Ex Royal Lymington motor launch Mary gets her new timbers. Click on the photos for bigger images
Ben Wales got in touch last week to report that he and his pals had fitted the last timber into Mary, the ex Royal Lymington Yacht Club motor launch he’s been restoring for a little while now.
See earliers posts here, here and here for more on this project. Progress may have been slowed by the dreadful weather we’ve had this summer, but Mary’s looking a lot better than she did in the first photos Ben sent.
Here’s what he says:
‘We started this back in April, but with the appalling weather [Ben’s working out of doors] and available time we have taken longer than expected to complete this.
‘We had to remove all the old timber ribs. The new timbers are home grown oak from the New Forest, and we cut on site into 10 to 12ft lengths, soaked them in water for a week and then steamed them ready for bending.
‘Out of the 29 timbers we fitted only two snapped on us.
‘The next phase in the restoration is to fit a new gunwales, and then new engine beds and bilge keels.’
Well done and thanks Ben – I hope the weather treats you more kindly for the rest of the summer!