Predators Wedgie IOM rebuild – May 2019

[Predator]

Well the ex Alan Furmage Wedgie IOM (designed & built by Jon Holmes) and kindly donated to me by Rod Marshall has been reassembled (albeit a bit rough) and has had a couple of test sails, on Saturday with the usual gang of misfits & Sunday with the Marine Modellers yachting group. Whilst the Wedgie didn’t get any podium finishes I was more than happy that she could hold her own and at least finish with the fleet.

Given that the mast was well off centre & sails could not be adjusted properly as I had just thrown the Ragazza IOM gear on to see what happened, I was quite pleased with how well the old girl actually went.

Now it’s time to strip her down, fix the leaks, apply a fresh coat of paint & re rig her properly.

First step was to strip everything (that I had only just installed) back out of the hull.

         

Next the hull was filled with water to see if the leaks showed up. Given that there was very little water in the hull on each of the two days sailings I didn’t expect to find any major leaks (but I would have been pissed to not find any).

First leak to show up was a slow drip from the rear of the keel box and shining a torch through the hull quickly found a pinhole that can easily be repaired internally.

         

The next and far more significant leak quickly showed up when the hull, still full of water, was tipped bow down. There were numerous pinholes in the upper RHS bow area but they are confined to two 25mm x 10mm areas about 20mm apart and are very obvious once you know where to look.

Once again easy to fix once the hull has thoroughly dried.

No other  leaks were evident so I’ll give the boat time to dry out completely (now that the innards have had a good flush with fresh water to remove any salt crystals) and then epoxy the holes tomorrow afternoon.

Leak testing will then be done again and if all is OK sanding, filling & re painting can be done.

At this stage Gloss White with Black highlights is the livery of choice with a large Wedge tail Eagle (Wedgie) on the foredeck (similar to the first pic but BIGGER)

 

 

[Kermit]

ARH HA  ANOTHER WEDGIE  BUT BIGGER so whatch gunna call her ” big weggie”…..”  crack up” ……” ouch ” …”  ohhhhhhh”     just wondering

[Predator]

Sealed up the leaks yesterday & all tested OK so this afternoon the sand back started.

    

We are flying tomorrow so Friday will see the start of puttying up the imperfections before a coat of primer/surfacer followed by a coat of spray putty.

[Predator]

First coats of primer went on this morning so will now leave it to dry well for a couple of hours then start hand puttying all the imperfections before giving it an overall coat of Spray Putty.

[Predator]

Spot Putty work done

[Kermit]

YOUR DOING A GREAT JOB with the prep  as we know this part of the work is critical to the outcome  slog on cobber

[Predator]

Spray putty on.

I’ll give it 24 hrs to harden well then another rub back & give it a final primer coat, then finally get some colour on.

I ended up with a mark on the deck from the support bar but the pink spot putty will fix that ok.

Not worth getting the putty gun out again (not after I’ve just cleaned it)

 

[Sinker]

The way you’re going it should be ready for the canal this Sunday!

[Kermit]

SOOOOOO WHATS NEW  WHERE IS THE WORKINGS   THE FIXTURES ALL THE GOOD STUFF   YA JUST CANT LEAVE US UP IN THE AIR

[Predator]

Kermit, I found a very thin spot where the deck had previously been repaired so fixing that has slowed me down. I will get the repair sanded in the morning & if OK will proceed with the painting. If I’m not happy with it then the deck access hatch will need to be enlarged so I can get my hand inside & fit a fibreglass patch to strengthen the original repair.

Don’t want to get it painted & then have it fail & crack open.

At this stage it still should be back on the water by next weekend.

I just remembered your IOM Manual for the TS3 so Ill send you the link that Kyle supplied to me.

[Predator]

Its been a little while since the last update but after finding a couple of missed repairs there was needed a bit of rework inc re puttying & undercoating again.

Anyway today it was finally time to put some colour on the hull.

Deck is now completed with 3 double header coats of Gloss White acrylic lacquer and as soon as its hardened sufficiently the hull will get the same treatment

[Predator]

and the hull is now done, just need to cut & polish and then reassemble it. Need to do some work on the keel & rudder at some stage as well but nothing major.

Pyro thought that as he had been putting up with the paint fumes for days he should feature in the pic as well, and he can always manage a smile for the camera. !!

[Kermit]

GOOD JOB LITTLE FELLA     MY 4 boats are at the finishing paint stage  just waiting for the humidity to improve  I could just heat up the office / gym / area up and will probably do that after sailing in the morning   The grass hopper is in a make over stage with a new colour scheme  under way…….  guess the colour   heaps of picks of my repairs and builds …. as your boat is there  no good showing mine because there a carbon copy of yours    the 95 and the 65 will have a colour scheme  I know how they will be  so i will start on the tem plates tonight  one again well done cobber

[Predator]

Cutting & polishing all done today so tomorrow after Puddleduck I can start the re assembly.

[Predator]

Vinyl work completed & re assembly under way, just need to sand & paint the rudder & keel before installing.

[Predator]

Another one finished, finally.

Ready for her refit maiden tomorrow @ The Canal

[Kermit]

LOOKING FORWARD TO  SEEING IT  PRED  JUST THINKING FOR A NAME  FOR MINE  I THINK RAPTOR SOUNDS FINE  BECAUSE IT CAN TAKE DOWN A WEDGIE WITH EASE  AN IT WILL

[Predator]

That may well be the case Kermit my little friendly frog but you need to finish it first.

[Kermit]

SO NICE TO SEE YOU HAVE ALREADY CAPITULATED   WELL DONE     an I haven’t even finished the clear coat  let alone rig her up  BUT THAT’S THE MIGHT OF FEAR  AY

[Author]

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