Restoration of Solo 1884

Last season, each time I helped my son put away the Laser Radial that he sails at Papercourt Sailing Club, I would look at the sadly neglected Solo in the adjacent berth and think 'What a pity to let a boat go like that'. Eventually the thought 'Somebody ought to do something about that' became 'If I could find out who it belongs to I could do something with that'. With the appeal of good class racing in the large Papercourt Solo fleet spurring me on, I started trying to find out, and eventually was put in touch with the absentee owner who quickly agreed to sell it for a very reasonable price.

I went down to the Club to survey my prize in detail and to start the clean-up process. The first photo shows what I saw. The boat has a glassfibre hull and sidetanks and wooden decks. The decks had been painted with chocolate coloured paint, which was peeling off in places. There were brambles growing into the boat. The cordage was green and slimy, lying in a pool in the bottom. The rudder and tiller were lying in the bottom with the varnish peeling off, exposing the wood. When I removed the remains of the cover I could see that the decks had rotted and delaminated at the stern, along with the transom capping. Unrolling the sail revealed a Mountifield maker's patch ... and reef points! How old could this sail be? It also revealed large patches of green mould and extensive mildew.

The paperwork indicates that the boat was probably built in 1970 or '71

We stripped out everything that was removable and took it home. The hull I was not able to collect for some weeks. In the intervening period I stared on the gear. All the ropes were washed out, time and again, in buckets of hot, soapy water. Much of the length had to be scrubbed with a small brush. They then went in the washing machine and came out looking remarkably good.

The mast, a Needlespar, was filthy and had a lot of superficial corrosion. Fine emery paper proved to be the effective cleaning method, and with a little effort, the mast was smooth and silvery again, apart from the top, tapered section, which obstinately remained a dull dark grey colour.

The centreboard, rudder, stock and tiller were all scraped and sanded down to the wood. I took the opportunity to improve the profiles of the leading and trailing edges and removed the brass strip from the leading edge of the rudder. I also cut 1½" off the length of the tiller, and replaced the centreboard friction hose. Clear undercoat and multiple coats of varnish finished them off.

Hot water and soap did not have the desired effect on the sail. Not even in the washing machine! After making enquiries I soaked the sail in a tub of bleach. That cleaned it all right. 99% of the mould and mildew disappeared. There were still some dirty marks and it wasn't Persil-white but it didn't stand out badly amongst the other sails on the lake.

(I capsized recently, jybing, on a gusty day. When I righted the boat the sail had torn apart along a seam from clew to tack. Whether the bleach had damaged the thread I don't know, but it is worth bearing in mind. I have now bought a nice second-hand Batt sail. Thank you Adam!)