National Historic Ships UK

Application for Rose Rambler to be put on the Historic Ships Register successful. This is an important document for the future survival of her after my ownership

Making come progress

This week has been all about getting the mast completely varnished so that I can re-rig.  The new track is on and looking great. This is so I can store the spinnaker pole up-ended on the mast rather than stowed on deck.

Mast Varnish

It ha been a rush racing against the showers and downpours last week to get the mast stripped back to bare wood in preparation for the application of Coelan, a polyurethane coating that is know to last upto and over a decade. It is expensive, but I have decided that the duration of protection it gives over time is a saving in the long term. All the other spars will be coated in normal varnish.  So far so good, I need to rub back and apply another 3 to 4 coats over the coming days.

Undercoat now on

Update: Spars

Whilst waiting for the varnish and paint to dry I have have started work on the spars. The mast looked very sorry for itself with large sections of varnish peeling off in large sheets. This is now going to be stripped back to bare wood and Coelan applied. With this wonder product the next time the mast is down should be in ten years time.

You can see a bit of Iroko stretching 15ft up the front of the mast. This is to house a new track so a whisker pole can be stored up the mast in Hiscock fashion.

All the rigging has been sent off to be tested as part of my insurance requirements.

As part of my survey three years ago the boom for the stays'l was flagged as being rotten on the end. A new piece of spruce has been scarfed in a 7:1 - new galvanized fitting too.

All the spars that I can reach from deck level are being coated in International Blue Peter varnish
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Holes replanked and primed

Slowly getting there. The list is growing and not getting shorter though! Now the VHF antenna snapped off when moving the mast - to be fair it was corroded through. All the locker catches need servicing as they often don't shut and spill open at sea and I don't think the hairband solution used so far is very aesthetic.

I now need to install a chart plotter, AIS and also fuel tank readers. There is a dip stick, but the tanks are so hard to get to it that I think a fuel gauge is really the only sensible solution.

Two Laurent Giles in the tents at the same time

It is nice to see that there are two Laurent Giles in the paint tents at the same time at present. When they were both out I always thought Rosie looked tubbier than Serlio, but looking head on, you can really see Rosie's pilot cutter heritage.