Member postings for neil howard-pritchard

been sorting the fittings today...cabin in one box, the deck fittings stuck to a spray board with masting tape.

and then sprayed with filler primer.

then tomorrow those fittings will be sorted into those needing spraying chrome, grey and black, before sticking them to the deck.

then, given the choice of his own cabin spots or some newer ones with supports,

Mick French

chose his existing spots, and i just made som plasticard mounts to hide the soldered shrink wrapped wiring.

now that the bases of all the deck fairleads have been made from plasticard, they can be mounted on some masking tape sticky side up and sprayed with primer and then grw tomorrow.........

bit fed up playing with the cabin at the moment so am going to do the deck of the Mersey over the next few days and finish the cabin towards the end of the week.

got loads of bits to go on the deck so may as well get them all sprayed up as one job lot and glued on, and once the cabin has been finished..........there's just the stanchions and toe boards to paint and fit and a bit of red cord that Mick French is supposed to be sending me and its done and ready to sink......................errr i mean sail at Fleetwood for a trial lol.

it will be a lovely fitting tribute, moustache and all, to a very lovely man, Chris.

i dont think he'll haunt you for doing so.

finally finished the "flying bridge" part of the cabin, with the addition of the crew safety rail, the ships wheel and the mast.

the areals will be painted later and be able to be removed for transport.

and the bow loud hailer attached to the "utility" frame. the rest i shall do on the cabin, probably tomorrow.

if any of you had never met Dave, or didn't know him.........here he was, on the right, in happy times. long may his memory live on.

I loved Dave like a brother, and we had many traits in common and would laugh at them together.

I will miss you terribly, especially the abuse you gave me many times Dave, for being so thick and stupid regarding electronics, and also the times when you offered me kindly words of wisdom when life wasn't always running so smoothly.

God bless you mate and RIP.

Hand rails both on the flying bridge and the cabin top now added.

Well, the mast bottom bracket has been screwed permenantly in place, the deck has been done, and so I slotted the mast into its retaining holes,

and i'm quite pleased with the outcome, but it is so tight in the sockets, I WOULD NOT suggest by any way that it is a removeable mast.....think the layers of paint have added to its tightness,,,,,,,,,,,so let it be, in the immortal words of John Lennon.

and the crew eager to get back on board after its long refit.

The flying bridge deck has now been assessed after gluing the lower fixing bracket for the mast in place.

I am leaving the glue [cyano] to set rock hard for the next hour and then going to drill it and screw into a fixed and permenant possition [knowing what a clumsy sod its owner is] so that it will withstand knocks and bumps

Then I will glue the chequer plate and the access hatch in place using evostik contact as stated last night.

for anyones information i bought the chequer plate from here some years ago. **LINK**

they have been known to do, lol.

just my choince to enhance it more, lol.

but dont forget, these are old boats in comparrison the modern shannons, and coxs'ns will  have added their own little touches over the years.

i dont think any Shannon has suffered that ignominy as yet. lol. 

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 04/03/2021 15:51:58

they were on the model when it arrived for restoration George, but havent a clue where they came from......i just recast them in plasticine moulds and adjusted them accordingly.

next job, tomorrow!

i cut the chequer plate to fit the deck of the flying bridge some months ago in 3 parts to fit around the access hatch in the deck, the protruding angles and the rear shape of the F/B and also the supporting brackets for the mast rear ladder section.

it also allows me to locate that bracket exactly for the mast uprights.

the plating will be painted alluminium, and then, after the mast bracket has been glued and screwed into permanent position, be glued into place using evostik contact adhesive, along with the hatch cover......

hopefully i'll get that done before lunch time.

Instruments now painted and fitted to the flying bridge.

these are just copies, of what came off Micks mersey and ammended a little yo look like the controls on the flying bridge.

i have to mend the throttle leavers which came apart when i pulled them all off, and then all will be painted up.

Another small detail added, the covers to one of the side recesses [god knows what is behind them as I'm not ofe' with the Mersey, and half the time I'm working blind and on instinct, half the timeI'm just making it up, or making cock ups.

Then I consulted all the overhead views of a mersey that I cold find, as once had a look on board RNLB Her Majesty the Queen when based at Lytham St Annes station and I remembered the matt black anti glare paint behind the windscreen on the flying bridge.

There were a number of different versions, and so I decided the easiest of them to do, shown on two boats.

Sorry if they are wrong for your particular boat Mick French, but I presumed that you wouldn't have a shot of that part of the boat, and so painted it black over all.however, as there were at least 4 different versions from what I could see in photo form, I took the easiest, and painted by brushin Humbrol matt black.

a little more detailing tonight, both fore and aft of the cabin.

so you should be happy Joe............its stunning, and beautiful as well.enjoy sailing her whan you can.

a work of art Ray...............i am with richard there on repitition.......i only needed 8 for my ferry but i bought them off ebay........saved me a whol;e load of greif, lol.

I don't know what the RNLI or the builders of the Mersey call it, but I will call it the "Utility frame!", that contains the horn, loud hailer and anchor bracket for the forward safety line are all attached to this framework, has been fitted in place, along with the windscreen wipers and the screen washing tubes..........

things are taking shape on the cabin at last and rather than just being an inanimate object it is beginning to look purposefull and fun to look at.

tomorrow, the front hatches.