Having maintained several of the XOD fleet, we were approached by the owners of X59 to discuss a major refit that would see an unusable boat suffering from rot, nail sickness and general neglect which hadn’t seen any real action for decades, into a high spec competitive vessel.

This major restoration saw the rotten garboards and hog (the backbone of the vessel) carefully removed and new timber crafted and fitted, all works of course undertaken whilst meeting the class rules. Rotted and broken timbers were removed and new ones steamed in and traditionally fastened with copper clenches.

Iona required a full re-nail as the original fastenings had wasted, with the traditional caulking removed, the seams were re-caulked using an epoxy system (SP540) as specified by the team at SP Gurit, which we had first trialled in 2012 on a Bembridge One Design, coincidentally designed by the same person as the X Boat here on St Helens Duver.  We carried out repairs to the inner gunwhales, fitted new deck beams, a new pine deck, mahogany coamings and covering boards.  The pine deck was then sheathed in a very fine woven cloth and then clear-coated with Awlgrip G Line gloss. Iona’s brightwork was then finished in the high spec Awlgrip Awlwood MA Gloss.

The topsides were finished in a special mix of Awlgrip blue, with the boat’s name and cove line sign written using Epifanes’ ‘Pure Gold’.

The new running rigging was then fitted using a full Harken package, working with the owners to ensure a user-friendly, simple but competitive cockpit.

Iona’s refit was completed and she then returned to the fleet where she was much admired and shows herself to be a competitive member.