Fine old dinghies frequently become available at nominal prices, or even free — see Bulletin 165 ads. The new synthetic resins may make it possible to restore such craft to Boat Show condition with low maintenance requirements. The following article from Leader News describes such a restoration. The gunwales referred to are complex laminations of mahogany and spruce, the latter tending to rot.

I’m proud of my boat. She’s 35 years old and goes as well as any new boat. Her sails are 35 years old as well which gives me any excuse I need; but often we get it together and she goes well anyway. I bought her in 1993 from an old chap who had built her from a completed Small Craft hull, just as my dad had done with No.133. Latterly, he had used her about once a year, hence the sails’ long life. So she was in pretty original condition. A better starting point than for many an old wooden boat. However, her gunwales were worse than I thought. Where the varnish had cracked along the joins the glue itself had cracked and the softwood had started to rot. I am happy to repair wooden boats (our oldest had been a ton 1925 Falmouth Quay Punt) but I didn’t fancy a gunwale rebuild. How would the Gripfast nails come out?

Fortunately, wooden boat restoration has changed considerably in the last 20 years. Old gaffers which used to be just about kept afloat are now restored to their former glory using modern resins and sealants. In the Firefly class where the mahogany lasts forever but glue joints eventually fail, a resin company even sponsored the class such was the business it could foresee! So I had to learn about resins quickly. Normal polyester resin doesn’t bond well to wood despite its wide usage in, for example, Mirrors. Epoxy resin, despite its cost, is the only thing to use and ‘West’ is the main producer. Where we’ve all hoped that varnish would stay in a crack and fill it but to our annoyance it has all run out, ‘West’ will stay and fill a gap (subject to the force of gravity before it cures!) yet it handles like varnish.

I removed all the varnish and loose glue. I did the top with her right way up and under the gunwales with her upside down. I just poured it on and spread it by hand wearing a rubber glove. It all seemed so easy that I continued all over her foredeck which I had stripped but not with the intention of Westing it too. The more rotten, although dry, the wood was, the better it soaked in. After the second coat the crevasses had been levelled across. Not that the job was without anguish. Finding the first coat dry by the afternoon of a sunny April day, I put the second coat on. Not only was the day getting cooler but I got the resin/hardener ratio wrong. Because I had bought specially clear resin (207) which needed 3:1 instead of 5:1, I was up until midnight with a fan-fire before it ceased to be tacky! I read afterwards that the best curing is the slowest but I didn’t know that then. Next morning there was a white sheen to the resin but thankfully it wiped off.

They say West needs to be covered with a UV resistant varnish but normal old Spinnaker it was and six years on there seems to be no weathering effect from the sun. I am still delighted with the job although I have a niggling regret about the few streaks on the foredeck which never flowed flat before the resin set. But a job, and an error, with West is permanent. West can also be used structurally where it can fill gaps and be a powerful adhesive. Although expensive, it goes a long way and can help considerably in keeping an old boat going — or actually improving it. Mike Sherwen Naiad No 26.