This week marks the Second anniversary of us becoming the latest owners of Chance and her restorers.

This week marks the second anniversary of us becoming Chances latest owners and her restorers.

The story go back a number of years when I was asked by a former owner of Chance to do some work on her. My wife immediate fell in love with her saying that I would love a boat like this, to which I replied, we could never afford it. What even if someone gave us it. "As If"  they would.  After I had worked on Chance I lost contact with her whereabouts and fought I would never see her again.  

Many years later, I like many people was looking through the YBW  
Forum at Classic & Wooden boats. I at which point I saw what looked like Token (Chance) in a forum posting. At which time I contacted the then present owner who confirmed it was indeed Token. 

He was keen to restore her, however, his wife was not. He, therefore had to to find someone to take her on and do the restoration. 

I agreed to do so,

My wife came home one morning having a night shift as a nurse at a local hospital. When I dropped the bombshell.  "You better sit down dear you are going to "Kill Me" !!!!

 At which my wife said "Why what have you done" I have been given "Token" For once in her life my wife was speechless for moment. How, why,  You said we could not afford her even if she was given to us. Well I have changed my mind, to good an option to miss, well there we are. We now own Token.

This is the start of Token (Chance) restoration by Simon, his family & friends.

This was the first photo of Token which was very quickly renamed back to her original name of "Chance" She was looking a bit sorry for herself, However, I knew she just need a person with vision and a lot of TLC and hard work to bring her back to former glory.


This is Simon looking at Chance thinking what have I taken on and what have I done. However, Tricia was thinking yes she is ours and my dream of owning a classic wooden vessel from childhood as been realized.   


Having put a ladder up against her topsides and climbing into her cockpit, these further photographs show what we found inside her cabins.

In the aft cabin there was a tarpaulin with doors that had been removed from the aft cabin and when the tarpaulin was removed a bed frame which had been put in at some time in the past. The bed frame was set up athwartships and not fore and aft as it was originally build.


The main cabin was not much better it was full of rubbish and bits that had been removed and just laid on the berths, Old Vacuum cleaner and all manner of other rubbish, Some would be useful and other bits just going to go in the skip. So the first thing to do was to document what was going to be salvaged and what was going to be throw away. 


One of the items in the main cabin that should not be there was the diesel cooker which to be removed from the main cabin and restored and put where it should be placed in the galley area in the cabin space forward of the main cabin.


Chance even had a full size sink fitted and lockers above 


The port side part of the galley area with the space for diesel diesel cooker to be placed and the long workshop along the main cabin - galley area bulkhead




The starboard side of the main cabin with much of original cabinetwork still in place however some of it was hacked about especially the forward end where the diesel cooker was fitted in the incorrect position.


The aft end of the main cabin on the starboard side with its hanging locker for foul weather gear to be stored when not in use.


The port side of the main cabin showing the rubbish we had to sort through and remove from the boat before when could start to see what was below the rubbish.


In the passageway to the aft owner's cabin was situated the owner's own toilet compartment (Heads), with its own hand basin and and Baby Blake toilet. The baby Blake sea toilet being the original toilet after it was researched for the spare parts needed to restore the toilet to full working order. 


The forward crew cabin in a hell of a state and in need of a lot of TLC and removing of parts that should not be there and reinstating parts that should be there. Two items that are missing from this cabin are the Junior Baby Blake  and the small hand basin  which should situated on the starboard side. they have long since gone, however, we will be refitting these items as part of Chance's restoration 


This was our first trip to Chance on the 7th of 2021 and the first of many trips we made to Woodplumpton in Lancashire before we were able to bring Chance home to Essex to continue her restoration.





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