Tarka
Posted: Mon November 2nd, 2020, 7:56 am
Hello fellow EOG' ers
I am a new recruit to the ranks with the recent purchase of Tarka a 24ft built around 1986 on the Welsh/English border by a very skilful gentleman in my opinion whom sadly is no longer with us. Ron Pangborne (not sure of the spelling) built her in his garden then sailed or motored along rivers and canals into the severn estuary. Her second owner Phil Cooper sadly not with us either, was at one time the Commodore of Barry yacht club and it is thanks to his widow Sue and and her owner after Phil, Louis that I have some lovely photos and the qualitative history as well.
She ended up in Wells next the sea as stated in the for sale section. Sadly her last owner succumbed to poor health and she has sat for sometime on the hard, but has suffered considerable rainwater damage to the topsides/transom and some minor damage to one small area of the gunnel near the transom. She has had quite a bit of fibreglass applied to the deck at some point which seems to have trapped the moisture in rather than keep it out.
Tarka is Double Diagonal Iroko on oak frames has a Volvo penta md7a and is I believe built to the earlier design. No former owner has mentioned lack of stability though so perhaps she had added ballast? Tarka was built with a bowsprit twin foresails and a mainsail and the mast fitted at present is wooden (how heavy I wonder).
I am documenting the refurb with plenty of pictures but I am not in any way shape or form a craftsman of the calibre many of you are or anywhere near as skilled as as Ron must have been to build such a beautiful boat. I am determined to leave her in better shape for any future owners if she can be saved which I am sure she can at the moment. So any help from members will be appreciated especially any that can help keep costs down but will not cause any more dry rot in the future.
So far I have been concentrating on opening her up as often as possible to let the fresh east coast air in cleaning out the bilge and stripping away the rear deck and some of the worst side deck again to allow air flow to dry out the frames which are mostly okay. With regard to the rear deck I am wondering if I can open this area up a little more if I convert to a transom hung rudder as the enclosed rear deck seems a 'dry-rot' heaven and a large space wasted (any thoughts EOG) would it mean too much seawater getting in for the bilge to cope with? It would also allow easier access to an outboard for emergency power.
thanks for any future help
Tarka.
I am a new recruit to the ranks with the recent purchase of Tarka a 24ft built around 1986 on the Welsh/English border by a very skilful gentleman in my opinion whom sadly is no longer with us. Ron Pangborne (not sure of the spelling) built her in his garden then sailed or motored along rivers and canals into the severn estuary. Her second owner Phil Cooper sadly not with us either, was at one time the Commodore of Barry yacht club and it is thanks to his widow Sue and and her owner after Phil, Louis that I have some lovely photos and the qualitative history as well.
She ended up in Wells next the sea as stated in the for sale section. Sadly her last owner succumbed to poor health and she has sat for sometime on the hard, but has suffered considerable rainwater damage to the topsides/transom and some minor damage to one small area of the gunnel near the transom. She has had quite a bit of fibreglass applied to the deck at some point which seems to have trapped the moisture in rather than keep it out.
Tarka is Double Diagonal Iroko on oak frames has a Volvo penta md7a and is I believe built to the earlier design. No former owner has mentioned lack of stability though so perhaps she had added ballast? Tarka was built with a bowsprit twin foresails and a mainsail and the mast fitted at present is wooden (how heavy I wonder).
I am documenting the refurb with plenty of pictures but I am not in any way shape or form a craftsman of the calibre many of you are or anywhere near as skilled as as Ron must have been to build such a beautiful boat. I am determined to leave her in better shape for any future owners if she can be saved which I am sure she can at the moment. So any help from members will be appreciated especially any that can help keep costs down but will not cause any more dry rot in the future.
So far I have been concentrating on opening her up as often as possible to let the fresh east coast air in cleaning out the bilge and stripping away the rear deck and some of the worst side deck again to allow air flow to dry out the frames which are mostly okay. With regard to the rear deck I am wondering if I can open this area up a little more if I convert to a transom hung rudder as the enclosed rear deck seems a 'dry-rot' heaven and a large space wasted (any thoughts EOG) would it mean too much seawater getting in for the bilge to cope with? It would also allow easier access to an outboard for emergency power.
thanks for any future help
Tarka.