Careful fitting of topside planking down onto chinelog.
Yachting Solutions & The Refit Construction Phases Begin
Just a little background on a rising star here in Maine, is well deserved. A reasonably new marine service company has struck new chords and sparked some interest and controversy here on the coast of Maine. Yachting Solutions has become known for their Yacht Management Operations, headquartered in Rockport, ME, and operating out of Camden Harbor—a full service offering of crew capable of handling both power and sail yachts, and the capability of maintaining and managing the vessels in and out of the water. Besides acting as dealer for Hunt Yachts and representatives of Volvo and Steyr, the company has indoor and outdoor storage facilities, carpentry shops, mechanical services and a newly added brokerage to make-up one of Maine’s most thoroughly vertically integrated companies in the marine business sector. As President, Bill Morong’s vision reflects an ambition and desire to lead, as well as bearing strong interests in serving his customers with first rate attention and care.
Corisande now sits inside the comfortable and well-organized facilities of Yachting Solutions, in Rockport, ME. It should be noted that Bill Morong is quite familiar with the Huckins yacht as he directed a structural refit of her hull bottom several years ago, and has since maintained the boat in immaculate condition for her previous owner. Under Bill’s direction is a unique and highly qualified team of managers and independent subcontractors that make up a skilled crew of folks that are each invested in the success of this project, as well as many other demanding projects and ongoing tasks at the facility.
The collaboration of two Maine marine industry leaders, Yachting Solutions and Stephens, Waring & White Yacht Design, is a big part of the interest of this story. But the addition of global Corporation, industry leader in marine propulsion, Volvo brings a certain branding pedigree to the equation. Volvo has really learned to embrace this effort and remains easily accessible for support and answers. I believe these relationships will make this project successful and help break some new ground in the idea of refitting IPS systems into older hulls.
View of the Transom repair. Framing was replaced and the planking replaced up to sawn line, as shown.
The first task at hand was to decide how far to retreat thru some questionable structure to get to a place that seemed like a good foundation for beginning the process of building new stringers and engine beds for the IPS system. The prior restoration work that Bill and crew had done to the hull was more or less forward of the machinery space, and therefore our concentration has been kept reasonably focused in the aftermost sections of the hull. We also discovered that the original planking was pretty well diesel soaked in this area. And recognizing a need for a clean foundation it was decided to remove and replace the planking and internal structure aft of the interior bulkhead where the machinery space begins. This required the removal of some years of a mixed bag of carpentry work found under and around the engines. Stingers, blocking, old frames, etc. that had been chopped and spliced and added onto over the years. Volvo has also offered strong suggestions in regard to the fiber glass layout and structural detail that we have provided and we have welcomed their input and experience on this detail. In order to properly bond fiberglass and foam stringers and frames that would replace the original framing it proved necessary to rebuild this part of the yacht.
Corisande's Hull bottom. Note the temporary molds inbetween the stringer, some remaining frames are in view.
Local shipwright, Brad Ellsworth, heads up the carpentry aspects of the refit project, and he has spent a number of weeks exploring and processing the problem areas in the hull. His job has been to assess the needs for particular structure to be replaced before we start burying the inside of the hull with layers of fiberglass. This has been an open ended consultation and conversation between YS, SWW and the owner of the yacht. The aft sections of chine logs were restored, the transom framing and planking have been replaced. Modifications to the centerline Keelson have been made to accommodate the internal fiber glass work that will come, and the two layers of diagonally planked Mahogany have been removed. As shown by these photos, temporary molds have been carefully patterned and faired to provide a form for re-planking the hull bottom. Two layers of 3/8” thick Sipo will be used to replace the original Mahogany. These layers are glued or laminated together like the original cold-molded skin. Screw fasteners will be used to fasten the skin to internal framing and rabbets.
View of chine rebuild
To be continued……
(This is part three of a multi part series….Please stay tuned more to come about the progress of the refit.)
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