MEERKAT ....... the birth!

Back in January this year, H4ppy-Chris bought a boat and trailer, towed it home from Hull and parked it up outside his house:





There it's sat for several months while Chris researched all the work to be done to refurb it ....... not just the physical work, but the expense of it all. He started buying ....... glass fibre, resin, paint, trailer parts, fenders etc. etc. and Tomcat's words that "a boat is an expensive hole in the water" rang true.

"If it's going to be done, it's going to be done right!" - but that's a hell of a lot of work, and a whole pile of cash
So the decision was made, not lightly and with consideration that there are down-sides, to offer shares to similarly minded buddies.
I didn't need long to think about it, and I don't think Wijonty or FishingwithFrank did either ........ we're in

So now "the boat" has 3 owners and an affiliate owner (don't ask..... it's just the way we've set up the Ownership Agreement!)

First job ............ a name! I'm sure Chris had already determined what it should be, but after a few clues it was perfectly obvious to me there was only one choice:
MEERKAT ...........simples

MEERKAT's since been identified as an Icelander Flying Fifteen. From what I've established so far, it was made in Oswaldtwistle by a bloke in a small workshop, and the original mould is still in his possession. We think it was a small "cottage" business, developed to produce a very similar boat to the Seahog Hunter.
Probably it was made to order for a Burnley fan as the gel coat finish of the cuddy and top deck has since been revealed as Claret in colour !!!!
(If anyone has any info to help us establish when the boat was made, who by, who for, previous owners etc. please get in touch)

The trailer was a complete mess, rusted to hell, seized and perished rollers, flat tyres, (in fact the best bits were the lumps of wood chocking it up level!!) so our shared investment enabled Chris to secure an absolutely mint one through Ebay.
The fact that it was in Pembroke must have put a lot of potential buyers off...... but not Chris! A six and a half hour drive through the night to Pembroke got us a fantastic bargain...... new tyres, axle and hubs, rear swinging arm, fully adjustable to suit our hull...... it even got a Tomcat endorsement

Day one: start the project and my first sight of MEERKAT:



Chris grabbed the sander and started removing the "paint" from upper deck and cuddy. We don't know what sort of paint previous owners used, but it was a crap paint job. The first layer had obviously started flaking, so someone had overpainted that (flakes an' all) with PINK paint..... emulsion or gloss? As the sander worked down to reveal the original gel-coat, Chris turned a lovely shade of pink
Cloughie and I turned our attention to removing all the windows, deck-fittings etc to enable Chris to keep going with the sander (don't want to give him an excuse to stop!!) then we turned our attention to the floor (deck?).

The floor was well past it's use-by date:



The original plywood deck and ribs (bearers) were beyond rotten, but were still overlaid with about 3-5mm of fibreglass.
A good days work by Eddie and me and half of the floor was out, along with the seats, spray-screen, cuddy bulkhead, gunwale inner side panels......... in the process evicting evicting thousands of spiders, wood-lice, milk cartons and even a steel tube that had completely rusted away.

Day 2 a week later:
Chris continues to remove the crap paint (still turning pink!). Heavy rain just after we'd finished for the day and the upper deck and cuddy look fantastic......... almost as it had when it was turned out of the mould many years ago. Unfortunately as it has many small bodged-repairs and fixing holes we will not be able to restore it to it's original "Claret" gel-coat finish, so we're properly repairing and preparing it to receive several spray coats of International Marine paints.
"If it's going to be done, it's going to be done right!" sez Chris....... taking his dust mask off.

I continue to work on the inside of the hull...... carefully removing the deck and bearers, and cutting the fibreglass over-deck back to to the hull. Out comes the angle-grinder and flapwheel, and as the old paint and surplus fibreglass is removed the "virgin" hull lining is revealed in preparation for new fibreglass encased bearers and deck.
"If it's going to be done, it's going to be done right!" sez I ........taking my dust mask off !!

So this is where we are now:









So that's progress up to now.
In the coming weeks and months we'll develop this post as a sticky as we progress. Hopefully you'll follow our progress, offer your advice and criticisms, and when the time comes, come down to the launch

A long way to go yet, but it'll be worth it so long as "If it's going to be done, it's going to be done right!"

Best
Steve

nice report,
know the feeling have been sanding down the TUB inside to repaint so know it a horrid job but got to do it right or have to redo next year NO THANKS !!!!!! once is enough
get to paint next next decent day undercoat,
and the new wheel beerings go in tomorrow
so hope we get few nice days soon and we will actually get her out

Good luck boys hope it goes well

Going nicely then?
I love hard work. in fact I could watch it being done by you guys all day!
You are perfecrly correct, your boat is an Icelander Flying 15.
The boat was manufactured by Dunnean craft at Crawshawbooth near Rawtenstal in the period 1972 to 1989.
From that date it continued in production from the same premises by a company named Quiltip Design until the early 90's when the company went under.
It is the identitical hull to the Seahog Hunter.
Hardly a cottage industry, the company also made several other craft including the popular Icelander 18. Dunnean produced a few hundred craft before selling to Quiltip who produced over 100 more before going under.
The big Dolphin logo on the cabin side shows yours as a Dunnean craft produced example.
All the best, George.

LOOKING GOOD IM READY TO GET MY HANDS DIRTY NOW after my holls ill make up for lost time lads sorted tools coming thursday morning weather permitting jonty ps i did stay at the valley of the rocks camp site a bit basic but ok for camping and the lady said she would do a block booking for us at three fifty a night if we wanted to try that venue some time in the fucher byeee

What a great idea to co-own the boat between you and share the expense. It's certainly looking somewhat different now as the snow has melted in Burnley. Just one question .......... Who's going to be skipper??

She's going to look superb painted blue and white

Regards

Squiresoak

2 questions!

How did you know the skipper is a female?
How did you know we're painting her blue and white?

Start running Lady Luck Kaz

START THE CAR .... its stopped snowing in Burnley.....

Blue and White!
Surely a mistake?
I'm sure Chris said the boat would receive premiership Claret and Blue paint!!

not with a blackburn er on board jonty welcome on board squirsoak

Chris is now searching the internet for a tin of tartan marine paint to include colours to appease all owners!!

Well I hope our first launch goes better than this one:

Steve a tip when you put the windows back dont use the rubber seals buy new perspex and cut it oversize then attach it using black sealant onto the outside and drill through use black plastic number plate bolts and nuts to attach windows much neater no rot and most important cant get popped in if a wave hits you much safer for very little effort done this on all my boats before if you need help let me know good luck ps got a sheet of perspex if you need it

Birdy

PM'd you!

big warm welcome to the sunny side Squiresoak

a quick pic of the inside after jonty set about it with a grinder removing the old glass that bonded the beaers in (he looked like a ghost with all the dust)



i have bought a new lens for my camera ( a wide angle one ) so i took this pic



don't tell steve about the new yellow boat (he dont now about it as yet)