Vintage wooden boat maintenance is an art. Compared to other boats Vega is unique. Rather than sit in a museum on display, Vega still carries cargo. She demands care and attention. Over the years we have learned many lessons and would like to share with you.
Blocks are a mystery for many modern sailors. So, since I had to refurbish a few of ours I thought I would make a few pictures to show how it’s done. All blocks work the same so even the modern plastic ones work more or less the same.
Traditional Chafe Protection for Sails & Rigging.
Boom crutches tend to take a beating so we leathered ours to save work. That one folds down when not in use.
One of the things we find ourselves doing regularly is belaying pin maintenance. One way to reduce that work, at least for the pin rails, are the leather skirts we use. Hope the idea helps save you some time and effort also. Our ships cat was on hand to supervise.
One of the reasons Vega has lasted so long is that she was always well maintained. We try to continue that tradition and at the same time share what we do with you. Here is a selection of images from the recent work we did maintaining our dead eyes and lanyards
Some blocks are prone to bang on places where you get sick of re-varnishing. Leathering them is a great way to prevent that.
Bamboo resists rot very well and is extremely strong.
It has long been held that recycled timber is only suitable for framing and certain rustic decorative uses. Vega’s refit is proving that a first class yacht quality finish can easily be attained using recycled timber.
We make all our own wooden blocks with the help of a local machine shop and save a bomb of money doing it that way.
Here we go through the steps of making a new outer jib sheet complete with servicing the bullet blocks.
