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Refitting the ring frame metal knees to the new deck beam.

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Having painted the metal ring frame knees sometime ago and having made new oak spacers to go between the deck beam and the knee it was time to clamp them into position.   This is the exactly the method used before and I can see no good reason to change a method that as worked for 80 + years. The lower part will be having a thinner spacer made up out of oak to go into the space between the knee and the hull frame in the same method that was used originally. Now it is clamped in position it will be time to use my angle drill to drill the holes through the deck beam and the spacer to bolt the upper part together before taking it apart and painting the spacer. Just a bit of planning to get the surfaces to fit perfectly together and once the holes are drilled and the spacers are painted then this can be bolted together to make up the ring frame construction.   In this photo it can be seen how the ring frame method works as it bring together the deck beam where the main sh...
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Back Mai Star II as part of my mental health therapy and rebuilding her and myself at the same time

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I had a smaller than complete cover, just waiting to get a new full cover, this will do for the moment it is a start. The boat as held up well having been left to the element for a long while, until I was able to face working on her again. Getting onboard was the hardest part to see what was facing me to put right after the last many months away from her. Much of the work done before I stopped working on her as held up well and I can start more or less where I left off. This is gong to be my first job on the boat refitting the new portside carlin  
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Planning the next jobs on Mai Star II

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Standing on the container next to the boat it gives you a better idea of what to do next. One job I will have to do next is get a new cover to go over the framework to keep off the sun from the hull. Having made the carlins some time in the past few months I have to make up the two aft end of the cabin short beams which in turn will be jointed into the uprights that make up the companionway and this will tie together the whole area.  These short beams are made to fit both the cabin side carlins and the cockpit coaming carlins as well so there are a number of joints to make when fitting these beams into position. This job is going to take some thinking through and making the correct shaped forefoot and make up new bolts to bolt the new piece of forefoot in place.  
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One of the small jobs I have been able to get done on Mai Star II and restoring a small dinghy to help raise funds for the ongoing restoration of Mai Star II

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One of the jobs I have been able to sort out this last week was to clean up and repaint the two hanging knees from Mai Star II. These two hanging knees were under the deck ahead of the cabin front and formed part of the framework which connected the deck beams to the hull frames in the position of the cap shrouds so that the stress on the hull was taken around the whole of the framework and not on a single position. Once I have made up the spacers for the knees they will be put back in position and bolted together through the deck beams and the hull frames to make put a ring frame.  I am getting on with this dinghy's restoration and are now waiting for a piece of mahogany to make up the centre thwart, in the meantime time I will be working on the outside of the hull sanding it down ready to apply its first coat of hi-build epoxy primer hull before filling and fairing the hull.  The woodwork as now got its few coats of varnish to protect the woodwork and now it is time to turn ...
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Got a bit of a problem at the moment, Need more hands on the project to get work done.

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I need a hand to hand to fit the carlins and the short side beams Also a hand to make and fit the two aft cabin deck beams that connect to the cabin companionway vertical posts  Once both of these jobs are done then it will be time to refit the two cabin sides   
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Refitting the cabin floorboards so we can work on the inside much easier.

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Starting to get the floorboards back down after refitting the floor bearers with new "A4" stainless screws so these floor bearers will not move and the floor will be more stable.  This is most of the floor boards back down in position apart from 2 ahead of the mast post. there is is a bit of work to do on this area with the refitting of the lower section of frame with new "A4" bolts and sealing to the existing frame in the hull which did not need any work done on it. The forward section will need sorting out so that it fits the existing frames on both sides and then the floor bearer can be f itted to the frame when that is refitted. Once the frame and the floor bearer are fitted it is going to be easy to nail the new ribs in position.  
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Starting to make up the aft end of the cabin and the new upright posts and the position of the short deck beams at the aft end of the cabin.

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Starting to fit the upright post that will make up the aft end of the cabin. This is the port side short cross deck beam which was fitted at the aft end of the cabin. When The cabin was rebuild once before the upright posts were missing. Looking at other ARP boats build at and around the same time the posts were in in fact missing from Gadfly II when she was rebuild last time. This time the posts will be reinstated at the same time the short deck beams will be half lapped into the upright posts so making the whole structure stronger. The old short cross deck beams were in a very poor condition and these are only used as patterns to cut out the the size of the compainway entrance to the cabin. This photo shows the poor condition of the cross deck beam, however it does give us positions of the cabin sides and the position of the carlings to work too. The next job is to work out how much T & G we are going to need to make up the aft cabin bulkhead  
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