Breda's Restoration
How it all began..
How it began...
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Breda was built in Lowestoft by Brooke’s in 1931. She was originally called Dab II and owned by one Colonel Hardy. When the Colonel discovered that the Royal Navy had commandeered his motor yacht from Haybridge Basin, Essex for use in Operation Dynamo he was not best pleased, not because they had taken his yacht but because he had not had the chance to go along with her.
Captained by Lieutenant R.W. Thompson, she crossed the channel an impressive 3 times in 6 days. On her final return journey, she brought back a load of Dutch soldiers, who had come from Breda in Holland after fighting a gallant rear-guard action westward to Dunkirk, being driven by the weight of the German advance. When Colonel Hardy was finally reunited with his yacht, he thought it appropriate to rename her Breda in honour of her distinguished war record and in memory of the soldiers she saved on that final voyage. |
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Click article to enlarge
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Purchase day...
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We took Breda upriver from Teddington Harbour to Laleham Reach under her own steam to be taken out of the water, her hull properly inspected and the works planned at Michael Dennett’s Boatbuilders yard. She sailed effortlessly through the water and felt extremely sturdy.
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The condition report...
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Having previously restored a small 26ft William Osborne weekend cruiser over the previous 3 years at Dennett’s boatyard, which we spent many weekends scraping, sanding and varnishing in confined spaces. It was evident that one day we would venture into something much larger and when I explained to my old father that I was restoring a small ship, a 1946 rebuild, following the original’s ships disappearance during the war effort, he quickly concluded “so, not a real historic ship then!”. Once at the yard, the severity of Breda’s rotten state was fully apparent…
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Removing the rot...
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The work started in December 2017, with the removal of the rotten planking on the sides. It became rapidly clear, much more of the ship was rotten than we had previously thought. Her sides had to be pealed open, it wasn’t just the planking, all of the ribs, stringers and beam shelves had perished too. Our boat builders scarfed together 30ft lengths of 2×6 beam shelves, ready to be bent into place with the help of a lot of steam and muscle power!
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Hull Repairs
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The ‘few planks’ became 19 ribs, 18 planks and 15 deck beams starboard, 34 ribs 17 planks and 15 deck beams port side, gunwale both sides, beamshelves, full aft cabin rebuild and transom replacement. As soon as the ribs were in, there was enough ‘boat’ to wrap the planks around. It took Abbey our boat builder about 4 weeks to complete both sides.
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After cabin structure rebuild...
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Completely re-done in beautiful mahogany, to the exact shape and dimensions of the old one. We kept the sliding windows design and the beautiful beams apparent and varnished. The interior ceiling is tongue and groove in high white gloss to bounce as much light as possible into and around the majestic aft saloon. We decided to add a couple of windows either side of the aft door after we stood in the middle admiring the almost uninterrupted view of the river.
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Transom replacement...
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This was rotten too! At the end of January, it was completely removed and rebuilt from scratch. It took Abbey 6 days to build the two layers, bending and shaping the large planks.
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Removing all the brass & Chroming...
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During the first phase of restoration, I took all the brass items off of Breda, photographed them and catalogued them to enable re-fitting once polished and re-chromed. A time-consuming process, but well worth it when the items came back shining like new.
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Engine and tanks clean-up...
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With the help of Jonathan from Parker Marine Services, we emptied all four 215 litre tanks of old contaminated diesel. We dismantled and cleaned them inside and out and Jonathan then refurbished the fuel tanks, fuel connectors and cleaned the senders. All tubes were replaced with new seals re-made to fit. All existing fuel connectors to the engines cleaned and engines re-primed and fired.
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Forward Strucutre rebuild...
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By July 2018, the entire forward deck was carefully removed, each piece was numbered and photographed to form a deck plan for future relaying. Stephen Dennett and his team rebuilt the beam structure, varnished the beams and fitted the ceiling structure, it was then covered by two layers of marine ply and epoxy sheathing for a complete weather seal. The forward hatch was also rebuilt to the original design. The main hatch was kept and re-varnished. The forward hull was stripped the recoated
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Cabins joinery...
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During the winter there was no rest for the carpenter at Dennett’s. The forward heads, shower and twin cabin (with raised bunks), were all manufactured in beautiful walnut, soon to welcome decorative insets of burr walnut surrounded by chrome inlays. The doors and cabin sides were also in preparation.
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Wheelhouse rebuild...
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Again, an entire mahogany structure to match the original designs of Breda. The cabin sides were made during the winter and assembled onto mid ship, with a new set of beams allowing for the huge original sunroof design. All to be varnished to a super high gloss.
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Deck laying
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It was all hands on deck this summer; starting with both the side decks, then the aft, then the aft top and finally the huge forward deck. We used all the original teak (which has been reconditioned), except for the aft top deck, (which is new). Abbey from Dennett’s has spent weeks meticulously piecing together the giant jigsaw, following the plans I drew last winter. She is now a Tetris master!
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