Restoration of MINDE, a 1903 Pilot Cutter

[svaap]

Restoration of MINDE, a 1903 Pilot Cutter





August 5^th 1903, Norwegian boatbuilder Søren Olsen Barmen put the main dimensions and description down on paper for a 24 feet (keel-length) “lodsbaad” (pilot cutter) to Pilot Nils Petter Clausen.
It is with a sense of awe I am now, almost 110 years later, holding the original contract in my hands. A contract containing a brief description of the interior, rig, construction and price, was followed by a complete table of offset and more detailed information -everything in perfect handwriting.














I am even more excited by the fact that the boat is under my care for the future, and I will dedicate a lot of time and effort into the important task of upholding the boat and its rich history for the future.

MINDE has had caring owners before me, and they have done superb job of bringing her back to her former layout and condition. An old boat is in need of love and care continuously, and the former owner struggled to look after her over the last years, due to the fact that the boat was in Stockholm and he moved to Tokyo. I know it was a tough decision to let her go, but I guess that it became clear that the boat needed someone motivated to give her an upgrade, and luckily that has become my role and task.

Enough prelude… Here is the situation;

The former owners had the following work done on her during over 30 years ownership:

New stem.
Approximately 70% of the frames renewed to below the waterline.
Most of the hull planking renewed above the waterline, and way below forward.
New beamshelf
New deckbeams/knees
New deck/superstructure
New rig/spars
New interior
2 engine replacements
-All of this done with love and care!


My job is the following:

New sternpost
New knee
Rebuild of engine
New frames aft
Replacing 60% of hull planking
New sheerstrake
General cosmetic upgrade of the whole boat.


To be continued...

[sailboy3]

Oh my. I've been looking forward to this!

[chuckt]

Cool Ole. I love it.

[Thad]

Sweet vessel to appreciate! Have fun!! I look forward to seeing the progress and sailing! Thanks.

[svaap]

Mid October 2011, we left Fredrikstad (Norway) with our support-boat “Loeperen of Isegran” a 38 feet beautiful Colin Archer inspired boat. The crew consisted of 5 persons, and 3 of us would be on MINDE and two on the support-boat. A good mixture of experience was on board, and we were well prepared to cope with the challenges that we might meet.

This is me, installed the night before our departure onboard Loeperen of Isegran.








We sailed into the sunset before mooring at the town Smögen, Sweden.





Sorry for poor quality of picture.

[svaap]

Although some drinks were consumed to acompany good food and the hours were late, we got up early the next morning for departure.
No wind that day so we had to motorsail, but the weather was very nice.

The sunrise was so beautiful!




Arriving Laangedrag, Gotenburg were MINDE was laying. I know i wrote Stockholm earlier, but that was a mistake...












We were quite excited about seeing her at her berth, although I had made two trips by car to her and were already in love…

The first evening was spent figuring out if we had an engine to bring us home, or if it would be a tow.
The latter proved to be necessary, as the Perkins was stuck as a result of salt water had found its way into the engine itself. The mechanic on board was confident however, that he would get the “Englishman” running again.

To be continued...

[PeterSibley]

My job is the following:

New sternpost
New knee
Rebuild of engine
New frames aft
Replacing 60% of hull planking
New sheerstrake
General cosmetic upgrade of the whole boat.


To be continued...

Said he lightly !

There's as much work there as building a small boat ! I'll watch and learn .

[zauberberg]

Hi Ole,

what a boat and what a project. I was surprised to see the offsets noted in imperial, but found out now that only in 1907 Denmark moved to the metric system as - beside of UK - the last European country.
Keep us posted!

[Larks]

Wonderful to finaly see this thread up and running Ole. "Loeperen" looks rather special and a very cosy looking spot for a few ales and whiskey's to warm things up.

I'm looking forward to seeing much more of "Minde"

[snow(Alan H)]

This forum so needs this project - bring it on

[svaap]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

The imperial system was in use at that time, but I think the feet/inches was different from the system in for instance the US.
1 feet = 31,375 centimetres
1 inch = 2,6145 centimetres
This was regulated by law dated July 28th 1824.

It was not easy to understand how the table of offsets was designed. Mainly it was straightforward, but some of the colums got us scratching our heads.
A former emloyee at the Norwegian Maritime Museum got the data, but was surprised about how it was done, but could also note that a lot of boatbuilders was not fomally trained, and knowledge was passed by from person to person. Soeren Olsen Barmen was a very respected and well thought of as boatbuilder, and he also constructed for other yards. A very similar boat is documented ("Dagmar") to be built by Nils Eriksen Narviken in 1900, and for a long time we thought that Minde was built by him, only to find out that S.Olsen Barmen was constructing/drawing for Eriksen, as he did not do that himself. That would explain the similarities.
Minde is probably the oldest excisting boat from boatbuilderS. Olsen Barmen, and is of course very valuable for that reason.

This is from the evening in Gothenburg, with both boats alongside.
Lovely sheerline!





A lot of gear was gathered, and we made ready to leave early the next morning.
Steel-pipes (for a winter-shed) were stored on deck, and a generator, lots of pumps was installed, and we were ready to start our voyage back home.
We knew she was leaking, but was prepared for this to worsen as she got to sea.

This was not our tug... :-)





Leaving Langedraag




As soon as we got out of the inner harbor we raised the staysail, as she proved to be a hard to tow being extremely fouled in her underwater hull. Later we let go the tow-line and raised the mainsail and the jib. We were sailing!



Steering was hard, as she did not respond to the rudder very much. The course was kept by constantly trimming the sails, by command of the captain. At times we thought he was making us trim just for the exercise…





16 tons at 8 knots, what a feeling.
She did leak, but not as much as we had feared. The generator was used more to power the batteries for the laptop than to pump water :-)

[svaap]

Nice housing for the compass!





The wind had now shifted to a nice breeze from southwest, and we were making good progress on our way to her native country, Norway.

Since we had no engine, we needed to sail in and out of harbor –an exercise I was not confident with. I went very well due to our experienced captain who had years of experience of handling just this type of vessel under sail. Although she gave us some challenges since she did not take steering very well. It was like driving a car with the hand-brakes on..

This picture is taken from Havstensund, Sweden.




This is from the last day of our three day return to Fredrikstad, Norway.







A lot of paint fell off her topsides.

[svaap]

Finally on the third day we reached our destination, and sails were lowered and the tow-line set before we took on the last route up the river towards Isegran, Fredrikstad.

We started rigging her down as soon as we arrived, as the was to be hauled out of the water the following week.





Beautiful work by the former owners!




A crane was used to lift out the heavy larch mast.




A big mobile-crane arrived at the yard, and the guys at Isegran proved that this was merely routine for them.






l
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[snow(Alan H)]

Two things:

1. Your 'support' boat if a rather fine vessel

2. Love the flag / pennant

[trango]

Hej Svaap

I've been looking forward to this - she's a very beautiful boat!

/F

[svaap]

Alan,

Loeperen of Isegran is for sale, and yes it is a beautiful boat!
NZ is just about on the other side of the globe, so you will have a nice voyage back home ...

[PeterSibley]

Her bottom doesn't look very foul?

[wizbang 13]

8 knots with a dirty bottom !
All those good looking boats everywhere ! I'd swear you photochopped them in!

[svaap]

The back of the boat was very grown, especially the rudder sternpost/propeller.
I am not sure how much the performance was affected, but I guess/hope it had some impact on it...

Isegran is a traditional boat yard, working mainly with repair and restoration of wooden boats up til about 100 tonnes or so.
They are very skilled, and are trained in how to restore in the timely tradition that so few yards do today. There are many interesting boats there, and the premises are owned by the Maritime Museum of Fredrikstad, so you'll see a lot of interesting history there.


High and dry, she was gently propped up and steamed.






I knew that the sternpost was in poor condition, and I was eager to see what was lurking behind the planking. It was worse than I had expected, and it was a bit scary to think about how we sailed her with the rudder at full angle. The frames were in better condition than I feared, although some needed replacement.








This is a picture of the sternpost. Over the years it had been repaired several times. The structural integrity was gone and it did not hold the fastenings very well.





Some of the planking was in poor conditon, but mostly was surprisingly sound.
This was one of the bad ones. You can see the trunnel clearly, as only the outer line of the plank was intact - it was hollowed on the inside.





Well, now that I knew roughly what I had coming, I could order neccessary wood to start the rebuild.

[svaap]

The sternpost was gently removed, as was several pairs of sawn frames. The frames are 4 1/2 " doubled to 9" by 4". The frames are lower in the stern of the hull, as they are above 5" high forward.


















The main challenge with producing these timbers were the weight of the timbers before I cut them to size. You can imagine the weight ofrelatively green oak at these dimensions.
After cutting they were manageable until they were assembled. Getting them installed on the hull was a bit tricky.


Next the sternpost..

/Ole


l

[Thad]

And it's almost May! Summer soon!
Thanks!

[pcford]

The sternpost was gently removed, as was several pairs of sawn frames. The frames are 4 1/2 " doubled to 9" by 4". The frames are lower in the stern of the hull, as they are above 5" high forward.





Getting them installed on the hull was a bit tricky.


Next the sternpost..

/Ole


l

A bit of an understatement, I would wager. Good luck!!!

[svaap]

All of the oak was ordered from Denmark, and I tried to get timbers with curves to match the specific parts.
The plank for the sternpost was a lovely piece of wood 6" thick. I made a template with minor changes from the piece I had removed. I did not want to copy the large cut-out that was made at the time Minde got her first engine in 1909. This aparture has since caused a lot of turbulence and affected the performance of the rudder.
A large timber of 8" thickness was ordered for a new knee. The old one was clearly not prepared for a stern-tube for the propeller. I wanted to improve this area of the construction, without changing the profile.


This is the template that I brought down to Minde for a trial fit.
I have not mentioned that Minde is a two hour drive from where we live, so I do not have the luxyry of working on her except during most weekends. Prefabricating parts was done at home though.








As you can see I cut away all of the planking-ends, since the most of them were bad where they met the rabbet of the sternpost.
Of couse, this ment a lot more work to complete the hull, since I could not replace a lot of short planks but needed to replace over 60% of the planking to uphold the strenght of the hull.

I cut the sternpost outside, as I could not move the plank due to its weight. I used the chainsaw to cut at 90 degr angle to the lines from the pattern, and used an adze to remove the chunks of oak. I have a big adze called a "Bile" that normally is used to cut the joints of timber houses. This is by far my favourite tool!





It took some work with the planer to get down to the scribed line, and also the get the cut 90 degr to the sides.

[svaap]

After moving it into the workshop, I started measuring and marking the rabbet. The outer cut was done with a skilsaw, and the wood removed with the "bile".





The bile has a cutting edge of over 6" and has a big mass/weight, that enables it to be used like a slick. When sharp you have fair control of what you are doing.




I cleaned the rabbet with a handplaner, and cut a 2" thick plank for trial fit of the depth of the rabbet.

[McMike]

This is going to be a fun thread to watch, thank you!

[svaap]

I think the next picture reminds me of a swan during take-off

[pcford]

I have done mostly speedboat restoration...in that variety of boat the scantlings are tiny compared to what you are doing...planking is 3/8 inch (10mm)
My back aches just looking at those frames.

Great work and good luck to you, sir!

[Peerie Maa]

After moving it into the workshop, I started measuring and marking the rabbet. The outer cut was done with a skilsaw, and the wood removed with the "bile".





The bile has a cutting edge of over 6" and has a big mass/weight, that enables it to be used like a slick. When sharp you have fair control of what you are doing.

I'm guessing that is sharpened as a side axe? But with no hang to the haft.

[Phil Y]

She'll be lovely. Good on you.

[sailboy3]

Ole, I'd love to see some more photos of the interior of your support boat. The berth to your right in the first pic in #5 looks like the most cozy thing ever.

Milo

[Portland]

I take my hat off to you Sir , a great job , on a real boat !.
Rob J.

[snow(Alan H)]

Alan,

Loeperen of Isegran is for sale, and yes it is a beautiful boat!
NZ is just about on the other side of the globe, so you will have a nice voyage back home ...

Is she listed for sale on-line somewhere i.e. a site where u can view photos? Cheers Alan

[PeterSibley]

"This is a picture of the sternpost. Over the years it had been repaired several times. The structural integrity was gone and it did not hold the fastenings very well.





Some of the planking was in poor conditon, but mostly was surprisingly sound.
This was one of the bad ones. You can see the trunnel clearly, as only the outer line of the plank was intact - it was hollowed on the inside.





Well, now that I knew roughly what I had coming, I could order neccessary wood to start the rebuild.[/QUOTE]


I find these two photos amazing and terrifying !! That she still floated is incredible .

A wonderful project , she will be magnificent!

[Larks]

Ole, any chance of a few "as found" interior photos of Minde?

[svaap]

Thanks guys for all your support!

Peter:
The sternpost was really bad, but the planking was in much better condition (except the one you refer to on the picture).
Some of the planks were in good condition, but over the years the seams had been overchaulked and the inner faces got rounded. Apparently it got harder and harder to keep the chaulking, and some of it went through the hull on the inside. At some spots, thin strips of sheet metal had been inserted to maintain a edge to chaulk against.

When I am finished with replanking at my defined plan for butting the planks, she will be over 90% renewed with all the new planks that the former owners renewed.

I ordered 2,5 cubic meters of planking-stock that had been cut in 2010. The quality was a bit disappointing as some of them had big knots in the middle of the plank, leaving me with two short lenghts. The planking was of impressive dimensions, many of them 11 meters long, and 55 milimeters thick, and up til 80 centimeters wide.
(Turning the plank-stock to find a suitable plank is heavy labour, as you can imagine).


I took some pictures of the boat when I went down to Gothenburg to inspect her, but they are mainly of structural focus (top of frames, frame/beam-connections, beamshelf, knees, frames, etc). There are some photos of her interiour from when I got her to Fredrikstad, and I will post some of these as I go.

Milo:
Yes, I think the berth you refer to is the best bunk in the boat, although the port forward bunk is also really nice (wider). Actually I took a picture of the port "loskøye" ("pilot-bunk").






Alan:
She is not listed for sale online yet, but I understand she will be shortly, so if you have any friends looking for a lovely sturdy sailboat you know where to find it..


Work continued with shaping a new knee to connect the sternpost.





And a later trial fit








Sorry for poor quality on pictures..


I needed to cut off some sapwood on the inner face of the sternpost towards the keel, and compensated for this when I cut the knee.
It made fitting the connction a bit more complex but I got it tight after some work.





As you can see, the rabbet had not been finally shaped to receive the planking at this point.

Cheers,
Ole

[Larks]

Looks like cold work!!!

[PeterSibley]

Ah! I wondered what that white stuff was, you don't think it could be ......... water ?

[jsjpd1]

This is such a cool project, what neat boat! You're a lucky man Ole, to have so many great projects to choose from.

Jim

[svaap]

Jim, I feel that I am a lucky guy to have stumbeled over such a jewel in our maritime history, but still I must confess that I did not want such a project, at least not now.
I have been working over 16 years on Svaap, and it was a tough decsicion to "cheat" on her with another boat. I am in the lucky situation to have Svaap inside my workshop at our farm, as the boat can stay there for some time without the danger of suffering from it. She is new and the timber is nice and dry all through the construction.

Working with boats on my spare time over some years have learned me that things take time. A lot more time than you initially anticipate and budget with.. With Minde, I knew that the travelling alone would be a considerable challenge and cost of money and time. I need to pack all the tools I think I would need with the planned task for my weekend stay, and as you all have experienced - you most of the time forget some detail that brings the progression to a hault. 2 hours drive each way does not invite to a return home to get that drill-bit that you forgot... You have to wait until the next session, and try to find another thing to do. I have been a bit "spoiled" by the fact that I have had all of my machinery available 10 feet distance to my project, and the transcision have been challenging..

Well, enogh complaining...

One of the main focuses I have had througout the planning and work on Minde, is that I would stick to the original principles of construction and methodes used by the skilled workers of Mr Olsens in 1903. This means choosing methodes that are not the most efficient with todays possiblilities and standards.
For instance, I chose to use juniper trunnels for the main fasteners where possible to access the holes in the original frames. I did not know much about the juniper bush/tree other than that it had been the first choice for traditional boat builders for many, many years. Actually we have access to it in the forest close to our farm, and I borrowed an ATW and went exploring..

I found a lot of it, and brought them home.







Several trips later I had the neccessary amout of wood.

I cut them into 30 cm lenght, and roughly shaped them into a diameter of 35 milimeter on a lathe that I purchsed used.








And took them inside a dark room to dry out.





I have several buckets of these jewels...

Some months later I started manufacturing a device to bring them down to a uniform dimension without too much work.

That will be after supper...


Cheers,

[Farfalla]

Wow!

Strange, I wrote a lot more than one word, lost in deep space.
Try again.

Such a big job to take on as well as your other boat. You are a true addict!
you mentioned that she was originally designed as 24' keel length. So what is her actual LOD and her beam? She appears quite broad.
From the dimensions you give for her framing she is very heavily built. Does she carry much ballast?
It's good to see that you are trying to be authentic in your work, she is obviously quite a significant boat in her own right.
Is she mainly trunnel fastened or are there many metal fastenings used, like to tie the framing together?

Working outdoors in a Norwegian winter can't be the easiest thing and you have all that travel as well. Quite the effort.

Have fun,
Sophie

[PeterSibley]

Hi Svaap, we are always hearing how good juniper is, it's interesting that you are using sapwood as well as heartwood in those trunnels. I guess it's good too?

[svaap]

Hi Peter,

It is not much sapwood on the juniper bush/tree, but I would avoid using it. The roughly turned trunnels will be brought down in size to clear any sapwood.

This is a picture showing how sound the 1903 trunnels are.





I made a simple device to do the final shaping of the trunnels, once they had dried sufficiently.
It is made out of Turbax, and shaped to glide on the aluminum bars making the frame of the lathe.
The disadvantage of using this one, compared to others I've seen (on the Morgan thread), is that you need to have support on both ends and that takes a bit of set-up time. Once it is set up you make them in seconds.

I used an ordinary handplane cutter-blade, and rounded one edge to shape the head of the trunnel.
The final dimension is 28mm i diameter.





Tested them agains a hole made of the drill-bit that I will use on the planking. Since a lot of the original frames are still in use, I will drill from the inside of the boat through the old holes in the frames, and through the new planks. Then I countersink the outside of the planks with "something" I have not made yet, to fit the head of the trunnel.





Any suggestion of how to make the countersink would be highly appreciated!


Red lead paint and putty was used on the faying surfaces when bolting the stern-knee and sternpost to the keel. I made the bolts out of steel rods with riveted heads on one side and threads on the other, and sent them for hot-dip galvanizing. I will use the same quality for all metal-fasteners.
Red lead was also painted on the bolts prior to driving them in.












After the structure was bolted with 16mm bolts I felt it was due for a small celebration. I like to devide my work into smaller projects and this was one of them, and it feels really good to get it done. (Not that it was a small project, but smaller... you know what I mean..?)

[wizbang 13]

My hands are numb just watching this incredible project.

[svaap]

Once the stern was in place, I could start the work of fitting the frames. This really is a two-man procedure, but I had to get it done alone. Some of the futtocs are very heavy, and it was hard to get them clamped up. It took some fitting/adjustments to get them in, as the knee was a lot thicker than the old one and I could not just copy the shape of the old timbers ends. The frames that end up on the stem/knee have been nothed into it.









More frames coming in





I used oak trunnels to fasten the frames to the floors, together with 7" galvanized ships nails.












Some heavy timbers there...

Next was the fairing of the frames, to prepare for planking.

l

l
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[PeterSibley]

If you have access to a mill or similar slot a bit of steel the size of your holes and grind up a fly cutter the shape of your counter sink . Any good hardenable steel would do, even an old chisel blade, fix in place with a couple of set screws. Turn the end to suit your drill...12mm? File 3 sides flat in the lathe so it doesn't slip in the chuck.

I use a similar tool to give flat landings on curves for nuts and washers.

[Peerie Maa]

Tested them agains a hole made of the drill-bit that I will use on the planking. Since a lot of the original frames are still in use, I will drill from the inside of the boat through the old holes in the frames, and through the new planks. Then I countersink the outside of the planks with "something" I have not made yet, to fit the head of the trunnel.





Any suggestion of how to make the countersink would be highly appreciated!

one of these tapered spoon bits, the long tapered thingy next to the brace chuck:

Available new here: http://www.toolnut.co.uk/products/ch...Spoon_Bit.html
Product Description
A hand forged carbon steel tapered spoon bit from the Clifton range.
Used by chairmakers for reaming tapered holes in the seats and arms of chairs - in particular Windsor chairs.
When reaming a prebored straight sided hole, the spoon bit is inserted into the hole and rotated in a clockwise direction with a carpenter's brace, until the desired taper is achieved.
When boring into solid wood, the bit should be started in the vertical position and after a "dish" has been created and the bit has begun to "bite" into the wood, the angle of boring can be changed by tilting the brace and bit out of the vertical line; in this way a tapered hole can be bored at any angle.
This is the tool recommended by Michael Dunbar in his book 'Windsor Chairmaking'.
Spoon Length: 125mm (5")
Spoon Widest Width: 30mm
Tang: square
Tool Range: Clifton
Send to a friend
Click here to send a link to your friend.

[svaap]

That tool would probably do the job, except it should have been a bit bigger.
The hole is 28mm and I guess the max diameter should be around 35mm or more.

Thanks for the link!


Peter:
I did not see your drawing until just now.
I think this would be a good way to make a simple but effective tool for the countersink.

Thanks guys!



The work continued and it was time to start fairing the frames.
Since it was Sunday, and before church-time, I try not to make too much noise and avoid power tools.
(The curch is on the oposite side of the river).

Some of the fairing was done with a small hand-plane, but I was quickly tired from working with my arms above my head.
My daughter was there to assist with holding the fairing batten, and aiming along it searching for high-spots. She went bananas with the camera, and took 30 shots in a couple of minutes..






When I got lower on the hull I changed to the adze, one of my favourite tools.








Working my way down the hull







Some adjustments to the rabbet

[Peerie Maa]

That tool would probably do the job, except it should have been a bit bigger.
The hole is 28mm and I guess the max diameter should be around 35mm or more.

Thanks for the link!

Do you know any good smiths?

[wizbang 13]

man o man , yer 16 years on your other boat , and you fix this one in what, a week?

[PeterSibley]

man o man , yer 16 years on your other boat , and you fix this one in what, a week?

He's fast eh ?!!