31/01/2012, France
The hull is now stripped of paint and the scaffold planks have arrived. Work continues to advance well at the yard.
Meanwhile here in France it has been snowing all day, so a good opportunity to catch up on some computer time, with plans, emails et al. I was in the process of preparing my mobile workshop for it's voyage to Tunisia next week but that got put on hold due to inhuman weather conditions (I can almost hear Jacko laughing!). Sandra is working on the running rigging plan and I have almost finished the plan of the spars so things are getting done. Meeting tomorrow with the Boss to discuss the way forward.
Jono
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Comments [2]
30/01/2012, France
Well, the whole deck has been removed and the covering boards came off today, revealing a large amount of rot, especially in the transom area. I'm sure that I've said it before but there is not much holding it all together and we joke that she held together out of pure habit! The boys are continuing to strip off the paint from the topsides and a couple more lower planks were removed during the day.
Meanwhile, back in France, I have been working on the rig plans which are difficult to read. All the spars, of which there are 6, are on the same drawing. So for the sake of clarity, I am working on having seperate drawings for each and on top of that, converting all the measurements to metric as few people here are used to working in feet and inches. A tedious job at best! I am also sourcing bronze items in the US which will be custom made to the original plans.
More tomorrow.
Jono
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30/01/2012, Tunisia
We have a number of wooden spars in spruce and Oregon pine, including 2 masts, booms etc which are all in excellent condition. For more info, send email to link upper right.
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29/01/2012, Bristol, Rhode Island
Here is an interesting article from The New York Times, dated 25 April 1916 in which Cap'n Nat takes "Chinook", then called "Pauline", for a shake down sea trial shortly after her launching.
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Week 3 is behind us and progress is good. As can be seen from the photos, the poor girl was not in very good shape at all. It is interesting that she and a handfull of her sisters made it this far, as during the dismantling process we found evidence that these boats were not built with longevity in mind. On removal of the pine cladding that covered almost all of the interior of the hull to just forward of the mast, not one drip of paint was found! The frames and planking were completly unprotected from the salt air and any water ingress so it is amazing that after 96 years the whole structure held together. The steel cross bracing both on the hull and under the deck had all but disappeared so small wonder that when we delivered her 120 miles under her own power, she seemed to change shape under our very eyes! That is a story worth telling!
All the photos from week 3 are online at the week 3 link to the right of this text. Keep the comments coming and look out for upcoming posts soon.
Jono.
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26/01/2012, I'm still in France!
As you can see from the photos on Picasa, work continues with a certain pace. This is comforting in a way but then it is always easier to take something apart than to put it back together again! That said, the guys are making good progress removing the deck and that should be finished tomorrow. A few more planks below the waterline have come off and they have started stripping the paint off the topsides. At the end of the 3rd week, we are not that far away from starting to repare and replace the ribs. My aim is to save as much as is feasibly possible of the timbers, but by the same token, we must think ahead and be fairly ruthless with those parts that we don't think will go the distance. I really hate wasting wood but we must draw the line somewhere. We will try to re use the waste timber where we can.
I have a couple of other things to say so I will address them in other posts over the next few days.
Cheers,
Jono
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23/01/2012, France
Just got off the phone with the yard. Work is continuing removing the deck and they also began removing a couple of planks. Apparently they were remaining in place out of pure habit! The bronze fasteners are all but gone and there is much rot behind. I really think we got to this yacht just in time. I should get some photos tomorrow so I will post them then. Meanwhile I have been working on drawings for the new interior layout which in actual fact will be closer to the original than she was and using 100% of the interior that we removed. It is an interesting process as I must incorporate modern cruising comforts into an interior that was conceived for what we call nowadays "camping" and maintain the look and feel of a classic yacht. The main areas of difficulty lie in the plumbing and wiring of which there will be much more. I am also looking into ways in which to save weight in order to offset these additions and all this in an already lightly built yacht. Great fun!
And just to make things really interesting, I threw the tape measure at "Rowdy" this morning. I think I going to develop a bald patch this year!
More tomorrow,
Jono.
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20/01/2012, Tunisia
At the end of the second week, I am very happy with the progress so far. We started removing the deck today and we should have it all off next week. The baseline has been laid down, the first station marked, and a new floor has been laid on the cradle base to help with safety and cleaning up every day. Tomorrow I head home to France to spend a little time on "Rowdy" and catch up with stuff over there. I will continue to update the blog as the information and pictures come through but bear with me if there are some slight lapses between posts.
Bon Weekend.
Jono
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19/01/2012, Tunisia
Setting up an old broken boat level in every respect is not an easy job. But I thought I had it cracked when I received a CAD lines plan, drawn with the original offset book in Cap'n Nat's own hand and purchased from the MIT, but not so. It only served to confuse and frustrate me. Almost nothing is as it was drawn, not even close! Have any of you had this experience? Were old boats from this era so loosely built to their plans? Maybe I'm being too much of a perfectionist. Anyway, I am confident that she is now level and very close to her original waterline. Have a good look at the photo and you will see just how far out it was.
More head scratching tomorrow and hopefully some enlightenment!
Jono
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18/01/2012, Tunisia
Today was a big day, and for everybody concerned. Today was the day when Chinook was going inside the shed and the guys were going to be able to close the doors for the first time in over a year! Yes, it has been that long. That said, we are now making up for lost time and the grand old lady was pampered and gently coaxed into the operating theater for the plastic surgery she has needed for some time now. Forgive the word "plastic", we won't be using any of that! As you can gather, it was a successful day, and I have to say that I was impressed with the technical knowledge and general investment of all the Tunisians involved of which there were many. And then I started thinking about pyramids and all that Egyptian stuff. So while giggling to myself, I told the lads that we didn't need the tractor, and that we should just push her inside like in the good old days! Have a look at the pictures and you will see what I mean. (Link is under "Favourites")
Tomorrow I plan to spend the day fine tuning the levelling of Chinook and the setting up of the baseline as accurately as possible. A very challenging task as finding valid reference points on the structure is not easy considering her age and hard life.
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