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Yorkshireman refit- rear deck

No turning back now I thought this was going to be straight forward. I've decided to put the main bridge superstructure to one side of the work bench and forget it, for now. In the past I found its easy to try to do to much, you get bogged down,disheartened and loose interest. So the next job now the decks are off was to check the rudders operation. It did seem a bit vague,the boat came with a full set of working radio gear. 4x6volt batteries in banks of 2 that took a charge well. A steering servo and 2x decaperm geared turning in opposite directions with handed 4 bladed screws. The rudder cranks were white metal that didn't grip the rudder shafts tight enough, hence the vagueness, 1 motor was loose on the mountings, the other had a cracked gear box cover. Is it me, this scenario seems so reminiscent of so many good looking cars and bikes I've bought over the last 40 years, only to find within a couple of weeks you've got "sucker" written across your forehead, and a lame dog on your hands. These to me are the type of challenge I like. There the only ones I know come to think of it. New kits are for pussies? Jokingly. Anyway if someone in the past has taken all that time and effort to turn a silk purse into a pigs ear, I look at it as a challenge to turn it back into its former glory. None of the hatch tops were square especially the covers for the rudder cranks, and as can be seen in the accompanying photos the deck holes weren't raised to stop water ingress. I re cut the holes to help fit new cranks and fitted 10mm up stands, made new sheet hatch covers then refitted the original hinges and handles. Also while cleaning the loose paint layers off the outer stern bulwark, I uncovered the original name of the boat. It was originally a "Yorkshireman" hence my goal to turn a Irishman into a Yorkshireman. Apparently after a bit of reading up they were sister ships in real time and were built not 20miles from me at Selby, Yorkshire around 1976.

5 years ago by Rogal118