Mike Bigland

A very good friend Richard Leigh, who runs New Horizon Sailing has a beautiful Oyster-435. I have been fortunate to spend many hours sailing on 'Stormdancer' in Ireland, Scotland, The Western Isles, Orkney and Norway. The saloon has two forward windows (designed to open in warmer climes). The window frames had at some point been retro-fitted with inappropriate hinges in that galvanic corrosion had now damaged the aluminium frames. Replacement frames would be very expensive to make and so I agreed to attempt 1) a repair to the frames and 2) make replacement hinges in stainless steel. Having taken critical dimensions whilst on board, I began work on the frames during a winter 'haul-out'.

The frames were stripped down, throughly cleaned and damaged areas shot-blasted. Repair patches in stainless steel were bonded with a polyurethane adhesive. Replacement hinges were made In 316 SS and welded. Fixings were made to accommodate single handed assembly and utilise existing variations in hole positions.