Side Decks

The latest news from Shamrock.

• The laying of both port and starboard side deck planks, up to the cargo hold hatch coaming, has now been completed. After completion it was found that both of the side decks had a spring to them when walked on. So, to stiffen them, a total of eight Oak straps of 4 in (100 mm) x 2 in (50 mm) have been fitted to the underside of the decks at evenly spaced distances between the ‘hanging knee’ supported half beams. The outer ends are tenon-jointed into the beamshelf, and the inner ends coach screwed to the underside of cargo hatch coaming. The deck planks were then ‘coach’ screwed onto the straps. The extra stiffness will reduce the plank movement that can be compromising to the water-tightness of the caulked seams.

• Fitting of the fore deck planking has started and is progressing well.

• Both the forward companionway and the aft deckhouse coamings have been completed and bolted into place. The companionway and deckhouse now need to be removed from storage to check if they fit correctly.

Shuggs Shamrock Team

Shuggs’s Shamrock repair team. From left to right: Julian Gray, Daniel Butlin, Adrian Grigg (Shuggs) and Mark Lane.

 At present Julian is working on Shamrock's forward companionway and aft deckhouse coamings.

Daniel, a Falmouth Marine school student on their 'Yacht Fit Out and Composites City & Guilds Diploma Level 3' course, is assisting Shuggs with the laying of Shamrock's deck planks. Her starboard side deck planks have now been laid and are ready to be caulked and plugged.

With all of Shamrock's forward staging removed, Mark is continuing the job of patching up some of her lower hull planks with graving pieces, scraping out all the old caulking and replacing with fresh oakum and tar, his speciality.