Otterblog

A record of the renovation of a
Wooden Drascombe Longboat 'Otter'

20th December 2006. Plan A.

Scarf in new length of hog.

Remove aft section of hog (as it is too rotten to repair).

Scarf in new length 102mm x 30mm iroko. Leave it floating in mid air until bulkhead and rudder box fitted.

Insert new bulkhead (rear cockpit)

This bulkhead has a lot of rot. Also, I would like to have flush locker lids on the aft deck. So replace it with solid sheet of 12mm ply.

May have to split it in two to get it in as there are knees in the way and I don't want to remove them.

Replace rudder box.

The box has some rot and the GRP lining is pierced. Too difficult to repair the GRP and ensure it is watertight so start from fresh with 9mm ply.

The ply sides will have a grp coating as will the spacers. Then they will be bonded together.

Insert new bulkhead.

As I am going to add a 'Cruiser' cabin I need to insert a 12mm ply bulkhead at the aft end of the centreboard case. This will be the rear of the cabin to deck level.

May have to split it to get it in.

The existing bulkhead will be retained to hold the shape but not bonded to the new strakes. It will be removed later.

Insert new cockpit side panels.

I intend to have flush locker lids on each side bench so I will replace these panels with 9mm ply.

Build new centreboard case.

Severe rot here so start from scratch. Same construction as rudder box. 9mm ply with reinforcement at pivot hole.

(On the existing case the reinforcement seems to have missed the pivot point.)

Cut away bulkhead?

The bulkhead at the front of the centreboard case looks like it has been cut away. I may need to restore this to its original profile.

Remove rest of keelson leaving scarfed section at stem.

I will try and rescue as much of this wood as possible.

These are the areas of the strakes that need replacing.

As a sheet of 9mm plywood is 8 feet long the bilge strakes will be in three sections and the second strakes one or two.

Each section will be butt jointed with a 4 inch wide butt strap of 9mm ply.

Replace bilge strake on each side.

I will remove the rotten strake and attempt to bevel the new strake to fit under the sound strake. This is the opposite order to the way the boat was built so I made need to use epoxy to bridge any gaps.

Replace section of second strake each side.

The bilge strake will be beveled, as normal so the top edge of the second strake will fit over it. The lower edge will be be beveled to fit inside the third strake. Butt jointed and strapped at each end.

Replace Keelson

The new keelson will be a length of iroko, 80mm x 30mm. The curved section at the stem will be three layers of 80mm x 10mm iroko scarfed to the straight section and to the original stem section.

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Last updated: 28 December, 2006