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

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 ...

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   

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.  

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  

  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.

  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

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.  

https://youtu.be/RETvGIl55-A . Because funds are limited at the moment we are turning our attention to the ongoing restoration on Mai Star II which we are restoring to get funds for the Chance Restoration, we will have fun restoring Mai Star II which will be put up for sale once she is finished after a season of sailing her after the restoration is completed. So over the next few months we will combine videos from both restoration projects so you can see our progress on both project and our ups and downs as we go through the winter months.

https://youtu.be/qY1iOKTD2j8   Over the past week there as been a lot of of work done on a number of projects from refitting floor bearers in the hull to repairs to the cabin sides and finally repairs to the Samson post which needed a new heal piece making to fit on the lower section of the original Samson post. The majority of the Samson post was in good condition and rather than make a completely new Samson post it was decided that it was just as good to make up a new lower section out of same well seasoned oak we have in the yard and make up a new heal piece. The cabin sides need to have some more major repairs done, however, it was decided that grading pieces were the way to go so these were made up and glued in position. The reasoning behind doing this rather than cut whole section out and gluing new complete pieces in place was that the inside face of the cabin side was not damage and therefore it was not going to need a repair to be seen when it was not needed to be. The ne...

After cutting the 12" scarf joint on the upper section of the samson post it was time to level up the joint to it the new sectin of samson post to the new joint  Using a straight piece of wood removed the high spots and levelled it across the joint it was time to make up the new lower section of the samson post  The upper section now ready to fit the lower section  The new section made up and glued to the upper section with west epoxy resin and a lot of clamps to ensure the joint is glued together. The cross clamps to hold the lower section in place while the gue cures off over night, the nit will be ready to shape up next week.  

The original samson post for the most part is in good condition and just the lower end needed replacing so it is just as easy to cut a 12 inch long scraph joint on the lower end of the original samson post and glue and bolt a new section on to the post. Having cut the scraph joint on the original post it is now time to flatten off the scraph joint and make up a new section to be glued and bolted on to the existing part The original post is very hard and seasoned so the bandsaw found it hard going to cut through such hard wood even with a new bandsaw blade. Now time to get out the chisels and planes to get the joint flat.  

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.