One of the jobs keeping me busy this summer (2009) has been repairing a Twinkle 12. This one, in the same family since the early 1960’s, now needs quite a bit of work to return her to active service.
Once the garboards and first broads came off it was apparent that a length of keel, one side of the hog and the stem knee needed replacement so off I went – here is the photo log.
Looking a bit fragile…
A new length of keel goes in.
One of the new garboards starts to fit.
But squeezing in a new first broad takes a while
Once planked up Twinkle is turned back over, the nails (all 450 of them for the three new and one re-conditioned plank) are roved and peened (thanks for helping Ben) and I get on with scarfing in a dozen or so timbers.
A new centreboard case, a bit of cleanup and she is ready (very late in the season I’m afraid) to go back in the water.
I get down to RFYC and help Lorne check that she is taking up OK. She is not perfect but much better than she was (water intake wise) and infinitely stiffer in the backbone!
Lessons to learn from this one?
- Well, these projects always take longer than you expect (of course).
- The 5/16″ planking was so frail it would have been easier (and faster and cheaper) to replace the (basically OK) first broad that I re-conditioned. Filling all the nail holes and cleaning up the plank is much more work than cutting a new plank.
- I was glad that I chose to scarf in new lower sections to timbers rather than replace whole timbers. Again, the existing planks are so delicate removing nails all the way up timbers to be replaced would inevitably have damaged a few planks.
- I took the chance, while the boat was upside down, to laminate up a keel support batten. This, when attached to the launching trolley, provides a firm base for the boat to rest on while ashore. I think that this sort of arrangement is essential for any lightly built traditional boat to prevent pressure points at the bilge (and broken timbers and cracked planking).
