Life's a Gamble, so lets take a Chance Restoration Project

  Tricia's mother passed away at the beginning of May and left a great hole in all our lives and so as a mark of respect all work was put on hold with Chance as the family come to terms with the passing of such a strong lady both in body and spirit. Ann was a lady who would never let a problem or hurdle get in her way, this "never say die" spirit as in many ways help her daughter Tricia live her own life and this "never give up" spirit as help her throughout her own personal and professorial life. This same tenacious spirit Tricia and I are using with the restoration of Chance. Tricia has looked at a hurdle or a problem and asked many a time is there a better or different way of doing a job on Chance or any of the boat's we have restored over the years. Many times with Tricia's non-boat building head, Tricia has seen the any hurdle from a different viewpoint and as seen a clearer way of going about the same job from a different angle. Then we would bot...

Although, it appears that little was done over the course of a year, a lot was done in removing a lot of furniture from the inside of the hull. Because much of the work was done around my day job as a working boat builder and around my wife's work has a nurse. If we were to have had no time and travel limits on our time at Chance the work would have been done a lot quicker and the project would be further ahead by now. However, that is life and we work round it as best we can. This photo shows the forecabin with the port side berth removed and hull paneling removed, however the chain locker bulkhead was still going to be removed shortly after this photo was taken. At which time the forecabin was washed down and the rubbish removed and the work was highlighted , what needed to be done. This photo shows how far we had got with removing the old furniture out of the aft cabin. The transverse double berth was removed as this was not original as was the paneling down both sides of the ca...

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...

The first coat of thinned varnish to help protect the surface. We can now see what the colour of the wood was when Chance was originally build. The only thing we have not done is go overboard with the sanding. We have just got rid of the greyed colour back to the rich mahogany colour below the weathered surface. The colour of the panels are beautiful rich mahogany colour you do not see much these days.  The chart table top will be good once there are a lot more coats of varnish and there are charts being used on the chart table again. The lower locker door which is going to have a lot more coat of varnish, If this is a window into what the rest of the mahogany that was used on Chance when she was build, Chance is going to look beautiful when she is revarnished over the course of the restoration.   

Having sanded back the drawer fronts and the side runners of the Chart table drawers it looks a lot better and ready for a fresh coat of varnish and the lower part a coat of fresh white paint to brighten up the lower locker in the chart table unit A much improved chart table unit now that it has had a good sanding back to get rid of the old varnish The side panel now repaired and sanded back to a original colour ready for a fresh coat of varnish The chart table top which has been sanded back, although not all the age staining as been removed it is a lot better than it was before we started. Just have a small split being glued together before the whole of the top gets a final sanding back before it is varnished once more. A gluing repair being done to the lower locker door, This will need a lower rail making to attach the door to the rest of the chart table unit as it was broken when this unit was removed from the cockpit last year.   

The chart table framework having some much needed repair work done to stabilize the framework so it can be refitted to the cockpit once the cockpit as been rebuild. The upright rail in the photo was just one of the parts needed to stabilize the framework . The other part needed was the corner brace to square up the framework back into its correct shape The framework now able to stand up by itself for the first time in a long time since it was removed out of the cockpit. Once the glue as cured the other work to stabilize the unit will be done. reinforcing the side and top panels from splitting and the the whole unit will be sanded down and re-varnished ready to be refitted into the cockpit once the cockpit floor is refitted. A good clean down and paint and varnish it will look as good as new and ready for another 70+ years.  

The chart table top as dried out over the years and as split along the grain and in order to keep the chart table, it was decided to clean out the split and fill the split with epoxy glue with mahogany sawdust to make up any gaps in the split so it will look as much as possible the original mahogany.  The top as been clamped together in order to keep its shape and also clamped flat as much as possible to flatten it out so that when the glue as cured a reinforcement panel will be screwed and glued to the under side to keep the top from splitting again.    The same treatment was used on the side panel of the chart table, clamping the split together with sash clamps and the two halves leveled up so they are as flat as possible. Once again when the glue is cured there will be reinforcement panels fitted to the inside face of the side panel to stop the panel from splitting again. The gap was clamped together as much as possible to give the glue a good bond between the two halv...

The chart table and the drawer unit from Chance is in a bit of a rough condition and is in need of a bit of TLC and a few parts need replacing. Most of the unit is in good condition, conceding it was open to the elements for quiet a long while. It is a little bit out of shape, however, with a little bit of adjustment it will go back in shape and when the drawers are repaired they will go back into the unit. The inside will need a bit of paint and sealing as it as had very little in the way of protection in some while. The top is in need of TLC in the way of gluing the two part together before it is sanded down and re-varnishing  The same with the large end panel which needs bracing from behind and the gap clamping up and gluing together and sanding down and re-varnishing.  

This link show what Simon has been doing while the weather has wet and he as been unable to work outside on Chance.   https://youtu.be/1ayeJmN9_4U This Easter weekend Simon was not able to get on with all the jobs he had planned to do on Chance herself, So when the weather turned wet and windy he decided to go to his workshop and get on with a few of the jobs he could get on with while the weather was so he could not work outside on Chance. Simon continued to clean off the old varnish off the three sets of steps that Chance has for people to move around the inside of Chance and out on to her decks. In the video the short set of steps are the steps to gain access to the deck from the wheelhouse. this set of steps were to be placed in front of the starboard sliding door out on to the side deck. Although, over the years somebody had made an extra set of steps for the port side behind the steering position they were not original and will not be going back in as although there is a sl...

The joints are reasonably intact, however, there are parts of the carlin which are rotten in places, so it is as well to replace the whole of the carlin as part of the restoration of Chance. It was good to see  that at least one end of the deck beams had not been messed about with unlike the outboard end which had been butchered. So it will be possible to redo the deck beams in the same manner has they were when the deck beams were first fitted back 1947/8 when Chance was build.  One deck beam that did not survive as it had been either rotten or broken out when they repaired the beam shelf and relaid the deck planking   The aft end of the carlin is in the same condition as the forward end , the major problem in this area is going to be making new aft deck beams and making new lodging knees. However, this time we will make the parts out of laminated oak which will be a lot stronger than the original parts and be more rot resistance.