Rudder update

decayed rudder fitting

Paul Drake let me know that while working on the rudder he found that all the fittings on it have decayed too much for reuse (although the ones on the boat itself are mostly okay). He will be getting new ones cast, but of course, that all adds to the time it will take.

It's looking like an autumn relaunch for Robinetta!

Work begins

Now Robinetta is out of the water the "winter work" can begin. My first step was to remove any raised areas of paint, and there was a large bubble on the bulwarks, just where they become the cabin sides. This area is actually inside the hanging locker, and I have made no attempt to paint the hull inside that locker since we bought the boat as access is incredibly difficult. On removing the exterior paint I found an area of very soft wet wood, and after it dried out overnight it crumbled, rather than hardening up.

Julian likes doing bulwark replacement, but he is snowed under at work, so I called Paul Drake and asked his opinion. He came to have a look, and thinks that the rot was caused by this area being  regularly doused in fresh water as the run off from the cabin top flows down here. He will remove the rotten section and put in a new piece. He is also going to re-caulk and redo the stopping of the opened up hull planking, so there is no point even thinking about painting the exterior hull until that is done.

There was some damage on the foredeck where we did not lash the anchor down securely, and I have patched it with plastic padding before giving all the decks a fresh coat of masonry paint.

Cap rails in both foredeck and cockpit have been stripped back to bare wood and given coatings of Deks no.1, as has the new cockpit pin rail Julian made over the winter. The varnish on the cabin sides needs renewing, and I stripped off the loose stuff, but so far have only managed 1 coat of new, so there is still a lot to do on that.

Covid clear out treasure

Back in mid- April I read a comment on the blog from a gentleman who knew someone who had some Robinetta memorabilia. Today I got to collect it from Peter and Mary Young, a lovely couple in Chelmsford who had been looking after it since they helped clear Mr and Mrs Herriott's house after their deaths.

As well as the china they had some papers from when Nigel Heriott owned Robinetta, including her pre-sale survey from 1949. This includes a listing of her equipment, which seems to have included this china. The dinner plates have gone missing, but the rest of the china from that contents list are here. Oddly enough the survey mentions there was no cutlery on board....

I now feel a strong desire to have a boiled egg for breakfast, just so I can use an egg cup.

Any doubts about Robinetta's original sail colour can be laid to rest too. In 1949 they were tan, (except the trysail) and not new.

I will be updating the history page soon, to include dates when Robinetta was surveyed for a RORC rating. Not something I had ever thought our tubby little boat would possess!