Uncover the poor repairs of the past and showing the way it should not be done.

 

Hi fellow boat restorers and watchers of my videos

Please like and subscribe to my channel on my family and I’s progress as we restore our James Silver “Western Isles” Motor Sailer back to her former glory and once again sailing the high seas that she once was her home.

 Over this past year since we started our mission to restore Chance to her former glory and get her back on the high seas where she belongs. There as been some up and downs along the way. First, we had Covid 19 which stopped us going to Chance after the first few weeks because of travel restrictions. Then other family commination’s so progress was close to say the least.  

However, that is behind us now and we can get on and get some real work done on her. The hard work of dismantling the interior is behind us now, as we can now get to the hull and are able to see the ribs and frames clearly and replace all the ribs which are broken or rotten of both in some cases. Replace any rotten or damaged frames which need replacing as well.

We know that the planking was in a poor condition and was going to be replaced as a matter of the restoration, what we did not count on was the poor repairs done to Chance in the past. One major bodge was the starboard side aft section of the beam shelf and how it was replaced. It was not fixed correctly to the rest of the boat around where it is fitted in the boat.

It was not bolted in position, it was not bolted to the frames, and it was just seating in fresh air and the only places it was supported was on the tops of the bulkhead along it run from the transom to the area of the main cabin where it is jointed into the next section along the boats’ hull.

The side deck beams were just screwed through the beam shelf with a couple of steel screws as someone had just cut the ends of the beams off and not remade the half dovetail joints in the top of the beam shelf which would tie the teak laid deck together. Also, the lodging knee which connects the aft cabin deck beam to the beam shelf to the was not even re-bolted after the beam shelf was replaced so the deck beam was also floating in fresh air. This made the side deck joints open and the deck leak into the aft cabin and started to rot the lodging knee and then the aft cabin sides as it was not able to keep itself sealed because of the poor work done below the decks. This has started a chain reaction which in time continued along the starboard side deck up to the wheelhouse.

This poor repair work as had a knock-on effect in that it as made the starboard side of the hull distort out of shape and which will need addressing before any work is done on the ribs and planking.

So next time it will be time to sort out the starboard aft section of the hull and get it back into the correct shape and then start on the rest of the restoration.

 

 

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