CANADA’S COMMERCIAL MARINE MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 WESTERNMARINER.COM 29
Commercial and Pleasure Boat Repairs
of all kinds
Shop: 2 50-97 3 -67 10 Tom Trimmer, manager
Emergency: 2 50-973-6 367 Sointula, BC
[email protected]Working in Wood
In the Boatshops
Compiled by Simon Hill and David Conn
Abernethy & Gaudin
In the late summer of 2018, Abernethy & Gaudin
Boatbuilders of Brentwood Bay relaunched the 30-ft Teal
class one-design racer/cruiser sailboat Zest. Designed by
Luke of Hamble, the first of the class, teal, was launched
by Luke & Co. in 1935. Zest is reported as being built in
1937 by Moody Boatbuilders of Southhampton. The
current owner bought Zest in Lund and sailed it over to
Brentwood Bay for a rebuild.
Zest’s hull was constructed with a mahogany backbone
and larch planking on elm frames, all copper-riveted. The
original decks were pine with canvas covering. The resto-
ration at Abernethy & Gaudin included stripping off the
house and deck prior to installing new hull floor timbers
made from sapele mahogany, and some new frames using
white oak. The deck beams and mast partners were rebuilt
using sapele mahogany, and the cockpit and house were
rebuilt using laminated core with ¼-inch teak sides, with
the aim of preventing the splitting that had happened to
the previous solid teak cabin sides.
At the stern, a new transom was built from yellow cedar,
with the aft run of planking extended to the original lines
using fir (the original transom had been cut off short). The
remainder of the planking was good, with only spot repairs
needed. To finish up the job, new chainplates were fabri-
cated from silicon bronze, new teak decks laid on plywood
backing, and a new hollow mast built from 20- to 30-ft
lengths of sitka spruce obtained from West Wind Hardwood
in Sidney (West Wind and P.J. White Hardwood in Victoria
supplied all the wood for the project). The decks were
caulked with Sikaflex seam compound, the brightworkPHOTO COURTESY ABERNETHY & GAUDIN