Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

[Thad]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

Good stuff. Is the planking as good as it looks?

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

Yesterday I continued sand back the hull planking from the waterline to the decks as you can see from these photos.





The black sheet that has been over the decks as been removed as also the rubbing strakes if you wish to call them that. If were there but did not do much to protect the edge of the deck.








This was te last part to do on the port side and I finished off this part today and did the same on the starboard side, with this done the hull can be inspected and the planks which need removing can be marked off and then removed after the new ribs are steamed in during our next trip to Chance








A major goal for me in that the hull is now finally clear of any paint which could be hiding any problems under the paintwork






The next stage will be to get to grips with the covering boards around the edge of the decks so that the ribs can be put in from the top as steamed into position.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

For the most part it is in reasonable condition, however, because of poor planking repairs a lot more as to come out to make the hull be strong again.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

After cutting off the exposed part of the propeller shafts on both sides of the boat it was time to removed the outer gland fitting. The only problem being was that the outer gland came out not in one piece but just the outer collar fitting leaving the white metal bearing still in the
aft end of the stern tube.





AS you can see in this photo the white metal bearing is still in the stern tube and not fixed to the outer collar as it should be.








The collars were fixed into the stern tube logs with bronze coach bolts which in tree of the them had rotted apart.








This is the outer end there was still 8ft. of the shaft which had to come out of the stern tube which took a lot of use of a long 1 shaft and hitting the end of the shaft to remove the shaft out of the stern tube.
We are going to replace the bronze shafts with stainless steel shaft and the stern tube will be regraded to modern standards for faster running engines.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

These water locks which were in the cockpit lockers are a part that was not in the boat when the engine were originally fitted. They are Volvo Penta water locks which are unlikely to have been fitted when Chance was built in 1948.







The port side engine drip tray now out of the cockpit and now the bottom of the boat under the drip tray can be assessed








The pile of floorboard bears and other parts which had to be removed to gain access to the tanks to remove them. Some of the parts will be reused if possible and other will be used as firewood.










The modern water locks are a lot lighter than these units

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

A view from the very forward end of the foredeck looking aft to show the position of the deck hatches and the cooker chimney which is getting removed as it is not to be in that position or in the boat at all.




The crew cabin forehatch which as been nailed closed with steel nails








The position of the foredeck large cleats and the hawse pipe hole for the windlass








On the foredeck there are a number of holes which are for different items, such as the smaller secondary cleats and the position of the forward cross rail which was positioned just behind the windlass so it did not interfere with the jib when Chance was rigged as a sailing Ketch






The covering board is notched to take the ends of the deck planking






The forward end of the foredeck showing the missing top part of the stem which will need remaking as part of the restoration

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

The position of tabernacle and the hole for the chimney for the solid fuel fire in the main cabin and the only ventilation in the main cabin apart from opening the skylight hatches








The skylight hatch open to let air into the main cabin the one ahead of this skylight is the one for the galley area








The port side aft deck davit hole the deck on the starboard is missing and so is the fitting like the port side hole but no deck plate








The port side aft side deck davit hole








The forward port side davit hole used to fit the holding tank pump out deck fitting

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

The propeller shafts and propellers finally removed and now to get the stern tubes

The propellers and shafts now removed out of the boat and on the pile of other scrapped items removed this time. The shafts are about 12 ft. long and were made from Bronze and the new shafts will be made from Stainless steel and the stern tube glands are going to be modernised to run faster revving engines through the glands, as the original outer glands are made from white metal which is not any good for modern stern tube set ups

The gearbox couplings were well engineered in the the coupling had a simple method of locking the nuts off.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

The starboard fuel tank had to be moved along the length of the cockpit before it would move out into the centre of the cockpit ready to be craned out of the boat tomorrow.





There is not a lot of room to move the fuel tanks along the under the side deck . however, moving along the cockpit gave us enough room to roll the tank in towards the centre of the cockpit.










The top of the port side fuel completely rusted away

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

This week has been a very productive week on the restoration of Chance with the removal of the water and fuel tanks out of the cockpit and the removal of the propeller shafts out of the stern tubes.
Now that this is done, it is now possible to get to all the necessary parts of the hull to do the major repairs needed to be done on the hull in order to make it possible to move the boat back to Essex and my workshop. When the hull repairs are done it will be possible to lift the boat without causing need more hull damage.
The next trip to Woodplumpton we will start on the removal and replacement of the ribs and planks. This is a major milestone in the restoration project has it is the start of the rebuilding of Chance and the start of putting her back the way she was originally build in 1948.
This trip we were able to take back the last of the loose items to restore in the workshop between trips. There are a few items still to come out, however these are not necessary need removing at the moment and we still need a bearer or two put temporary floorboards. Also the first job next time will be the cleaning of the bilges so that when we start working on the rib and planking repairs we will drop anything in the bilges we can see where anything is when it ends up in the bilges.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

At last all the major tasks are completed on Chance and the reconstruction can start on our next trip to Woodplumpton







This was the condition of the top of both fuel tanks when we got them clear from under the cockpit side decks. The top completely rusted away and with large holes in them.






Mine you after 74 years of service they were going to be changed as a matter of course and new stainless steel tanks made to replace these tanks to the same design as these original tanks.







While my brother John and I were removing the tanks with the help of a local crane owner , he was removing the old face fittings from the hull, So that when they are all removed they can be serviced and refitted and used for another 70 + years, as they are all original Blake's seacocks which just need palling in with a bit of grinding paste and re-greasing then re-fitting in the hull to be used again






Our was enjoying this work so much he asked are there any more.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

A hearty breakfast at the local Costa Coffee and then off to Windermere







Tricia the Chance Project manager deep in thought about the work on chance








Michael the apprentice boat builder having an away day from the bilges of Chance and seeing day light for a change and not the dirt in the bilges of Chance










The two of them, hell we are out on a boat that floats and dreaming of trhe good days ahead when Chance once more see the ocean waves once more










The boatshed at the Windemere Jetty museum, where looked round and gave us ideas and renewed energy to get on with our restoration of Chance








We then when to Coniston Water to see where Donald Campbell did his water speed record runs and where he was killed during one of his attempts to break his own records.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

Planning for the next trip to Woodplumpton to start on the hull repairs

This is going to be our first place we are going to tackle, the aft cabin on the starboard side with the worse area of rib repairs that is needed to be renewed in the boat. The area where there are so many short or doubled or sistered ribs and the place where the shape of the hull is not the shape it should be. It is also the area where there are a number of planks need replacing in the underside of the hull.



As can be seen in this photo in the top left hand corner, there a number of planks that need renewing.. This will need the starboard "A" bracket and the starboard propeller stern tube log removing to get rid of the rotten planks and get back to good planking. Once the planking is renewed then the "A" Bracket and Stern tube log will be refitted and a new oak Stern Tube Log made to replace the old Stern Tube log.

Once this area of the hull is sorted and re-ribbed , then we can move along the hull to the next area of the hull that need ribs and planking replacing . So this is what we will be doing over the next few months as we get the hull strong enough to be moved to Essex.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

Update of work underway on Chance over the past few weeks and our plans for the future

This is an update to let you all know what we have been up to over the past few weeks and month. We have finally got the engine room cleared of all the water and fuel tanks and have got to the see the condition of the hull and the ribs in the engine bay. As we had feared the broken ribs were behind the water and fuel tanks. We had thought that may well be the case and were not really surprised to find that they were in that condition. One thing that did happen when we removed the water and fuel tanks was that the side deck collapsed and had to be shored up until we can make repairs to the deck beams and beam shelf to get the deck back up to their correct height again. The fuel tanks were rusted through on the tops of the tanks and were badly rusted at the bottom so it was decided that the best course of action was to remove the tanks and in the future have new stainless steel water and fuel tanks made to the same pattern as the original tanks. That way keep the same weight in fuel and water to maintain the correct trim. One of the jobs this coming time is to get all the ballast together and get it weighted and then get lead to replace the iron and in that way it will take up less room in the bilge when it is refitted at the end of the restoration .So when we are back up at Chance it will be all hands to the bilges and cleaning will be the order of the day until the bilges are clear and then we can get on to the next stage of re-ribbing her and fitting new planks.

[jstarboats]

Re: Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

Busy week ahead on Chance

It has been a fortnight since we have been up at Woodplumpton and it is now time to go up to Woodplumpton again for a weeks work on Chance.
Now that all but the masts and booms are now back at my workshop it is time to make a start on the repairs and restoration of the hull planking and ribs in the boat.
We have investigated the boat from stem to stern and have found that Chance is in need of a lot of ribs to be removed and replaced along her length. Surprising the ribs forward on the main cabin appear to be in good order apart from a few where bulkheads have crossed over them and made them rotten through fresh water rotting the bullhead and in turn rotting the rib.
The most damage to the ribs is amidships down both port and starboard side. The starboard side being the worse affected with the breaks in the ribs going all the way to the transom. On the starboard side they were doubled and in some cases sistered rather than replace the whole rib and not make the planking look like a pin cushion. The port side faired a little better and the broken ribs end in the aft master cabin heads.
The planking is another pr4oblem, as over the years, the planking as been replaced with short lengths to just remove the rotten wood at the time with no regard to the strength of the hull, which is now in a poor condition and long lengths are going to have to be replaced in order to return the strength back into the construction of the hull and get the hull back into the correct shape which has been lost over the years through repairs.
So it has been decided to make a start at the worse affect part of the hull the starboard quarter and work our way a long the hull until we go round the hull to the port quarter. While one of the working party tackles the transom and the framework that it is made from. From research done the transom was made up off the boat in a jig and the fitted to the aft end of the deadwood. once it was in place the planks were fixed to the transom after the bevels were cut and shaped on the oak frame work around the edge of the transom.
Unlike some modern boatbuilders with their modern ideas of how to re-plank a hull I am going to do the re-planking using the old time served method of removing every other plank, that way keeping the shape of the hull and not letting it distraught out of shape. I do not know where this idea that you can deskin a boat and think it is not going to go out of shape. The only way it would not happen is that as the old planks were coming off and a boatbuilder was cutting and shaping the planks as fast as they were coming off and refixing them with the correct fixings . In the case of Chance Copper nails and roves on the ribs and bronze woodscrews on the frames. I would love to see this method done by a single boat builder doing a restoration project such has Chance. I do believe only the major boatyard would de-skin a hull and refit a new hull if they had a double gang of boat builders doing one side each. Screwing new planks on to old ribs and frames is not only a bad practice, but a practice that is in my mind a bodge and a practice that should be stopped before it becoming the standard by which boats are repaired.
So over the next few months you will see how a hull should be restored using traditional methods.