Life's a Gamble so we took a Chance

[jstarboats]

This is a new Thread as the other thread as gone down, This follows the restoration of our James Silver Western Isles Motor Sailer "Chance" and the journey my family and I are on to restore this once beautiful motor sailer.



The first job with the windlass will be to give it a good cleaning down and check all the moving parts for wear and if any is find get the parts remade to fit the windlass


On the manufacturers plate it is a AFCO Marine Windlass









It is not likely that the company still is in existence, however, their windlass is still in god condition after all these years.








Once the decks are relaid it will once more be put back in its original position on the foredeck and will be put back into commission and used again

[Breakaway]

"Subscribed!"

Kevin

[johngsandusky]

I have an old hand powered bronze windlass on my ketch. Taken apart, cleaned and oiled, it works well.

[jstarboats]

Last weekend after we came back from a week away working on Chance at Woodplumpton.

It was time to unload the Trailer of the last bits of the furniture from the inside of Chance which is going to be repaired or remade as necessary. Some of the parts can only be used as patterns as they have been messed about with over the years as the people who owned Chance made improvements to her as they were living on her as a houseboat for the best part of 16 years.
There have a number of improvements that spoil the interior of the boat especially in the galley area and the aft heads, where modern water taps and in the case of the galley area a modern household sink.
With this in mind the galley sink unit front is going to have to be remade in as close to the original colour mahogany as int is possible to get in the present day and stain if necessary to match the original doors which we have been able to salvage as they were in a good condition and only needed to be sanded down and re-varnished.
The same job is going to have to be done in the aft heads compartment where the locker in which the sink sits is going to have to be remade and refitted at a later date once all the work on the bulkheads and planks and ribs in completed.
Another piece of furniture which we brought back was the cockpit chart table and drawer unit which is going to be restored. The main job with this unit is to sort out framework and the top which needs stabilizing and in some cases gluing and pinning together. Then repair or rebuild the drawers as some are in need of major work to make them useable again.
So while I am not able to get to Woodplumpton for a few weeks it will give me and the family time to sort out the parts we brought back and start to repair and rebuild the parts ready to refit at a later date when it comes times to fit the parts back in the boat after the other work is done to interior.

[jstarboats]

This is Chance undergoing a pervious Restoration which failed to get finished as the owner at the time did not have the funds to complete the restoration it needed.





A fair amount of the planking which needed to be replaced at the time was done,however , it was not completed as the then owner did not have the funds to keep doing the restoration and the boat was moved and worked stopped and the boat deteriorated to it present condition.




Some of the work was started but not completed as in the case of the transom where at the time the starboard side was done.




A fair bit of planking was done on the starboard side both above the waterline and below

[jstarboats]

I like your Motto Breakway RegardsSimon

[jstarboats]

This piece is the front of the hanging wardrobe in the main cabin has you come down the steps on the starboard hand side





This is the forward bulkhead to the hanging wardrobe which is going to be replaced, the only restorable part is the front rail which is the forward part of the wardrobe front, which will need carefully removing off the bulkhead.




More of the jigsaw puzzle to be sorted through over the next week to see what can be salvaged from the parts which were brought back from Chance at Woodplumpton




The chart table and the drawer unit which needs a good clearing down and repairing as necessary and then varnishing and painting before it is put back in place once the wheelhouse is sorted and repaired as necessary




Another pile of parts that need sorting out

[jstarboats]

The wardrobe in the main cabin is made up of various parts which have to be taken apart and cleaned up. This photo is the bottom part of the lower part of the front of the wardrobe





The dowels which were in the two halves of the lower part were broken and now been drilled out so that new dowels can be made before gluing the two halves together.As before they were just dry fitted together




The two lower panels have several mortise and tenon joints on them which will have to be remade on the two vertical parts that make up the door frame.




This photo shows the tenon joints and the amount of mortises that have to be recut in the two vertical parts that make up the fdoor frames




The old vertical parts which are broken which are going to be remade




The triangle panel which makes up the shaped door that goes in inside this wardrobe front panel

[jstarboats]

A very difficult to understand they way was put together when she was built.

The more we take Chance to pieces the more difficult it is to understand the reasoning behind her build and the materials used to put her together. It appears that in some areas of the interior chromed plated fittings were fitted. Door handles coat hooks, then brass fittings such as lights around the interior in all the cabins. then the wood work screwed and nailed together in many places with steel screws. as in the furniture framework and even the cupboard tops and the cupboard fronts in many places.
The only reason for this use of steel screws and nails in the interior was that they may well of been a shortage of bronze or brass screws and nails in the aftermath of the war and supplies were thin on the ground.
Also while looking back at old photos from when I first saw Chance, she had galvanized deck fitting, stanchions davits bollards fairleads and tabernacles. All these fittings have long since gone. However, I am going to get new fittings made when they are needed to get fitted to the boat.
In the meantime , it is fun going through the bits I have and seeing what can be reused and what will have to be replaced along the way.
A YouTube link to the parts I have found that were put together with steel screws and nails
https://youtu.be/smE-rpMirNE

[jstarboats]

These bits are the two parts of the original galley top and two of the sides







The two sides of the corner of the galley unit which go up against the galley to main cabin door







The two doors that go under the long side of the main cabin settee unit, the framework is not in as good a condition as the doors so a new framework will have to be made to set these doors back in when the settee framework is rebuild




The cockpit chart table and drawer unit below to store the charts and other navigation equipment in while on passage

[jstarboats]

In this photo two parts of the cupboard front from under the sink on the starboard side of the galley area






The surviving part of the bunk front of the main cabin settee, this will have to be replaced when making a new bunk front and set the two original doors back in place






The starboard work top which all the other lockers were fitted too. The main problem is that it is not the original length as the front end was cut short to fit the diesel cooker in the main cabin and in doing so destroyed a drinks cabinet and other lockers which were originally in the area. One of the major jobs during the restoration is to put back the original configuration of the starboard part of the main cabin






A pile of parts that I have yet to sort out and sort out which bits can be reused or new parts made.

[jstarboats]

This coming week will be spent in Woodplumpton on Chance

On the road in the morning from Essex up to Woodplumpton to make a start on the latest stage of the restoration of Chance. This week my brother Joh will be coming over from Yorkshire to help with some of the heavier jobs. His main job this week will be to get the fuel and water tanks out of under the side decks in the cockpit area. I will be sorting out the other ribs in the main cabin and the toilet compartment and finishing off the hull sanding to get rid of the last of the paint on the hull.
Once the hull is clear of the old paint I will find it easier to work out which of the planks need to be replaced and how long the runs will have to be to make the planking as strong as it will be once more. There is going to be an amount of removing sound planks which are to short and which not giving the hull any strength at all. The planking was possible done when Chance was a houseboat and was not in use as a moving boat.
So there is going to be a lot of planking removed to restore the strength back into the hull and give back the boat its strength once more and be able to be used as a moving sailing and motorboat.
Another job we hope to get done this week is the removal of the covering boards on the decks to expose the top of the ribs and frames that need replacing especially in the main cabin on the port and starboard sides and in the aft cabin on the starboard where it is a mass of doubled and sistered ribs
There will be vlogs of this work over the week posted every fortnight, possibly Sunday evening. In future I will try to post a video vlog of the work over the week are up on Chance and a blog every Wednesday evening to keep my followers informed of what is happening on the restoration both on Chance and back at the workshop where many of the bits of furniture are presently sorted and being worked on in the times we are not going up to Chance.

[NBJersey]

Great to see you back jstar. I’ve had a similar experience of finding ferrous fastenings in odd places on Desiree but my assumption is that these fixings have been replaced by cash strapped later owners when making additions or replacements over the decades. It wouldn’t make sense to built a boat with bronze fastenings throughout just to use cheap fixings for the fit out. Are you sure the odd bits you are finding are original?

[jstarboats]

First full day back at Chance at Woodplumpton, straight back to sanding the hull back to expose the planking and highlighting any rotten planking covered by paint or filler.







Sanding back the paint is a mind dying job, however, you do see the benefits of all the hard work when you get back to a bare hull and you can better assess the condition of the hull.








By the ned of the day the port side hull was sanded down apart from a small section at the hull which will be sanded back in the morning and then turn my attention to the starboard side at he bow to finish off the sanding of the hull. then the long job of marking off the planks to be removed.








While I have been busy with the sanding back of the paint on the hull, my brother John has been busy dismantling the cockpit floor and the floor bearers to get the water and fuel tanks out from under the side decks in the cockpit to expose the hull planking and ribs and frames in this area of the boat. Photos to follow on his work on clearing the area of the cockpit. We have find that the tanks are well past their best and after 74 years have finally given up the ghost and they are just scrap metal.


So tomorrow it will be time to cut up the tanks to get them out of the cockpit and off the boat so that work can strt on the hull planking other repairs. We will also be scrubbing out the bilges and getting them clearer so that that part of the boat worked on without getting ourselves covered in thick oily dirt.

[jstarboats]

As we had looked into the tanks while they were still in position and find they were U/S we decided that the best course of action was to remove the tanks in which ever way was easiest. So out with the cutting disc and cut the tanks into moveable pieces. So wile I was sanding back the rest of the hull, brother John was in the cockpit with the cutting disc slicing up the water tanks in to reasonable size pieces that could be removed through the cockpit doors.







As you can make out the inside of the tanks are quiet rusty and you would not wish to use these tank once the restoration is finished.








The bottom edges of both water tanks was in a poor condition and would only be a matter of time before they would rust through and we would have to remove them. So, it was decided that out with the 74 year old tanks and have new ones made to the same size in Stainless Steel.






Chance had a large amount of water onboard about a 140 gallons of water, 70 gallons aside. The fuel tanks ahead of these tanks hold 90 gallons of fuel so Chance would a long range in the way of fuel and a fair amount of water, Seeing has chance only had three sinks and a later added shower.

[Thad]

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

[jstarboats]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[jstarboats]

Like any true Yorkshire man, where there is muck there's brass. the first wash was done with soap that was a by product of bio diesel





A short while later and what a difference the bilges looks. It has not looked like that in 74 years




He is now making a start on the main cabin and then the fore cabin and then turn his attention to the aft cabin after my son Michael have finished doing the rib removal

[jstarboats]

[jstarboats]

The port side of the side deck and aft deck is original as the position of the deck fittings are still in place





The positions of the side davits and the aft davits and the aft cleats are clearly seen in the deck










There is a large hole in the deck as a repair was started and never finished








The starboard side deck was repaired but never mirror to look like the port side deck which will be done this time








The aft end of the
side deck and on to the aft deck is a lodging deck which is in place but not fixed to the beam shelf

[jstarboats]

In the past the beam shelf was replaced but never fixed in place correctly and someone had done a poor repair to the deck and did not take the time to make sure to mirror the teak deck planking to be the same as the port side.








The beam shelf is rotten in a number of places and will have to be replaced along it full length and so is the top plank. Also the short deck beams will have to be replaced as these have been hacked about with in the previous repair








So it is going to be fun renewing the poor workmanship of a previous repair

[jstarboats]

These are all the ribs from the aft cabin area,some are just short ribs, others are dry laminated ribs, that is to say they were steamed into position and not glued together before they were nailed in position.





They were different widths and thickness as well. I will take measurements off the original size and steam new ribs into position using the original specification.






The starboard side of the aft cabin with the ribs removed, now the cleaning up of the hull planking and hole filling of the holes that will not be reused








The hull planking looks like a pin cushion with all the nails removed