Egret 40-yEAr dry-dock & repair
by John Palenchar
Last Fall it was determined that our beautiful Miami-Dade College-built replica of the Commodore’s EGRET needed a major re-fit. She had been in service forty-plus years, and her age was showing. She had been well-cared for over that time, but there were issues which needed addressing—rot in the main mast step, some rot in her bulkhead, deck and keelson—repairs which required the skills and shop space of a professional boatwright. After careful searching by Mike Chapman, such a person and facility were found in Wellborn, Florida where Skip Joest (pronounced “Yost”) plies his trade as Joest Boats, LLC.
After a thorough list of repairs was developed and agreed upon, transport was arranged using EGRET’s trailer and late November EGRET was hauled at Shake-a-Leg and off she went to north-central Florida (Wellborn!) and a complete re-fit. Skip was meticulous and EGRET returned home, “good as new,” but with some pieces that stayed behind (spars, floorboards) still needing repair/replacement. Rot discovered in the mainmast has been repaired and some gaff jaws need renewal. A new set of floorboards is in the process of being built. At this point, hurricane season may delay her “maiden sail” but when she does sail, she will sparkle!
The following is a small sample of the problems found and the repairs done, use the arrows on either side of the photo to look through the images.
Upside-down EGRET. You start at the bottom and work your way up!
After minor repairs, re-drawn waterline and new bottom paint
Stripping the deck revealed some deterioration.
Rotten wood under port-side cleat in need of repair
Rotten wood under port-side cleat repaired!
Toe-rail and rubrail removal. Rubrail had rot and was replaced.
Main mast step rot in need of repair
Main mast step repair in progress
Main mast step repair completed!
Main mast deterioration—for a future report.
EGRET heading home from Joest Boats LLC, Wellborn, Florida
“Rejuvenated” EGRET back on her mooring, awaiting repaired main mast and other spars.
Skip Joest’s explanation of problems found in this photo and repair solutions:
“Along the blue tape in the photo is the horizontal joint of the two boards making up the cabin-side that actually separated. This joint was filled several times in the past, this did not stop the separation.
The repair is to route a horizontal grove along this joint and gluing-in a spline, this will stop the separation.
At the forward end of the cabin-side there is a vertical joint where the curved front of the cabin meets the cabin-side, the forward boards are plywood that delaminated at the joint.
The plywood was saturated with epoxy and clamped together to stabilize the plywood and improve the joint.
Also note the horizontal shallow groove in the cabin-side just above the deck. The deck will be covered with fiberglass cloth, it's important the cloth turns down over the shear and the cloth edge ending behind the rub-rail.
At the cabin it's important the cloth turns up along the cabin-side, this shallow groove is for the cloth edge to end and covered with epoxy and level with the cabin-side.”