CAPABILITY - CONSERVATION
Wooden Boat
Restoration
CLASSIC & SIGNIFICANT TIMBER VESSELS, RETURNED TO SOUND WORKING ORDER
We retain as much original fabric as the boat will allow, and replace only what must be replaced.
The principle
Restoration is a structural discipline before it is a cosmetic one. A boat that looks well and is fastened poorly is a boat waiting to fail, so we begin under the paint: floors, frames, fastenings, garboards and the ends where water always collects.
Every vessel arrives with its own history of repair. Some of it is good work that should be left alone; some of it is hiding the problem. Part of our job is to tell you which is which, in plain terms, before any timber is cut.
Work is carried out under cover by a team of shipwrights, boatbuilders and finishers, with mechanical, rigging, electrical and trim trades coordinated by us so the owner has a single point of accountability from survey to relaunch.
I. HOW A RESTORATION RUNS
01
04
05
Survey & Assessment
Scope & Priority
Structural Renewal
Planking & Caulking
Finishing & Relaunch
The boat is slipped, cleaned back and examined frame by frame. We record fastening condition, moisture, rot and previous repairs, then set out what is structural, what is cosmetic and what can safely wait.
A written scope with staged priorities and indicative cost. Owners can restore in one campaign or across several seasons; either way the sequence is chosen so no work is done twice.
Keel, stem, deadwood, floors, frames and ribs. Steam-bent and laminated timber, silicon bronze and copper fastenings, epoxy and traditional joinery used where each belongs.
Spiled and scarfed planks in matched timber, seams payed and caulked, garboards and topsides renewed. Original planking is retained wherever the boat will allow it.
Fairing, priming, varnish and two-pack spray, antifoul and hardware refit. The vessel is relaunched, taken up, trialled and handed back with a full record of the work.
SURVEY TO RELAUNCH
02
03
Deck renewal, coamings, hatches, cabin sole and interior joinery rebuilt to the original pattern, with sensible improvements to drainage, access and ventilation.
06
Decks, Joinery & Fitout
II. HOW WE WORK
01
Retain original fabric
A restored boat should still be the same boat. We replace what is failing, not what is merely old.
You will hear what the vessel actually needs, including when the answer is less work than expected.
03
Traditional method
Lofting, spiling, steam bending and caulking, supported by modern adhesives and coatings where they genuinely serve the boat.
STANDARDS
02
Honest assessment
04
A record kept
Photographs, timber and fastening specifications and dates, held for the vessel and passed on with it.
III. WHAT WE BUILD
From an eight foot tender to an ocean-going hull.
TENDERS & DINGHIES
TIMBER LAUNCHES
SAILING YACHTS & GAFF RIG
OCEAN ROWING CRAFT
WORKING & COMMERCIAL BOATS
SPARS, RUDDERS & FITOUT PARTS
BESPOKE CRAFT
ARANA — 27ft gaff cutter
A classic gaff cutter taken back to bare timber for hull and structural restoration: fastening renewal, frame and floor repair, replanking where the timber had gone, deck and coaming work, then fairing, paint and varnish. Returned to active sailing on Moreton Bay and now held under a continuing maintenance schedule.
III. RESTORATION IN PRACTICE
GAFF CUTTER
