CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016 91CRAFTSMANSHIP
Clockwise from
top left: the
midships cockpit
on White Heron;
Gelyce the J
tender; Knight
Errant, one of
Colin’s better
known
restorations,
recently given a
serious tidy-up;
120-year-old
reclaimed pitch
pine for Gelyce’s
deck, on a
suitable trestle
table!and aft in the same manner and positioning as the
original. This original external appearance is particularly
important as the hull will be bright finished. The advantages
of this method (the alternative would be a rebuild) are
two-fold: firstly, the cost of reskinning a boat in this
way is about a quarter of the re-build option. Secondly,
there is no disruption to any of the framework or
interior, meaning that everything inside is left original,
while the outside of the hull is “as original”.
Colin, who learned about cold-moulding during his
five-year apprenticeship with masters of the trade Souters
in the late 70s, achieves this with epoxy and nylon
staples to ensure a rust-resistant, waterproof finish. The
proof is in the pudding: the first boat he treated in this
method 16 years ago is still going strong, and Colin
estimates the life of such a job to be comparable to other
methods, after which point the process should be
repeatable. It should not be confused with a number of
bodged ‘reskin jobs’ involving GRP that have cast doubt
over processes like this over the years. Colin and team
apply the method to superstructures (using a single skin,
as this is largely a cosmetic process) as well as hulls,
something that has proved popular. An example of the
cost benefit is a recent job on a Bates Starcraft, where the
entire superstructure was so treated for £8,000. A rebuild
job on a sistership cost four times that. “The superstructure
on Bates boats was 1¼in (32mm). By the time they reach
us, it’s usually about ¾in (19mm). I think of it as putting
50 years’ worth of sanding back on in one go.”
Next, we see the prize project of the moment, the
J-Class tender Gelyce, built by Camper and Nicholson in
1930 to serve Shamrock V. The last time I saw (or rather
didn’t see) Gelyce was at Peter Freebody’s yard not far
away, about eight years ago. Peter pointed to the water
and told me she had sunk there, with the manner of a
man describing a storage arrangement rather than a
shipwreck. He added that he would “bring her up
soon!”. When Colin acquired her last year for Wint
Taylor (the boat collector who also owns Fixitor and
Knight Errant among others, and Colin’s biggest client)
she looked terrible, with plants growing out of her, but
the ribs (which have mostly been retained) and hull were
surprisingly good. Perhaps Peter was right.
Gelyce has since received the skinning treatment, not
least because of her high top speed (around 24 knots or
more), and low beam to length ratio, both of which place
strains on a hull. The re-skin (three layers of 2.5mm, two
diagonally opposed and the outer skin laid fore and aft)
has used 60,000 nylon staples, in effect 120,000 barbed
nails. A laid, pitch pine deck went on first, for the benefit
of those sitting inside the saloon, then a ply deck for
strength. Lastly, another pitch pine laid deck will go on
above. A 1950s, six-cyl, 175 bhp, aluminium-block Rolls
Royce petrol engine will go into the forward engine bay.
Gelyce should be waterborne in a year or so, and Colin
is looking forward to seeing her beside her original charge,
Shamrock V, the only wooden J in the world. We are too.
We repair to the workshop for a catch-up. I spent a
week with Colin, his mum Eve and friends on the family
Dunkirk little ship Mimosa back in 2005, on a
commemorative voyage to Dunkirk. It’s good to see how
well time has treated Classic Restoration Services. The
yard has about three years’ worth of work booked in
and a possible move to bigger premises nearby soon.