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.

Deck Laying

Two datum lines of deck planks have been cut and temporarily fitted to the side decks along both outer edges of Shamrock's cargo hatch coaming. Deck plank ends are never run off to a point, this is so that the ends can be ‘joggled’ into the covering board.

Joggle, a joint between two surfaces of wood, stone, etc. made by cutting a notch in one and making a projection in the other to fit into.

In the boat shed the bottom faces of all the cut deck planks are being sanded and primed ready for laying.

After the removal of the starboard forward section of staging a start has been made on the re caulking of Shamrock's lower hull planks.

Deck Planks

There has been no visible progress of repairs on Shamrock over the last couple of weeks, but in the boat shed it is all go! Approximately 1,800 ft. (548 m) of deck planks have been machined to 1 7/8 inch (47 mm)  x 4 inch (100 mm) with a beading line on one side of the bottom edge, and 1/8 inch (3 mm) taper half depth caulking seams on both top edges, all done using a router. The crew will be glad when the boat shed gets back to normal!

Shamrock's forward companionway and deckhouse coamings are being cut and shaped ready for fitting.

Nancy Belle is back on the river after having a new coat of paint and her varnish replaced with 'Woodskin', so much for the quick wash and brush up.

Nancy Belle waiting for high tide.