Lista Light


Before the voyage there was a considerable amount of work to be done to get Lista Light up to scratch.
Lista is held together by big dowels of wood which go through the planks and into the frames inside, however 70 years on a lot had rotted and developed leaks. Plagued by lots of leaky rotted treenails on our previous voyage it was decided that it was priority to renew all treenails, which involved getting the boat out of the water and drilling and pegging some 1000 holes.
Lista Light on the slipway in Bristol Docks

Lista light on the slipway in Bristol

First the treenails needed to be found under the paint

Merryn with a scraper

Then drill out to 32mm

Noel with his big drill

Bash the peg in and use a wedge to open the end out

Pegs ready to hit

A completed treenail, ready to be sawn flush, sanded and painted

Finished treenails

2/3 of one side done

Sunday's work

But, a slight drilling error meant removal of the gearbox to get the engine exhaust box out to get a hole mended.

Gearbox off

Meanwhile, all sorts of other things going on - new radar system

Rob fitting the radar

After the treenail holes were filled, lots of painting went on - 2 coats everywhere (above the waterline undercoat and topcoat, under the water a thick bitumen paint and anti-fouling paint to repel worms, barnacles and clingons.

3 days of solid painting

Paint job complete, about to return to the water.

Painting complete

Click here to view an animation of the boat returning to the water down the slipway.

Only one or two leaky holes (which were bodged with half a tube of sticky stuff) - not bad out of 1000 holes.

Leaky hole being bodged

The most important job - a touched up nameplate

Shiny nameplate

Weeks of perpetual sanding and varnishing - here the cockpit is getting the treatment

Merryn sanding the cockpit

Si seeing to the details

..and all the floorboards taken out, sanded and varnished

Merryn varnishing the floor

Finishing touches to a new gaff

Noel sanding his new gaff

The 4.5 tonnes of lead ballast ingots neatly stowed in the bottom of the boat, (together with a lot of sweat)

Ballast in the bottom of the boat

Our posh new sails arrived - and fitted beautifully

New mainsail

New mizzen

Rob playing with his box of tricks

Main electrics panel

Then with only 3 weeks to go we decide that the foredeck really has to be replaced since it is rotten and leaks like a sieve

Removing some stubborn deck fixings

A big hole ….

No foredeck

And the slow process of putting it all back again

Some new foredeck

Then Jay caulked for hours and Merryn poured pitch on top to seal the seams

Jay caulking

A last minute plank and a half replaced - here John is spileing the dimensions

John spileing a plank

And then we were off ! Everything chucked on deck and covered with a tarpaulin in the mad scramble to make it away….























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This is the Lista Light Website, for the travels of the sailing boat Lista Light

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