wooden hull gp14

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seananthony

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Hi all
I have recently purchased a mark 1 gp14 in need of some restoration, could anybody please recommend any publication that may assist me in my endeavor. The softening wood is about 6 to 8 inches in diameter at the stbd/aft of the hull. I had planed to cut away a section as far as the nearest spar and replace this with marine ply. I am unsure how to fix this in place and had considered using panel pins and a coating of epoxy resin to assist in adhesion. The boat also requires a coat of paint ( I will strip the hull back to bare wood ), what type of paint? how many coats ? and how should it be applied ? I have also planned to sand down the tired looking decks and re-varnish them, any recommendations and advice would be gratefully recieved.
regards
Sean O'Connell
 
My father and I once owned GP14 number 261 (built1954) which we raced with quite a bit of success both in Club and for me in school events.

All through the winter with no wet suit as well!

I repaired a similar bit of damage on my kids Mirror dinghy. It had dropped of its triler stand and punched a hole 6in or so total area , in the bottom. I simply cut out the damaged area and made up an exact copy in new exterior grade ply, WPB stuff, and then made another patch about an inch bigger all around.

I just epoxyed and screwed the larger patch into the inside of the boat and once it had 'goneoff' let in the actual correct size patch from the outside. Plenty of epoxy and a nice easy job ....as long as there is decent accces of course..

Regards Nick
 
I restored a Heron which was the little sister. If there is some obvious rot, it goes further than you think. I would suggest you replace a section of the bottom. It's easier than messing with piecemeal repairs.
I used brass screws into the frames and epoxy. I now know that epoxy alone would have been fine. I split the panel away at the original scarf joints and cut the new wood to fit into the old panels in the same way. Again easier than you may think, and epoxy with microballoons and wood dust in bridged any gaps I hadn't.
Look here to see a few pics of the work. I replaced some frames as well. I also replaced the deck, and strangely, that was harder.
Finished job here .
 
I expect you will have a lot of fun with this. Mk I GP14 is built like the proverbial brick privy, except not brick of course but it may feel that way when you are pulling it up the slipway, and its plywood on frames construction makes it easy to work on, especially since you can get to the area to be repaired from both sides.
As has already been said, make sure you replace all the rotten section. View with suspicion anything near the base of the transom and around the mast step until you can be sure it's sound. However I should add that my own boat is now about 40 years old and AFAIK has no serious rot.
Have a look at the GP14 association web page at www.gp14class.org.uk, they quite like old wood boats even though much of their interest centres on newish glass boats.
Paints - suggest good old conventional marine "enamels", and conventional varnishes. I have a personal dislike of polyurethanes, one or two pot, as it's difficult to remove when you need to re-paint. Conventional finishes can easily be removed by careful! use of a hot air gun prior to final sanding.
Mike
 
Thank you.

I agree with blackbeard about paints I used Blakes Yacht Enamel and whilst I used polyurathane inside to resist knocks I used International Schooner Varnish, which is a tun oil varnish for the deck. Although as I had replaced the deck I sealed it with epoxy before varnishing, which saves a couple of coats and resists water getting under the varnish.
 
I am nearing the end of my own GP14 restoration. I recommend International Toplac applied with a spray gun. Like LS I used Schooner varnish which despite my clumsy efforts at slopping it all around the garage looks excellent, even if I say so myself.

One question to all GP14 peeps, why on earth do I need 2 flipping massive bailers in the transom? I am planning to put two circular stainless plugs in to fill the holes unless someone tells me I need the bailers there. I already have two self bailers by the CB and 2 drain plugs in the transom.

Oh and don't paint it mauritius blue
 
[ QUOTE ]

One question to all GP14 peeps, why on earth do I need 2 flipping massive bailers in the transom? I am planning to put two circular stainless plugs in to fill the holes unless someone tells me I need the bailers there. I already have two self bailers by the CB and 2 drain plugs in the transom

[/ QUOTE ]

They are called transom flaps. After you have righted the boat folowwing a capsize you will find that it has rather a lot of water in it.

Release the flaps and it will drain out as you sail along.

Pretty basic dinghy knowledge /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
One useful book

is Michael Verney's "Complete Amateur Boat Building" which describes building a Mark One GP14, very nicely and clearly. It's long out of print, but not at all rare.
 
Trick with deck varnishing is to wipe everything with white spirit, and then a Tac-Rag, and then paint with an old ish, but good brush (no bristle loss) wearing a well washed cotton shirt (no lint falling) Keep a wet edge going, lay off gently along the boats length. Paint against the light so you can bend down and see missed bits. Then close the door and leave it. Don't try to pluck an odd mossie from the varnish. It'll come off much easier when the varnish has dried.
Tun oil varnish takes 3 or 4 weeks to get hard enough to resist scratching. So be very gentle with it until then.

That's my thoughts anyway.
 
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