Last Amber Dragon - AKA Sgt Murphy

[roland_trim]

at Thornbury we started to remove the false floor at the back of LAD. From the bottom up the deck was made from a layer of saturated wrotten ply, some chop strand mat and a layer of what approximates to 500g glass weave. From this we deduce it was not an original feature.

Does any remember what she looked like before vanishing into the wilderness? My current bet is that she had a stern tank and a rudder directly on the transom?

[roland_trim]

Another strange feature. Under the false floor we found these - they look like self bailers.

Current plan is to:
- seal up the transom (perspex sheet or even plastic underlay)
- reinstate the "turbo drainage" tubes (4x2 inch rectangle sockets in stern, currently glassed over).
- Add an "elephant's trunk"
- Go sailing and see if it works

Then
- If it needs it buy new self bailers (the fittings there are the same size as an Allen A4555 ~ £50)
- Make the sealed transom permenant

We have removed 10-15kg of sodden rubbish - she feels nearer 50kg now, so should sail much better if we can make the her watertight. Am really looking forward to my next trip to Devon to play with her.

Comments welcome.

[Torchy]

aka Sgt Murphy

[roland_trim]

aka Sgt Murphy

Noted and altered in the title :-)

[Tim Noyce]

As you say, looks a lot like a self bailer that.  Pretty much all the boats in the Hartleys range have transom drainage tubes like that and they work fine. We used to make transom flaps using thin clear plastic (think over-head-projector slides) with some insignia tape to act as the hinge along the top edge. Then to keep them shut drill a hole through each and put a bungee loop from one, into the boat around a hook and then back out to the other. The bungee generally stops the water getting in, but allows enough 'give' to let the water back out.

What in the hell is an elephants trunk? Is this like a wizards sleeve?

[phil_kirk]

Yes transom flaps are the way forward. 

Tim an elephants trunk is what they use on a rib to suck water out a bit like a transom flap.  The trunk is lowered when the rib is moving and sucks water out in the same way as a transom flap.  A line can be used to secure the end of the trunk above the waterline so the boat doesn't re flood at low speed.

BS  Is the long term plan to reinstate part of the double bottom say in the crew's area or leave the whole cockpit with a single floor?

[Will_Lee]

This boat originally had a crew deck: It is an intermediate form between a single bottom boat and a self drainer. The double bottom for the helm was a retro fit.

[roland_trim]

Thanks, the plan is to return her to that intermediate format.

We have not touched the front crew deck/tanks as it appears 100% solid. Luckily whoever added the rear deck did not believe in prep work, the end of the rotten wooden slats were scraped off revealing the original deck paint in tact (this is just visible in the picture above)!

[JimC]

Does any remember what she looked like before vanishing into the wilderness? My current bet is that she had a stern tank and a rudder directly on the transom?

That sounds right to me. There ought to be some Amber Dragon pics in the archives I passed on to Will.

[roland_trim]

Tidied all the edges up. If we have time we'll sand all the badness away, but more likely we'll save time. Jobs for the weekend:
 - add bit of paint to tidy up
 - add transom plate
 - seal in the hatch covers
 - Finish making the rig fit

So Andy has a good chance of being able to sail this bot from Sunday onwards ....