Mirror Dinghy Restoration

Mirror Dinghy Repair Many people regard plywood dinghies as lesser mortals of the sailing world. However what is forgotten is the fact that they have lasted 30yrs and were protected with materials far inferior to what we have available today.Too often Mirror Dinghies have seen neglect in their life, together with maintenance using very poor materials. One such example is that shown below which fell into my hands recently. I will attempt to give a step by step guide to her restoration and return to the water.Her sails and spars were in fine condition however the hull needed urgent attention.1) carefully remove paint and varnish with Nitromoors craftsman (yellow can stripper)2) carefully cut out any rotten areas of ply. this one was lucky she had about 5 relatively small areas of damage.3) Decking has been stripped and cleaned in the above photo, with any rotten ply removed. Hull can now be turned over, brass rubbing strips carefully removed, and the yellow paint stripped off.4) Ply patches were scarfed glued into three areas with epoxy resin, where the boat had suffered damage beaching. 5) Hull is now carefully sanded back, repairs faired in and a sheath of light grp cloth applied so as to just cover the tape on the main chine which was sound. See photos below.6) With the bottom of the hull now solid and rigid, it was turned upright, and attention paid to the gunwales. This is an important area on a Mirror, in that the gunwale firstly provides rigidity to the structure. Secondly poor glue joints and coatings allow ingress of water in this area often fatal for the ply. 7) The next step was to remove the gunwale and inwale, very easy as most of the glue joint was broken. The inwale was cleaned up and repaired as necessary whil'st the gunwale itself was replaced. Both were carefully glued with an epoxy fibres mixed. Knees at transom and bow could then be replaced.8) The interior of the hull could now be retaped as necessary and preliminary coats of varnish applied.9) Hull was now turned over again, and any necessay filling and fairing done before it was painted with epoxy primer as photos below10) Epoxy primer was now flatted back with 240 grit dry paper, and two coats of 2-pack polyurethane applied.Now to finish the interior and fit out.Guide to be continued (Will start work on a Mirror 16 shortly, this will also be featured as a guide)