Initial Findings

Plastic boat mayhem in Cowes this week has given us a chance to put a few days aside and start having a more thorough look at Fedoa. Due to "worst case scenario" thinking we haven't uncovered anything too frightening....

Fedoa's main problem is that the metal floors throughout the boat were made from steel plate. Whether through electrolysis / galvanic corrosion, old age, or a combination of the 2, the corrosion is extensive, and has rotted the oak frames underneath the metalwork along the keel(also at less frequent intervals along the beam shelf). We will therefore be replacing all the steel with new - depending on metal compatability - bronze, galvanised or a.n.other metal floors. Once this and the rotten frames have been sorted, the keel will be removed so the timber can be replaced, and then the stem, and possibly the sternpost will need to be renewed. Following this the fastenings will be checked and replaced where necessary, before thinking about the fitting out.

The plan at this stage is to carefully strip out all the interior. You will see from the photos that we have started this, labelling anything original so that it can be refitted at a later date. The main saloon area and navigator's cabin are panelled in European oak, with the owner's cabin aft finished in mahogany. Pitch pine has been used extensively throughout, with the deck and deckbeams as well as the joinery carcassing and beaded tongue and groove being made from it. We are hoping that underneath a more recent ply and grp deck the pitch pine is good (looks ok from a cursory inspection from inside the boat) and we can re-lay another laid deck in pitch pine over the top once the ply has come off.

The history of Fedoa is very patchy and we are chasing various leads to see what we can piece together. We know she was built in Bute in 1926, and we know she was being sailed in The Solent in '53 - '54. I found some graffiti on a frame underneath the mahogany slatting in the owner's cabin aft that would suggest she was in Miami, Florida in 1962! There is then a gap until she was registered with Guernsey Registry of British Ships in December 2001. We know she was brought in the the UK around then to be restored, but the owner unfortunately discovered modern boats soon after and lost interest! Since then she has been dry stored with a good cover, so I think the main corrosion and delapidation probably happen while she was being stored somewhere the other side of the Atlantic. Hopefully the gaps will be filled in as we find the relevant people from her past.

Thank you for the information that has supplied so far, from Mylne enthusiasts, Yacht Clubs and Associations.

Until the next Blog.

Patrick.