Here’s how progress is going on the restoration of this 21ft river cruiser. As you can see she has come a long way from when she arrived. I’ve had to practically sand her right back to the gelcoat to get the crappy paint job off. Unbelievably when she was first painted whoever did it didn’t even bother to give the boat a wash. There were black streaks of tar or something under the paint. What is more amazing is that the paint hd stayed on so long. I did a bit of tidying up on the surface of the hull bottom there were a few bits of filler that needed smoothing and as you can see I then primed the bottom ready for the new antifoul.

Work is ongoing on the new canopy and I should have pictures of that next week. If you would like to discuss having your own boat restored why not contact Tiernan Roe, by phoning +353 (0)28 38973 or e-mailing roeboats@ymail.com

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

Here’s a 3D sketch of what the boat will look like when I’ve finished restoring her. I’ll be adding a canopy over the cockpit that will be made from some light and strong Western Red Cedar and marine ply.

The canopy will then be fitted with canvas sides that can be rolled up when the weather is fine. It’s not a very detailed sketch but it gives you an idea of how the finished project will look. Anyway I’ve finished the first batch of sanding and I’m undercoating at the moment so I’m making the most of the fine weather we’re having here at the moment.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

Goodness March is certainly coming in like a lamb this year. A whole week of dry weather forecast. Perfect timing for my current project the restoration of a small cabin cruiser for the Irish inland waterways. She was bit tatty when she arrived in the yard a little bit of an ugly duckling. But her metamorphosis has begun and while it could be said that she’s lost some of her cute fluffy feathers she’s now very much like the signet that she is. Feathers out of place and your not really sure what colour she is.

I’m concentrating on the exterior at the moment but I’ve already re-enforced the cabin roof by bonding the exterior skin and interior t+g panelling with polyurethane foam. It really has stiffened up the once trampoline like deck. Now after stripping the deck right back to the original fiberglass I’m going to epoxy on some glass cloth to give a non-slip finish and hopefully get rid of the crazing caused by the deck cracking when it was flexible.

You can see in the photo above that whoever painted the boat previously didn’t even clean before painting. Oh well back to the sanding and more sanding before I even think about paint at least the Sun is shining. Pity it’s nasty nasty Fiberglass I’m sanding and not a lovely piece of sustainable ash or oak.