The Boat - The Lady Grace
Lady Grace is a 21ft Matlow, we believe she was built in the 1960's, although she looks brand new.
The first two and a half months of 2020 Lady Grace saw a major rebuild. Lady Grace was stripped back to the bare hull; seats, decks, engine box and bearers, lockers and all rotten stringers and bearers were removed. She was an empty shell ready to rebuild upon.
With new stringers and bearers fibre-glassed in, new steel engine bearers fitted, nidaplast decks were fibre-glassed down. New moulded seating, lockers, engine box and console were made and fitted. The two-year old Beta 28hp engine had an overhaul before being craned in. New steering, throttle controls and cables, new bilge pumps, seacocks, all new electrics and a full rewire was completed. The hull was sandblasted back to the original gelcoat and coppercoat was applied to help stop the growth of weed on the bottom. A smart lick of Epiphanes Yacht Gloss paint, fitting of all the fenders and she is good to go!
Sadly 3 days after her launch the country was hit with the news of lockdown due to Covid-19 so she spent her first few months as a 'new woman' seeing no action on her decks, but we are making up for lost time now.
We are very lucky at Mersea to have many skilled businesses in the boatbuilding trade right on our doorstep. If you've been aboard Lady Grace and like the work that was carried out, here are a list of the tradesmen that helped me to rebuild her: