Whilst building my yacht Comtessa, My wife bought me a One Metre Yacht second hand which seemed in good nick,it had two detachable keels and two sets of sails.
Its a Graham Bantock yacht and if you want to know more about his designs check HERE
I built the Comtessa quicker than I thought so the One metre was put on the back burner whilst enjoying sailing, then in the winter got started on it.
First I stripped off the white vinyl deck coverings and replaced them with plywood cut using the old ones as patterns,
Its a Graham Bantock yacht and if you want to know more about his designs check HERE
I built the Comtessa quicker than I thought so the One metre was put on the back burner whilst enjoying sailing, then in the winter got started on it.
First I stripped off the white vinyl deck coverings and replaced them with plywood cut using the old ones as patterns,
Then while I had the tops off checked out the interior and fitted a location stop tube for the mast
and gave the inside a swill of varnish to seal any leaks that might have been caused by shrinkage.
I fixed the ply panels to the deck with brown sealer the stuff you use round window frames to seal them,bought from B&Q it doesn't completely dry so when I have to take the top off to sort out the sail winch you just have to pull it off.
All the other bits and pieces were cleaned up and the outside rubbed down and given numerous coats of varnish,the sails cleaned and then I was told that the keel was too long for our lake so I cut off 4" off the middle and sealed it back together with plasticard which mades it a bit wider so counters the shorter keel, I hadn't intended racing so it wasn't so critical.
All the other bits and pieces were cleaned up and the outside rubbed down and given numerous coats of varnish,the sails cleaned and then I was told that the keel was too long for our lake so I cut off 4" off the middle and sealed it back together with plasticard which mades it a bit wider so counters the shorter keel, I hadn't intended racing so it wasn't so critical.
The shiny trim on the sides was replaced with Silver Trim bought from a craft shop and the name was changed from "Ragtime" to "Rachel" one of my grandchildrenI discovered the solution to the sail winch problems was to keep tension on the line to the sails so fitted one of those elastic rings for ponytails that women wear and its never been a problem since.
Just recently I veneered the top panels with mahogany veneer cut into strips and herringboned down the boat and whilst doing that fitted a new cover over the sail winch with nuts and bolts with a piece of mouse mat between in case of problems in future and then it was out with the varnish again for umpteen coats and then a bit of signage to finish off
All in all a nice little project and well worth the money, only use the one set of sails and keel the others have gone to a good home.
Thanks for the veneer Bob !!
