Hi Jan and all,
A quick update, today we have finished the 'dust-less blasting'(Very fine powdered glass fed through a high pressure washer) of Whisperers superstructure to take the many layers of emulsion style paint off and reveal original gel-coat ready for her 6 layers of Jotun's new 2-pack series to be applied (lots of details and pics to come on blog).
Also today I have been told by the designer and foundry that the keel on Whisperer is in fact a 'retro fit' and bears no resemblance to the original Parker lift keel, it is in fact an IOR style keel which is missing a wing/bulb combination at the bottom made of lead.
Re-instating the lift keel is not only a major job but unfortunately near impossible as the deck would have to be removed to put the keel box back in, not to mention cutting the additional bilge stringers out, essentially the keel fitted is there to stay! We believe John Baker fixed the new keel into Whisperer in 1994/1995 for long distance racing and to see how the boat behaved with a shallower yet longer keel and bulb/wing combination.
So moving on, Mr Castro has very kindly offered to take my many photographs of the boat and keel and design me a wing and or bulb combination to complement the existing stub keel and boat. The Iron Brothers of Cornwall will hopefully be casting it, they have been very helpful and understanding.
My blog- Which is looking likely to be being hosted on a Public page of Facebook (so anyone can search and look, you don 't have to be a Facebook member)this is being put together by myself, please bear with me as I am mega busy with coursework and working on Whisperer. I am clueless as to why this forum will not take my photographs, I have tried everything to upload a few!
Thanks J