Restoration of the classic 1930's yacht Gadfly II/Mai Star II

Having got the cabin side out of storage it was time to get them down and put on the bench and sand down both sides and inspect them for damage. The first bit of damage is on the forward end at the bottom where it was removed without care and as spilt the bottom. This is going to have to be repaired using a grading piece and fixing going up from the bottom edge into the rest of the cabin side to ensure this does not spilt again. Further pieces missing along the bottom edge which will need pieces letting in, They are behind the carlins so they will not be seen. These tow other areas not not so easily covered and will need grading pieces gluing in place and planing down and sanding before the cabin side is varnished again  These two areas will need grading pieces gluing in position as well Just starting off doing the same job to the port side cabin side to get into the same place as the starboard cabin side.  

The apprentice boat builder Ethan as been working hard on getting the foredeck beams finished off and making up two new carlins and side deck beams/ Mai Star II needed to have replacement carlins as the old carlins were broken and rotten at the ends as were the short side deck beams which were in a poor condition. The next job to do before we can fit the new carlins and side deck beams is to make up a temporary aft cabin deck beam to go across the aft end of the cabin to fit the carlins. This is while we make up the vertical posts to fix the inboard end of the aft cabin beams.  The new mast pad fitted into the aft two deck beams as the original mast pad was, the only difference this time is that this pad will not have a hole drilled in the middle as per the original pad. This is because this time the mast which was cut down at sometime in the past will be fitted to a taberance . There will be a mast support post fitted to the underside of the deck as it was before the restoration....

This is the latest update on the progress with the restoration of Mai Star II, there has been a long time since we last posted an update about the progress that has been made on Mai Star II's restoration. We are well on our way to get the fore deck beams back in position and fixed down in place. There as been a lot of work done on other parts of the forward end of Mai Star II as can be seen on this video. Currently my boat building apprentice is making a new breasthook to replace the rotten and broken breasthook. With the foredeck beams now in position. We now can move aft to fit and fix the two next deck beams which are the two deck beams on the fore and aft position for the mast to go through the deck when the mast was keel stepped. However, over the years the mast was shortened and the mast became deck stepped with a tabernacle made and fitted and a compression post fitted under the deck. We are still toying with the idea to put the mast back as a keel stepped mast. We do not ha...

We are now moulding a GRP tender which we will put up for sale when it is completed to raise funds for both Chance and the Mai Star II restoration projects. Follow along as we mould this 8 ft tender. Which when complete will sold to give us more funds for the projects.  

The deck beams are now screwed down in position with bronze screws rather than iron spikes as they were originally. The forward two deck beams are now also fixed down in position and so the samson post top partner pad is ready to refix into position as well. The new parts of the deck beams, namely the short cross beams which hold the forehatch base need a bit of leveling so that the new decking can lay flat across the deck beams. The foredeck hatch base will need to be shaped on the bottom face so that it fits the deck camber before it is screwed in position with screws through the deck beams from below.  These two plates are the hanging knees to connect the deck beams for the mast to the frames. They could be seen as a bit of an overkill. It was possibly done because after the Second World War the boatyard who build Mai Star II did not have any good grown oak to make up a pair of hanging knees. so they possibly had some steel plate in the boatyard so they use it to do the same job...

The foredeck is getting rebuild with a mixture of old and new deck beams. The forward deck beams are some of the original deck beams which have been checked over and have been cleared to be used again as they are in good condition.  The forward deck beams are being positioned where they were original fitted, however, this time they will be fixed in position with custom made bolts and not iron spikes as they were original fixed in position. The new deck beams will have to have a straight edge run through from they bow to ensure they are at the same level as the forward deck beams. Any work will be done to these to ensure this is achieved before they are all fixed in position. The whole of these deck beams will ensure the front of the hull will stay in its correct position and shape. Once the fore deck is sorted then the fore deck hatch can be fixed in position to ensure the other deck fitting go back in their original position.