Over the last few weeks I have been doing all those spring jobs getting Heligan ready for her new mooring on the River Thames at Cookham. The bilge boards were again sticking in the up position and on close examination found the iron sections to be badly rusted. Apart from the usual pitting the iron had blisters from the rust underneath the anti-fouling resulting in the plates having a wider width to the hulls casement. I decided to use an angle grinder with metal cutting disc to clean the iron back to bare metal and after applying new paintwork etc the plates drop perfectly everytime.
Great care is required when doing this job with the boat still on her trailer. The revs on an angle grinder are considerable and the grinder tends to fly off if you do not keep a steady hand - possible damage - cutting through the rope or taking a slice of GRP out of the hull.