A collision and subsequent restoration at Haines Boatyard
Emily was damaged whilst racing at Cowes when she was T-boned by another yacht. On return from Cowes she was hauled ashore to assess the damage.
Superficially it may look minimal, but on closer inspection there was major structural damage that made her unsafe to continue racing in the remaining seasons programme.
The main structural damage was located around the initial impact area of the collision just behind the cockpit on the port side of the aft deck. Here, five decks planks have been crushed and three deck beams split along their length from the beam shelf inboard by approximately 12 to 18 inches.
During the winter refit the deck was repaired. New Douglas Fir deck planking was installed where necessary; this was then sealed with epoxy and then sheathed in fibreglass and resin. The covering boards were replaced and the deck primed and painted. Finally all the deck fittings were replaced.
The fastenings were inspected and 60% were found corroded and needed to be replaced. In order to strengthen and preserve the integrity of the boat, it was decided to spline the hull. The topsides were stripped of all coatings and the plank seams raked out. Thin tapered strips of Spruce were glued into the plank seams using polyurethane. The proud splines were then planed off and the hull faired by hand sanding using longboards.
The topsides were primed and Emily was painted her original colour, the bottom was, filled, faired and antifouled, and all the brightwork prepared and varnished.
Information courtesy of HainesBoatyard.com
