Twelve of the deck beams were so rotten that they had to be replaced. We chose to laminate new ones with marine ply using one of the longest ones as a pattern.
Alan made up a jig in his workshop and cut 50mm strips out of four 12mm sheets giving us plenty of 2.44 lengths. These would have to be glued and joined as the longest beams were up to 3.8m long.
The joints were staggered to ensure there were no weak spots and all were buiscuited together before gluing. You can look up ‘biscuit joints’ yourself.
Five strips were layered together to form a beam.
Alan made a pattern by using a 150×50 timber joist which had to be extended at both ends and then jigsawed and planed to shape.
Then over the next few weeks he made up the beams and installed them as required. Each beam is bolted into place to the hull with two A4 grade stainless steel M10 screw-headed bolts. Much stronger than the original oddly-sized M9s.
Saving Anne Marie 