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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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Starting working on the aft cabin uprights

  https://youtu.be/Xb_wQyPI9eo We are now starting to fit the uprights of the aft end of the cabin so that we can then fit the new aft end of the cabin short deck beams and then the carlins. then once the carlins are fitted along with the short deck beams and the uprights then the cabi sides can be refitted. The first job will be to make up some T&G to make a new aft end of the cabin the way it would have been when Gadfly II /Mai Star II was when she was build in 1939.
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Making up thespacers for the hanging knees and the aft of the cabin upright posts to fit the aft of the cabin deck beams to an d then be able to fit the carlins and cabin sides.

  https://youtu.be/NFYW0uYMlK0 Making the spacers for the hanging knees ahead of the cabin front & making up the two upright posts for the aft end of main cabin to which the short aft deck beams will be jointed into with half lap and half dovetail joints. Also I am making up the spacers to go in between the hanging knees and the deck beam ahead of the main cabin and the grown frame on the hull to make the whole area a ring frame which will tie the deck beam to the hull framing and when the rig is under tension the stress will be spread around the whole structure and not just on one part of the hull. In the meantime, I will be making up studding to bolt the frames to the hanging knees and also the deck beam to the hanging knees
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Next Jobs on Mai Star II, fitting the iron knees to the frames and deck beams and fixing the floor bearers in position and fitting the forward frame.

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Before my apprentice left he clamped the iron knees in position apart from making and fitting the spacers in position. Once these are in position then the deck beams and the frames will make up a ring framework to take the stresses of the rig through the whole boat structure. So on got to make up the spacers from some of the small pieces of oak we have laying around the workshop and then make up some fixing  bolts to bolt the knees to the frames a ns deck beams. Then I will get on with the floor bearers which need fixing back in position so the cabin floor can go back down in the hull, making it easier to walk around on the inside to work on putting the carlins back in place.  
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