James Silver Western Isles Chance Restoration

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 a

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 replaci

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.   

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.  

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 a

The forward crew cabin now stripped of all the furniture either taken back to workshop or throw away as it was rotten  The galley area now stripped of all its furniture  The area where the sink was fitted and the lockers ahead and below the sink. However, the present sink was not the original sink, so we are on the look for a period sink. The engineering room stripped of any items which are not refitted at a later date in the restoration  The starboard side looking forward where the aft engine room bulkhead should be. One of the bulkheads which replacing along the way in the during the restoration. The steering bulkhead which is going to sanding down and resorted  The aft heads room now stripped of all the skin fittings and bulkheads  The starboard and port sides of the main cabin  Some of the many more bits that have to come out of the boat and get taken back to the workshop   

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   

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.   The next trip up to Chance  the "A"  brackets will get removed along with the stern tubes in the stern tube logs as the planking is in need of replacing    

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  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 open

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   

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.