Restoration

Restoration of X154 - XOD Drover

With the approach of the XOD centenary in 2011, the owners of Drover decided to breathe life back into her. Haines were commissioned to undertake her restoration. Drover was transported to Itchenor from the car park near London, where she had been stored for the last 15 years. She was transferred to a launching trolley and then immersed in seawater to allow the planks to take-up before the restoration work began.

Drover was moved into the Shipwright workshop where all the paint coatings were removed from the entire hull and the deck was stripped of its original canvas covering

The coamings, covering boards, toe rails, tiller, rudder and all the deck fittings were removed. Structural repairs to the hull were then undertaken. This included new Mahogany being scarphed into the rotten areas of the transom, deck beams, beam shelves and aft sheer planks. The Copper nails and roves together with the hood end fastenings were checked and replaced. The deck was entirely re-nailed and sealed with epoxy resin. The deck was then filled faired and sheathed with fibreglass and epoxy resin.

The ballast keel was removed, sand blasted and sealed in epoxy. The boat was then inverted to allow all the old caulking and stopper in the seams to be racked out and the deadwood removed. The deadwood was then re-fitted with new custom-made Bronze bolts. Thin slightly tapered strips of Spruce were epoxied into all the seams. The proud wood was planed off and the hull was hand sanded using long boards followed by the application of 4 coats of epoxy.

The boat was righted and the ballast keel re-fitted with 5 custom-made wrought iron keelbolts.

The original Coamings have been cleaned up and are in the process of being re-fitted.