Sunday, August 27, 2023

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE FULL MONTY >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Even in pre - leaking days, the old work horse was showing signs of wear and tear. At this point I had already glass taped the fore and aft buoyancy tanks to the hull where they were leaking. Later on, being a light weight dinghy the flexing that occurred every time I stepped onto the floor of the dinghy caused a couple of splits in the fiberglass hull and she began to leak a bit - and then to leak badly.


To fix the leaking and strengthen the hull I fibreglassed the outside up to the top two clinker planks and the inside to a slightly less height. This has substantially strengthened and stiffened the hull.


I then painted the dinghy with a two pot paint system and installed a new plastic rubbing strake. I also taped out a large area of the dinghy floor and painted it with non-skid paint.


Two coats of anti-fouling paint completed the job.


Moored back at the floating pontoon she is all ready to continue her job as tender to the good ship 'Mariner' and work mate to this skipper, who is glad that his feet aren't going to get wet, and gear isn't going to get soaked when rowing out to his boat. Job done.
 

4 comments:

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Smart! I plan to be doing mine over the winter.. will make a nice project to fill the long dark days...

Alden Smith said...

Thanks Steve. Winter is a good time for these sorts of jobs - and particularly this winter which has been the worst in my memory - incessant rain and wind for months on end - but most clouds have silver linings - which has meant plenty of time to get the dinghy repaired and repainted.

Bursledon Blogger said...

Nice job, hopefully folks take note - sadly far to much dinghy neglect seen these days

Alden Smith said...

Thanks Max. And yes! dinghy neglect is a disease. The floating pontoon that I tie my dinghy to is a very good example. Many dinghies are half submerged with rain water most of the time. Several (mainly the inflatables) are literally disintegrating. One slowing disappearing old wooden dinghy is only seen at low tide.
The problem with leaving a nicely restored dinghy at the pontoon is that is becomes a target for vandals and thieves - which is one of the reasons I think many of the owners of of the regular use dinghies keep them looking so dilapidated. Time will tell how my shiny new dinghy fares.