, i,d have a go if I had somewhere to do it near to home but the logistics are prohibitive

It's tempting as it's a lovely, rare boat but Swmbo will never return to the canals, after Usk and all the subsequent nastiness.

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soldthehouse Influencer

soldthehouse

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It's tempting as it's a lovely, rare boat but Swmbo will never return to the canals, after Usk and all the subsequent nastiness.

Yes, the forbidden fruit must seem very sweet :( I keep imagining my nose pressed hard onto the gunnel extracting the "history "smell

Edited by soldthehouse
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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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One thing that always impresses me when boating past this one, is how remarkably straight it is for a wooden motor.

 

Many of them "hog" badly, as I understand it because the middle "boxy" bit is far more buoyant than the fine shapes at either end, which provide far less "flotation" to support bits of hull that still weigh about the same for each foot of length.

 

The presence of a big thumper like a JP2 at one end usually worsens this condition.

 

This one, for all its woes, and need (it says) of new keelson is remarkably "un-banana" like.

 

I rather fear though that it will end up as a nice JP2 in some steel boat, and otherwise as a pile of firewood. I'd love to be proved wrong, though.

 

Finally, I always struggle to agree with Carl that costs of keeping a well restored wooden boat in good order once done are comparable with those of steel. If you consider something like Roger, not that very long since major rebuilding was done on it, (is it??), is now at Jem Bates presumably having another small fortune spent on it, I really can't get my brain around that logic, I'm afraid.

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carlt Veteran II

carlt

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If you consider something like Roger, not that very long since major rebuilding was done on it, (is it??), is now at Jem Bates presumably having another small fortune spent on it, I really can't get my brain around that logic, I'm afraid.

It's surprising how much a charity boat requires, to maintain it, as opposed to a privately owned one.

 

Didn't the Raymond Trust launch a £70,000 maintenance campaign, a couple of years after her rebuild?

 

I suspect they add a nought to their target, in the hope of spurring interest, or, in Raymond's case, is kept and operated by people who have little idea about working boats and no idea about wooden ones.

 

Edited to add: Roger was relaunched in 2000, btw.

Edited by carlt
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soldthehouse Influencer

soldthehouse

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One thing that always impresses me when boating past this one, is how remarkably straight it is for a wooden motor.

 

Many of them "hog" badly, as I understand it because the middle "boxy" bit is far more buoyant than the fine shapes at either end, which provide far less "flotation" to support bits of hull that still weigh about the same for each foot of length.

 

The presence of a big thumper like a JP2 at one end usually worsens this condition.

 

This one, for all its woes, and need (it says) of new keelson is remarkably "un-banana" like.

 

I rather fear though that it will end up as a nice JP2 in some steel boat, and otherwise as a pile of firewood. I'd love to be proved wrong, though.

 

Finally, I always struggle to agree with Carl that costs of keeping a well restored wooden boat in good order once done are comparable with those of steel. If you consider something like Roger, not that very long since major rebuilding was done on it, (is it??), is now at Jem Bates presumably having another small fortune spent on it, I really can't get my brain around that logic, I'm afraid.

I agree that it does "Fall nicely on the eye", I think its just the centre section of the keelson thats terminal. Any previous work which I think from the description was about 90% hullsides and a complete rebottom appear to have been done well hence the current "Shape". where do you envisage a cost differential in maintenance Alan, I am obviously nearer to wood than steel but even so I intincively presume an easier life with timber, unless you are completely dependant on ouside labour for maintenance. Water ant timber are naturally compatible Steel is a "manufactured component and doesnt belong submerged or exposed to water so you are in a conflict of interests from the outset with a steel boat.

Edited by soldthehouse
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I agree that it does "Fall nicely on the eye", I think its just the centre section of the keelson thats terminal. Any previous work which I think from the description was about 90% hullsides and a complete rebottom appear to have been done well hence the current "Shape". where do you envisage a cost differential in maintenance Alan, I am obviously nearer to wood than steel but even so I intincively presume an easier life with timber, unless you are completely dependant on ouside labour for maintenance. Water ant timber are naturally compatible Steel is a "manufactured component and doesnt belong submerged or exposed to water so you are in a conflict of interests from the outset with a steel boat.

 

Go on Stu, you know you want it.....

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