Stories

The second project for Robin on his Drascombe D22 cruiser was to replace this odd original feature of companionway safety and security, in essence a small pair of ‘French Doors’.

Instantly one can see the number of bad design aspects to this implementation. Firstly, 2 pieces of hook-off doors to be stowed away in a small cruiser. You either had them fitted in place or not at all. There was no scope for a part enclosure to be created.

The major aspect that stands out a mile is the lack of weather-proofness! The doors just fit onto the side of the coach house, no rebates, seals, overlaps etc. As soon as I saw this photograph I knew I had to get them off and go back to a tried and tested, simple and well engineered system of interlocking washboards. With that in mind I set about at my base at Dragon Design to draw out the information Robin had kindly provided into a manufacturing format and progress to make them.

The lower wash board would be hinged as the current and flap down into a recess on the deck floor, this acts as a step pad, so as you will see as I progress I’ve coated this pad face in an anti-slip deck paint rather than a varnish finish, this is an InterDeck product.

To begin it was a matter of choosing a material, given we are looking at 3 small rebated 12 mm thickness panels. They need to be light in weight to handle and store and durable in their finish. I have chosen 12 mm marine ply with a bonded edge to all horizontal edges of Iroko.

The bonded ‘lippings’ are better to create the machined rebates and for the top and bottom where there are hinges and a security hasp.

I will fit a closing vent into the top section.

There now becomes a need to produce the channel for the washboards to slot into. This will be created by having a pair of stainless steel rails made up of 316 polished, with a 2mm packer to the back to give us a little more slide tolerance. These are being made by my fabricator in Tredegar.

From the manufacture of the 3 interlocking washboard sections I progressed to sand and finish with a 3-stage spray varnish process to each side. Each stage is also made up of 3 light passes in a ‘wet on wet‘ process. Being in a spray heated cubicle I can do a light pass, leave for an hour or so then do another light pass. After the third pass it is left to cure then a light prep, this followed by another stage of spray passes. When one gets to the last stage each pass takes longer to cure so a full day is set aside for this.

You will note the great advantage of having a 3 section washboard set up. For ventilation when sailing while still stopping sea water getting into the cabin, the top board can be removed. At anchor when needing greater ventilation for cooking or sleeping the second board can be removed.

The lower board in this instance is hinged and folds forward into a recess in the coach roof. This unfortunately leaves the back face of the washboard prone to wear and damage from being used as a step to enter the companionway. I’ve added buffer pads to the fitting kit and finished this face in a hard wearing anti slip paint (Interdeck lightly gritted deck paint) which is then easy to touch up if it gets marked.

My stainless fabricating company has produced two guide rails for Robin to bolt onto the side faces of the companionway. The recess left in the moulding was 11mm. We have the washboards at 12.5 and this is a tight measurement. So as packing legs to the guide rails, I’ve had made two packers at 2.84 mm. This gives us a certain slack to allow for the seals that I’ve bonded to the inside face of the holding strips. These seals protect the high varnish finish on the washboards as they are lowered and removed in a sliding action. The seals also stop the washboards from rattling, again which causes damage apart from being very annoying.

So yet another joinery project completed, with Robin to collect from our base at NP22 4LA in a couple of days.

As Tom has reported in his email to me just recently, Jojo is now out of the water on the hard at the Nice Marina. Following the successful delivery to him in December of a full keel band, made in a jointed format so it was acceptable for length as a shipment, he gained the help of a pal and between them they cut out the old keel band, cleaned the hull back to gel coat, fitted the new 2-section keel band and would you believe it applied 2 coats of anti-foul primer within that 48 hour period. They did have the help from the weather on the Mediterranean coast however, it was 26°C. A lot better than trying to work outside in the UK at 5°C!

Tom was aware from the JLJ website that I made flooring for the Drascombe range of boats, so taking a good look at the very poor condition that Jojo’s flooring was in, why not go for it and order a full 5 section flooring system from JLJ? As with all our joinery items they are available within 7 days turnaround from order to receipt. Where else would you get that sort of professional order response, only at JLJ, Dragon Design.

Just as a reminder for Drascombe owners what is involved in the manufacturing of a set of 5 section flooring for a Lugger.

I’ll illustrate from the completed floor sections first and then go through the making process. It is evident that the flooring is virtually knot free, it is indeed a Pine species.
It’s classification as a timber is Unsorted Red Wood. An Upper Gulf Finnish timber, very close grain, knots of no more than 12 mm dia, and air-dried to 12% humidity. A great stable timber to work with and gives excellent results. Like everything in life it’s not the cheapest of materials, but for Drascombe owners on their pride and joy it has to be worth going that extra mile to achieve a superb result in fitting a new flooring section.

From the sawn boards of the Unsorted Redwood I plane and thickness it to 148 x20 mm, this being the plank size. As you can see from patterns I’m able to dimension each section.

We now move onto the stage of fitting the underside straps, all machined and sanded with chamfered edges. The fixing screws are A4 S/S. It is now noted that I use the West Resin System to act as a bonding agent along with the screws to pull up the straps onto the flooring boards.

This corner strap outlines the quality of the machining and shape of the strap to conform to the curvature of the flooring

This review of a flooring section of the Lugger just outlines the lengths I go too in order to create a very durable, long lasting and extremely well fitting floor for your Drascombe boat. Make to this high standard and it will ensure that these straps will not deteriorate and drop off, leaving you with a dysfunctional flooring in the bottom of your Lugger. That’s what I do at Dragon Design, make joinery properly to a high standard, hence the company is now in its 41st successful year of trading. What more can I say.

In addition to his new tiller, Philip has ordered a new boarding ladder for his Lugger.

There has been a very good response to my boarding ladders, among the very many who use them on a daily basis whilst on one of our Dragon Drascombe Lugger Charters in the South Ionian. The major benefit to my design is when starting to put body pressure on the lower tread, it will not fold under the hull of the boat. The ladder frame padded hooks fit snuggly over the Gunwale rail, gripping it and stopping the ladder moving along the rail.

Firstly on their construction and material. I only use Iroko for all the component parts; its inherent robustness and oily grain make it extremely suitable for the marine environment, and it needs no protective coat. The ladder is of a totally articulated construction. Treads are loose to slid and move and held to form its frame shape by dowels and pegs, all are easy to replace.

So when hooked onto the Gunwale rail of the Lugger it hangs, allowing the knees with protected pads on the point of contact with the hull to give it the rigidity needed to support the person stepping onto the first tread.

A small point to note is I’ve added a security line to the head of the ladder. If there is a swell and the floatation capability of the ladder is such to lift it off the Gunwale rail, it will not float away!

Henry has an old Mk 2 Longboat out in the sand state of Bahrain, badly in need of some TLC. The first part of his order was for a replacement mast thwart and transom board. He sent us these photos to help us pick the right parts.

And here, the new parts we are sending out to replace them.

Henry has wisely opted for one of our Drascombe Biminis for his Longboat. Just the ticket for sailing in the Arabian Sea in an open boat. This, plus some rigging, ropework and other parts from UK suppliers, has all been packed into a single crate. The 6mm thick hard case will ensure its safe arrival in Bahrain. A consignment of 18 kg at a Delivery Duty paid shipment of under £400 Sterling, including DHL shipment and import duty and taxes.

At the Drascombe Convention on 25 February, Philip approached me at my JLJ stand on my option to supply a new tiller, with extension fitted, all fully spray varnished finish, to fit his existing tiller head, this being an early aluminium type. Not only do we supply the joinery, but we will fit it to the existing tiller head for free.

This is his original assembly, which he sent to me, received on 28 February. From my vast stock I was then able to choose a new tiller and allocate an extension to suit. All are pre-shaped, so it is then just a matter of doing the final shaping to fit the head supplied.

The tiller head is probably 40 plus years old and has seen a lot of service. I have re-finished this tiller head as best as I can, given its condition.

The head is now fitted to the tiller, and the tiller extension swivel fitted to both. Note that I recess the 4mm pan head bolts that secure the extension to the tiller.

So with everything pre-fitted, all that remains is to add the tiller extension holding pin.

So in the space of an hour at the workshop of Dragon Design, I have drawn from our extensive stock, a tiller and extension, all with the main machine work already done, and pre-fitted everything, so it is now ready for full spray finishing the next day. This next stage is the most time-consuming as each set of 3 coats takes 24 hours, and we apply 3 sets, giving 9 coats in total.

The high spray build of varnish is there to enhance the appearance of the tiller and primarily to give it the protection needed in the marine environment. The swivel assembly is recessed into the body of the tiller to give added strength; note the absence of sharp edges, all heavily profiled. The old aluminium rivets were drilled out of the old head and replaced with pan head machine screws and domed head nuts on the threaded side.

So, all spray varnished, reassembled and ready for dispatch tomorrow, along with one of our own-design boarding ladders.

All this demonstrates the efficiency in our manufacturing process for high quality marine joinery and the ability to provide Drascombe owners with an incomparable level of service. No other company manufactures in house, carries such high levels of dedicated stock, are able to come close to these prices and deliver a turnaround service like that of Dragon Design.

Following a referral from my good friend Dick Hannaford at R&J sails, his client Robin called me to explain his requirements.

Firstly, an issue for him was the boom that he had commissioned to be made by the makers of the boat was too short. It meant that he could not get the sail foot tight due to the lack of length of the boom. This would not be an issue for me at JLJ, as experienced cabinetmakers and joinery manufacturers.

Secondly, his existing tiller was quite knocked about and lacking an extension. So the programme was to make a curved extension and totally refinished in a spray marine varnish to the tiler and new extension. The first three pictures show the completed unit, and the last three show the original condition of the tiller.

The tiller had a made up block to take the Auto helm arm, very much over width, bolted with exposed heads and nuts and generally poor work. The finish was a thin, flaking coat of brush varnish, and consequently water had got behind it and stained the Iroko.

First I cut off the existing tiller autohelm block and replaced it with one in the same Iroko, then totally scraped off the varnish ready for respraying. Now to the new work, the making of a curved tiller, with swivel nickel head and at Robin’s request, a ‘handle grip end’.

So all achieved. From receiving the tiller to completion was just 8 days of work. That’s why people call on the experienced personnel to carry high quality, guaranteed work.

The boom, similarly was a straight forward process of firstly totally scrapping the old varnish off, producing the machined scarf jointing and clamping it together with a West Resin system. Then a total re-profiling of the boom and a spray varnish finish. You can see how successfully the boom has been spliced to a longer section to give it the additional length. This is a 400 mm scarf joint using West Resin as the bonding agent.

The next project this coming week for Robin to install onto his Drascombe D2 is a new set of washboards for the deck / saloon entrance.

Keep watching this work in progress and Robin’s story.