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We’ve started work on “Freebooter” while we are going to modernise the boat, we also want to retain its provenance. Overall the hull is in great condition and has been well looked after, having been regularly varnished. This means that we can focus on fairing and revarnishing the hull. In terms of fittings, they all work and in on the surface in good condition, but age is an issue. While taking a fitting off we dropped a bolt onto one of the adjustable ratchets, the impact broke the adjustor knob clean off.
In addition Dick Batt, our sailmaker, pointed out that ‘Freebooter’ was designed for a large overlapping jib which is not in-line with modern fast designs. So we will need to move the jib tracks forward and add a barber hauler, so we will need to do some significant changes anyway.
First steps where to strip all of the fittings from the boat. It took a while, with a wooden boat especially of this age you don’t know how old the fittings are and of more concern the fixings, there is a difference metric and imperial screws, any fittings we are going to keep in place we need to use the same screws in the same screw holes so we don’t end up threading the wood. Where we aren’t going to use the same fittings and holes we are filling the holes with teak wooden dowels and wood glue.
One other advantage of updating the gear is weight. Modern kit is much lighter than 70s gear. Haven’t weighed all of the gear we’ve taken off yet, but it is pretty heavy. The ‘modern’ I14 Classic class rules allows the boat to be a minimum of 200lbs, and while the boat has all of its correctors removed it is doubtful it is fully down to weight. Updating the deck gear will help to bring her down to the minimum weight.
What is the plan?
With the deck gear stripped, the boat is in the garage upside down. First job is to fair the hull. Previous owner was really good at varnishing the boat regularly, and the boat has a few dings.
Because the varnish is thick we have the perfect opportunity to fair out the minor dents etc. and only fill the deepest areas.
Once that is complete, we will be revarnishing the hull. For the hull we are going to use AWLGrip’s, AWLWood it is a highly recommended single part wood coating. It allows for a fast build of the layers and produces a hard finish which can be machine polished to a high gloss and is hard wearing.
Once that is complete we will flip the boat strip the gunwales to bare wood, which we will build back up with AWLWood. There is part of the side decks, where the crew’s foot slides in coming off the trapeze which we will strip that as well and also redo with AWLWood. The rest of the insides we will sand down the varnish but not through to the wood. We will revarnish the majority of the interior with Epiphanes Woodfinish gloss.
The foils are generally in good condition but do require refurbishing. The Centreboard needs a tip rebuild and fairing plus some work on where bolt goes through, which seems to have opened up over time. Meaning the board moves within the case so that all needs sorting out. Rudder just needs fairing and some minor repairs. Both will be resprayed with AWLGrip paint as per our modern I14 and the 600.
We are hoping to have the project finished in March of 2025. We will keep posting updates as we go on.