Shetland Black Hawk - Avrilanne
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:36 am
Here is our Black Hawk called Avrilanne. This one is hull no.419 which I believe was built in 1980. She is powered by a 70hp Johnson with a 7.5hp Mercury as an auxilliary and with two people aboard she will do about 20 knots.
We bought her at the end of January as an upgrade from our 536 Safety First, which we have had for about five years. She had been stored inside and unused for a number of years. Although everything needed a good clean, all of the upholstry is original and in good condition. The only items that we had to replace were the floor carpet and the curtains. We made and fitted new hardwood cabin doors and companionway hatch and these look superb - much better than the original louvre doors. The hull had been painted up to the rubbing strip which did not look good and this took a considerable amount of time and effort to remove. It was worth it though, and the finished job looks great, having been machine polished and new logos fitted. It seems that the reason for painting was several areas of damage around the bow, which I have repaired with gel coat. I managed to get a reasonable match after a lot of mixing - the repairs can be seen if you look, but it still looks better than all that paint! The superstructure is original and responded well to polishing.
The motors were transferred from the 536 so their condition is known, especially the Johnson which I rebuilt a couple of years ago. We have fitted VHF, a Depthfinder and steering compass and will be using her for inshore coastal work. She is based in Weymouth, Dorset.
Future work will be to remove the many layers of antifouling and start again, and to strip and refinish all of the black painted alloy components on the superstructure - window frames, deck fittings etc.
I will post some internal photos soon - here's to a good summer (hopefully!) and plenty of boating.
We bought her at the end of January as an upgrade from our 536 Safety First, which we have had for about five years. She had been stored inside and unused for a number of years. Although everything needed a good clean, all of the upholstry is original and in good condition. The only items that we had to replace were the floor carpet and the curtains. We made and fitted new hardwood cabin doors and companionway hatch and these look superb - much better than the original louvre doors. The hull had been painted up to the rubbing strip which did not look good and this took a considerable amount of time and effort to remove. It was worth it though, and the finished job looks great, having been machine polished and new logos fitted. It seems that the reason for painting was several areas of damage around the bow, which I have repaired with gel coat. I managed to get a reasonable match after a lot of mixing - the repairs can be seen if you look, but it still looks better than all that paint! The superstructure is original and responded well to polishing.
The motors were transferred from the 536 so their condition is known, especially the Johnson which I rebuilt a couple of years ago. We have fitted VHF, a Depthfinder and steering compass and will be using her for inshore coastal work. She is based in Weymouth, Dorset.
Future work will be to remove the many layers of antifouling and start again, and to strip and refinish all of the black painted alloy components on the superstructure - window frames, deck fittings etc.
I will post some internal photos soon - here's to a good summer (hopefully!) and plenty of boating.
