How to restore a 22ft trailer-sailer in 10 easy steps
This Jaguar 22 turned into in a sorry state while the proprietor requested Will Higgs to renovate it. right here’s how he tackled the mission.
outboard motor covers
I’ve been addicted to boats when you consider that before I may want to stroll, and have spent over 30 years repairing and crusing them.
My enjoy has taught me how to control a yacht on a tight price range and a way to prioritise projects so one can get the best out of the boat and most amusement.
more lately i found a way to make my ardour my profession when I started out a brokerage and boat repair business enterprise.
Our first project become a enjoyment 20, which we refitted for a lady at the local crusing membership. soon after, I met a chap who’d sold his first boat – a Jaguar 22 that were laying not noted on our moorings at Saltash at the river Tamar for a few years, providing a domestic for several households of seagulls.
He approached me with the goal of securing a mooring and noted in passing that he become seeking out a yard to refit the boat as he turned into very busy at paintings and didn’t have the time to do it himself.
We discussed the alternatives and agreed to perform a modest renovation keeping to the vital fundamentals had to create a safe, easy sailing boat which could be adorned as time is going on.
To cover the key factors of safety and seaworthiness we devised a checklist of all of the vital tests and upkeep and this is how we tackled it.
Step 1: clear and catalogue
We started by dropping the mast and emptying the boat. subsequent we catalogued the stock, wiped clean down all of the gadget and removed all the rubbish.
There’s not anything worse than tripping over tools all of the way via a refit and it most effective ends up ruined so, once it has been thoroughly wiped clean and dried out, we box the entirety up and percent it away till it is wished at the ‘putting it all returned together’ level.
I find it sincerely useful to keep a document of gadget such as wherein it became located on the boat and where it's miles stored. This manner takes a touch time but saves hours later when attempting to find it or don't forget in which it is going. there are such a lot of additives to maximum boat refits, if I attempted to fly by means of the seat of my pants I’d don't have any risk.
Step 2: Valet and strip-again
We usually like to take away all filth and antique paint straight away as this famous any hidden nasties and also gets all the grimy jobs out of the manner so that you can’t contaminate new paintings in a while.
the primary degree with this unique task was scraping off years of mussel increase with a shovel which, noticeably, found out a boat underneath and had the enviable side-effect of supplying lunch!
A complete end-to-give up inside-and-out strain wash and deep clean of the empty boat observed, such as the rig and all lockers and bilges.
We then used our personal recipe of oxalic acid crystals blended with wallpaper paste and water to create an effective 2nd stage cleaning gel, relatively powerful at casting off the infamous Tamar tan. This we applied liberally to the deck, which was badly stained and discoloured. when applied with a paintbrush, the gel sticks to the GRP and metal surfaces and, after leaving on for ten mins, strips all the staining away leaving a brightened surface ready for sprucing. A second utility can be vital on badly stained areas but altogether this procedure is relatively effective at rescuing gelcoat without the need to wet and dry or excessively reduce it that could impair the end and its opacity.
The mixture also works well on timber to bleach out darkish spots and discolouration as soon as varnish has been eliminated.
The hull have been previously painted and had suffered badly from the years it had spent deserted on its mooring. even though I usually prefer to repair and repair gelcoat in preference to paint if possible, we had no choice however to abrade it lower back to a smooth substrate and start once more. For the topsides this genuinely intended sanding significantly.
but, we exposed more sinister troubles below the waterline.
for you to clean the underside back to a reworkable point we used a media blasting attachment that connects to our pressure washing machine. We sheeted up and amassed the waste product – removing it responsibly – and found that it cut through the build up of antifoul and increase very efficiently requiring simplest a mild sand afterwards to smooth it out.
It turned into at this factor that we discovered osmosis. The blasting and sanding discovered that most people of the hull was fairly sound apart from a few remoted blisters no longer surprising in a ship of this age and creation. however, there was a 15cm (6in) extensive band around the waterline and splash zone that become riddled with blisters. Now I don’t profess to be the divine authority on osmosis treatment, but i've seen enough to understand that it would now not be cost-powerful to present a boat of this age and fee the entire works so we needed to come up with a solution which might alleviate the trouble and maintain the boat without breaking the financial institution.
Our approach changed into to Dremel out all visible blisters after which placed the boat in our shed for a period of drying out.
We always try to cover a venture as soon as the cleaning out segment is completed anyway. If we can’t in shape the boat inside the shed we tent it. This enables us to make progress in all weathers but having the boat well dry also improves the workmanship and the end.
once the blisters had stopped weeping and regarded definitely dry, we allowed a in addition 3 weeks to be truly sure and then repaired the blisters with West gadget Epoxy.
in the end we faired the hull and applied coats of Gelshield and two coats of Underwater Primer.
Step three: finish and paint
At each level of the venture we start at the top and work down.
to begin with we carried out all the practise work, then we repaired the GRP and timberwork as important, and then we faired the hull and different gelcoat maintenance to create a appropriate end.
The entire boat became then detail cleaned, sharpening the gelcoat inside the cabin and on deck.
wooden trims, which include the ones which had been removed from the boat for the refit, have been varnished.
ultimately the hull was primed and repainted. For the topsides we used a self priming topcoat known as Multicoat, from Hempel. This paint is brilliant for popular use as it dries to a satin end – which doesn’t look too brilliant and hides imperfections properly, however is likewise clean to touch up if it's miles scratched while not having to repaint the complete hull. Being self priming, even supposing a recoat is needed, it is just that – a light rub-all the way down to key and clean the floor, and an overcoat.
once the paint had dried we applied new vinyl sticker stripes to the hull to complete off and draw the attention however also to complete the look.
Step four: check the rudder
We had to be one hundred% certain the rudder became sound. The Jaguar 22 has a wooden inventory and a lifting blade and it was looking a little worse for its years spent languishing in the river so we burned off all the paint and dismantled it into its aspect components.
This included splitting the 3 laminated layers of the inventory making up the 2 cheek portions and the vital center. The sections had been then repaired with epoxy as essential, faired and reassembled – once more with epoxy as well as new fixings. The complete assembly became repainted and installed in its rightful area, fit and ready to maintain a immediately course for the foreseeable future.
outboard motor covers
Step 5: look at the rig
We then grew to become our attention to the rig. This concerned sprucing the mast, installing a second-hand curler reefing gear and checking over all of the standing rigging.
I typically prefer to replace standing rigging after I don’t recognize its age, but in this instance that wasn’t in our remit, although we did install a brand new forestay with a Sta-Lok becoming at the lower stop as part of the curler reefing gadget.
We then added a brand new rope p.c., replacing those that were badly worn and fouled up, and a new masthead mild, steaming mild and VHF aerial.
We taped the ends of the spreaders to save you them from snagging the leach of the genoa, and i sent the sails off for a carrier and to have the vital changes made for the roller reefing.
Step 6: Engine service
The engine were sat at the transom for a while and had taken a few knocks to the casing.
The equipment lever was jammed and it became truely affected by a build up of corrosion. when it turned into stripped down we determined that we needed to put off the electricity head which will work the linkage loose. We additionally wiped clean out the corrosion and done the everyday provider gadgets such as the gearbox and check-ran it in our tank.
Step 7: Bulkheads and chainplates
We checked the bulkheads, chainplates and hull and deck joint and found them to be sound.
We also resealed all of the deck fittings with Captain Tolly’s Creeping Crack cure and the usage of CT1 Sealant around home windows and those fittings that have been displaying signs of more serious leaks.
subsequently, we gave the interior a radical smooth, paint and polish.
Step 8: inventory
It turned into now time to reinstall all of the wiped clean-up stock, changing lacking and damaged objects along the way.
The maximum sizable broken item changed into the mast foot, which became tough to update because the becoming turned into out of date and, being made of a solid aluminium casting, very hard to restore efficaciously. We did finally manage to source a alternative element and reassemble the mast with its new rope percent.
After raising the mast we went around replacing pins and shackles until the entirety was as it should be and fitted new sliders to the mainsail as we’d transformed it from a bolt rope as a way to make it easier to handle while elevating and lowering.
We repaired the keel winch and changed the centreplate cable, and serviced all of the other winches too.
Step 9: Antifoul and wax
After repairing all of the visible blistering, we included and primed the hull. We used Hempel classic antifouling, which no matter being less expensive than many other products in the marketplace, seems to have held up well, other than picking up a slime layer over the iciness as she stayed on her mooring.
ultimately, before launch, we treated the hull above the waterline with water-proof wax. This left us with a nice, sleek finish however also provided the hull a degree of protection towards scratching and staining.
Step 10: Rig and launch
Time to step the mast! Having very well checked all terminals and fittings, changing clevis pins and split rings, we have been equipped.
The splendor of a yacht this length is the light-weight gear making it surprisingly sincere to raise the mast through hand, saving on craning costs.
We attached a protracted line to the jib halyard and installation a block well ahead of the bow to provide us more purchase. We connected the backstay and aft lowers and commenced to heave on it.
two of us lifted the mast and driven it up far enough to get a purchase on the halyard, even as the 0.33 hauled in at the block and tackle lifting the mast completely vertical and stopping it from falling again.
once the mast was raised we set up the rig and outfitted the increase.
end
The undertaking price £1,000 in substances plus 50 hours’ labour.
The proprietor became very thrilled with the outcome and joined us for the journey downriver to his mooring lower back at Saltash in which we positioned her at the pontoon to rig the sails and take a look at that the whole thing was working properly.
searching lower back over the venture, I suppose it’s fair to mention that such as the labour, he spent what he would have performed on an inexpensive example of one of these boats, however were given a newly refurbished one alternatively.
probably we delivered a few fee to his crusing as he didn’t have the time to perform the work himself so became getting no leisure out of the boat earlier than. It’s brilliant to see him using the boat on the river and making all the exciting small tweaks to put his stamp on matters.
With our busy agenda on the yard we finished the work over six weeks but the task could have been damaged down into two or 3 weekends’ work if it turned into condensed and tackled head on.
for the reason that an immaculate instance of the Jaguar 22 probably has a price of £2,000-2,500, this sort of task may want to represent real value for cash.
This particular boat cost £two hundred to shop for in her unique state. I’ve seen them cheaper however it’s crucial to understand that this boat covered a four-stroke outboard, all of her sails – in decent circumstance – as well as the indoors cushions and most of the miscellaneous gadget had to at least get her going. shopping for a assignment boat without these gadgets is risky because the alternative price of components can be drastically better than the very last cost of the boat.
thankfully, in this situation the owner sold smart and we did the ones refit gadgets which had been vital with out overspending on non-essentials or taking the refit too a ways to be justifiable on a ship of this price.
