James Silver Western Isles Chance Restoration

Inside the small boatbuilding shed at Silver's boatyard, which the same boatyard that Chance wa build and launched from in 1948 The shed is large by todays standards, however, when boats like Chance was being build there was a number of boats build at the same time and so the space would be full of boats and men building they at the same time The railway tracks in the ground were from the time when the boats were moved around the shed and moved down to the waters edge and launched down the slipways, which the Boatyard manager Duncan said was ten of them at one time, so was the amount of boats being build at the same time. A throwback to older times with a classic fire alarm The travel hoist and one of the last slipways at the boatyard where boats like Chance would have been launched down.  

This is the Scottish village from which Chance was commissioned and launched back in 1948 and it is still boat building to this day   this is the onsite sawmill that the logs were cut for Chances' hull and many more before and since. Although it is now the yards mast storage as the timber now is brought in pre-cut these days. This is the site of the old shed in which Chance was build in 1948 and many other smaller James Silvers. A the Yard Manager said this shed was build to built the James Silvers up to 50ft and the larger sheds on the site were to built the larger Silvers. The loch where Chance would have first sailed on her commissioning trials and where Chance would have spent her first year before setting off on her adventures through her different owners down the years. 

Now that I have got the plywood skin off the transom it is possible to see the extent of the task ahead and how much work is involved in rebuilding the framework to refit the skin over the transom framework   This photo shows the extent to which the starboard side as fallen down away from the centreline and how much it needs to prop up the starboard side into the correct position This piece of framework was put in at some time in the past and fitted while the the starboard side was already in a incorrect position  Although the port side parts are in a poor condition they are at least in the correct position This is with the first piece of starboard framework removed  removed  his photo shows how far out of position the framework is in the bottom of the hull  A new bit whicch needs to come out so that the whole area can get propped back up into the correct position before any work can be done ofn this whole area of the boat. This photo clearly shows how far out the starboard side is com

  A photo of the port side aft and the sheerline is fairly straight and true as it would have been when Chance was build   The starboard side appears to have drop a few inches lower than the port side in the same area. The vast empty space, however at least we have reference points for the position of the original furniture   A lot of work in this area of the boat over the coming months to get this part back into a good order Now the ribs are out the hull will be able to be sorted up easier as the hull will not be held in the incorrect position as they were because the ribs were put in when the hull was out of shape The two "A" brackets now off the bottom of the boat and be taken away to the workshop and cleaned and new cutless bearing can be fitted  The rotten transom framework which be removed and the area patterned up and a new framework made up and fitted  In a poor condition, however much of the original shape is still there to take patterns off and make new framework fo

As part of our restoration project when we are not at Chance is doing work at the workshop.  One of the jobs is to restore the original Baby Blakes toilet back to working condition so it can go back in the aft heads compartment when that part of the boat is refitted back to its original specification  Although the toilet is in a bit of a dirty condition, it will soon clean up and once again come clean and ready fro years of further use.   This single large bore skin fitting is unlike any other skin fitting in the boat and appears to have been custom made for the boat.  Some of the skin fitting were able to be removed with their original backing plate and are in good condition and will only need cleaning up and used again, other backing plate were in a poor condition due to corrosion.  The two skin fittings in this photo are the aft heads toilet skin fittings and are in good condition.  The aft heads compartment sink skin fitting  This is the fore cabin sink out let skin fitting  These