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wayfarer
20th January 2008, 12:11 AM
Hi folks, new around here as you'd gather. I made an introductory post here (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=65085)

I've owned a 12' dinghy sailing boat Cherub class since the mid 1970's.

Description:
All wooden hull and deck from timber and ply, wooden centreboard, wooden tiller & rudder, wooden mast, cedar boom & spinnaker pole. 1x mainsail, 1x jib, 1x kite. Trapeze. Fibreglass bones.
Unknown date of build, unknown name. I am currently in contact with the registrar who should be able to tell me the date of it's first registration and the owner at that time.
It's sail number indicates it was on the water in about 1965 which would make it between 40-45 years old.

Condition:
The kit is mostly complete but it might need a new deck. The hull looks sound, there is no rot that I can find nor has anything sprung. The bow had suffered a collision sometime prior to 1977 but was repaired well enough. There's also a patch amidships.
The mast needs stripping back and varnishing. Most of the rigging is there. The halyards and sheets all seem strong but after such a long time they would need replacing. The stays and trapeze wires seem in good nick. The travellers and other bolt-ons including foot straps are all okay. All the sails are in great condition. Mind you, they're originals.
They're be a fair amount of TLC and cash required to get her back in tip top condition.
No trailer. (Dad tossed it out ages ago).

I'll get to my point of this thread eventually, but first some pics.

She has been up in the rafters of the garage for about 14 years, before that she was in dad's garage or under a tarp. She was damaged when under the tarp.

I dropped her from the ceiling two weeks ago.... Captions under the pics.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/01-portside-aft.jpg
Very dusty... complete with cat paw prints. It's a ply deck and hull with timber trims.



http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/02-portside-aft-close.jpg
A nice tiller handle made from contrasting timbers.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/03-portside-mid.jpg
If you look closely in the foreground you can see how the ply veneer has "split" into very small ripples... I don't know the term. each split is as wide as the grain. It's probably the biggest problem.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/04-portside-bow.jpg

Here's the repair job done on the bow. Pity the previous owner didn't match the ply better. I might be able to stain this so it'll match?

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/05-portside-forward.jpg
The bottom is in great condition. There's not thickness here... the blue paint you see in the top side of the ply that is the bottom of her. It might be glassed under that paint.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/06-starboardside-aft.jpg



http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/07-centerboard.jpg
The centreboard is made from a single piece of timber. Apart from some bog it's in very good condition.

A week after the photos above:

A good bath helped heaps: (Nothing like wet timber to look at :) )

Continued next post

wayfarer
20th January 2008, 12:14 AM
http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/09-top-washed.jpg

The white scoop at the front is the spinnaker chute. It can be pulled in and out of there with the right halyard/fly wire. That's white paint on the deck and white fibreglass below deck. It pokes out this side of the bulkhead as a tube.
You can see a lot of wear on the gunwales.




http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/10-starboard-aft-washed.jpg
Underside. You can see a patch in the starboard side. That's a single fibreglass strip along the keel. Sharp eyed readers will notice there's no rail or keel along her length... she's a flat bum.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/11-starboard-upside-down-washed.jpg

Just to look at her profile.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/12-upside-down-washed.jpg

A shot from above to see her shape.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/13-starboard-forward-sails-up.jpg

That's a 6.1m mast. The mainsail, jib and spinnaker total about 240 sq feet of sail.


http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/14-gear-washed.jpg

I am pretty happy about the gear. Although the sail track on the boom has a split at one end. About the last 6" is broken but not separated. The sail track is cut into the timber... there is no metal.


http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/15-mast-whole.jpg

The mast is a bit of a worry for me. It has weathered quite badly. The lower sections are fine... they just need to be taken back to timber and re-varnished. However, the upper 2' of the mast is pretty bad. The timber "looks" sound but it's very bleached.

http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/16-mast-midway.jpg


http://www.igdesign.com.au/cherub/18-mast-top-close.jpg

So, there it is.

Now, my point of all this?

I intend to fix the old girl up a bit and take the kids out next season.
I am reasonably handy with tools but my knowledge of restoration and repair work is on a learning curve. To help with this I've recently taken delivery of the West System handbook I picked up from RossL (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showpost.php?p=661203&postcount=4), (thanks mate) and am reading it to bring me up to speed.

But, I cannot tell what needs fixing.. or rather I do not know if I am missing something that needs fixing.

What I really need is someone to come by, share a few beers and look the old girl over.
Does anyone who knows what they are looking at, live around the Hornsby area of northern Sydney, perhaps you could pop over and share a few beers? I'd hate to mees things up. There doesn't seem to be too many of this age and class of boat around anymore.

catbuilder
20th January 2008, 09:13 PM
Gday Wayfarer

While I can't drop around for the beer, I'm sure theres a few people on here to help out online.

A good wash always helps and you've probably got a clearer picture of what you need to do, from the photos it looks very good, its unfortunate that a lot of boats end in backyards, probably in fantastic condition for starters but forgotten about, so your on a winner for starters.

The ply on the deck thats could be injected with some resin and reset, it doesn't look to bad from the photos. The mast track again could be fixed with a glue mix, you could paint the mast tip if it looks to faded, it won't look out of place with even a white tip.

Bit of a sand if you wanted to and re-varnish and it you'd be right to go. I don't think you match up that ply at the front, but thats not very serious I don't think.

But it all depends on how far you want to go, I don't think you need to go very far at all.

Those sails look really good to, you've been lucky to have stored the boat so well.

Regards

Matt

onthebeachalone
22nd January 2008, 01:11 PM
Aaaaah! Takes yer back dunnit! My first ever boat was a Cherub (sail # 100). If I can still do the math that was ummmm..... 50 years ago;
and then my whole life flashed before my eyes! :hpydans:

cjm_22sq
24th January 2008, 05:06 PM
Wayfarer, check your PMs, I'm not very far from you at all.

Chris.

wayfarer
24th January 2008, 05:49 PM
Wayfarer, check your PMs, I'm not very far from you at all.

Chris.
Glances over shoulder, nervously!

You are? :)

PM'd back.

Boatmik
26th January 2008, 12:42 AM
This is all pretty amazing. A late 1960's Cherub complete with all original gear.

Worth keeping everything together as a working museum piece.

Even the repair at the bow tells a story!

MIK