Watson total refit !!

A while ago I took an old model of a 47ft Watson as part of the payment for a model I built for a client. This boat had been in storage for many years and was not in the best condition but the grp hull was watertight and the deck still attached. The superstructure was in a worse state but some of the fittings were still usable.

yes please........which one you going to build her as............I have a few detailed shots of TGB if you want them, neil.

Not made a final decision as to which boat as yet but probably will be TGB with the plated over rear cockpit as the shape and size of the one moulded into the deck is wrong.

I still have copies of the pictures of TGB you sent me a while ago.

First job to be done is to strip all the old fittings off the hull.




With everything removed the paint was then stripped to reveal the blue moulding.




The propshaft outers were shortened to the correct length and new shaft supports made and fitted. The shafts were the old BA size so the bearings have been removed from the tubes and opened out to take new M4 inner shafts.




All the holes in the deck were then filled with grp patches underneath and polyester body filler on the top surface. The flanges around the hull edge were removed and rounded to the correct shape for the large Watson style fenders. To prevent the deck coming loose when this was done the inside of the hull deck joint was reinforced with resin and grp matting. When all had been sanded down the whole hull was given a couple coats of grey etch primer.





Now ready to rebuild the boat.

First job is to fit the keel/sternpost reinforcement. This also holds the bearing for the lower rudder pintle and the locating bar for the haul up ropes.




At the top of the stern post the hull/deck area for the steering gear has been cut down ready for the rudder push rods to be fitted. This area will be covered later with the gearbox covering.




The rudder itself, with its supporting shaft, has also been made.




The well deck at the stern has been plated over, this was one of the modifications done to the 47ft Watson class during their lifetime.




The areas that define the hatch covers and planking on the deck have been plotted and edged ready for filling in with planks. This will be one of the more boring jobs to do for this refit but it will be worth it in the end even though they all will be painted grey !!

looking good 

Nice to see how other folk do stuff, I'm watching with interest, keep it up

What actual length is she? looks to be quite big sat on the ironing board, that's probably the best use I have seen for an ironing board 

troutrunner wrote:

What actual length is she? looks to be quite big sat on the ironing board, that's probably the best use I have seen for an ironing board 

It's a 1/12th scale model of a 47 ft Watson Cabin Class Lifeboat therefore she is 47" overall.  Simples!! 


Yes it's a heavy duty ironing board, hight adjustable, easily folded for storage when not in use and only cost £3 at a local car boot sale. Much easier on the back than the WorkMate as when I want to sit down and work I just lower the board and sit on my high stool.

Thanks for the education

The grp wheelhouse has had some attention. The inside has been reinforced with polyester resin and a cloth covering (run out of glass fibre matting and J cloths work just as well in this situation  ) over all the existing holes. This means that when the holes are re-cut in the correct positions the filler that has been used on the outside does not crumble or drop out.






A start on the deck planking has also been made. The hatch covers are done and the main planks along with the simulation of the caulking fitted. The caulking is black card and will be trimmed down later .

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms matey........got a Mersey and a Liverpool class hull and superstructure for both in the lockup.............but my daughter will kill me if I don't get the ferry finished first, lol.......

ol' TGB is looking nice matey. neil.

nhp651 wrote:

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms matey........got a Mersey and a Liverpool class hull and superstructure for both in the lockup.............but my daughter will kill me if I don't get the ferry finished first, lol.......

ol' TGB is looking nice matey. neil.

I know the feeling Neil, but as my wife has been away visiting relatives until tomorrow I can get on with building !!

I also have just obtained a Mersey hull/superstructure cheap on the Fleabay ready for use soon.





The superstructure for the Watson has now been sanded, filled, sanded, filled etc and given a coat of primer. It doesn't look too bad considering the state it was in before.




The rear side windows and the back window cut outs have been tidied up and opened out to the correct size. This allowed the fitting of the section that forms the roof of the rear cabin inside the wheelhouse.




Next job will be to remove the sections marked up that are the door openings as they were left in place and the old doors just stuck on the outside.




Next on the agenda, apart from more boring deck planking, will be the roof lights as the ones on TGB were not all the same size along with sorting out the front window openings.

was that the one for 50 quid, mike.......saw that one, thought you might not be able to resist, lol.

nhp651 wrote:

was that the one for 50 quid, mike.......saw that one, thought you might not be able to resist, lol.

Yes, made them an offer and got if for only £35 !!

The deck planking is coming along slowly, but it's getting there! you can see the stages involved from left to right.




The superstructure has also had the porthole positions correctly maked out, the door openings done and the rivet detail along the front cabin join added.




The roof lights have been opened out to the correct shape and size to allow the fitting of the vhf aerial that TGB had when the self righting air bag was added. The rear deck only had two portholes as the air bag sat over the position of the starboard pair.




The front windows have also been reshaped to match TGB.




A start has also been made on the engine room bulkhead for the interior of the wheelhouse.




Onwards and upwards!!!

At last the final piece of the decking, 320 separate parts, has been fitted!! The card caulking has been trimmed down and the whole deck sanded to level off the lumps and bumps. It's now ready for the next stage, fitting the bulwarks at the bow and stern.




The replacement rear wall of the superstructure has been made and fitted along with the later watertight door and grab rail detail.




The porthole details have been fitted  into the superstructure.




At the front the portholes and the recessed locations for the air intakes have also been done.




Finally for now an overall view as the boat is today.




Looks a bit different from the starting point!

great refit watching with great interest 

The Watson has been struck by a bad case of the dreaded deck boring worm!! This type of worm seems to like making symetrical holes of two sizes.




Lucky for me the holes are in the right positions and of the correct sizes to allow the fitting of the pump/sounding well covers (small holes) and the covers for the wing tank fuel fillers (large holes)

Finally, after much steam and pain, the stern raised bulwarks have been fitted.




The support angle irons have also been made and fitted along with the bolt details.




The bulwarks at the bow have also been fitted as well as the main sampson post.




On the rear decking of the superstructure the former that will be the large self righting air bag has been made. The pattern for the rear screen is also being made.




The three vents that fit on the front of the superstrucutre have also been made.




View of a vent in position, the others will fit in the two pilot holes seen at the bottom right of the picture.

this is looking awesome mike.superb, and I love the deck......who are you building this one for.............or is it going to be your play toy. neil.

nhp651 wrote:

this is looking awesome mike.superb, and I love the deck......who are you building this one for.............or is it going to be your play toy. neil.

Cheers Neil, yes the deck looks nice at the moment, pity it's going to be painted grey later!!

Not building it for anybody in particular, just found it in the shed looking sorry for itself and decided it needed doing. (I aquired it from Mr French as part of a deal for a boat I built for him.)

Will probably play with it for a short while then put it on the disposal list as I will need the room for the next build.     Any advance offers anyone???


Mike

would love it matey....but sadly strapped for cash AS THE TAX MAN IS DEMANDING MORE THAN A POUND OF FLESH.LOL

nhp651 wrote:

would love it matey....but sadly strapped for cash AS THE TAX MAN IS DEMANDING MORE THAN A POUND OF FLESH.LOL

Looking great Mike. 

Tax men the worst thieves on earth.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next problem on the agenda to be solved is the fitting of the kick boards along the deck edge that support the side stanchions. What makes these more difficult than usual is that the boards incorporate the two fairleads on each side, have a gap underneath them all the way along the deck, are made from two planks and the supports are on the outside of the boards. This last item means that unless you have access to a 1/12th scale blacksmith to make the small supports you have to cheat a little!!


First the open top fairleads are fitted onto/through the deck.




To have something to fix the planks to on the inside of the boards small 3mm diameter bamboo rods (cut from kebab sticks) are fitted into holes and glued to the deck. I use bamboo as this is very strong in small sizes and tends to bend under stress more than other sections of timber.  When painted they tend not to be noticed after fitting the stanchions.




The lower planks are cut to fit around the fairleads and glued to the bamboo uprights. The space underneath is set and kept constant by using 2mm square timber along the length of the deck.




When the lower plank is set the upper plank is trimmed to fit and glued to the bamboo uprights and the top edge of the lower plank.




When all is set a little sanding and one side is complete.  




Just need to repeat it all for the other side tomorrow !!

The outer kick board supports have been made and fitted as well as tidying up the boards around the fairleads.




The tabernacle for the mast/exhaust has been made and fixed in place on the front of the superstructure.




The combined mast and exhaust stack has also been made. Here in the erected position.




and the stowed position to allow the boat to fit in the boathouse.




The capstan and the engine room hatch have also been made and will be fitted after painting.

she is looking beautiful Mike...............oh for a lottery win, lol

great attention to detail. neil.

nhp651 wrote:

she is looking beautiful Mike...............oh for a lottery win, lol

great attention to detail. neil.

Agreed 

Nice to be inside watching the snow outside!!


What can you do with a childs roller print pen, bits of tubing, scraps of styrene and a tube of filler??




Answer: use the clear hemishpere from the roller pen and glue it onto the tube.




After adding more bits of styrene and shaping with filler you get an RNLI pattern waterproof cowl vent for the engine room!!




Vent shortened to size and fitted onto the front superstructure.




The vents on the sides of the front casing are made by cutting a commercial fitting lengthways, adding the air box and fixing in place.




The two vents on the upper surface are again modified commercial fittings. The support for the mast in the folded position has also been made and fitted.

It's great that given a need the brain kicks in and a solution is made. Well done Mike. 

Damien wrote:

It's great that given a need the brain kicks in and a solution is made. Well done Mike. 

  Most of the fun in life is looking at it sideways and seeing things in a different way.

 I always like to find the "unusual" way of making fittings, plus being a true Yorkshireman I detest paying for bits for my builds!! 



Mike

  Like minds half a world apart. 

The hull has had the painting started with the lower section given three coats of white. Then the distinctive large fender typical of the Watson class has had two coats of red. When this had had a few more days to harden off the blue will be added.




Whilst the paint was drying the hood over the forward deck hatch that came with the boat was cleaned up, cut down to the correct size, filled and sanded.




After painting it will be fitted onto the raised moulding on the deck.




The hatch itslf has also been made, painted and will be fitted after the two handles are added.





Both on the deck ready to fit.

an outstanding transformation mike.........truly superb.

Cheers Neil. I must admit it does look a bit better than when I got it out of the shed.



Mike

Ahhh the grand Master of the understatement. 

Still waiting for the red paint to harden fully so I decided to make the two bins that fit either side of the superstrucutre.




Port side fender bin temporarily in place.




Starboard side rope bin in place.




These will be fixed to the superstructure after it is painted but not to the deck. This will make removal for access to the r/c, batteries etc easier.

The red paint has now hardened off and, after masking off, the blue has been done including the thin blue stripe above the fender, a real pain to mask but will look better when the bulwarks are painted grey.




That nice looking deck has now been given its coat of grey paint.  




The superstructure has also had a couple of coats of orange.




An overall shot of the boat as it it today.

my gawd that's lovely mike.......superb. neil.

is that fast cat dan's trent behind it.

nhp651 wrote:

is that fast cat dan's trent behind it.

Yes it is, and behind that is my son's 1/6th scale Oakley!




Mike

Ripper job Mike.

happy birthday mike................now stop celebrating and give us the next instalment..........I'm having withdrawal symptoms,

Busy working on an Arun wheelhouse at the moment as the deadline is close!!  

As usual a superb build Mike the attention to detail is superb


Dave

The Arun wheeelhouse has been completed and delivered to its new hull in North Wales.












The full build of the wheelhouse is here if anyone is interested:    http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,49131.0.html


So now it's back to the Watson refit.


The rear screen for the wheelhouse has been cut, detailed and painted.






Fitted into the wheelhouse, now just needs a touch of filler in the gaps and a touch up with the orange paint.






The lower runners for the doors have been fabricated and fitted onto the sides of the superstructure.






The sliding doors have been cut and shaped.






Checked to ensure they slide properly in the tracks ready for the top runners to be made and fitted.