Salizanda gets a second chance

Hamble, England, prior to transporting to Austria

I bought Salizanda as a project boat because I wanted to get my hands dirty again. 

If I had realized the extent of the project I would never have ...
But that’s hindsight!

Underway to Austria

In the workshop

The workshop
Hull and decks stripped

After I had stripped off all the fittings (carefully labelling everything) and the paint, I concentrated on repairing the hull and deck damage. I was aware that the deck was damaged at each stanchion base, caused by inadequate blocking on the underside, but I hadn’t calculated on the stb.beam shelf, stemhead apron and stemhead together, of course, with all the deck in that area, or water egress at the king plank rebate on both for and aft decks, or the crushed planking at the turn of the bilge to stb. caused, no doubt, by a serious grounding. And so it went on; the water tank was like a sieve causing extensive rot to the surrounding planking. Faced with the prospect of a long repair job and having tried the conventional wisdom of scarfing in each 1.5mm laminate with a min. 1:10 scarf which unless you are a model maker, doesn’t work, I developed the following system.

Here I introduce the first of my “essential restorers tools” the Fein MultiMaster; in this case fitted with a circular HSS cutting blade with a dished centre so that the blade sit flat on the surface. It oscillates and the cutting edge uses Japanese saw technology and will also cut through any fastenings in the way. The damaged area is marked out and a wood straightedge is secured on the cutting line and by keeping the flat of the blade against the straightedge, a fine, vertical cut, approx. 1mm wide is ensured. The corners are finished with a Japanese dado saw. If there is a frame or stringer in the way it is very easy to control the depth of the cut. The first laminate, which is the inside, is set in as a plug. The edges are supported by pieces of softwood wrapped in packing tape and screwed from the outside. If there is a curve to the hull the backing pieces should be cut to fit. It’s always better if a frame or stringer is running through at this point as it is used as a form.

The veneer is then glued in. All surfaces to be glued are first coated with clear epoxy and then with thickened to fill gaps and stapled to the supports. I always use stainless as I find them stronger and can be removed without breaking off.
When the epoxy is hard enough the staples and screws are removed, and then I use my next “essential tool” A top of the line router with a micrometer depth adjustment to 1/10mm. With the depth set to the outside of the laminate I have just glued in, I cut the laminates back 3 to 4 cms and glue in the next layer, making sure that there is enough thickened epoxy between the laminates and staple as necessary. This process is repeated until the final layer is complete. What I finish up with is a stepped patch through the laminates which I feel is far stronger. It is then faired using an orbital sander to clean it up and then longboarded to make it fair.
A few pointers:
The Baden Powell Rule “always be prepared”. It’s sods law that if anything can go wrong, IT WILL.
I always do a rehearsal including screwing and stapling everything in place. There is nothing I hate more than being up to my eyeballs in epoxy with the minutes ticking by and the thing won’t go in! Think through the whole process before and gather all the tools and material that you need and lay it out like a surgeon preparing for an operation and think of all the possible things that can go wrong and how you will deal with them. I use gypsum or drywall screws dipped in soap. Quick and easy and if you don’t leave them in too long they will come out. I cut a sheet of 3mm cheap plywood into 3cm strips which I then use and re-use for a multitude of purposes. In this case they are covered in packing tape and used as backing for the staples so that that staples do not damage the hull or whatever I am glueing.

A few of the "minor" repairs that were necessary 😀

The Topsides

I really wanted to have the topsides clear. I’d seen an Atalanta 26 before with clear topsides and fallen in love with it, but with all the patches, ble-
mishes and paint filled gouges, I realized that it would not be possible.
Then I discovered a veneer company in Vienna called “Liechtenstein” This place was a wood lover’s dream come true. An Aladdin’s Cave; a vast hall filled with stacks of the most beautiful and exotic wood veneers imaginable.
From that moment there was no stopping me.They did not have Agba from which the hull was built, but that was no problem as I had already set my heart on Sapelli Mahogany and immediately bought enough 1.5mm veneer to complete the topsides.
It was a long job, but the material was a joy to work with; flat, straight grained and malleable. I set up the band-saw and ran the material through in 10cm strakes. I did find that on the tight turn of the bilge aft that when I did the fitting, I needed to run the hot air gun over the veneer as I gently eased it round the curve. It would then retain the curve and twist and would glue easily in position.

I had already removed the rubbing strake in order to repair damage at the hull to deck joint so I started the veneers at the hull/deck joint and ended them at the waterline that I had pre-
viously marked. Each strake had the edges planed and was dry fitted before it was glued.
When the whole laminate was com-
pleted it was sanded and then coated with three coats of clear epoxy, sanding between each coat.
At this point I replaced the shear strake. This time I bedded it in thickened epoxy. I realize that it is harder, though not impossible, to remove if damaged, but it does protect an extremely vulnerable joint between the hull and deck.
The final finish is: 10 coats of one-component polyurethane varnish from Veneziani.

Keel Structure Repair

Keel brackets freshly galvanized

It has been said of the Atalanta, that it is an engineers design, which is not surprising as Fairey Marine, the builders, built and designed wood framed aircraft before and during WW2. One of the more famous being the Swordfish torpedo bomber
The main structural element consists of a main bulkhead on which the mast is stepped and two 480 lbs pivoting ballast keels are hung. The keels are positioned either side of the accommodation which leaves it free of the usual obtrusive centerboard casing. They are cantilevered out from massive steel brackets which are bolted through the main bulkhead.

Keel support structure

This wonderful piece of engineering had been sadly neglected on Salizanda and refused all means of persuasion to come apart. As it was essential that the keels be lowered out of the boat, the resulting work caused extensive damage to the keel casings, necessitating an extensive rebuild to both the keel support system and the keel casings. This was definitely not part of the plan.

Keel brackets temporarily  mounted

Motor and Electrics

I discovered all I know about electrics at the age of seven when I stuck my finger in the back of a tube radio. However, local regulations for our local sailing area along with many other local authorities for inland waters in Europe, prohibit IC motors. So I was faced with the reality of pulling the diesel motor and installing an electric propulsion system.

I work on a very tight budget so having an engineer install a system for me or even buying a turnkey system was out of question. If I had had access to broadband and the profusion of technical forums that followed before starting on this project I would have saved myself a great deal of pain and money. So by the time I discovered groups like the electric boat forum I had already made many mistakes and amassed a collection of unusable junk.

My present system comprises of the following components:

• 6-12v. 105 AH Marathon M12v105 FT. Lead-acid batteries from Exide connected in two parallel banks of three connected in series giving me 300 ah at 24v and charged by a Zivan NG3 at 24volts.
• Curtis 1205 controller with Albright SW80 main contactor and SW182 changeover contactor, controlled by Curtis ET-103M(marine) 1-5v Electronic throttle
• Etek 48volt 15 hp electric motor driving the existing 11 x 9 inchRH prop through multiple v-belts at a 2:1 reduction. 
• 2-12v 80watt solar panels connected in series for 24volts.
 

I want to spend as little as possible on this system as I consider it a test bed for future development. There is still an enormous amount of work to be done before I can test the system in the water, but
I am even at this stage, a convert to electric propulsion. The environmental benefits are now clear to most people but the availability of full torque at min. rpm makes manoeuvring at close quarters much easier. Anybody with experience of trying to manoeuvre into a tight berth with boats for and aft and wind and tide will know what I am saying.

The main disadvantage is energy storage (batteries) but our economic recession will spur rapid development of new battery systems, LiPo4 or others necessary for the new generation of transportation. The development of fuel cells and the ability to rapidly recharge batteries coupled with other developments will quickly usher in a new age of transportation both on land and water.

Saloon, Galley and Navigation Station

Saloon 
One of the problems in outfitting a saloon in a small boat is where to place the table without restricting access. I like my solution which also provides storage for the wine bottle and glasses, sauce bottles etc.The head has to be a chemi-toilet to comply with lake regulations.

Still under construction

Finished. Chemi-toilet in forepeak

Galley

The galley lies aft of the main bulkhead and like all small boats is very restricted. A Taylor paraffin 2 burner and grill sits under a removable worktop with stowage behind and forward under the worktop. A very small sink doubles as a step down from the cockpit.

The compressor fridge lies under the forward bridge-deck and can be easily accessed from the galley.

Stove under removable worktop. Storage under fwd.

Nav. Station
The chart table is sized for a once folded admiralty chart with chart stowage under. The control panel includes a navigation computer with a comprehensive chart folio and access to information from the Raymarine Seatalk instruments. Future plans include systems info. ie. motor batteries, etc.

Chart storage under chart-table