Shetland restoration

[Wes39]

Good morning
I have always liked the idea of owning a boat & i love fishing so i bought a Shetland Speedwell. It was delivered on Wednesday and i have begun stripping it out. With no idea about boats other than the research i have done i will be very grateful for advice along the way. Thanks Wes

[Wes39]

20200513_153003.png (1.18 MiB) Viewed 18931 times

[Wes39]

A little more info. The trailer is not a boat trailer but has been modified slightly, not very well either and this will cause problems later! The outboard is a suzuki dt20, not been tested yet.

[Ianfs]

Hi Wes,

Welcome to the forum.

The boat looks like its good form and should be great for fishing. The trailer looks like a bike or small car trailer, but maybe with a couple of bunks added could work ok. There must be a plate, normally at the front somewhere which specifies the overall trailer carrying capacity or gross weight. Then its only a matter of knowing
how heavy the trailer is plus the boat will fuel, water and any other bits you want to add.
I'm sure that outboard is ok too, they are pretty bomb proof.

Looks like a pretty good starter boat.

[Wes39]

I think the trailer capacity it 1034kgs. I will more than likely have to jack the boat off the trailor to access the hull for sanding & painting, when the boat is complete i will moor it then i have the option of trailer work.

[Ianfs]

The boat probably has a dry weight of around 600kgs and the engine is about 50kgs so with a capacity of 1000kgs the trailer sounds strong enough.

I took my boat off its trailer a few times and it weighs in at around 900kgs. It's a fairly easy job but it needs to be taken with great care and done very slowly.

If you drop the front jockey wheel as far as it will go the stern will lift by about an inch or two. put a block under the stern at the keel, support the chines (sides) and then jack up the jockey wheel as far as you can, within reason. This will lift a lot of the rear boat weight off the trailer, leaving the bows on the trailer. It was easy with mine because its a roller trailer but you seem to have supports and I cant see any rollers, unless that's a keel roller I can see. However with the double bars on the front of your trailer maybe you could put jacks on the keel and roll the trailer out. Obviously when you get to the crossbars the jacks will have to be moved. But I'm sure you'll work it out. I suppose it depends how much space you have.

A thought occurred to me that these tend to be river boats, where will you be using her?

[Wes39]

I won't be moving it for a while, i have got so much to do before i need to. I do appreciate your input though and explanation of descriptive parts as i really am new to all of this & learning so much as i go. It will eventually be on rivers & canals, possibly having to venture into the tidal trent to venture into other waters but never in the sea although i am aware i will need to take a test and further measures to go tidal.

[Wes39]

I have nearly finished gutting it, all interior and flooring, benches etc ripped out. Two runs to the tip with my car rammed full. The transom is well rotten so i am in the process of cutting out the motor well to access it from inside the boat. With it being old previous owners had screwed, rivited & bolted allsorts to the boat so they are being removed leaving me plenty of patching to do after sanding. I'm not rushing & expecting the whole restoration to take 2-3 years (i work so some will be weekends only). I'm also trying not to annoy my neighbours, that's the last thing i need!

[Ianfs]

I thoroughly recommend you have a look at this guy on YouTube. He's a Canadian boat builder/repairer and has got some really useful tips for glassing etc.

https://www.youtube.com/user/boatworkstoday/featured

If you have the floor out and think the transom is trashed then I would be inclined to see if the stringers are waterlogged. Nearly all fibreglass boats have stringers to stiffen the hull. They are usually 10mm or bigger ply and run along the length of the boat. In addition there is usually box sections which support the floor that should be looked at. The newer more hi tech way is to put a moisture meter on it but the old fashioned way is to take a bore sample by drilling into the wood and checking the sawdust in the drill bit. If its damp it'll stick to the drill bit.

I doubt very much if the stringers towards the bows are rotten but towards the stern they maybe in which case they will need to come and be replaced somehow.

Sounds as if you are really cracking on. If you time to take pictures that'll be great.