Working on Zephon

The mast is almost finished.

Mast ready for varnishing.

The hatch glued and clamped.

Removing the rubbing strakes.

Zephon 

We went fishing yesterday evening. This is the fish Rae caught, the only one sadly, but very delicious.

Fishing near the castle.

Zephon's new mast has now had seven coats of varnish, hopefully an eighth coat will be applied today.  I completed stripping the teak fore hatch and I have epoxy glued the hatch back together (the hatch had been damaged when an oak tree fell clipping Zephon's bow last November. The hatch itself is constructed using loose tongue and groove. Its amazing how over the years the outer thickness of the hatch has been reduced by the zealous sanding of previous owners. A friend of mine said he has often seen this kind of thing and has suggested, over the next couple of years, routing out grooves and gluing in splines to these worn areas.  I contemplated gluing in splines now as the hatch is off, but quickly changed my mind, as a line has to be drawn somewhere, and the thing is, we actually want to go sailing.  My reasoning for this is that if we tackle all the jobs that could be done now then the boat won't see water again for a very long time. Both Rae and I feel it is better to just tackle the jobs that definitely need doing. This is a wooden boat after all, and there will be a rolling programme of work which is based on maintaining the structural integrity of the boat, so the splines can wait.

The fittings have almost all been removed from Zephon's deck along with the rubbing strakes. I have to remove the chain plates to the starboard side, which I hope to do today.  I am looking forward to the next stage of belt sanding, plugging holes, making graving pieces where needed and lagging linseed oil on the deck.

Giles, a friend of ours, is also undertaking a project restoring a beautiful working boat called Ajax. He said yesterday that it is going to be a great summer boat building and working on our projects. I think he is right, we are exceptionally lucky.

Work begins on Zephon

Zephon was craned out on 22 April. She is now safely ashore and I am currently building her new mast in the slipway shed. The mast is progressing well and I am really enjoying the process. The mast is a hollow box section with a conduit for electrical cables running up the centre. The wood being used is Oregon pine, ideally it would have been sitka spruce, but there just happened to be some 30 ft lengths of timber left over from constructing Pilgrim's deck. So having this timber to hand at almost the right length is too good an opportunity to miss. Last Wednesday Rae and I glued the mast together using resorcinol. The gluing went to plan and I am looking forward to the next stage, cutting the mortice for the mast sheave block and then routing the radius'.

In preparation for beginning work on the deck I have removed both the fore and the main hatch. Both these hatches are in a bit of a sorry state and I have begun stripping the flaking paint and varnish from these. There is a bit of repair work needed to both teak hatches and I will detail this in the forthcoming days. 

Well, where has the time gone!

Well, I can't believe its been over a year since writing a post. Generally its been great. We have enjoyed living in Charlotte our van, she has cared for us well and we have had some very good times. Currently we are living on a boat near where I work.  I have been working for Ashley Butler up until a couple of weeks ago. I have really enjoyed working at Butler & Co and it is almost like I have not left as I am now renting work bench space from Ash in order to work on our new project, Zephon a Harrison Butler Zyclon yacht.

Below are some photos of the Butler & Co launches last August of Martha Primrose and The Pilgrim.

The launch of the new Mayflower 50', Martha Primrose.

Martha Primrose waiting to be slipped.

The Charles Sibbick yawl Saunterer came to the launch.

The launch of the completely rebuilt Brixham Sailing Trawler, The Pilgrim.

Pilgrim in the dry dock ready to go.

Pilgrim being towed to her temporary mooring on the Dart.

Zephon, 22' Harrison Butler Zyklon, our new project.

Zephon's broken mast and buckled pulpit.

A very pretty little boat.

The fallen oak tree.

Rae and I have recently bought Zephon, a 22 foot Harrison Butler Zyklon Class. We are very excited about becoming Zephon's new owners and are really looking forward to spending as much time as possible sailing her.

Zephon's build began just prior to World War II. When war broke out she was mothballed and completed in 1950. Her last owner was shipwright Richard Hunn. About 10 years ago Rich and his partner Danielle sailed Zephon round the UK and they sailed as far North as the Hebrides. 

Over the past few years Zephon has suffered a bit from neglect and last November she had a very near miss when a large oak tree came down on the steep bank opposite her mooring. The uppermost branches of the tree clipped her bow snapping the end of the mast and buckling the pulpit rail.  Zephon is structurally sound but needs a total overhaul which means we are going to be very busy over the next few months!

Van living and working for Butler & Co.

 I have completed, well almost completed converting our LDV Convoy van, Charlotte, into our new home. We have been living full-time in Charlotte since the beginning of November and we are now based near Kingsbridge in Devon. It is so good to be living back in the West Country!

Van living is great. To live simply and to be in close touch with nature is wonderful. We have experienced gales, torrential rain, still sunny days, a thunderstorm accompanied by lots of hail, then sleet then rain, and of course lots of snow. We love this kind of living and the other day laughed at the fact we have started van living in the coldest winter probably recorded! Still our van is cosy and warm, even on the coldest of nights thanks to our Windy Smithy stove.

I am working full-time for Butler & Co at Old Mill Creek Boat yard which is in Dartmouth. Ash is great to work for and I am enjoying the work immensely. I am learning so much and feel very lucky to be working with such highly skilled and talented shipwrights.