When I started, 128 had a touch of water damage on her deck but otherwise was fairly sound. She had the usual rotten core here and there especially in the floor bearers, and no bearers from approx mid case back so she was a little floppy in a big sea.

The boat came with little fittings so was esentially a clean canvas to transform as needed.

Removal of the paint starts. Small spider cracks were found in the transoms trailing edge. These are usually caused by a flaw in the manufacturing. In this case they were caused by a lack of fibreglass in this area. The hole that can be seen was all gelcoat with no fibreglass at all.

Cracks, holes, old repairs, anything suspect got cut and ground back to a solid surface for a proper, fair and smooth repair.

I've no interest in repeating jobs so everything gets ground out for fresh and strong repair.

This was one of the largest damaged sections. At one point it looks like a trailer went through the boat. This was a very thick, lumpy repair so again, had to go.

Progressively finer fairing compounds were used on repairs to make the hull as smooth as possible. You can just make out a tougher, but slightly coarser, red layer below the tan layer.

I'd be fairly sure there isn't much of the keel left  in 128. When the keel band was removed to reseal the holes there was nothing but foul smelly mush found inside. You can just make out at the top of the pic how the holes were over drilled and back filled with epoxy before redrilling and screwing the keel bands back on.

The glass IDRA 14's can suffer from a concave transom which is the result of water ingress into the core and stress on the lower ruddder fitting twisting the hull. This usually leads to the addition wooden support in a lot of cases,. This is only a bandage and the damage should be removed not covered.

Since the boat was being changed to centre sheeting the transom was trimmed to remove the risk of the mainsheet catching. The additional wood on the transom was removed to allow the outer hull skin to be manipulated back to it's original shape with a little fairing to finish off.

Only the centre core was rotten caused by water ingress via a lack of sealant on the rudder fittings bolts. The old mushy core was cut out and a new core installed. Later the bolt holes for the pintle and gudgeon will be drilled with an over sized bit and back filled with resin to make a solid bush inside the laminate.

Transom Complete and fair with a coat of primer. Of course at some point the old leaky, half twist bungs were removed to make room for two large holes. These will be covered later with a set of transom flaps.

Three layers of Epifanes epoxy barrier coat was applied to the outside of the hull. This will ensure that the fairing compounds are well protected and there will be no water ingress in the old polyester gelcoat or fibreglass which can lead to osmosis.

After the barrier coat got a quick sanding, I added Epifanes high build epoxy primer. This is esentially an ultrafine waterproof fairing compound. It will fill minor imperfections in the hull and when sanded smooth gives the best finish. The difference in colour on primer allows high and low spots to be seen quickly and easily.

The rubbing strakes had a bit of a hollow to allow the boat be lifted on to a rack. I don't plan on lifting so filled it up for a cleaner look.

Gap filled, faired and painted. It looks far better now and can't hang onto dirt and grime.

To finish the outside of the hull many very thin layers of Epifanes no.800 poly-urethane paint was added. While it can be a difficult paint to apply it is one of the toughest paints on the market with a deep gloss.

With all the paint on, the boat is cooked at 28 degrees C for 48 hours. A simple box made from insuation and small heater is all that's needed to make a temporary oven. It's a step well worth doing as it will toughen the paint much faster.

The samson post (jib catcher) was actually the first casualty in the rebuilding of 128. I think it lasted about a day after buying the boat before it got cut off.

With the samson post gone it's time to begin the long task of preping the deck for refinishing. The prep takes a long time but you cannot get a good finish without putting in the time now.

Layers of old varnish removed using a heat gun and a modified paint scarper. This cuts out so much sanding but care must be taken not to burn or gouge the wood.

Since the wood was being recoated the combing height was reduced by 25mm making the boat far more pleasent to sail. There were some slight differences between the deck and rubbing strakes so these got a small tidy and reshape making everything flush.

Sanding the deck after sealing with Entropy Resins CLR. This will ensure the deck is well sealed and flat for the following treatments. The addition of clear resin will give the boat a deeper gloss look when over coated with varnish.

The start of many many many layers of Epifanes PP polyurethane varnish. A high quality build up varnish which, in the right temprature, can be overcoated every three hours. With the clear resin layer build up is instant.

With the build up layers complete it's back to sanding. The deck was hit with a 220 grit followed by a 400 grit wet sand. The flatter the deck the better the finish so it's worth taking a little extra time.

Time to start building up the main protection for the deck. I used an obscene amount of Epifanes PUC  Clear Poly-urethane gloss. You can see here reflections are really starting come up with this varnish.

The trick with varnish is to build up very thin layers and lots of them. Patience is important, the reflections are now well defined, the deck looks wet and is well protected against UV and water damage. With time taken now it will only require a few maintenance coats every 3-4 years to keep it looking new.

With the last of the varnish on the deck was left alone for two weeks. This allows time for all solvents to be released and the varnish to fully harden. When a good quality poly-urethane is used and properly cured it can be wet sanded and machine polished for a next level glass like finish which speaks for itself.

The old plastic deck fittings get replaced by some modern equivelants from Allen Brothers. 

New fittings on (and a nice grippy EVA foam) they really help lift the look of the deck.

The front tank had one inspection hatch which was too big according to the rules. I wanted two hatches in the tank, so one could be used for storage, I couldn't have a big and a small one so the hole needed filling. With such a large hole it requires some form of backing plate before lamination could start. This piece was laminated on a plastic sheet and then rough cut to shape and held in place with tabs bonded with West System G5, a handy five minute epoxy.

With new fibreglass on and the hole covered it was allowed to "tack off" and then coated with a microlight fairing compound which will get sanded later. This will give a nice flat surface to fit the new smaller hatch to.

Untreated holes lead to core failure again, whenever the core is exposed it's imperitive it get properly sealed as it's very hard to get moisture back out. The extra few minutes to seal things will negate the need to spend days on a repair later.

New 20mm knee were fitted and primed. Holes for the chainplates will be oversized to fill with epoxy and then redrilled to keep water away from the core.

Spinny tweaker cleats in their original position were hard to find under the deck with huge friction in the system due to the rope passing straight through the deck with no block or even a bush to protect the wood.

A new "shelf" was added below the deck to mount the cleat slightly lower. It also gave an opportunity to add a Harken through deck block reducing friction massively. Mounting everything to the new knee also has the added benefit of reducing stress on the deck.

The carlings look to be attached here but they were only held in place and not actually fully bonded to the hull. They had a hint of paint on them with water damage to the ply so out they came.

The new carlings are nice and strong to support the deck. They're taped to the hull with fibreglass tape as well filleted making them part of the hull this time. This allows the spinnaker sheet blocks to be tied off to it.  The hole in this carling above allows the spinnaker sheets to pass straight through rather than rubbing as previously. Each carling also got a hole low down to aid with dispersion of water.

Above is the forward most carling. It is much thicker and therefor stronger to allow it to take the load of the spinnaker sheets. You can see a white circle in this carling, this is where it has been drilled and refilled with resin to protect the core. This creates a solid bushing which can't be compressed. It will be re-drilled to allow the spinnaker block to be tied on.

To further strengthen the back of the boat, and prevent any twist or distortion, a small knee was added, as can be seen on the wooden IDRA's. You might just make out a small plastic tube at the bottom. These were used across the boat to prevent trapped water.

I noted during the first year of sailing 128 that the boat was quite soft. If I wave hit the aft quarter the entire hull would move. No use for a racing boat. Also of note 128 had far less floor bearers than most IDRA's so an extra three supports in total were added.

The above gives a snapshot of the amount of work which has gone on below the floor. There's a considerable amount of additional weight going into the boat so as seen here large section of the new bearers were cut out. This has the added bennefit of allowing water drain faster, a problem the boat had before work began.

Interior before work started.

Interior after the new bears and knees have been added.

Original mast step was damaged, cracked at the bottom and full of holes from the years of various fittings.

The new and improved mast step is made of fourteen individual pieces all laminated together with epoxy. Loads are better distributed through it and it is fully bonded to the hull top and bottom to prevent any twisting movement.