Glad Tidings - The story of a wooden boat restoration

Glad Tidings is a wooden boat, launched in Tasmania 1960. She has seen better days; now is the time to haul her for a refit.

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Glad Tidings’ procession gathered a few spectators. You just can't beat wooden boats for drawing a crowd of interested people. She was a bit crooked in the slings so the trickiest part was getting her on to the cradle. Lucky Chris the welder was on hand to do a quick cut & weld for one of the fixed stanchions, Then we used the bottle screw stanchions to tilt her to an even keel. At this time the crane read off a 6 tonnes, so I was a bit relieved to have purchased the 6 expensive 1t plus castors. Once I had regathered my energy the first scrape down was made. For a yacht launched in 1950 she is doing well. Sadly my own contribution over the last 20 years has seen her get a bit shabby, but over the next 6 months we’ll bring her back again.

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out she comes - crane operator says she's 5 tonnes, not 3 & a half.

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Out comes the mast - 1 bit of tree - no joins, no scarfs, no glue, just shaped tree

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getting ready for the big lift 

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One Tonne Capacity swivel castor. Cast Iron & PU. Not the most elegant structure attached to it....Glad Tidings new home is ready. Big tides now - when can I get the crane company in?

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Progress on welding the dolly. Central RHS will support the lead keel. Cross bracing tomorrow, Have decided upon heavy duty castors as stub axels + 2nd hand Landcruiser rims & tyres will be too wide for the driveway by about 150mm. My design error, but I think castors might be more tidy, and won’t deflate. Note, so far the total cost of the dolly is less than 1/3 of the cost quoted by local slipway for a weekend on the slip, with time limits on work. Or, thinking of it another way, my brand new driveway (asset) was less than twice the quoted cost just for the slipping. Nice neighbours are letting me use their handy expanse of concrete. Thanks neighbours!

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Lee rail dipping, cutter rig perfectly balanced, deck staying dry.

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A beautiful day sailing on Brisk Bay, neutral helm, 15 knots breeze. I’m still wearing that shirt (at the helm). This is what we are aiming to get back to.

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Original Lines Drawing - 1958 more or less.

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Original Construction Drawing

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Yes. Looking very shabby. Apologies to all #wooden #boat lovers. But you all know the storey; #time & #money. 

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Nicely laid concrete. Best price 50% of highest. Dead level under the house. 2 M12 bolts in mass concrete either end for #block&tackle. 3.5 t, I figure a 5:1 #mechanical #advantage should mean I can move the boat a few meters in & out of storage with my small car easily enough.

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Naturally a well #made #dolly will also need a well laid driveway. How many steps are required to get ready before actually getting to work on a #boat?

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The work starts - a #Beneteau dolly, delivered. Originally designed for a 9 tonne Beneteau, will need some re-shaping for my 3.5 tonne long #keel. Especially as I need it to be a little mobile - so my friendly engineer says that if I plan to add wheels or heavy duty castors the frame will need re-inforcing as it is designed to sit on a level surface, load evenly spread.