Build
The vessel was first conceived by Mr K. Jensen around the 1970's. He obtained plans for a steel, deep keeled sloop, with double ends and centre cockpit called "PARSIFAIL" from Fareham Designs. The original work began in Friar's Goose boatyard on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne in approximately 1985 and culminated in a failed attempt to sail to Norway in approximately 1994. The design was altered during build in many ways, she was made a foot longer at 38 feet hull length and with an aft cockpit. The boat had a sad early life with pools of water lying in the deep hollows on her deck, pitiful woodwork, and an engine that was installed extremely out of line and which overheated. As a result it had torn itself off its mountings and had warped its jet unions and cylinder head. It was clear that the project had not been progressed with any regard to accuracy and appeared to have been rushed in recent years. No electronic gear existed apart from navigational lights and interior lights, and the VHF and log were inoperative.
I wanted a bigger boat for 20 years and had managed with an Express Pirate for far too long. The coincidence of a divorce, a bad loss in the property market and a relationship going nowhere all conspired to see me buying the wreck for £ 8,000 including a steel support cradle. Even with a visit from a surveyor the purchase was largely done on trust, as the plans had been 'lost'. Her welds could only have been tested with all paint removed (not an option the owner would have agreed to), and it was abundantly clear she had a checkered past and was in need of remedial attention. The sale was made in September 1996 and the name of the vessel then was Saelland, (named after the largest of the Danish islands, sometimes named Zealand). The business of obtaining the keys and removing the vessel from her moorings took a week 'for no explainable reason', but eventually I got her across the river and altered the SSR details to my name. I spent my first damp and smelly night on her at the end of September, I had my big boat !
All lights kept going off unexplainably and it took around two weeks to isolate the problem to poorly crimped on battery lead lugs. One fell off and gave the show away for all the others. All whipping was done by lightly winding a single waxed line round the sheet and finishing off with a few half hitches. All whipping was unwinding itself, or was completely unwound and wrapped up on a block or around a shroud. A Tilley lamp was on board with all its threads stripped due to over tightening. A vented Vetus swansneck was fitted to the water intake for the engine but its chrome domed vent was stripped due to over tightening. A NASA Log was fitted but did not work. A VHF was fitted but did not transmit due to a burned out power unit and useless aerial. The skirt around the mast was an offcut from the headlining plastic which was nailed to the mast at intervals, it leaked badly. Two broken bilge pumps exited via the port quarter on an uphill 'T' joint configuration so that the whale bellows hand pump (main casing cracked), poured water back onto the bilges down the electric pump's exit hose.
The Perkins 4108 engine did start but literally filled the boat with smoke in minutes as it was dripping diesel from its union joints on each jet. It was filthy and still had recesses full of deep road grime from its former life in a transit van. It was tearing its fanbelt up on a rusty pulley wheel causing black powder to be flung around the ancillary end of the unit. Alignment with the stern tube could not be checked as the bolts at the flange coupling would not come out of their holes! The alignment was of course so bad that the shaft was supporting the engine, but I was not aware at the time of purchase that this was the case. Engine mounts out of line by a huge amount would have been a reason to back out of the purchase. The deep sea seal was leaking and one of its clips was stripped due to over tightening. The bellows were so hard pressed up to the bronze stern tube disk that a 3 mm groove was worn into the bronze ! This was no doubt due to attempts to stop leaks caused by the severe misalignment of the engine. Even more dangerous was the location of the drive flange at the engine end of the drive shaft, the location grub screws were not even located in the shaft hollows. This would lead to the shaft shooting out of the hull when any reverse power was applied. The vessel would almost certainly have sunk ! All the hatches did not fit so remedial planing and setting in of tapered lats along untrue edges was undertaken, with some weatherproofing effect. No door locks or handles fitted (which worried me from the point of view of the integrity of the hull and possible bending). Quite a few interesting and fascinating ergonomic issues needed to be addressed such as handles which cut or jammed fingers and doors which swung open and jammed against each other trapping people in adjacent lockers. The table which fell to bits had a one foot gap to get around it at the forward end but a 5 inch gap at the aft end. All visitors who made for the aft thwart and got jammed, then had to try again from the other end of the table and bump along the thwarts until they reached the aft end. All cabin sole units fitted badly and canaries were heard on every footstep. The anodes were impossible to see, the mast varnish was peeling, and the paint was peeling off on the topsides.
In about a week it became clear that the 'oil' in the bilge was not 'all oil' and was in fact rising due to a leak somewhere, which was later found to be caused by a split in the keel. The support frame had to be pressed into action immediately but it was found to be inadequate to support the boat, so 8 acros had to be purchased.
Saelland was now out of the water and standing beside the marina office at St Peter's Basin on the Newcastle side of the Tyne. I was not aware at the time but she was to remain there for the greater part of two years before she would be fit to float !
The True extent of the problem
It is often said "don't buy an unfinished project", and this was a fine example of this truism. However the price was low and she was a big lady. Prior to her lift out the work that was carried out made her a bit more comfortable to live on but in terms of comfort the worst was yet to come.
The extraordinary amount of water in the mooring lines that were stored in the cockpit locker was apparently a mystery to the previous owner. The cause was 6mm pool of rainwater at the forward end of the cockpit, (the drains having being placed at the aft end). I fitted a drain at the correct end in a depression that I drew down with a bottle screw, but the forward corners of the cockpit sole were bent downwards for some reason and held two triangles of water about the size of a hand. These were ground, primed and filled with Sikaflex then capped off by thin stainless steel plates to give water no place to lie except in the drain recess. All of the cockpit steelwork had this upturned feature where recesses over an inch deep were formed on the outboard edge of the cockpit, instead of the thwarts leaning down towards the drainholes in the sole. Six years later when the interior ply and slivers of nailed on iroko were unbolted (or rotted away) from the steelwork, 80 tubes of Sikaflex had to be used to level off these huge recesses before teak cross planking could be fitted and caulked.
All wood was saturated and appeared to have old fashioned varnish on it. It was not well protected and appeared to have been occasionally painted with some cheap type of teak oil which stayed soft. As the wood was mainly Iroko it was black. Mahogany areas were usually rotten.
The solid sicta spruce mast was beginning to peel and was developing black pin pricks. When it rained parts of the mast went grey.
A crane lifted the vessel out in two lifts as she was too heavy at 11 tonnes to swing in one go. No beams were used of course as the experts doing the job were unaware of their need or purpose. (Cracks on the deck fore and aft of the cabin had to be repaired in the following three years).
Initially it was discovered that the one and only anode was down to its steel strip with a piece of zinc like a boiled sweet stuck to it. New studs were welded onto the hull in six places for a new network of zinc anodes.
The engine was not only cooked but it was torn off two of its four mountings. The rubber blocks were sheared due to a misalignment so bad that the shaft was pointing 10 inches above its correct line at the stern gland. In general most alignment issues on board were as bad as this and only the hull was nominally true. The hull had various hungry dog panels which I had not yet given real consideration to. There was no water feed to the stern tube!. When the bolts were welded onto the hull for the new anodes, there appeared to be a hairline crack along a butt weld next to one of them but it was difficult to see when the weld cooled.
Initially it was discovered that most welds on most seams were poor but some seams were not even welded. Areas big enough to put several fingers through were simply filled with car epoxy filler and several large cracks were visible on the deck where they had been painted over but were again opening. The lift out without beams was no help to an already weak hull and the numerous hollows in deck and hull would need considerable dogging out and fairing. The engine was removed and sold for £300. This relatively high price was probably due to the way I cleaned and painted the parts. The Perkins dealers who bought it were of course interested in the Lancing Marine marinising parts and the value of the unit after a total rebore etc. The head was off so they could see what they were buying. I made a jig for the new shaft and engine and fitted the new mounts, I took the precaution of getting a professional welder to secure them. These new mounts were higher than the original ones as the Kubota unit had the mountings higher up, this was advantageous as I was able to build a box section latticework arrangement against the inside of the keel and spread the load better. Again cracks appeared when any welding was done near to a butt weld ! All tanks were scrap as they were so badly welded and patched with epoxy mat that they were a nightmare. These leaks were partly the sources of the damp, and diesel fumes. The water tanks were a bodged attempt to make polyester resin lined plywood tanks. The hardener was still uncured so the water stank of resin and hardener and the breathers came up about two feet inside the keel. This meant that anyone filling the tanks at deck level would sink the boat before any indication of a full water tank was seen. Replacement tanks were a combination of thick Stainless Steel tailor made units and well cushioned Vetus flexible bags. The frames in the vessel were not bent, fitted then stitched to the hull. They were simply straight strips of 50 x 5 spotted at the chines and welded to the skin at two foot intervals by the use of hand sized plates. The lower parts of the hull were done in a similar way but there appeared to be more care taken in the earlier years of construction and the use of plates was occupying more than 50% of the gap between frame and hull. Floors were missing in some places but were adequate in others. When the whole hull was tested for weld strength ALL butt welds were cracked, and I was advised to strengthen them all with 50mm by 5mm steel straps fillet welded on then dressed off to reduce drag. It took nearly two years to re-weld everything and the use of a non weld friendly primer caused greater heat to be used to ensure a good run. This was due to the pitting which occurred in the years before painting and the resultant pores of primer which exploded on contact with the arc. Grinding deeper before welding was not always possible as the hull is only 4mm thick. All later priming has been with weld friendly paint of a ferro or aluminium base. An external steel strip was welded along the topsides and an internal stringer of intercostals was welded inside at a lower level. The stringers and strip held the dogged out hollows and next to the external strip I welded studs at 12 inch intervals to fasten a thick teak rubbing strake. This strake later was capped by an attractive aluminium and rubber finishing strip when the vessel eventually got her new rudder and proper shotblasting at the big boatyard at Royal Quays Marina three years later. Where possible bulkheads were left in place and lockers worked 'inside and around'.
My son helping with the mammoth task
Once started - see it through !
Deck fittings were silicone sealed at the faces in contact with the deck, with through the deck studs. The silicone was inadequate and the fittings were usually made of wood which was rotten due to the storage of water in the screw holes or the the various recesses left by bad design or poor fitting. Corrosion was established and rust drainage stains were forming. These repairs took a long time as new hatches had to be made and deck lights procured. I tried to imitate the wooden deck lights in a misguided belief that if they were redone properly they would be OK, but the use of wooden framed lights with set in glass, no matter how well sealed and bolted, eventually leak. Proper steel/glass lights were fitted when they became available from a scrapped polish lifeboat. The deck was badly warped and in places was even fastened to beams which were out of true by up to 20 mm. This took time and lots of epoxy filler to rectify to an acceptable standard, then treadmaster was laid in panels over the whole deck with 100 mm gaps to assist drainage. No mains system existed so input and output sockets were fitted with a cut-out box and a 14 point ring main. There was no 12 volt system as such but crude navigation and steaming lights were fitted. A switch panel which was installed at the chart table but it had to be fully reworked and the battery housings had to be constructed again from new. There was no depth sounder so new skin fittings and a mercury switch was fitted with the old Navico unit from the pirate being reused.
My preparatory work for launching
After so long out of the water it was daunting to begin checking skin fittings etc. However the day came, the crane was booked and after running the motor with the water pipe stuck in the intake, I was moderately sure things would go OK. The lift in, had to be the same as the lift out, in that the boat was so heavy she had to be moved in two goes. We ran around with acros to temporarily support her at the half way point while the straps were positioned. Eventually she was in the sea and ready to go. Much more work was needed such as a full grit blast and paint, and many more electrical enhancements, but a significant deliverable stage in the project was reached.
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Up she goes
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Sitting her down half way round
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Round she swings
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Over the drink
The first fuel up !
Motoring around in the river !
Unprepped welds ! and what a place to have them !!
As the years went on everything on the boat had to be replaced! Rot set in on all wood as little or no sealant was used to bed the components on. Woodworm was even present in some timbers but in general moisture rotted both wood and adjacent steel. The latest major replacements were the toerails, mast and chainplates, (the dogs on the old mast were assembled to the timber without sealant). The original chainplates were welded in the same fashion as all other welds on the vessel, they had no prepping at all so the welds were very suspect. New stainless plates were made with the aid of Tony Lee's milling machine, and bolted with 'pistol drilled' holes and lots of sealant. This work was done around 2005 and took around 16 months. The mast (tree), was imported from Finland and treated in the UK. It stopped smelling of preservative after 5 years.
The mast had to be replaced !
Here are some pictures of the mast.
This was the raw tree as selected at the importers in Boston. I may end up changing my name to "Hanson" as everyone wants to spell it incorrectly !
Templates helped establish where the final edge should be. Occasional re-centering was done as the timber revealed its grain and heart.
Clamping a line at 3 o-clock allowed a good sight for guiding the plane.
Crane on !.
The dogs are on !.
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Semi-Raw blanks of chainplates and gooseneck.
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The inner forestay mast fitting.
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Polished dogs and fittings prior to assembly.
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Polished gooseneck prior to assembly.
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Polished crane prior to assembly.
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Unconventional Spreaders !.
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Polycarbonate sandwich construction with skin fittings for leadholes. Lets hope it works !.
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A better view of the spreader assembly.
All mast components were polished at Janet's house, there were hundreds in total ! Here are a few prior to assembly.
The usual method of completing the fitting and leaving excess sealant until I felt like cleaning it off later was adopted. After making and fitting these and the new mast, I needed a rest!
DONE ! and now to sort out the steering gearbox !
Steering gearbox lower portion
The steering gearbox adjusts by pivoting on the lower left hand lugs by pulling up on the long stud. This allows the correct tension to be applied on the toothed belt.
Steering gearbox in two parts showing Tony Lee's dog clutch. A crude type of open gearbox can easily be made like this by using a block of alloy and packing up plummber blocks on it to get the correct meshing. It has worked well for 5 years now and is lubricated with 5th wheel lorry grease.
The binacle took 13 years to 'metamorphasise' to its current design. The dog clutch can be seen sticking through the gearbox housing
The current binacle is now more or less the way I want it.
The radar mounting cost around £200 so I made one from scrap stainless angle for the cost of six welding rods !.
It works !.
In summary, at the time this paragraph was written in 2011, the boat is efectively finished. The work should have taken 10 years but it took around 13 years to truly complete. Three partners have had to endure the grit, smells and inconvenience of re-building a failed project, and not too surprisingly they all had enough after a few years. The whole boat had to be re-built and it would have been easier to have obtained profile burned plates and done the job properly from scratch. With no independent boatyards available at the time that would have been tricky. However I did my best; and the only items kept from the original purchase were the prop and shaft (used as emergency spares) and the compass & cooker (both repaired and re-fitted). The main steel plates of the hull skin were obviously kept, and the cruising chute is used about once every year !