The Trouble with Junior – Part 2

Junior is a 1954 designed yachting monthly junior by Kenneth Gibbs

On our Last notice we had stitched the boat with nylon nails to prevent any loss of shape.

The hull of this boat is built of gab boon ply on frames. This is a good strong and simple method of construction. The panels are glued and screwed to the frames with copper and Brass fixings (screws and nails) these are corroding and causing rot and areas of softness in the wood around where they have been used.

Now one of the jobs that can take along time is the removal of all of these old brass screws, 99% of them have rotted and gone pink and now have no strength. So even trying to remove them will cause the heads to come off.

Removal is a tiresome procedure involving cutting each screw out then re drilling the hole and re-fixing with a hard wood dowel and the liberal use of Mas Flag epoxy with Medium harden and work shop mix. (Workshop mix is our own blend of fibres for thickening and gluing etc.)

Rotten screw

The cutting out is done with a mirror cutter and drill, the removing of the root of the screw with anything you can get a grip with.

I have used long nose pliers but find the sharper nippers for cutting wire get a better grip.

The horrible beastie removed