Mariposa

Mariposa , which means 'butterfly' in Spanish, is a 2 1/2 ton Hillyard designed and built by David Hillyard of Littlehampton. Mariposa was probably built late 1951 as Hillyards took delivery of the engine in February 1952.

I considered a number of yachts, but in the end narrowed my search down to a Hillyard. Everything I read about them seemed to suit my needs. Strong, some would say overbuilt; simple joinery, essential for a man of my limited woodworking skills; and a relatively small investment to lose if it all went pearshaped!

When I first saw Mariposa she was lying at the Royal Forth Yacht Club with a tarpaulin pulled over her to keep the worst of the weather off. Straight away I could see lead tingles over the garboard strakes and as high as the 3rd plank on each side. They covered the heads of the copper dumps securing the planks to the floors.

The scarf at the stem had come apart because the iron bolts holding it together had corroded through, and Mariposa had warped enough to spring half a dozen plank hood ends at stem and stern.

Daylight was visible through the seams and what caulking was left was either friable and dusty, where it was dry, or like rotten compost where it was wet.

Down below things were little better. Floors had been reinforced with steel straps, but the securing screws had nothing to get a grip on and the straps were all loose. Strangely enough the floors were the only part of her hull structure seriously affected by rot.

The good news was the mast was only six or seven years old. The previous owner having made a new box section mast when he first acquired the boat. All the rigging was stainless, except for the lower shrouds which were mainly rust. There was a mainsail; old but servicable, and two headsails; again old but servicable.

All-in-all Mariposa was looking pretty derelict and needed more skills than I possessed to make her seaworthy again.

So what has been done to bring Mariposa back to life?

The stem has been glued and bolted back together again after drilling out the broken bolts. I also included a bobstay fitting thinking one day I'd convert her to cutter rig. This is bolted right through the stem scarf.

The hood ends which had sprung have been screwed and glued back into place using silicon bronze woodscrews.

The lead tingles were removed and the copper dumps replaced with 20mm x 100mm white oak dowels glued into place. There is no evidence of any movement and no water ingress where I carried out these repairs despite some pretty hard sailing at times.

The worst two floors have been replaced entirely while I still have two to do.

Most of Mariposa's cracked frames have been repaired by scarfing in new sections of oak. I admit there are still one or two to do.

I recaulked her from gunwale to garboard and from stem to stern. She makes very little water once she takes up.

I removed the Baby Blake sea toilet and associated skin fittings. Only a 3 year old could have used it as it was under the foredeck with about 18" headroom! I now buckit and chuckit, but you could fit a small cassette type toilet if you want to feel civilised.

The original bumpkin was so rotten it's a wonder the mast never came down. I picked this up when I grabbed a hold of the bumpkin and a chunk came away in my hand. I made a new one out of Douglas fir.

The Stuart Turner engine has been stripped, rebuilt and runs beautifully. I fitted a new stainless steel tank in 2009

The deck and coachroof were taken back to bare wood and several coats of Coelan applied. This stuff allows the wood to breath, flexes with the boat and across joints. The deck is practically 100% watertight, probably for the first time in Mariposa's entire life. It can pour down all night, and in the morning your sleeping bag will still be dry.

Mariposa has new upholstery. 3" thick flame retardant foam with red vinyl cloth. She even has cockpit cushions to match.

I've taken Mariposa's hull back to the wood a couple of times since I bought her. The first time was to see the state of the planking, which was pretty good. That time I painted her with yacht primer followed by Dulux exterior gloss (magnolia). Last winter I took her back to the wood again, faired her, applied several coats of primer and followed that with Teamac yacht enamel (Regency Cream). This is a much harder, tougher paint, but not so brittle it flakes off with the working of a wooden boat.

The backstay and the lower shrouds have been replaced since I bought Mariposa, as have most of the bottlescrews. Incidently, Mariposa's chainplates are inside of the gunwale and pass through the deck. Always a source of leaks, but no longer. The Coelan has bonded to the metal and the deck and has made a marvelous seal.

The mast is only 13 or 14 years old now and is in excellent condition. It's hollow, box section, tapered to a degree and deck mounts in a hefty wooden tabernacle. There are no spreaders, apparently Mariposa never had any.