After repairing the the hog and keel it was time to replace the broken ribs. As I had the seats out and everything stripped out of the boat I had a good look at all the ribs and found that the rear full width ribs needed replacing along with a couple on the starboard side. So, after a quick call to Dennis at Dartmoor Hardwoods in Princetown I had enough oak to do the job and all the new ribs were steamed in and fixed in the copper rivits and roves.
New ribs installed
New ribs installed
Once the new ribs were put in it was time to turn the boat over and strip off all the varnish. I took the boat back to bare wood and spent a happy couple of weeks applying 2 coats of UPC followed by about 14 coats of Schooner varnish. At least I think it was 14 coats…..I lost count toward the end.
Shiney varnish
Starboard side all finished
Port side all finished
With the hull varnished it was time to sort out the interior, this was given 7 coats of Le Tonkinois and the bildes treated to a few coats of bilge paint.
The decks were in a poor state, despite only having been replaced a few years ago, but they weren’t varnished underneath and had weathered badly. A trip to Robbins of Bristol was called for and I returned with a lovely sheet of Super Eclipse Mahogany Ply with an excellent grain. All that need to happen now was to glue it to the decks beams using bags of sand and loads of clamps to secure it in place.
Securing the foredeck took lots of clamps and bags of sand
The le Tonkinois looks great
The last side deck being glued in place
Sidedecks finished with new gunwhale in place
Sidedecks finished with new gunwhale in place
To protect the decks I had a new breathable cover made by R&J Sails in Clifton
With the new ribs, the hull varnished inside and out and new decks fitted and varnished (another 14 coats I think) it was time to rig the boat and go sailing
2 responses so far ↓
1 dave harker // Aug 31, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I should be very interested to speak with you about this restoration . I have a nice tideway which I redecked with new stringers only to crack one rib when towing Having put the boat in the care of a so called wooden boat builder I was quite cynically ripped off and I would rather pour kerosene over it and chuck a match in than trust a ” Classic boat Builder “. About 95 % of them are either hobby carpenters or have done a course at a college. All the proper East Coast boat builders have either retired or died off. Leave me a phone number on e mail if you like or mail me and lets see what we have in common . Sincerely Dave .
2 charlesfitzgerald // Jan 18, 2010 at 12:46 pm
riend said U had many seekers for no.26 -hence U might like to know I just might sell my Tideway No 55 chiff chaff . I dont really want to but-lst year(first year too) got gloriousailing in Holland winds fiveish plus minus clear blue skies and ver very warm t shirt days they wqere and waw did Tideway do its surging on he bow wave act…..supoer super and in quite shalloow water felt safe as house ( i’is 73 and had no sail dinghy since youth but-whew no worries as often in four feet water all flat!!!!!
so why sell? ChiffChaff near perfect :few varnishcratches after seaon towing hither and tither and siling bit otherwais as purrrfect as was when bought but: fell i love Netherlands and they wont let me overnight by slipway and boat in my Renault (kangoo-yeskangoo) mini camper -must sloeep on boat to reallyexplore. so if find right small trail sail ( anything anybody-small nuff rom for stuff old bones, easy launch recover) may (reluctantly ‘cos it is a renewal of my youth but estuary sailing -golden sands, villages and towns here and there mudflats etc like UK doesn’t really exist Continental shelf coast) part withChiff chaff.
ps I have an old sound but very very rough inside much altered here and there Sunstar 19 ( big Leisure-same designer) in Burgindy and i just might give this away for a very small sum ( like say £350 quid for bonafides and to avoid timewasters-at my age don’t have any to spare) to someone who wants to resore and have a boat mid France and it is already there.
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