Restoring my first boat

Dealing with the "buoyancy": according to the Blue Peter brochure, which you can see on the About Blue Peters page, "the hull is bonded to the coloured deck/cockpit and creates large areas of sealed in buoyancy which are foam filled for total unsinkability-even in the event of serious damage to the skin". So I was not impressed when I cut out the holes to repair the hull, to see no foam at all. I decided to fit 6" hatches at both ends of the boat to allow me to check this out and see how I could remedy the situation.

This is the cut-out for the hatch in the rear bench. There is not a shred of any form of buoyancy anywhere in the boat. It would sink like a stone if the hull was really ruptured. I also found two plywood backing patches for toe strap fittings just sliding around loose inside. The hull mouldings are really solid and well made, but every hidden part of the boat is very poor and potentially dangerous.

Rear hatch screwed in place temporarily. I will take it out before I paint the hull and then bed it in sealant. I can also get at the inner end of the rudder lower pintle fixings now, so shall replace them with bolts.

The hatch in the fore deck. This will also be removed, along with all the new fittings before painting. The hatch allows me to fit backing pads to the cleat and the U bolt, which is not yet in place in this picture. When all else is finished, I shall fill the voids with expanded polystyrene packing pieces to finally get some real safety buoyancy. I am not happy with the faults I have found, but it is quite rewarding to feel that for once I have actually improved a boat and not just "altered" it.

On to stage 5 >>