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

  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.