The Restoration of Mai Star II (Gadfly II)

The first job was to screw the old frame back together and then get a piece of thin plywood to make a pattern to use to gauge how much the hull shape as changed and if just needs shoring up to get it back in position.
The first plywood pattern is the complete length of the original frame, then it as to be cut into sections to make the double width frame.



The front part of the frame will be in two sections and aft section will be in three section with a good length of overlap.




The joints in centre section will be well spaced apart so that the frame will have plenty of strength in it when it is fixed together with wooden pegs and wedges and red lead paint and sealant.



The lower end of the frame



All the sections of frame patterns set out ready to cut out of the oak on the pile outside in the yard.

 
Having looked through the pile of oak beside the grey shed, we found the two planks that fitted the shape and size we needed to make both the two new deck beams.
So it was time to laid out the plywood patterns on the oak to see how best to use the grain pattern to keep the strength in the cut sections of the oak.



The deck beam is going to using the plank behind the frame stock. That plank will be cut into thinner strips and then glued together with West Epoxy on a beam jig which is going to be made up shortly.



These are pieces are going to be cut up using a panel saw before being cut out to shape with the bandsaw in the workshop.

 
Now that the frame stock has been thickenessed down to the finished width it is now time to cut the rough cut stock down to the finished shape to then start to shape the bevels on to the hull face of the new frame stock.



The other job is to cut out the lodging knees out of the piece leftover from the frame stock and then thickness them down to their finished width. These will be put to one side until it is ready to refit the foredeck beams back in position once the beam shelf it reffixed in place.



Here are the two fore deck beams that need replacing as one as rotted away at the ends and the other is broken in two places. these two deck beams are the two deck beams either side of the mast socket on the deck and they need to be very strong to support the pressure from the mast.



The two lodging knee patterns being placed on the oak stock ready to be cut out.

 
Having cut all the ends of the section to the finished length and angle it is time to start putting the bevels on the two long sections



The shorter section will have the bevels planed on to them once the sections are put together with paint and softwood pegs.



The sections now laid on each other and now ready to marked up ready for the pegs to be driven through once they are ready.





The bevels bevels put on the two long sections.



 
Making a fresh start in 2025 and get some major work done on Gadfly II / Mai Star II
After a year where many plans were made and then shelved and remade and shelved again because of life work imbalance. It is now time to make afresh start and get down to some serious work and get the project underway once and for all.

The first job will be to refit the one frame that was removed from the port side bow, then replace the tops of all the other frames which need replacing. Then, we can refit the beam shelf back into position, then be able to refit the foredeck beams back into position, Then this will enable us to start to refit the top planks.

While this is being done we will be able to paint out the inside of the hull with yacht primer to protect the hull from any further problem down the line.

Now that we have an extra pair of hands to help we should be able to get on with the work we are planning to get done.
 
As before removing the rotten or broken top sections of the frames and replacing these sections with seasoned oak which we have kept for just such a job where seasoned oak is the better wood to do this job.



we have replaced two frames on the port side, one of them is a complete frame and the other is the upper section of the next frame aft in the boat. Both of these frames are the frames where the chain plates are bolted through and they have to be in good condition to take the loads the chainplate put in this area of the hull.



The next job on the starboard side will be to remove and replace the next frame back from the frame that as already had the upper section replaced and have this done on this frame too.
The rest of the frames are in good condition and only need a bit of attention to make them fit for purpose. That is that they just need a small piece of oak let in on the very top part of the frame.



The inner part of the hog on Mai Star II is made up of sections of hog set in between the frames. the ribs run on to the inner face of the other hog and then the inner hog pieces are fixed down on to the outer hog and the heels of the ribs are covered with the inner hog. the inner hog as cutouts in the sides of the hog to cover the heels of the ribs. I have never in all my bot building career seen this method of covering the heels of the ribs in any size of boat I have ever worked on. As they say there is always methods to learn on how boat builders in the past constructed their boats.

 
The inner hog pieces now replaced and ready to be screwed and bedded down on a mixture of red lead powder and linseed putty in the same method the original inner hog pieces were fitted almost 80 years ago.



The frames are all dry fitted and the same method to be used on the frames as are the inner hog pieces.



The same method will be used on these port side frames



The grown floor which as come out of here will be replaced with a laminated oak as it is difficult to source a piece of oak with the grain pattern to make a new floor.

 
Having removed the lower section of the first frame to have a lower section across the keel/hog. It is time to make a pattern of the piece and go through the oak pile to find some suitable pieces of oak to make up a new lower section which connects together the two frames in the hull at the forward end of the keel bolts.



Another jobwe did was to remove as much of the rotten section of lower forefoot which the samson post mortised into when it was in position. The new forefoot will be made out of some of the seasoned oak we have in the yard and will likely be made up of two pieces glued together to make up the correct thickness. and then new bolts will be made up and the fore foot will then be bedded on a bed of red lead putty and thick paint.



The three bolts were able to be moved in their holes which is a good sign and will make it easier to put new bolts in to the holes. possibly go up a size and bore new holes through the outer part of the hog/keel.



Just placing the new deck beams across the beam shelf to see how far the boat is twisted out of level and next job is to put a plum bob at the stem and transom and block the boat until the twist is removed and the deck beams look correct.



This is one job I am not looking forward to doing, that is to remove the transom and the stern post and make both parts again. Looking at ideas which wood to use for the transom as the original transom was made from oak?



Comments on what I should use to make a new transom for Mai ?Star II oak like the original or Mahogany and have a varnished transom. Comments please to which way you think I should go.
 
There has been a lot of work done on Mai Star II over the few weeks with renewing floors and sanding down the inside of the hull before repainting the inside with its first coat of primer that it has had fro a number of years, while at the same time refixing the beam shelf and repairing the frames and sorting out the original and new deck beams which are going to go back in the boat shortly.Photos to be posted soon.
 
It has been sometime since we have updated the project as much as been happening behind the scenes with Simon taking on an apprentice boat builder and teaching him how to restore classic vessels like Mai Star II and Chance which is our other restoration project which you can follow on its own youtube channel and on Patreon as well. This is just a short video to show you what as been done since we last posted a video on the project.

 
WuTang4Life said:
So, I've got this other boat, Mai Star II, that I'm fixing up closer to home. It's been sitting around for years, and I'm basically tearing out all the yucky, broken wood from the deck and inside. It's a lot of work, but I'm slowly making it strong again!
Click to expand...
That is what I and my apprentice boat builder are doing to Mai Star II over the summer. It has been a long job so far as I have had little help to get her done around working on other clients boats. However, now with help we should make good headway.
 
Although the outside is not been started on yet the main body of work as been on the inside repairing and replacing rotten and broken frames and floors.



The outside as been sanded back ready for work ro start on this part of the hull once the work on the inside and the deck is completed



The inside looking a lot better now that te first coat of primer as been applied to the plank above the bilge line.



The next job will be to keep applying more coats of primer until the wood starts to turn to a uniform colour and then the undercoat will then be applied.



Another job will be to fit the floor bearers back in the lower part of the hull and so we can walk and work on the inside easier.



The inside is now changing for the better and will soon be putting back the deck beams and the top planks again now the that the frames are done and we can fit the three missing ribs shortly.

 

A walk round Mai Star II of a sunny Friday evening showing off the work that my apprentice as done on the inside of Mai Star II and the further challenges he and I have when we start on leveling and taking the twist out of the hull, which can be seen from the plump lines at both ends the aft is not so badly out of level however, the stem is almost an one and a half inches out of level. So there is going to be a lot of shores and braces put on the hull in different places to pull out the twist before any work can start on refitting the deck beams and any of major work to the hull and deck and in time refitting the cabin sides and roof
 
The foredeck is getting rebuild with a mixture of old and new deck beams. The forward deck beams are some of the original deck beams which have been checked over and have been cleared to be used again as they are in good condition.



The forward deck beams are being positioned where they were original fitted, however, this time they will be fixed in position with custom made bolts and not iron spikes as they were original fixed in position.



The new deck beams will have to have a straight edge run through from they bow to ensure they are at the same level as the forward deck beams. Any work will be done to these to ensure this is achieved before they are all fixed in position.



The whole of these deck beams will ensure the front of the hull will stay in its correct position and shape.



Once the fore deck is sorted then the fore deck hatch can be fixed in position to ensure the other deck fitting go back in their original position.

 
The deck beams are now screwed down in position with bronze screws rather than iron spikes as they were originally.



The forward two deck beams are now also fixed down in position and so the samson post top partner pad is ready to refix into position as well.



The new parts of the deck beams, namely the short cross beams which hold the forehatch base need a bit of leveling so that the new decking can lay flat across the deck beams.



The foredeck hatch base will need to be shaped on the bottom face so that it fits the deck camber before it is screwed in position with screws through the deck beams from below.



These two plates are the hanging knees to connect the deck beams for the mast to the frames. They could be seen as a bit of an overkill. It was possibly done because after the Second World War the boatyard who build Mai Star II did not have any good grown oak to make up a pair of hanging knees. so they possibly had some steel plate in the boatyard so they use it to do the same job.

 
The apprentice boat builder Ethan as been working hard on getting the foredeck beams finished off and making up two new carlins and side deck beams/



Mai Star II needed to have replacement carlins as the old carlins were broken and rotten at the ends as were the short side deck beams which were in a poor condition.



The next job to do before we can fit the new carlins and side deck beams is to make up a temporary aft cabin deck beam to go across the aft end of the cabin to fit the carlins. This is while we make up the vertical posts to fix the inboard end of the aft cabin beams.




The new mast pad fitted into the aft two deck beams as the original mast pad was, the only difference this time is that this pad will not have a hole drilled in the middle as per the original pad. This is because this time the mast which was cut down at sometime in the past will be fitted to a taberance . There will be a mast support post fitted to the underside of the deck as it was before the restoration.



Now that this is done the other work on the hull can continue as the boat is now more stable

 
Tamar said:
Great job. I love to see the progress on these old vessels
Click to expand...
Thank you for your comment, it is coming along at the moment. just got the ribs nailed in position soon so that the hull is sorted as well. Hopefully soon when I have a couple of hours spare and my apprentice is ready to hold the dolly for a few hours.
 
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