James Silver Western Isles Chance Restoration

This morning was spent unloading the trailer and sorting out the workshop having off loaded the van on Sunday morning of all the bits and pieces I had loaded in the van and trailer for the trip back from Woodplumpton on Friday afternoon which then turned into night after being holed up in a two and a half  hour traffic jam on the motorway home. So I was not bested please having left early from Woodplumpton to then be held up on the drive home.  The bits and pieces which I had off loaded out of the van was the drawers and the rest of the doors out of the fore and aft cabins and the galley area. The only doors left on the boat are the main cabin settee doors which I have not been able to remove has yet, A job for next time I go to Woodplumpton to work on the boat.  Also offloaded my tools and wood that I have bought to do the replacement floorboards when I get a can to unscrew the original floorboards and replace them with the wood I purchased to replace them.  So this morning was spent

Now that I am back at home base, that is back at my yard in Essex, it is time to unload the van of the  bits I brought back from Chance this time. The bits and pieces I brought back were the rest of the doors and the drawers from the cabins and the drawers and door from the locker below the chart table.  That now means that all the loose woodwork is back at my yard so that it can be worked on over the winter between trips to Woodplumpton to work on Chance. In the most part they will just need the old varnish removing from the doors and drawers and then re-varnishing. however, like last time I inspected the doors one of them has damage and rot in one of the doors which means that there are going to be at least two doors that will need to be remade. I will not know for until I make a start on stripping the old varnish of the doors and drawers I have brought back with me this time. Also this trip I brought back the Dickinson diesel cooker and the original Baby Blake sea toilet form the bo

This last week started with a long drive up he country from Essex to Lancashire. This time I had to go and sort out my home from home,, the family touring caravan we are using  as our living accommodation while we are working on Chance to get Chance strong enough to transport down the country next spring to continue the work at my yard in Essex.   Having not being able to get up to Chance at Woodplumpton for 14 weeks because of health reasons, it was good to make a fresh start on her, having missed such a long time and the good weather.  However, this week the weather gods were on our side for the most part one damp day and one frosty day. So on the whole a good week.  At the beginning of the week. my brother John got to work on cutting all the remain bits which held the engines in the boat, pipes, cables , linkages and nuts and bolts of many different sizes. Over the course of a day he successfully removed every single part that could hold the engines in place and then checked and re-

There is the first engine out and beside Chance  Then there were two engines and that is a combined weight of 1300Kgs of scrap iron, unless there is any one out there who wishes to restoration two 73 year old engines This is the space they leave behind, there is enough room to put a modern 35 hp diesel engine and a genset ahead of the engine and have enough room to work round each engine easily. On the port side there will be enough room to put a water heater and diesel hot air heater as well as room for a good sized battery bank for all the services on the boat. Next time the fuel and water tanks will be coming out and then we can see the hull and be able to make repairs to the planking a lot easier John posing beside the engines, feeling happy they came out as well as they did have spent the last 73 years in the boat.  

Removing the side hatch so that we can cut down the side of the hatch and then across the roof  Hatch off and now time to make the first cut across the roof to get it off the boat and out of the way for lifting the engines out  Big saw and about 1o minutes later the roof was off and we were ready to lift the engines out  New version of a James Silver, now as a sunshine roof  Lowering the chains to lift the first of the engines out Brother John connecting the chains to the port engine and now time to see if they will move up out off the engine beds  The crane man had a weight measuring sensor on the crane and each engine weights in at 650Kgs   

Having got rid of the water out of the bilge, I can now the inner keel or as it is sometimes called the hog, this is possibly the first time it has seen the light of day in over 70 years. The two pipes in the photo are one nearer the keel is the forward bilge pump pipe and the pipe to the right of it as you look at the photo is the fresh water pipe from the water tank in the engine bay. The forecabin bilge is also dry of all the water and bits of rubbish that find its way into the bilge and block up the lumber holes to let the water from one area to the next so that it could be pumped out using the bilge pump in the engineering room aft. Just need to get the steam cleaner in the forecabin and clean down the cabin sides and thew bilge area to make it look a 100% best than it has done for years. The galley sink outlet skin fitting a well over engineered piece of British engineering from the 1940, just a quick service and a bedding of the bearing surfaces and a light greasing and it will

The twin fuel filters which were fitted to the forward engine bay bulkhead and one of the the drip trays   The top of the fuel filters showing the fitting going into and out of the filter bodies  another yet another fuel filter The port engine ready to come out with the use of a crane in the morning  hopefully the last photo of the engines in the engine bay and hopefully the next photo will show a empty space.  

 After a good day on Tuesday, It is hoped that Wednesday the engine removal section of the job will continue has before. John hard at work removing as much of the old bits ahead of the engine to let the engine come forward to come up out of the engine bay The old twin fuel filters from the engine bay forward bulkhead  While my brother John is continuing to do the engine removal part of the restoration this time round, I am continuing to remove as much of the forward end of the boats woodwork to gain access to the hull for planking repairs  This a appears to be what remains of a holding bracket to keep the forward toilet in position in the fore cabin. I am still thinking whether or not to refit a forward heads in the boat given the limited space in this cabin in the first place. Time will tell if is going to be a good idea or not. The forecabin porthole surround framework to which the side paneling was fixed too. I am not sure whether to put any paneling back in the forecabin as much of

When my brother John saw the engine, he said to me let me at it I am going to enjoy doing this. The engines had moire filters than you could need, it had these twin filters on the forward engine bulkhead, two more  in front of each engine and and another on each engine. The fuel filters even had their own drip trays for any spills and the trays even have their own drain tap to remove any fuel out of the trays  The gearbox end of the engines even have covers over the gearbox coupling to protect the coupling from anything falling down on them   The original water locks in the exhaust system  My Brother John hard at work in the engine bay removed parts off the port engine to get it ready tp be lifted out of the boat later in the week   

In the upper bow area it appears that it is only flaking paint and the condition of the hull is in reasonable and will just need to have the paint heat gunned off and be repainted once the air as got to the wood and given it a chance to dry out. The rotten wood has been removed from the frames and it appears that the oak frames are just wet and they are not soft in any way so it is just a matter of letting the wood dry off naturally and when it is dry once more sealing the wood and repaint the whole area.  The same can not be said for the deck beam end which is rotten where the rotten bulkhead along with a leaking deck as caused the deck beam to go rotten. A job for when the deck gets removed and the ends of the beams can be exposed. The lower part of the frames where the rotten chain locker bulkhead was nailed to the frames as appeared not to have affected the frames apart from making them damp, however the frames are in good order The other rotten deck beam end caused by a leaking de

The chain locker bulkhead in position before it is removed to expose the frames which it was nailed to with galvanized wire nails.   The yellowed patches are rotten wood which is the reason for removing the bulkhead in the first place The patches of rot are all over the place on this bulkhead, the most likely reason for the rot is a lack of ventilation in this part of the boat and th s s going to be changed when this part of the boat is restored.  The bottom of where the chain locker base was originally sited  

  At last I am back up at Woodplumpton to get on with working on Chance once more. Hopefully with help from my brother John, we hope to get the engines out of the boat and into the trailer to take them back to my yard in Essex. To at first see if there is any chance of getting them up and running again or if not disposing of them. either way they will be out of the boat and we will be able to remove the fuel and water tanks from the engine bay at the same time and expose the hull to make an inspection of the inside of the hull in this area of the boat. However, before this can be done the small task of getting the wheelhouse removed to gain access to the engines to remove them from the engine bay once all the engine controls and other connections are removed whichever way they come apart. So tomorrow morning the fun starts with uncovering the wheelhouse roof and getting to grips with the plywood and T&G which make up the roof and removing the outer edges to expose the ends of the w

One of the first job this coming trip to Chance will be to remove the engines below the wheelhouse floor and remove the chart table and the other equipment in the cockpit area which will stop us from removing the engines out of the boat. Then main problem we have to overcome is the removal of the wheelhouse roof which we can not see was every removal in its present form. So my brother and I have decided to take this action. that is to remove the plywood covering off the T&G roof that makes up the roof and then remove the outer three boards to expose the ends of the roof beams and see if it is possible to unscrew the roof beams and remove the main section of roof in one section. This will hope will work and then make removing the engines a lot easier now and in the future should the new engines need to come out.  While my brother is sorting out the engines and their removal I will be continuing to dismantle the starboard side furniture to expose the hull so that it can be worked on

 How I have got a little time on my hands at work, I am starting to sand down the cabin doors so that they can be sealed with a thinned coat of varnish and then put away until they are needed later on in the restoration.  Another of the jobs that I now have time for is to make lists for different areas of boats' restoration. Taking one cabin and area at a time, otherwise I am going to get snowed under with which area to do first.  Like with all list making, start with a blank notebook and divide the boat work into bite size bits that can be achieved and costed for as a single area of work.  The main job I have to get done is the removal of the old engines out of the boat and remove to my boatyard and at the same time finish off the last of the interior furniture that needs to come out before I can get on with the hull planking repairs on both sides of the hull. Most of the rotten planking is from the cockpit to the stem on both sides. First I am going to have to remove the old pain

  As part of Chance's restoration, my brother and I will be removing the engines and putting them up for sale or if that fails weight them in for their scrap valve. They are now need to come out any way as there is work to be done in that part of the boat. especially as the engines are 73 years old and are not environmentally friendly and a pair of modern hybrid diesels are going to be.  When the engines and tankage is out of the engine bay my brother and I can make a start on investigating that area of the boat for any problems with frames and planking which have not been able to be seen from the inside of the hull.  There is one plank on the starboard side amidships about 30 cm below the waterline which as come away from the grown frame in the engine bay. At the moment it can not be seen from the inside so when the starboard engine is removed I will be able to investigate the situation more and find out what has happened in the area around the frame.  It is likely that the frame