My Boat Project
The Re-Building Of Juliana II
In the 1970’s my father John Cole built a cabin cruiser from
scratch. It was made from timber and constructed in his home garage in
Unfortunately only 2 years after completion she sank in a viscous storm in Donaghadee harbour. Beyond repair and lost to the sea my father never had the time to build himself another boat.
He named her Juliana after my mother Heathers middle name.
Now in 2009 at roughly the same age my father was in the 70’s I have purchased a similar but slightly smaller cabin cruiser that needs totally re furbished. She is an 18ft fibreglass Shetland with a 50Hp Mariner outboard.
I shall name her Juliana II
This is the documentation of the project from before purchase to completion.
With a starting budget of £1500 my goal was to end up with a nice clean multi-function cabin cruiser.
I could not find such a boat for under £5000 so I purchased an old 15ft fletcher with a very old Mercury 150hp.
She was very temperamental and I was only ever out once in her. This resulted in a paddle pack into Groomsport harbour.
The fletcher was sold for £1750 and £1500 was spent to purchase a very clean reliable 14ft Sims SuperV with a 50hp Force outboard. A few days of fun were had but the urge to get my cabin cruiser drove me forward. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3NJutUrPZQ&feature=channel
The Super V was sold for £1750 and the hunt for the next step up began.
Advertised at £4500 I spotted a 4 birth cabin cruiser in need of repair, but she was out of my budget.
After a number of weeks of saveing I finally decided to view the vessel which was now sitting in Newtownards, only a few miles from my home.
Tommy and I shook hands and the boat followed me home for the re-fit to begin.
First step was to take her out to see how she performed. Satisfied that she ran ok and didn’t leak the re-fit began.
Pictures before re-fit:
24/06/09 (7.30pm-11.30pm)
With the help of Dave Bewick I stripped the trim, seat, carpet and locker doors out. We measured up how much vinyl and ply wood was required.
25/06/09 (7pm-12pm)
A lunch time trip to
William Cull in 
My father found the time to take his trailer to Hallidane & Fisher in
He also got the screws and screw caps needed to re attach the trim to the boat.
Total £41
I took a run to CarpetRight in
Martin Phillips Carpets in Newtownards have proper waterproof boat carpet reduced to £55 for 2m but its grey in colour. So I will have to go see it.
Having looked at the carpet I didn’t like it as it was very rough and I was tempted to buy a more expensive standard black carpet. However a quick trip to Write Price carpets nearby furnished me with 2m x 5m of waterproof black and grey bleachable carpet for £40 designed with boats in mind.
A stop off at Homebase on the way home furnished me with 2 staple guns and some white paint for inside the cabin.
I do not recommend the economy staple guns, they both failed to work and I will be returning them. Luckily Stephen brought a gun and my father had one in the garage.
My father had a little time today while I was at work and made the seat cover panels to fill the holes. The 10mm ply was painted in marine varnish purchased at HomeBase.
I decided not to re-upholster the captains chair and I have found they are available on e-bay new for less.
Time to get to work with the re trim and front cabin preparation. The old glue needed removed from when the old carpet had come out and the windows masked ready for the new paint.
26/06/09 (7pm-11pm)
I got the rest of the re-trim finished in work today as it was a hot quiet day. After dinner I set to taking the electrics out and Steve helped with painting under the seats.
David(Brother) also came over and give us a lesson on how to buff with all his professional gear. The bow carpet was cut and stuck down with spray adhesive which worked very well. At this stage and after seeing the results of the buff I think we will leave painting her till the winter (if ever).
A ratchet strap was also purchased today £10
Before After
30/06/09
Having taken her out to the
Total cost £105.
03/07/09 (7.30-10.00)
After the recent trips out and with the weather turning sour I have decided that the trailer needs attention urgently. No point in fixing up the boat if the trailer collapses under it on the way down the road.
So Stephen and I got her pulled out and up on blocks and the trailer removed from under.
05/07/09 (2pm-3pm)
Very little time today but managed to get some of the covers power washed and the side parts into some Milton to see if that bleaches out the green build up round the windows.
17/06/09
Back to the trailer again and the dirty job of wire sanding all the loose rust off. I could have got away with changing just 2 of the indespention units and hubs but decided to change them all. Although twice the price and work I may as well do the job right.
Another £235 for all this and some sand blaster glass beads.
BEFORE STRIPPED PAINTED
Decided to buy a sand blaster at £75 to see if it would be any good. Tried it on one of the old suspension units and discovered it is really only any good on small objects and I would not attempt anything bigger than the wheels with it.
The blast material is expensive and goes everywhere. It fires back in your face as fast as it shoots out the pipe so a sand box will be a future project so as I can re-use beads.
26/07/09 2pm-5pm
Got the sanding finished and the other indispention units and new hubs on the trailer and her first coat of anti-rust paint. She’s starting to look really well.
28/07/09 (8pm-10pm)
Stephen called down again and we got the topcoat on the trailer. Personally I think it looked better with just the red undercoat but at least now with the job done right the trailer should be 100% for many years to come.
The race is now on to try and get the boat back in the water
for the Tall Ships visit to
02/08/09-04/08/09 (8pm-9pm)
Time is short at the moment but was able to take a couple of evenings to get the boat back on the trailer and into the garage. I have tried my expensive International paint on the GRP in the bow cabin and am pleased at the results. My £15 tin only did 2 coats though!! But I think now I have seen the results I will go ahead and paint the rest of the inside of the boat with it. (Hope it wears well).
Also David tracked down an auxiliary engine with an asking price of £200 so I think I will go for it.
06/08/09
The new rubber for the bow arrived and went on today. Purchased from e-may. Perfect fit for £4.80.
Also picked up a free barrel from Uncle Geoff. Unfortunately the engine will only run when the choke is on so it is now a priority to get it tuned before we can get out to the Tall Ships. Auxiliary engine should be getting collected by David today. We got it for £150. Bargain as it’s a late 90’s engine with little too no use.
06/08/09 (7pm-10pm)
Spent this evening painting more inside the cabin and round the captains chair area. Have used standard non drip gloss for cost reasons but intend to put the final coat of expensive International paint on top.
David will hopefully be over tomorrow with the new auxiliary engine and get a chance to look and the main engine and its mixture issue.
Will the tall ships arriving in 5 days I really need to get painting and started on putting things back together.
09/08/09 (8pm-10pm)
Painting away getting the undercoats looking as best I can before I do the final topcoat.
10/08/07 (7pm-12.00am)
Got down early tonight and put a good few hours in. Made good water barrel that catches all the exhaust splash and keeps the garage dry. Then started in to the trim refitting. As expected it came off more easily than it went back on but writing were every piece fitted on the back was a good idea.
Finished off the night with another coat of paint .
Camera messed up and lost pictures so only a few to show at this stage.
12/08/09 (8pm-12am)
Got a good late night’s work in tonight. Steve was down for a couple of hours also.
We got the seats cut and covered and it made a big difference. Also for the wheel hubs tightened up and all ready for the water.
David was down and cleaned out the carbs in the engine but it won’t turn over. Probably just a flat battery so it went on charge. Tall ships arrive tomorrow so hopefully she will be ready for water on Sunday (3 days) to see them off!
13/08/09 (8pm-12am)
Hunted down Seals Direct online and samples arrived today for rubber trim and fender. Fender looks too small (even the big one) but white trim looks like it will be perfect provided it can bend round the tight edges required.
£3 per meter and 20 meters required so better be sure before I order.
Turns out the white edge trim is too small also so will have to hunt down something different.
Got a good look at the engine problem and discovered it was
all down to a faulty starter motor relay/solenoid. The offending component has
been coaxed back into working order but a replacement is need in the long term
so I have been onto Outboard Spares Unlimited in
Below is the faulty part and some more pics of the trim work I also got done.
Captains seat has been mounted in such a way as can be removed (unlike the original which was glued on).
This will allow for the trim panels beside it to be removed to gain access for wiring in the future.
14/08/09 (8pm-10pm)
Got the cover back on her in preparation for Sunday and my planned trip out to follow the tall ships. Weather is supposed to be foul so may not happen.
Also received further rubber trim samples so hopefully something will fit.
I ordered up a set of switches on e-bay to refresh fuse panel ones and they arrived today also (£3.50).
15/08/09
Bitterly disappointed today as the sea trials did not go well. The main engine would not keep running when put into gear. We suspect it is the HT leads as one of them looks suspect. Replacement leads, plugs and starter solenoid are next on the order list.
As for the rubbers I have decided to hold back for a day or two because I may custom make some padded backs that will cover some of the rough edges round the inside.
As for the Tall Ships! I watched a few sail past the house instead.
18/08/09
Left the boat in today with Quay Leisure at 10am as I
discovered they have started up a repair service just outside
Michael Brown-07787977607 owns the business with Adrian-07787564249 working for him. £35+vat and parts per hour so hopefully they won’t take long looking at it.
He spent 1.5 hours cleaning carbs etc and another hour re-cleaning them after a second run.
25/08/09
She is still in with Adrian who under further investigation found a dirty/split diaphragm in the fuel system. £15 roughly for the part and a quick job to replace so hopefully between the carb clean, fuel part and a quick tune up the engine will be running 100%.
New starter motor solenoid arrived a couple of days ago but I will fit myself to save money. It’s an easy bolt on job.
27/08/09
He has fixed the float valve problem by bending it down a little and now needs to re tune the engine (mainly the throttle idle screw) and test the whole thing in his tank.
In total he said he has spent about 2 ½ hours on the engine, which I am surprisingly pleased about his honesty.
Hopefully boat will be ready for collection tonight or tomorrow.
28/08/09
Collected boat today and handed over £180.