In part 2 of the Sailor radio restoration, Rob Wells takes the knobs off. The dimmer has to be sawn come off, but he manages to remove the on/off switch without too much damage.

The Sailor radio fascia is removed

“The squelch is a funny little thing but it’s come apart,” he says. “The channel selector, I managed to get off in one piece with lots of oil and manipulation.” 

Marine radio channel mechanism

He removes the fascia and we can see the channel mechanism, which he’s managed to free up. The stopper is rusted solid and will need a new ball bearing. 

The Sailor radio channel selector dial looks great after a good clean

The dial, too, looks fantastic after Rob’s given it a good clean. He points out the index plate underneath for the channel selection, which was very dirty and covered in grease. After putting it in a cleaning solution it’s come up nicely. 

The newly cleaned index panel that sits under the channel selector

The wafer switches have been cleaned too and the cog now rotates.

There was a bit of corrosion around the wafer switches of the Sailor Radio but this has been removed

The speaker doesn’t work – it feels like it’s stuck, so that’s next on Rob’s list.

If you missed part 1 of the Sailor Radio restoration, you can see Rob’s first video below:

Love for the Sailor radio

The Sailor radio has attracted a lot of attention on the PBO Project Boat. The first person to remark on it was marine surveyor Ben-Sutcliffe Davies, who used to have one on his fishing boat.

Since we shared this story, we’ve had letters from all over Europe from boat owners who still have these beautiful sets on their boats.

This month we had a letter from Wilf Bird. Here’s his lovely boat, Salterns Nymph.

“I saw the article in October’s PBO Hello Sailor,” says Wilf. “We use a Sailor RT 144 VHF set for our main radio. We also have a working Sailor 66TS direction finder on our 1974 Salar Buccaneer.

I attach photos of the radios and of our boat at Tighnabruaich and on the hard at Kip Marina. It would be cool to use a Sailor Radio on the project Project Boat. Hope it’s working OK!”

Well, we’re getting there Wilf!

Thanks for sending in your Sailor Radio stories – we’re really enjoying them. We’ll keep you posted with Rob’s progress.

Thanks to our Project Boat Supporters

Dell Quay Marine, Osculati, Raymarine, Shakespeare Marine, TruDesign, Screwfix, Coleman Marine Insurance, MDL Marinas, Premier Marinas, seajet,, Clean to Gleam, West System, Farécla, Navigators Marine, RYA, Aqua Marine, Ecobat, Victron Energy, Scanstrut, T Sails and XP Rigging.