N457 Sunbird

[National 12 Webmaster]

The life of N457 Sunbird. Design: , designed by:  in

[sunbird]

I bought Sunbird in 1972 and am about to start restoring it.    She was built by Dixon's of Exmouth.  A few questions:  Does anyone know who designed it?   I believe it was Uffa Fox.  Secondly, I need to replace some of the ribs - can anyone tell me what wood to use?   Any help would be much appreciated.

[Tim Gatti]

Hi - I restored N341 last year and did some research on replacing ribs as some were split.  Luckily I was able to work out a way of avoiding replacing them entirely. Howard Chadwick may have some further advice as he and the late Donald Acklam replaced some of the ribs on N2.

The best wood to use is oak - and many recommend North American white oak for the following reasons.  It's available in the UK - just Google it!

North American White Oak (Quercus alba)

Physical Properties:  A hard and heavy wood with medium bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam bending.  The heartwood is resistant to decay and damp penetration.  It is very strong, durable and resistant to insect and fungal attack but liable to stain when in contact with iron in damp conditions. Hence the need for non-ferrous fixings.

Main Uses:  Construction, furniture, flooring, architectural joinery, exterior joinery, mouldings, doors, kitchen cabinets, panelling, railway sleepers, timber bridges, barrel staves and coffins!

You'll need to make a steamer in order to bend the new ribs effectively - a domestic steam-stripper connected to some plastic drainpipe does the job very well.

See this url for some really useful tips on how to approach the job: http://www.bluedome.co.uk/BB11/ribs.html. The author also mentions a timber merchant in Nottingham who might be a good source for your oak.

Good luck - and let us know how you get on.

Tim

[sunbird]

Hi Tim    Thanks for yourmessage and advice.  We live in France so will try and source the oak here but failing that will try in the UK when we go bach there at Christmas.  Will let you know how things progress - like ly to be slow as the project has alreadybeen waiting about 17 years but retirement shouldgive memore time.
Kind regards
Richard Clay

[edwillett]

I have been in correspondence with the current owner Richard Clay who has kindly provided this update to the restoration saga of N457 and provided the following photograph.
"I bought the boat probably in about 1977 and sailed it for a few years but eventually it started to leak too much and so it was put to one side. I brought it to France when we moved here in 1989 and was srored in a barn whilst we restored an old house and ran a B&B and holiday cottage business. Finally after retiring 6 years ago, it was time to think about restoration. I contacted a local boatyard who taught me how to use copper rivets and other techniques that I would need plus what wood to use for which parts.
Most of the ribs needed replacing - I had been advised to use acacia which I found in a local timber yard. The copper rivets I purchased in the UK. After cutting the ribs they were steamed and put in place. Next all the deck suppoerts had to be replaced and the decking. The mast needed to be split and reglued as it was coming apart. Varnishing and polishing has taken quite a bit of time but everything is now ready and I hope to put it in the water in a few days to see how watertight it is. One of your members, Marcus Browne has kindly offered me a replacement set of sails which I will pick up when in the UK shortly. So if all goes well I hope to sail it at the beginning of October (2012)"

[edwillett]

More of Richards pictures of Sunbird.

[edwillett]

almost finished! Can any of the experts out there tell what design she is from the images?

[johnk]

As a guess - is she a Sunshine design?