boat yard that was maybe a walk away and isolate themselves and do the work themselves. ‘We had inquiries ranging from somebody who was repairing the genoa track areas of his Sigma 33, to someone doing an osmosis treatment on a Hallberg-Rassy in their back garden. So, the breadth of inquiries was centred around DIY-type repairs, seeking advice from a company with sound knowledge about boat repairs and boat renovation that dates back more than 40 years. We know we can give really sound logical and appropriate advice with a good choice of materials as well.’
technical advice. ‘There’s six of us that are involved in tech support on the phone and via email. Now these can be an inquiry ranging from somebody restoring an 18th century, gaff-rigged cutter to somebody putting together an antique violin, or it can be somebody repairing a fibreglass 505, or making a carbon- fibre acoustic guitar. So it's really wide and varied, and it has been ever more so during the pandemic.’ Back in the 1950s and 60s in the post-war explosion in home DIY projects and the follow-on of DIY plywood dinghy kits such as the Mirror, GP14, Enterprise and Fireball dinghies, Barry Bucknell and Jack Holt were the pin-ups of the DIY era. Every gravel pit across the UK soon had a sailing club on its shores with membership bursting at its seams. Johnson sees a parallel with what’s been going on during the strange times of the past 18 months. ‘Of course, we’re never going to see the numbers on the water that we saw 50 years ago with the massive growth in popularity of dinghy sailing, but we’re certainly seeing a revival. People are calling us up telling us about the old plywood boats that they are bringing back to life and it’s wonderful to be part of that. ‘I am fascinated by that Barry Bucknell story, and how the Mirror dinghy actually brought about social change, and did it in a particular era where everybody seemed to want to build a kit from Bell Woodworking and buy into the Mirror scene and then go sailing either at a club that had a fleet of them, or go cruising in one. Now that's highly unlikely to ever happen again because they
Top and above: RS is one of many commercial boatbuilders that rely on Pro-Set.
Right middle and lower: Pro-Set and West System resins have given thou- sands of old dinghies such as Fireballs and Mirrors a new lease of life. Sheathed in rot-proof epoxy, with a bit of care they could last a hundred years...
sold in their masses but there must be many thousands that are stuck in a garage or in a back garden or some somewhere under a cover, waiting for restoration.
‘We saw inquiries coming in from people who actually wanted to do that and the beauty of the Mirror is that you can get every single spare plywood part from Trident Marine, and you can also buy a full-on composite version from Winder Boats. Now that's a lovely circular story because we're supplying to Mirror dinghy builds and restorations in plywood, but we're also supplying the composite boat that Winder builds.’
Johnson has seen a revival of the DIY spirit, kickstarted by the limitations of lockdown. ‘It has been a boom in terms of boat maintenance, boat restoration, boat renovation. It involved a hefty amount of people who were able to get down to the boat at the local
As well as the on-the-phone advice, the West System website has never experienced so many downloads of its free online manuals. ‘The most popular is the Wooden Boat Restoration & Repair Manual,’ says Johnson. ‘It’s an illustrated guide to wooden boat repair – how to restore the structure using West System epoxy.’ The manual includes information on dry rot repair, structural framework repair, hull and deck planking repair, hardware installation with epoxy and protective coating. ‘This manual is the thing that’s given people the confidence that they have the ability to get around to that DIY project that’s been rotting away in the garage for years. They don’t necessarily need to go to a professional boatbuilder and they discover they get enormous satisfaction from having restored their boat all by themselves. And once they’ve done up their boat, it will outlive its owners. There’s no reason why a well-restored boat shouldn’t last a 100 years or more. It’s a great environmental message too, when we can keep boats alive rather than scrap them or send them to landfill.’
Johnson’s enthusiasm for his job is infectious. ‘We have so many loyal customers, from our keen individuals fixing up their boats in the garage or the back garden, to our commercial customers who are enjoying one of the biggest booms in boatbuilding that we’ve seen in the past 20 years or more. The world has been tough over the past 18 months, but it’s also helped reconnect people with what’s important in their lives, and for us sailors, that’s getting our boats back on the water and enjoying them.’ The Wooden Boat Restoration & Repair Manual can be downloaded at
https://wessexresins.co.uk/west- system/publications-3/wooden-boat- restoration-repair-manual/
wessexresins.co.uk/contact). For hard copies of these resources and downloadable, online versions, go to
wessexresins.co.uk/support.
q SEAHORSE 83
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