Ugo it is

Recieved the following email from Terry in Dunedin who was the builder of Sheraton

Further to the search for the builder of your international moth.

From the images on your blog it is not Sheraton. Attached are images of Sheraton which show a similar hull design with light and dark cedar stripping. However the deck lay-out of Sheraton is vastly different from your moth. Two boats were built at the same time in Dunedin . The other builder being a friend Eric, who now resides in Christchurch . His boat was called Ugo.

Terry supplied these photos of Sheraton - What a beautifully built boat!

Would be interesting to see where Sheraton is these days?

Terry has kindly put me onto Eric who will hopefully have some pictures and info

Original builder found

Very little progress lately, with work demanding to much time away from home.
Have made progress with the history of the yacht. After firing emails to all the Dundein/Christchurch yacht clubs I was pointed in the right direction and have since found the builder. Sheraton was the yachts name and with time should find out the original sail no and hopefully even some photos. So a big thanks to those that helped point me in the right direction!

1st Strip Finished

With the glue fully cured I removed the staples ( the milk bottle strips worked with no staple impressions and made easy work of removing staples). Using a block plane to bring the strip to near flush with adjacent strips and the finished of with the sander following with a hand sand.

Almost as good as original.

On with the next area, 3 strips in a row this time. Used a router this time as the strips didn't come out as easy as 1st. Stapled a strip to hull to act as a guide and to trim out exactly to edge of good board.

This area has had a repair done before..... a big block of bog covering up a hole! Looks like the deck is definitely going to be removed. Will sheath over this hole and repair inside with a layer of fibreglass when remove decks and cockpit floor. The project is getting bigger but at least this will allow me to fully seal inside of hull with epoxy. Will probably strengthen up the area round the centre board where it looks like a lot of damage has occurred  when righting the boat. Hybrid cloth to inside of hull should sort this.

 

 

All routered out! strips selected (dark/light/dark), ready to be fitted.

Strips dry fitted and ready to glue

1st Strip Glued

The first strip is finally glued in place!
I cut up a few plastic milk bottles into strips to use as protectors when stapling down strip.Then proceeded to glue up area, fitted strip and the stapled it in place. I had chiselled out a portion of the gunwale, I will epoxy glue this this later so as to firmly hold it in place.

Will leave to cure overnight and then clean up.

1st Strip Dry Fitted

Finished cleaning out the 1st of the damaged strips tonight. Have decided I will chisel out a portion of the gunwale to allow the strip to be completely replaced. I'll then fill in the gunwale checkout with epoxy which will help lock the strip in place..
After a bit of sanding and scraping the first strip is fitted and ready to glue down.
I'll have to cut up a milk bottle into strips and will staple through these strips to hold down while glue dries. Will make it easy to remove staples.

All cleaned out ready for strip to be fitted

Strip dry fitted ready to be glued in place

Strips Machined

Saturday saw me down at the local joinery shop ripping the cedar boards into 47x3mm strips. Looks like will need to source some more as most of the cedar was light coloured and need more dark strips. This will get me going.
I managed to glue the last of the loose strips down and started removing the first of the damaged strips

New Sanding Toy

Picked up the new sander today. A Festool Geared eccentric sander RO 150 FEQ-Plus. This should make the sanding back a breeze.

Couldn't resist so tried it out and it will definitely do the trick as was back to bare wood in no time.
Combined with the vacum its virtually dustless. Only downside is the hole pattern is unique to Festool ( It uses 8 holes round the edge and 1 in the centre rather than the standard 6 hole) Which means you have to buy Festool sandpaper!
Festool have some of the best power tools out  check them out at http://www.festool.co.nz/

Loose Boards

1st job is to glue down all of the boards that are lifting. So using strops,wedges and syringe of glue I carefully lifted strip and forced glue in.Covered area with a sheet of plastic and then wedged down using the strop stretched from each side of the boat. 

This will take most of the week as will only get one batch done a day.

Have uncovered more of the fibre glassed repairs and unfortunately some of them are holed completely through the hull.

Looks like a minimum of 20 strips to replace so far

 

Workspace all ready to go

Well have finally cleaned out the garage. Decided the existing lighting was average at best so installed 3x1500 double fluro's.....wow what a difference.
Finally got around to claiming back my routers that I'd leant out to a mate which will be needed on this project.
Just waiting for my new Festool sander to arrive, hopefully pick up sometime during the week, should make the large amount of sanding a breeze  combined with the vacuum unit and help keep the dust from getting in the house...the joys of attached garages.

Garage all set to start work

Survey whats to do

Well have finished the Firebug and taken it out to the yacht club so the garage is empty but still a mess. Should have tided up but couldn't help but want to start on the moth
.

Have 1 large hole to deal with a number of planks are lifting at joins and a few previous repairs to deal with.

So think will deal with lifting planks before starting any sanding.

Have scraped all the loose varnish off and removed the fibreglass strip down the keel, Will tidy the garage this week!

Its Arrived

Well after patiently waiting I have finally collected the yacht from Scott Haulage, all in one piece...Well done! So its time to get it home.
Its condition is a little bit worse that what I expected but definitely repairable. Llyall from Dunedin supplied a pack of Western Red Cedar to help with the repairs and it looks like the colours he supplied will be just right.
Have to squeeze it in the garage as still to finish the firebug. Should have that done tomorrow!

On Its Way...

After a wait the moth is finally in a truck and on its way.....Hope it gets here in one piece. Away this week in the South Island for work so hopefully can collect it from Scotts yard when back in Auckland next weekend.
In the meanwhile have been searching the web for info. Have found a few interesting blogs, Catzooks.com is a great read with ex photos on his construction of a solo swift yacht. Will add these sites to links as I find them.

Freight Arranged

Have arranged the freight - Have done a deal with Scott Haulage who ship furniture for the company I work for. Best of all at a great price. Llyall the previous owner in Dunedin has been most helpful, so hopefully will be on its way soon.
Now have to finish of Roys Firebug so as have room in the garage.

The Purchase

AS SEEN ON TRADE ME

MOTH cedar strip

im a cedar strip moth.
im missing a boom otherwise complete.
i have a tapered aluminium mast and sail in good nick.my cedar bottom has a couple of repairs in need of doing,i have the matching western red cedar for her,needed for the repair.
its so light you can carry it by yourself.
GOOD LUCK

KZ799 purchased on Trade Me.....Only problem is its in Dunedin
Will change the white areas to black, This combined with the glow of the dark/light cedar hull will hopefully look stunning!.....hope its condition is not to bad, just be a matter of spending the time to get it done right.