NFHT

Now she’s clear of the slip headed upriver then turns about to catch the wind the sails hoisted and the Peggy’s off like a race horse, the sail is full the suns shining on her, Mick on the tiller thinking where’s the brakes are we breaking the port speed rules? a pull on the ropes to adjust the trim then drop the sail to turn about and head upriver again.
We now have lots of people watching the boat including the doubters and the “it will never be done squad” but now they have to watch this glossy piece of history saved go sailing past, this time much closer to the quayside and Mick is waving to them, but it appears that he’s hurt his hand as he’s not using all his fingers to wave at the doubters.
Well it’s off for a run about the harbour for Mick and his son leaving us to pull up the cradle and have a few days off, just a few, as by the end of the week there will be another coble on the cradle this time the coble Morning Harvest from Blyth, a bigger boat with a lot of work and a new engine, the main difference this one will be red not blue.
Well I hope this will be of interest and helpful to anyone trying to restore a coble and you enjoy the task as much as I do. I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes I am a boat builder not an author.
If the paper was wood and the pen copper nails it would have been a better job.
Good luck to all
Fred Crowell
With thanks to Mick, his son and my number one helper, Alan Woods

It was some years after Mick Dawson had sold Peggy to the Northumbrian Fisheries Heritage Trust, that some good pictures of her under full sail were taken but as he cannot find any, here is one of the Golden Gleam taken at a boatshow in NE1 Marina in 2005.

Well the long awaited day is here the Peggy is ready for the water, it’s a good day dry and a gentle breeze with tide just after lunch.
We lower the boat down the slip nice an easy, just as we leave the boatshed bright sunshine cascades over the glossy new paint a perfect photo shot.
When we reach the half way point on the slip we stop and Mick starts work on the mast lifting and setting the ropes, we connect the bilge pump to the batteries. When a boats been out the water for some time they always take some water until the planks swell, better to be ready just in case.
The tide has come up now and all’s ready, so down with the cradle the last few yards and she’s afloat and looking great. Quite a good turn out to see her in all her glory, a proud moment of satisfaction for me. This makes it all worthwhile doing a job you love and being able to say I did that.
Saving a bit of history as well.

Page 23.

With all the timber work done inside we now have to work out a painting plan, we don’t want to be held back with wet paint, so first job clean out inboard the place in some temporary boards and start the first under coat grey. A good tip is to have a bit putty to hand and any bits needing filling can be done as you go along, take the undercoat below the floor level, the final cut in will be done with the black varnish.
Black varnish or bitumen paint is the best for the job below floors as it seals up any holes or splits but mostly because it prevents any rot. This is usually left till the gloss has been done on inside you can paint bitumen over gloss but you can not paint gloss over bitumen.
Now we move to the outside, a good rub down with the sandpaper then a full undercoat down to 5 inches below water line.
Back inside second undercoat this time the whole boat with the grey back outside mark off the water line and the transom ring, some boats just have a straight water line hut the tradition is to have the ring in a white band this matches the water line aft then rises in the middle.
Back outside this time the gloss blue this is the part of the job I love the transition the gloss makes is very rewarding, next undercoat the white flash forward and the transom ring.
The next dramatic change is the sign writer a Mr. Paul Robson from Whitley Bay, a true master at his craft. He puts on the name, the boat numbers and the owners name in bold letters with shadow effect.
Back inside a few jobs to do some repairs are needed on the inspection box aft. This is a hole through the boat aft to gain access to the propeller if a rope is fouled at sea, this is made so the height of the box is above the water line. If you have to do this at sea you must take care in case of any swell as when the boat dips aft it will allow water in, it has a plug made to fit and a rubber gasket to seal down. This plug is made a good fit with base level with outside planking. If this is not right it will act as a sound box, sounding really bad with power on. It can also cause cavitation, reducing the power of propeller.
Forward, being a sailing coble it has a mast box on the forward thwart some minor repairs done.
Next paint bitumen under the engine bay and fit the new bed plates. And refit the engine.

Page 19.

Now its time for a change in material. It’s iron work we need with the help of our faithful stove and the gas torch its making the sailing gear and the rudder fittings, lots of heat, the anvil and big hammers.
We make three large sailing hooks, two fixing points and two shroud plates.
Two plates to fit on the rudder with long pins, these are always about 9 inches long the reason being you don’t want the rudder to jump out the eye plates in bad weather. A plate for the bottom pin to fit through will be bolted through the base of the horseshoe and on the inside of these bolts a plate with a ring welded on to take the stern mooring ropes.
The top pin on the rudder goes through the back edge of the oak scut.

Page 21.

Lifting gear described but never fitted.* Unfortunately we were unable to procure a two blade propeller with the universal coupling so the three blade propeller was reinstalled and Peggy remained a coble that could not be beached because the propeller shaft had to remain in the locked down position – MD, April ’24.

With the engine now in place we connect up the propeller shaft and put in new gland packing and grease up.
The propeller and shaft on this boat is unusual and becoming quite rare, it is designed to be lifted up between the bilge keels when the boat is beached, but also to reduce the drag effect when under sail the propeller is also unusual as it only has two blades enabling it to gain maximum height between the bilge keels.
Just to the front of the inspection box there is a stern gland installed in the vertical position the shaft through this has 2 holes drilled through for the 2 positions raised or locked down when in use.
To make this work the lift on the outboard propeller shaft close to the gland there is a universal joint then a second shaft goes into a swivel bearing on the end of the upright shaft. This works well and is a proven design, only problem it can rattle and vibrate a bit when in use.

* discovered that when an old coble had finished her life she was usually cut up and any valuable parts sold for scrap and brass or bronze universal couplings, along with the prop-shaft and prop would have been especially valuable.

Page 20

With all the timber work done inside we now have to work out a painting plan, we don’t want to be held back with wet paint, so first job clean out inboard the place in some temporary boards and start the first under coat grey. A good tip is to have a bit putty to hand and any bits needing filling can be done as you go along, take the undercoat below the floor level, the final cut in will be done with the black varnish.
Black varnish or bitumen paint is the best for the job below floors as it seals up any holes or splits but mostly because it prevents any rot. This is usually left till the gloss has been done on inside you can paint bitumen over gloss but you can not paint gloss over bitumen.
How we move to the outside, a good rub down with the sandpaper then a full undercoat down to 5 inches below water line.
Back inside second undercoat this time the whole boat with the grey back outside mark off the water line and the transom ring, some boats just have a straight water line hut the tradition is to have the ring in a white band this matches the water line aft then rises in the middle.
Back outside this time the gloss blue this is the part of the job I love the transition the gloss makes is very rewarding, next undercoat the white flash forward and the transom ring.
The next dramatic change is the sign writer a Mr. Paul Robson from Whitley Bay, a true master at his craft. He puts on the name, the boat numbers and the owners name in bold letters with shadow effect.
Back inside a few jobs to do some repairs are needed on the inspection box aft. This is a hole through the boat aft to gain access to the propeller if a rope is fouled at sea, this is made so the height of the box is above the water line. If you have to do this at sea you must take care in case of any swell as when the boat dips aft it will allow water in, it has a plug made to fit and a rubber gasket to seal down. This plug is made a good fit with base level with outside planking. If this is not right it will act as a sound box, sounding really bad with power on. It can also cause cavitation, reducing the power of propeller.
Forward, being a sailing coble it has a mast box on the forward thwart some minor repairs done.
Next paint bitumen under the engine bay and fit the new bed plates. And refit the engine.

Page 19

Deck Floors

Next job to start is the floors and beams, we start by putting in the long beams these stretch from the base of the horseshoe to the engine beds, location is above the inside rail that holds the bilge keels, with such a long spread you will have to put in three uprights to support the load these will be cut to fit on and be fastened to a frame. Make sure that the timber comes short of the hull planking, reason being if on the planking a heavy load on the floors could push the planking away from frame causing a leak. With beams set we now do the inwires, these are the rails that run along the frames to support the floors on the outside edge. To get the correct height for these place a straight edge on top at the beams and mark the height on the frames, this will be about 2×1 inch due to the position on the frame the top corner, will need a lot of bevel off for the boards to lay flat normally about 3/4 inch is needed but don’t fasten in until the bevels are checked. You can’t take more off once nailed as this will make it to low. On the top of the main beams fix a lath 3/4 inch x the thickness of floor boards this gives the final position of hoards on beam.
With everything set off we now start on the boards the best way to do this will he to do the center boards first this will give a good working area to work from when fitting the sides. A bit more skill needed to fit the side floors as these run around the hull frames fit the boards but leave length on until the fit is right.
As the underside will need a lot of bevel off correct this later will make the boards short. New knees and scut fitted to transom top. Don’t make the boards to good a fit to frames, this will give any water a chance to escape the deck floor.

Page 18.

As the underside will need a lot of bevel off correct this later will make the boards short.
Don’t make the boards to good a fit to frames, this will give any water a chance to escape the deck floor.

Once the hull had been made sound and the droughts securely bolted to the new frames and the listings or listons relaced, work could start on repainting her on the outside and the inside attended to.

First of all the floorboards needed replacing and the same time the engine box needed some attention and it was decided to replace it completely to make it much easier to move around while trying to sail her. – MD 21-Apr-24

Fitting Out – per Fred Crowell

Now we start to refit the thwarts and fit the new knees these are cut with care to get the grain right. If not cut correctly these will fail at the short grain section. These will be fixed through the gunwhale as other fixings, with galvanized nails.
The working boats tend to use steel knees 2 inch x 1/2 flat bar with a 3/4 inch round bar welded on to form a triangle from gunwhale to thwart, this gives a very strong job and also the bar gives a tying up point for ropes fenders etc. The midship thwart on the larger boats usually has a bulkhead constructed on the aft edge this adds some strength but also creates a separation from the engine area and the working area.
The thwart midships and next forward usually have a plywood board resting between them this creates part of the engine cover also makes getting forward much easier.

Page 17.

Now she’s clear of the slip headed upriver then turns about to catch the wind the sails hoisted and the Peggy’s off like a race horse, the sail is full the suns shining on her, Mick on the tiller thinking where’s the brakes are we breaking the port speed rules? a pull on the ropes to adjust the trim then drop the sail to turn about and head upriver again.

We now have lots of people watching the boat including the doubters and the “it will never be done squad” but now they have to watch this glossy piece of history saved go sailing past, this time much closer to the quayside and Mick is waving to them, but it appears that he’s hurt his hand as he’s not using all his fingers to wave at the doubters.

Fred’s comment on Dave’s picture.

Back on the painting this time its the white gloss on the waterline and the stern ring, the first coat of anti fouling paint put on not the easy job crawling over the cradle but has to he done.
Another day and second coat of anti foul applied. Now the outside is complete and the visitors now come in to make their comments but its all praise a difficult thing for some to do when the mouth is full of words they had to eat, but just look at the smile on Mick’s face well worth the effort says he.
Mick escapes to the marine trust next door while we start the clean up ready for the big day going down the slipway into the Tyne once again, but Mick’s not hiding he’s preparing the sail and preparing the ropes eager to get sailing and see what she does and how she handles.

Page 22.

Well the long awaited day is here the Peggy is ready for the water, it’s a good day dry and a gentle breeze with tide just after lunch.
We lower the boat down the slip nice an easy, just as we leave the boatshed bright sunshine cascades over the glossy new paint a perfect photo shot.
When we reach the half way point on the slip we stop and Mick starts work on the mast lifting and setting the ropes, we connect the bilge pump to the batteries. When a boats been out the water for some time they always take some water until the planks swell, better to be ready just in case.
The tide has come up now and all’s ready, so down with the cradle the last few yards and she’s afloat and looking great. Quite a good turn out to see her in all her glory, a proud moment of satisfaction for me. This makes it all worthwhile doing a job you love and being able to say I did that.
Saving a bit of history as well.

Page 23.