The Restoration of Mai Star II (Gadfly II)

[jstarmarine]

Now we have almost all the parts that have been taken off Mai Star II over the past two years, it is time to sort out the parts we are keeping and which parts are just bring kept for use as patterns.



Having sanded back the cabin sides they will be given a sealing coat of varnish until such a time when they go back in place on the new deck structure later in the restoration project.



The hull as been given a good vacing out and got all the areas clear to make the new frame and to steam the five missing ribs so putting back the shape into that part of the hull.

 

[jstarmarine]

Screwing together the broken parts into something that looks like the frame and its shape.



The two first parts of the four parts that make up this frame.





The frame now looking more like it should so we can take a pattern off this to make the new four parts of this frame.



This shows the small twist the frame had when it was originally made up and fitted to the boat.



Now it is time to put in the boat and see how far out of the shape this and the hull are and then make up the new frame with the correct shape and once this is made and fitted the ribs will be steamed in position and then we can move on to the rest of the hull and ort out any problem the hull as.

 

[burgundyben]

She's a pretty thing.

What is the motorboat with blue topsides?

 

[jstarmarine]

She's a pretty thing.

What is the motorboat with blue topsides?

Hi Ben,

Mai Star II is a pretty boat, she was designed by Bob Anderson of Anderson Rigden and Perkins of Whitstable in 1939. Much of the design was from other designs of the time with differences Bob Anderson made himself to Mai Star II design. Although Mai Star II was started in 1939, she was not launched until 1946 after the war work had been finished by the yard and there was time to finish her off and get her launched for the 1946 sailing season. We are now at a point where we can start the restoration with the hull in a position to start making the missing and broken frame and make a new oak four section frame to replace the old frame which you can see screwed back together with the parts that survived the frame being removed. So it is a start in the right direction now.

The boat with the blue topside is a clients boat which is in the workshop to get the deck re-veneered and a paint job on the hull and have a new engine bay hatch made and the engine and sterndrive leg refitted before it goes out on its first sea trail in over 10 years. So busy at the moment with these jobs and a couple of other jobs in other places.

 

[jstarmarine]

This job can not be left any longer as I need to get on with the boat and get it back together and sailing again as soon. Because of other work commitments and life in general it has not been at the top of my to do list. However, Now that I have the workshop to myself and not having to share it with any one else I have to make plans to move some of the boats along and get them out of the yard.


One being Mai Star II which now that I have much of the wood needed for her restoration, I can get on and do the work. However, I start have to re-weld to together the framework shed to go over the top of Mai Star II and then get a cover to go over her and get the boat dried out again so that work can get done on her.

Over the past few weeks my son as removed the last of the deck beams and knees which were in the way of working on the tops of the frames and refitting the ribs which need to be replaced as a matter of urgency. As the longer Mai Star II is left the worse the shape becomes.

So it is time to act and get the ball rolling and get on with rebuilding the framework and get the cover over the boat again and get the work underway again.

 

[jstarmarine]

These last couple of years have been a roller coaster ride for the team at the Mai Star II Restoration project. Having to keep going through the Covid 19 pandemic and the fall out from that which put pay to much of the work we wish to do on Mai Star II.
Mai Star II is close to our home and my workshop so that it can be work on during quite times while working on my other clients boat during the working week.

A lot of loose items are now out of Mai Star II and in the workshop waiting to be worked on when there is time to work on them between other work. One of the main jobs that as to be tackled is making new foredeck deck beams which were removed when the deck was removed and the ends were rotten or broken., so new deck beams are having to be made to replace the old deck beams.
Once all the items that were going to make Chance lighter were removed then we felt happy that it was time for Chance to move south. This happened on the 1st of November last year.
Now that there is more space in the yard it is planned that Mai Star II will be moved to the temporary shed in the yard so that it is under cover, so that work can get on with the hull over the coming months.
So at the moment we are continuing to do some of the smaller jobs off Mai Star II and when the weather gets better and the spring gets here then we will try again to get on with the major jobs we had planned to do last year this year.
These setbacks have made us more determination to push on with Mai Star II restoration and like it says we all need and we are going to give Mai Star II a second chance.

 

[burgundyben]

I reckon she'd make a smashing open harbour launch.

Such a lovely elegant hull.

 

[jstarmarine]

Yes Ben, Mai Star II as a very sloppy hull and when I had her in the water and rigged she would sail like the wind. May be because of her sailing rig and sweet lines.

 

[jstarmarine]

Still waiting to get the framework repaired so that I can put a cover over the boat so that we can start work on Mai Star II.



In the meantime Simon as been sorting out the deck beams and other parts to be able in the near future, be able to start fitting new deck beams to Mai Star II to stop her spreading apart.



Some of the deck beams are in a poor condition in some cases cracked and full of holes where iron fixing were used and the iron rotted the oak away making the beams being able to move and when any load was put on them they cracked.



This pile is a mixture of cabin top beams and deck beams. These beams will be used as patterns and new laminated beams made which will be a lot stronger and give plenty of strength.



Another pile of deck beams and cabin side carlins as well as cockpit coaming carlins as well.



This pile is made up of much of the varnish work, namely the rubbing strakes toe rails and other trims from both inside and outside the boat

 

[burgundyben]

What timber will you laminate in?

 

[jstarmarine]

What timber will you laminate in?

Oak for the deck beams and frames

 

[jstarmarine]

Plans to move Mai Star II to another part of the Yard under a more permanent shelter.

At the moment Mai Star II is out in the open and not drying out at all. However, opposite this photo I have a semi permanent shelter in which to put Mai Star II into and so it can dry out and work can be started on her. The shelter as power and lighting and a work bench in the shelter so that work will be easier to do once it is moved across the yard.

Also it the workshop there is a boat that is coming closer to the end of its major refit and where Mai Star II is now standing will be where the yacht in the workshop will be going prior to it being finished of and get loaded on to transport to be launched and sea trailed and then siled back to its home port in the North West of Scotland later this year.
So it is time to start making bit move so that this plan can be enacted and that Mai Star II can be started on and be restored.

 

[jstarmarine]

After such a long time, Mai Star II is finally in the Grey Shed and out of the weather and can get started on.
Just now
Now after other projects have been finished and boats that have been clogging up the yard because their owners had not worked on their boats it was time to sort out the yard so that Mai Star II could be put where she had been needed to be put for such a long time under cover and be able to be worked on.

The place where Mai Star II hd been for the past years is now got an Enterprise dinghy in its place, this Enterprise is in for some TLC before being put up for sale to aid the restoration of Mai Star II.

The grey shed now as the repaired cover over it again after a long time as it needed to be repaired as it spilt along the centre line along the peak of the roof. The preair was much cheaper than getting new cover and will help give us more funds to get the restoration of Mai Star II underway again. We know that in time we will will have to replace the roof, however, in the meantime as long as we look after the cover it should last a a good long while over the summer.

The small cover at the front end is more to keep the sun off the transom and keep the shed cool in the summer, We are going to fill the ends in over the summer with plywood and a set of plywood doors which will be better for working in the shed over the winter months , however, over the summer it is not such a problem as we need to keep the shed cool.

Mai Star II is now shored up and leveled up, just got to put in some extra chocks to stop the hull from twisting out of shape as we put the new frames and ribs back in her over the coming months as we get rebuild to put her up for sale to add funds to put in to the Chance restoration funds.

It took a lot of muscle power and brain storming and a lot of experience of boat moving with little equipment other than chain blocks and metal rollers and finally the help from a fork liif to put her in the finished position in the grey shed.

In this shed there is enough room to work round the hull at over angles and also enough height to work on the deck and put the cabin sides and cabin rook back on her when it is time to do that part of the restoration.

There even enough room to put the Mai Star Class dinghy in the shed while we make room in the main workshop to put her and the Enterprise in once the Morgan Giles 30 comes out and they can be worked on and the Enterprise is put up for Sale and the Mai tar Class is given a bit of TLC so that she can be used this summer to explore the local back waters of the Walton Backwaters close to my Workshop and Yard.

 

[jstarmarine]

This is my wife cutting tapered softwood plugs to fill the many old nail holes in Mai Star II's hull . This method of filling old nail holes with tapered wooden plugs is a more environmentally friendly way of repairing planking, the other way would be to remove a lot of planks and use a lot of new materials new wood and copper nails and bronze screws which cost a lot of money and which is not the result we are looking for and this way it will will let us maintain as much of the original material of which the hull was build of back in 1939 when Mai Star II went down the slipway at Anderson Rigen & Perkins in Whitstable in Kent.

Now we have a bit of free time on our hands it will give a chance to get on with much more work on Mai Star II

 

[jstarmarine]

The inside is now getting the paint stripped off the hull so that it can be inspected and then painted before any ribs or frames are fitted.



The hull is reasonable condition now the paint as been removed, just needs a good sanding down on the inside to get it ready to painted again.







Also now all the old nail and screw holes are plugged on the port side forward the ribs and the frame can be fitted without chance of pulling through the hull and that way making the fixing stronger and the hull can regain some if not all of its original shape. There is going to be more of these plugs needed when we do the ribs on the starboard side later in the restoration.





Next week, the rest of the paint on the hull will be gone and then the full inspection of the hull can take place and any work marked to be done and list of materials done so that the materials can be sourced and a plan of action can be set in place and the work done.

Another job to be done is to make a pattern of the tops of the frames that need replacing so the top plank and blocking can be fitted once the tops of frames are renewed and the top planks can be made and refitted to the hull.








So there is going to be a bit of pattern making and cutting of oak from the pile of oak beside the grey workshop and start planeing and thickening down to size to make the new parts needed in the hull so we can make start on putting the hull back together.

There is also a good amount of sorting out deck beams that need steaming and laminating up as the old deck beams are either rotten or broken or both as in some cases.

 

[jstarmarine]

Now the hull is bare and there is nothing in the way of working on the hull it is time to make plans to start the rebuild of the frames and ribs of the hull.



One of the first jobs is to replace the missing frame and the five ribs in the port side forward and get the strength back in the hull and stop it from dis-taunting the hull shape.



The other major job to do is replace the top sections of the frames which have got rotten and broken off over the years.





Another job is to repair the beam shelf and block the spaces between the beam shelf and strengthen it up and fix it back in position.



A major job I am not looking forward to, as it has been a number of years since I tackled this job.



This is the other job I am not looking forward either.

 

[jstarmarine]

Autumn is now upon us, so now we can get to work on Chance again now that hot weather is behind us and we do not cook under the sun working on Chance's hull.

We are at the moment working on Chance's floorboards which we will be putting back down in her so that we can walk safely through the boat.

We are just getting together some shoring material to put under parts of the hull that need supporting while rebuild the stern end and put the transom back in place.

Then hopefully get the Perspex cut to start to fill in the windows which have no glass in them and then screw the Perspex in the holes. We have to put the Wheelhouse roof back in place so we can put a small cove that part of the boat.

 

[jstarmarine]

How Mai Star II when she was last in commission


A lot as happen since there was an update on this blog about Mai Star II. So we thought it was about time to bring you all up to speed on what as been happening with her restoration.

Since we lasted updated this blog, there as been a lot happening around J-Star Marine Services yard with boats that were at the yard have now left and the workshop and yard is now much clearer and Mai Star II is now under cover for the first time in a long time.

Mai Star II is now in the grey shed/workshop in the yard and as work benches down both sides so that work can be done on her. Although the shed need more clearing to more it more user friendly. It will be able to make the parts for Mai Star II next to the boat and be able make other parts such as deck beams and knees and frames and cut the new ribs on the work benches.

We are also sorting cupboards to put in the grey shed/workshop to put all the parts are small enough store away until they are needed.

In J-Star Marine Services workshop there is now room to put some of the larger parts out and get these repaired and sorted ready to put back on the boat when they are also needed in the future.

We will be posting update on progress as we go along with the restoration over the coming months.

 

[jstarmarine]

Put more chocks under the hull and put the original chocks further forward to stop the hull from twisting.



Just got to tie the chocks together to make sure they do not move out when working on the boat.



Got some thin plywood in the back of the boat to make patterns of the parts we need to make as we go along with the restoration.



A large pile of patterning plywood this will soon be turned into patterns for the parts we need to make on the work benches down each side of the boat.



This work bench needs sorting out so we can make up new parts to go into the boat as we progress on the restoration.



These are all the teak floorboard out of Chance that need to go back in her over the next few weeks when we have time to go over to her and get them out of our Mai Star II restoration shed/workshop.



There is another pile in the workshop of the other floorboards which are not teak and were in parts of the interior which were covered with other material.

 

[jstarmarine]

Making plywood patterns of the to foredeck lodging knees which are on either side of the deck beam which holds the samson post deck plate



Having sorted out the deck beams from the other deck bits it was time to inspect which can be salvaged and which will need to be remade using laminated oak to make up the new deck beams.



Many of the deck beams are in reasonable condition. while others are a mess with bits missing off the ends and others rotten in place.



The deck beam in the middle is completely shot and the only thing that can be used for is a pattern.



The other deck parts such as carlins and coamings are under bench until we get round to making new bits later.


All the varnished parts are under a cover until we are ready to work on them.