Life's a Gamble, so lets take a Chance Restoration Project

I have made available all 496 videos of Chance's restoration available to anyone who wishes to see how far we have come with her restoration over the3 past 5 years just follow this link to go to my pateron page https://www.patreon.com/cw/Chance_1948 Where you can all see the work we have put into her over the years and how far we have to go to get her back on the water

Since this photo was taken the yacht is now afloat and being used as a place of stress relief and a way of getting my hand back into sailing again. This is the yacht on its launch day and on to its temporary mooring while we get the yacht ready to sail up the coast to her new mooring in Walton on the Naze  This is her afloat for the first time in five years after the last owner passed away and his children wish the yacht to go to a new home and be enjoyed again by someone who would look after her once more.

Getting April Star off her mooring at Steeple and coming into pick up the rest of the crew for the short trip to Brightlingsea. Almost along side the jetty to get the crew then get underway downstream and the adventures ahead and siling in company with Thames barges.

Got a new feathered member of the crew of Chance who asd made its home in the main Cabin of Chance, It is out on patrol at the moment, however, it will be back later when it as cooled down.  It has been there for a while as there are signs it has had chicks not to long ago.   

I have got very angry after some mindless person decided to deface my restoration banner with what they think is a joke, I for one do not see the funny side of this defacement of my banner    

The starboard side deck edge covering boards were a lot easier to remove as I knew the way they put down from removing the port side deck edge covering boards last week . Therefore, know what to expect on this side. At least side had all the same type of wood screw holding them down and so it was easier to know how to remove the section of board.  Much of the spacing blocks are in god condition apart from a couple which had been damaged by rain water and being enclosed did not help. these have been removed and the area as been left to get some fresh air. The one problem on this side like the port side is that the ends of the deck beams are in poor condition and will have to have the ends remade and refitted to the beam shelf after the beam shelf is inspected and if it need replacing then this will be done. Some of the deck beams ends are worse than other either way they will all need sorting out and re-making in some way or other before the deck is relaid again. The next deck will ...

Having removed the panels of mahogany from the forecabin of Chance on the starboard side and got them all outside in front of Chance it was time to inspect them and see what can be salvaged and what will need to be replaced.   This one was the only panel that can be saved out of all the panels as the other panels are rotten in different places which it makes impossible to repair so it is going to be a hunt for some good mahogany faced marine plywood to replace the panels I can not source large enough panels of mahogany. What I am doing is making sure the old panels can be used as templates for the new panels that are going to be made out of mahogany faced marine plywood I did not expect to see this on my James A Silver iron nails nailing bulkheads in place. Bulkheads I have worked on in the past have been either screwed in position or bolted never nailed in position iron nails. The sorting still going on as I get through the pile of wood.  

Got two of the three deck edge covering boards removed at this point and what I found was a world of hurt and a lot of covering up and bodging of the rotten or broken wood under the board. The infills were only wood that held the area together and in some places it was just rotten or not fixed in position or not the correct shape and size. The ends of the deck beams were even there in places and the beam that were there were out of position  In some places the only thing holding anything together was a ton of sealant and not much else.  

Getting the fixings out of the rest of the portside deck edge covering boards as been a long drawn out job. As many of the fixings are cross head or otherwise known as Phillip head screws.  These screws are often screwed in with power screwdrivers and in the process run out the heads so you can not remove the screw out of the hole or the head is full of glue from when the hardwood plug was fitted over the screw head. You can see in the photo that the head is full of glue and the edges of the screw driver head are run off The power these screws were drien in they even bend the head ove on some of the ones I was able to remove. Fast to drive the screw in and almost impossible to remove when they are in this condition