The Fairey Owners' Club

Prep going well. About 2 weeks from needing a tin of paint, although I need some glue and wood first.

There was a terrible disaster today, I got to the boat....no tea bags. Bad times.

She looks a bit of a disaster, but the prep is coming on ok, at risk of soundling like someone else...another 2 weeks of prep will see me ready for some paint.

Fuel tanks are out, bit cramped in there for a big lump like me!

I happened to be walking through a boatyard, glanced into a tent and there was a Cummins 6bt sat there! I made a few enquiries and collected it today.

I arrived home looking like a Smurf.

I've broken the back of the prep work.

My tent has survived the recent winds thankfully.

I'm making a buck to allow me to mould a new section of screen. I should have gone to Precision Units in Poole (and I still might!) but I fancied having a go myself.

Seems to be going ok so far...
To quote someone thats a far better boat fixer than me "it was all going so well right up to the point it wasn't going very well at all"

When I made screens for the Triana I made a plywood oven box to heat the perspex , using hot air guns and a fan heater to warm up the blank in the home made oven. I think your buck needs some back bracing because when you attempt to bend your warm perspex it will need a bit of support whilst its cooling.I was probably a bit frugal with the heat so I used ratchet straps to persuade the screens to take the correct bend - but it did work very well.

Ben...a screen related question (well, almost)....

what will you do for some form of wiper? As I bounced around yesterday a combination of sun and a lot of spray on the screen meant I had reduced visibility and when I looked over the top of the screen then I got wet too! I'd thought of a Clearview but like the unbroken view forwards so thought about mounting a wiper - have you given any thought to what you'll do?

I've one more question but as it is the $64,000 money shot I'll wait until we catch up!
D

Mike - thank you, I'm avoiding attempting it at the moment!

Dougal - I'm curious!

I'm still sanding and painting and gluing bits back together.

I sourced a pair of the Simpson Lawrence deck fillers and had them rechromed with all the other bits, fitting them means redrilling the deck.

I did learn that the deck is laid on epoxy and no fastenings, very good news.

18th March I posted that I'd broken the back of the prep work. That was very wrong. Nearly there now!

Even a little varnish going on.

Progress is not as fast as I'd like, but it is moving forward.

I was involved in her history from 'Volcano' to 'Artemis', the wind up Volvo's to the Cummins 6BT.

The surface drive never worked in 'little Griggle' , to go over 36 knots in a Fairey or Huntress, is not easy. One must question these claims !, but we did get a Huntsman 28 up to 50 knots, but the hull was far from standard.