Wooden Ships Comments on this 36′ Colin Archer Gaff Cutter
Colin Archer style gaff cutter built by Kristian Djupevaag of Norway in approximately 1985.
Sailed to the UK by the current owner in 2016 when a thorough refit commenced which included localised plank and frame repairs to the hull, refit of the deck, engine and rig overhaul and removing the old interior which was not up to the standard of the original build.
Wooden Ships Comments on this 36′ Colin Archer Gaff Cutter
Colin Archer style gaff cutter built by Kristian Djupevaag of Norway in approximately 1985.
Sailed to the UK by the current owner in 2016 when a thorough refit commenced which included localised plank and frame repairs to the hull, refit of the deck, engine and rig overhaul and removing the old interior which was not up to the standard of the original build. Full list of work done below.
The vessel is now afloat and the rig being commissioned. The engine is working well.
This is a very substantially built vessel with a solid hull and decks. She will need an interior fitting, new systems and wiring and generally finishing off but is an excellent base to be working with. The vessel is mobile under her own power and can be sailed away by the new owner.
Length on Deck 36’
Length Overall
Beam 12’
Draft 6’
Refit work since 2016
- Hull taken back to bare wood, damaged planking & consequent rot in stbd. quarter topsides identified & removed, new plank sections professionally fitted.
- Affected frame tops cut out & new pieces scarphed on.
- Mainsheet horse removed; deck taken up around cockpit.
- Fuel tank removed from lazarette to give access to sternpost.
- 2 new oak beams fitted; carlins & half-beams renewed & repaired where necessary.
- Heavy-duty through-deck ringbolts fitted to stainless steel straps between beams (in preference to holes through beams) for new mainsheet arrangement and for halyards/topping lift by mast.
- Cockpit rebuilt with marine ply (1” floor, ½”sides, all epoxy-sealed – glass fibre cloth over floor. Painted with XtreemCoat polyurethane coating (plenty of grit on floor). New oak coamings, Canadian Spruce seats (bedded on marine ply).
- Helmsman’s cockpit rebuilt using existing 6mm. aluminium floor (covered with gritted XtreemCoat) with ½” marine ply sides.
- New oak pieces let into coverboard as necessary.
- Deck refixed (all good condition, no renewal necessary, stainless hex. screws as good as new).
- Rubbing strake renewed as necessary (most of stbd. side, short lengths on port).
- New foresheet arrangement (oak with lignum pieces for ‘sweating’.
- XtreemCoat applied to deck with liberal amount of grit for non-slip surface.
- Interior gutted, inside of hull treated with Sovvaq preservative & linseed oil. (Used salt water-soaked towels to prevent excess drying out).
- Mast removed & fed as much linseed oil as it would take up, Stockholm tar, wax & tallow fed into checks, then 4 coats of Jotun Benaroil. Stored under cover.
- Renewed one of oak cheeks supporting the Hounds, rebedded using Stockholm tar.
- Scraped bare & repainted top of mast.
- Re-served loops at top of standing rigging.
- Spars oiled as mast.
- New Airmar B744V bronze thru’hull transducer/log fitted (made for older Lowrance 193khz system, but should work with any 200khz unit….. bronze unit – the expensive bit! – would house a different transducer)
- Motor given basic overhaul inc. new fuel pump, starter solenoid, fanbelt, rubber hoses, water pump diaphragm, sea-water inlet screen.
- Variable pitch mechanism dismantled & overhauled.
- New fuel tank.
- Seacocks renewed.
- New anode fitted.
- Toilet totally renovated.
- New companion steps and washboards
Construction
Carvel planked in close grained pine of 1.5”.
Fastened with stainless steel screws to large laminated pine frames.
Various screws drawn and inspected in recent years both above and below the waterline and found to be in perfect condition.
Keel, stem and stern posts of oak.
External lead ballast keel fastened with stainless steel keel bolts.
Sawn wooden floors across the centreline, side fastened to the heels of the frames. Pair of stainless steel throat bolts through each floor.
Deck is straight laid in solid teak with the seams caulked and payed. Finished externally with XtreemCoat.
Bulwark in the Colin Archer style on oak stanchions mounted through the covering board with an oak capping rail.
Self draining cockpit split into 2 sections, aft for the helms person and forward for the crew. Varnished oak coamings all round with a teak capping rail.
The helm cockpit is an alloy well separated from the crew cockpit by a bulkhead.
The crew cockpit was all new in the refit with a well made from 2 layers of marine plywood. Thwarts either side in scrubbed laid teak.
Coachroof has oak comings with bronze portlights. Coachroof deck is solid laid teak on oak deck beams. Varnished teak butterfly skylight on the coachroof deck.
Forehatch made of alloy.
Rig
Gaff cutter rig on a solid pine keel stepped mast.
Boom, gaff yard and bowsprit all in solid varnished pine.
Standing rigging in 7×19 stainless steel wire of unknown age, with dead eyes and lanyards to external bronze chain plates.
Mainsail, staysail, jib and topsail made from tan Duradon. All sails of unknown age but in useable condition.
Machinery
Sabb 2J twin cylinder 30hp diesel from 1977. Fresh water cooled with a keel cooling heat exchanger. Exhaust is sea water cooled.
Engine overhauled in 2022 with new hoses, fuel pump, water pump diaphragm, alternator and filters.
Usual Sabb set up with a clutch and a 2 blade variable pitch propeller to give ahead and astern rather than a conventional gearbox.
Stern gland recently re-packed.
Large new plastic fuel tank installed to starboard of the engine, approximately 150 litres.
2 x 12 volt batteries in the cabin for engine starting and domestic power.
There is very little wiring in the boat other than a bilge pump and the engine starting.
Fibreglass water tank under the port settee.
Accommodation
The interior is largely bare and is ready to be fitted out by the next owner to a design of their choosing.
Companion steps down into the cabin where there is a cabin sole already laid.
Port and starboard pilot berths and settee bunks have started to be built but need finishing.
Centreline passageway through the forward bulkhead into the fore cabin which has a single berth to port and a new manual sea toilet to starboard. The heads is plumbed in and working.
