James Silver Western Isles Chance Restoration

After also most two weeks without my trusty Transit van being off the road with clutch problems, I can return to working on Chance once more and get on with removing more of the inside wood work and loading up the trailer with the old diesel cooker, sea toilet and the large bag of scrap metal and died batteries. Clean up and service the diesel cooker and then put it up for sale the same with the vintage Baby Blake seas toilet which  people have said some vintage boat owners wish to put in their boats.    This time I will hope to continue with the main cabin dismantling and work out how to remove the wheelhouse roof to get the engine out of the boat and on to a trailer to transport them back to my workshop to get cleaned up and put up for sale to any one who wishes to restore the engines for their own project.   I also have to work out how to get the fuel and water tanks out and get prices for replacing them as they have been in the boat since she was build and by now will be in a very

While I try to get to Chance as often as possible, it is sometimes not always easy as this last two weeks as shown. About a month ago, I was able to buy a caravan to live in while up in the north West of England where Chance is presently in storage. I had to do a few things to the caravan to be able to tow it to be near Chance. Good plan, at first everything was going to plan, Bedding and other things needed to fit out our new home from home were sorted.   Then the day we had set to go up country to where Chance is presently in Storage came around. The trip up country when well for the most part apart from the part over the Pennines, this part proved to be a major headache as the traffic on the motorway was going at about 10 to 15 mph for the best part of 8 to 10 miles. My transit van was more than capable of towing our new home from home caravan.  So I thought, I spent the first four days working on Chance with the aid of my brother John who had come over from his home in Yorkshire fo

  At the moment I am having to use my old small generator as the only form of electric power to power my electric tools and give me lighting in the boat. We I can get some funds available I hope to get a larger generator  to give me more power to run more tools and lighting.  Cutting the first of many temporary floorboards for the inside, while I get the old floorboards out and cleaned and dried out and repainted.   The first two temporary floorboards down in position, it is a start just quiet a few more to make before I am finished   Three quarters of the interior ballast removed from the bilges. This was placed from the front end of the main cabin and through the boat to as far back as the forward bulkhead of the aft cabin bulkhead. We worked it out as amounting to about 1 ton of pig iron that was laid in the bilge.   Exposing the hull side in the main cabin exposed a patch of rotten wood in the stringer, thankfully it is localised and the ribs and frames appear to be in good conditi

  First sight of the interior from last time I was on the boat.  The first of many dustbins full of old bits coming out of the boat and going in the skip of metal srcap bin A  small area of stringer with a small area of rot which needs cutting out and repairing  The hull planking as a area of rot which will removed when the planks are removed and the whole area is treated with fugal spore treatment to kill off any spore in the ribs or frames  The whole area of the hull above the starboard cupboard now exposed for the first time since Chance was build and now the air can get to the hull to help dry out the area  The galley sink is now removed and so is the upper cupboard so more of the hull is exposed to add getting to the plank fixings so that she can be re-fixed the correct way with copper nails and roves and not just screwed together which appears to have been done on some of the planking that as be replaced over the years.  The next three photos s show the galley upper cupboard bein

  Sort out making temp floor boards for the fore cabin and main cabin from the chipboard in van and Finish off making blanks for cockpit windows and doors and cabin windows five in the cockpit and one in the main cabin Remove old diesel cooker out of main cabin and take off boat and put in van to bring back to workshop to be cleaned up and put up for sale Wash down all the surfaces as they come clear of old paneling and mark off any problem areas, vacuum up cabins has we remove old paneling and floorboards and clean out bilge as we go along starting at the bow and working aft. John to look at the wheelhouse roof to see if it can be removed in one piece or if it will have to be dismantled to remove the roof. Then john can make a start on the engine compartment and the machinery room, removing old wiring and taking photos as he goes along removing parts, Engines to be removed as soon as it is possible to get crane sorted out to get them out of the boat and brought back to the workshop to

  The story starts back in early 2000's when my path crossed Chance (Token) when the then owner asked me to do some repairs to the boat. The boat was on the the river Thames at a small boatyard. Having done the work I was contracted to do. The boat then when away, it going in one direction and my work taking me to work in another part of the country. Then by chance I was searching Facebook and came across Chance. This time she had moved to the North West of England near Preston. Having made contact with the owner before I  took over ownership of Chance, he wish to restore her himself with help from a boat builder. We talked over the project and after a period of time. He said that he was not in a position to restore her and other projects were going to take much more time. So he made the difficult decision to hand the boat on to me to do the restoration on Chance. As I  have worked on Heritage craft over my 44 years as a boat builder  he felt that I would give Chance  best chance o