Progress continues to be slow but steady. There hasn't been much point in posting photos, as the boat isn't changing shape that much.

I have the centreboard case glued back together, and reglued the foredeck and the port rubbing strip. When I acquired the boat, this strip came off very easying, as the joint was quite dry (glue wise), and the glue had gone brittle. However, the gap filling properties of epoxy are wonderful, and it's been re-fitted quite well.

I should point out that this restoration isn't really a restoration in the true sense of the word, as I continue to use modern glues and epoxy where previously old style glues and fasteners were used. But it will still look the part...mostly.

One thing I did notice while trial fitting the centreboard in it's case is that it has quite a bend in its trailing edge...lengthwise. I'm hoping that...

Hawk

After a bit of a break from doing any work on the boat, I finally got another coat of varnish on the other day. It's good to start making some progress again.

After finding a bit about my particular boat, I decided to try and get a bit more information about the class. Given that the boat was released in the UK (and France) I posted on the Classic and Vintage Racing Dinghy Association's forum here. I'm happy to say that I got a good response, and had several people send me scans from books of the era. Two of these scans included photos of boats 1 and 2. It adds a bit more interest to the restoration knowing a little more about the boat's history.

My task still remains to see if I can get her finished for this summer. But I've discovered how long it takes to do bright finishes, and it's not quick...lots of coats...lots of drying time. Oh well...nothing for...

Hawk

I got in contact with the person that I acquired the Vagabond from to see if I could find out more about it's history.

There's not a lot of information, however I was quite surprised to hear that the boat was built in England in 1972, and then transported to Australia. That explains how such an uncommon class of boat ended up in Australia.

If it was transported by a family that owned it in the UK, then it may be the only example of this class of boat in Australia.

[Edit]
Just updating to confirm that the person who acquired the boat after it was brought out to Australia believes that the family brought the boat out here as part of their personal possessions. I would be very interested to hear from anybody else that knows of another Jack Holt 'Vagabond' in Australia.

Hawk

I haven't had much time to work on my boat lately, but I did get out for a while Friday night. I continued stripping the mast with a heat gun and then got stuck into the rudder. The varnish on these stripped easily compared to some of the other parts of the boat.

I think that I've now stripped and sanded all the parts...now the task varnishing and reassembling. I'd better remove some of the dust from my garage first though, or the finish won't come out so well.

Oops...just remembered I've also got to re-strip the second bulkhead that's gone bad. Nearly completed all the stripping. There won't be any dust cleaning that gunk off though.

Hawk

If you've been following the thread for this restoration, then you'll be aware that I had a little difficulty with the varnish on the bulkheads not going "off". I'm pretty sure now that the culprit is the "Prep Solve" that I used to clean down the epoxy with before varnishing. The varnish on the rest of the cockpit dried fine.

Now I've got the horrible job of cleaning off the sticky goo that remains. I started scraping the aft bulkhead today. I figured it was Father's Day, and this father wanted to spend the day building boats.

Anyway, at the rate that I get to work on my boat, this hiccup has probably set me back 2 weeks to a month.

I made good progress on the spars. I had removed all the fittings a few weeks ago and discovered that the jaws on the gaff were broken. No problem...a made up a nice new pair out of meranti, and dry...

Hawk