Our new alliance with Peats Bite allowed us to really advance in the deconstruction and refinishing process of the Margordel. We acknowledged that there was more to do than originally anticipated.

 

Chasing the rot into unexposed areas and behind the facing timbers. With the team all living on-site, we had the perfect opportunity to move forward. Geoff arranged a large marquee for a workshop also power and water. We were able to take all the parts that we could remove, repair, and resurface within the workshop space. Significant hours were engaged through this process.

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The following items were removed during this process:

• The bulwarks – these had rot in the lower sections where water was trapped. A new design was required to allow better water runoff.

• The galley – The old fridges were subject to a lot of deterioration. They were the old-style eutectic fridges/freezers, only accessed from the top. They had a separate compressor system in the engine room which had suffered neglect and would have to replace the entire system. It was neither cost-effective nor space-effective to reinstate them into service. The galley sink and cupboards were removed for painting and to access the tanks and inner hull.

• The aft cabin cabinetry – had a rotten top surface, the facing timbers were still intact and will be reinstalled once the cabin side has been locked up.

• Head and Shower – Cabinets were removed to access the hull for painting.

• The Saloon – the inbuilt seating was removed to access the hull and beams. Ready to reinstall upon lockup.

• The Skylights – to be lovingly restored with some minor repairs, fine hand sanding and sealed with fresh glass, and coated with varnish.

• The Cabin Doors – These had to be significantly rebuilt, sanded, and re-routed with varnish.

• Forward window – This very classic feature needed to be resealed and minor repairs to the timberwork. Coated with varnish.

• Ceiling Slats – Thankfully most of these pieces were in good condition, however, they were stripped, meticulously sanded, and coated with varnish.

• Hull covering Slats – This jigsaw puzzle of mahogany pieces stretched most of the length of the boat covering the inner hull and ribs. They were restored with varnish.

• Lazarette shelving – The shelving in the lazarette was taken out to allow a full repaint of the space. They had some minor repairs and are due to be reinstalled once the hatch is finished. Each piece is now painted and ready for installation.

• Brass Lights – These beautiful period lights are solid brass and will be an extraordinary feature of the finished product. Unfortunately, some of the glass has been damaged and we are searching for a replacement.

• Daurade Boxes – These are another extraordinary feature of any classic yacht and the mahogany-constructed boxes were quite weathered, in some cases, they needed to be completely restored with fresh epoxy joins. These have been resurfaced to a rustic level which still shows the aged cracks in the timber and coated with varnish.

• Engine Breathers – This classic feature mounted on the cabin side has half flue in and out. They are awaiting pride of place upon final cabin side varnishing cycles.

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All these components have endured countless hours of nourishment and attention, carefully brought back to glory from the neglect and weather they were subject to. We have endeavored to keep them as original as possible and value repair rather than replacement.

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In our in-depth investigation, it became apparent that we needed to rebuild a substantial portion of the cabin side from front to back. This was not what we had originally wished however, with consolation by the shipwrights we would be building in areas that would be hard to access later down the track. This means repairing sheets of ply and beams that have been damaged and were advised to be replaced in full instead.

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We had made the conscious decision at the start to do things thoroughly and to a professional standard, so we went ahead. The team ‘carefully’ removed the rotten sides, and props were erected to keep the shape whilst the beams and posts were spliced with new timber.

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The enormity of the project was really hitting home at this stage. We had a team of 3 shipwrights and 2 labourers working long days to deconstruct and reconstruct.

 

The areas fully rebuilt were:

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• Forward Trunk Cabin – The forward locker and the substructure in the forward rise. A mixture of Mahogany and Oregon beams and supports were replaced with the surrounding epoxy-soaked ply structure around it.

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• Starboard Head (Toilet) – This rot continued down the sheets of plywood that surrounded the starboard toilet. This room is in between the galley and the forward cabin. It was laminated in Laminex to help with internal water ingress, but the water ingress was external which caused the ply to rot out halfway on the forward side and the entire aft side of the plywood structure. New epoxy-soaked plywood was installed creating a mid-bulkhead.

 

• Main Trunk Cabin – The forward trunk cabin walls and the outer laminated mahogany cladding had let go and let water eat away at the structural integrity of the sides. These had to be removed and the damages had to be well assessed. It was found that the Oregon structural longitudinal beams were in sound condition and had been resurfaced and epoxy-treated in readiness to accept the new ply and mahogany cladding.

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• Saloon and Master Cabin - The same fate was for the cabin side in the saloon and the aft master cabin. Structural supports were wedged into place. The removal of the timber was in layers, firstly with the saloon seating removal, and in the aft cabin each facing slat and bordering surrounds were carefully removed.

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• Under-deck structural Beam – The under-deck beams under the fuel tanks were previously repaired in housing LVL timbers which disintegrated. We painstakingly designed a laminated Oregon repair which needed to notch into the longitudinal hull beams and spliced in the middle.

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• Lower Longitudinal Beam – The starboard saloon cabin side was full of rot from both fungus and fresh water. The lower longitudinal beam had to be replaced from the door to the master cabin. It was a thick beam with a curve in three planes, which made installation difficult. We overcame this by cutting the beam in two pieces and laminating them together with the required shape otherwise not attainable in one piece. This was then bolted to the under-deck beams.

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• Underdeck Plywood – the side decks had been found to be water-damaged in some areas. We did not wish to remove the teak deck above, so we had to grind away the ply from underneath and perfectly shape new pieces of ply to slot in under the teak deck and over the outboard longitudinal beam. This was a challenging jigsaw puzzle.

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• The saloon sole board – Was okay but not to the required standard, so it was replaced by a new sheet of epoxy-soaked ply.

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• Master Cabin Deck-head Plywood – The Master cabin deck ply had to be replaced in the forward section of the rear deck which had a camber curve to allow for water runoff.

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• Master Cabin Deck Beams – Several of these had significant rot in the starboard section of the beams. These Maple beams needed new pieces spliced in with the same deck camber curve and secured through the deck with screws and glue.

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• Lazarette Deckhead Plywood – Further to the deckhead plywood on the side deck the aft deck was no different. Carefully crafted pieces of plywood were glued to the underside of the teak after the team had meticulously ground out the old rotten substructure.

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• Lazarette Structural Beams and Posts – This rot also affected some of the structural beams in the aft lazarette. These were replaced in full around the hatch and scarfed in the saveable areas along the bulkhead wall.

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• Sponsons – The surrounding sponson band was heavily deteriorated by rot in a few places. During this period, we replaced the majority of the starboard side. This was replaced by Spotted Gum which is less prone to rot.

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As you can imagine our little isolated workspace was a hive of activity. The labourers lived with us in the cottage and the Shipwrights were collected by boat each day. A special thanks to our team for this effort. We never compromised for a quality thorough result, always thinking about the long term and making sure that we didn’t create problems later down the track.

 

Whilst all this productivity was going on we had two flood events. The first flood, in March 2022, was like Armageddon. We were very lucky to be where we were, as just one mile up the river had a flood reading of seven meters. Sunny Corner is in the Hawkesbury tidal basin. Berowra Waters is the shock-absorbing waterway where the river meets the tide. The water level rose only 15cm over our seawall and stayed at high tide levels for a week.

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The damage to us and the boat came from the debris streaming down the river. Everything from caravans to gas bottles, to trees and livestock. This called the project off as it was too dangerous to leave the house at times, and we would never consider navigating at night. We were constantly clearing the Margordel of trees and debris piling up against her. The token Tarpaulins were no match to the volume of rain we and the rest of Sydney encountered.

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Our relationship with Peats Bite was of mutual benefit. In the aftermath of the fire, the owners needed reassurance that trusted people were on site and helped with the day-to-day running of systems of the off-grid venue. They had been very busy planning for the redevelopment. We were very grateful to be utilizing the space, but we knew that it was only temporary until they had their DA in process, and they could prepare the site for development.

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Mid-May 2023 we had to vacate our marquee workshop and set up our workspace under the cottage at number 3 Sunny Corner. This gave Geoff the time he required, and we would still be welcome to have the Margordel alongside the wharf.