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

 This past year as been one of many turns and changes along the way. We had plans to get the restoration of Chance underway in a major way. however this was not to be the case. As the following paragraph will show you. Having moved Chance from Woodplumpton in the previous November to Walton on the Naze in Essex, we set about making plans to start doing the restoration in the spring of this year.  However, this was derailed by the passing of my wife's mother after a long illness, this event happened and so the project was put on hold for most of the year apart from doing the odd bit here and there either on Chance or in the workshop doing small jobs while we rebuild our lives once more,  So has the months when on during 2023 without the heart to move the project along the project ground to a slow halt and in the end it stop with a cover being put over the boat and all work stopped on the boat itself.  So we both when about our daily working lives while we came to term...

Sorting out a small area in my yard where I can sort the floorboards under cover and so they can dry out over the past few months. The many problem with the floorboards was that they have been in Chance for such a long time without any chance to dry out and so became water logged ad so they were taken off Chance and brought to my yard and under cover and so they could dry out. Now that Chance as a cover over her the floorboards in some parts of the boat can go back in position and help us be able to set up a small bench in the main cabin and a small galley area so we can keep ourselves warm with a brew during the time we are working on Chance inside as well as outside over the winter.  Picking up the floor bearers we have got left when Chance was dismantled and see which can be reused and which can be repaired and what will need replacing so that the floor can go back down in the fore cabin galley and main cabin and the compainway from the aft cabin to the cockpit. Starting to clea...

Now that the cover is over the superstructure the inside can start to dry out and make it possible to  work on the inside. So we can do areas one at a time. The largest job is going to be sorting out the aft cabin and get the deck removed to get the beams and beam shelf removed and replaced on the starboard and remove the aft deck to make ne aft deck beams to tie the aft end of the boat back together again. Once the aft deck is removed we will be able to make new quarter knees for the transom and connect the transom to the beam shelf back together again and that way the back of the back of the boat will be able to keep its shape once more. At last now we have a cover over the superstructure the boat will stay dry. We just have to get small covers for the ends to completely cover it in and keep any weather or rain out of the boats superstructure.  

The size of the task ahead is large if you take as a whole job to do in one hit. That is why we are doing a bit at a time.  The first job is to get the starboard side back into position by shoring up the starboard side. That will be done by taking a pattern of the port side that is in the correct shape.  So the first job is to take all the bits that are holding the starboard side in the wrong position and parts that are heavy such as the steering turning block and its backing pad. Also the lower part of the rotten frame which needs removing to let the whole of the starboard side be loose to be able to move to whatever position need to move it to to that it back where it should be. So we are going to use jacks and blocks and shores to get the shape back and also block and tackles to pull the starboard back to to the position it should be.As can be seen in the photos the starboard side as moved out by an inch and half from its original position.  The port side although in a...

This area was neglected for so many years, One of the major jobs in this area will be to a deep clean and dry the whole area out and get rid of all the old items that are not going to be used again.   So it is out with the cleaning gear and empty the bilge and wash down the bilges and get rid of all the rubbish that as find its way into bilges. We got to start some where and it might as well the cockpit and then work out from there. These old gear shifrs are coming out as they are no longer going to be used and take up room in the cockpit bigles. The seacocks will be comiong out and get serviced and put back in later in the restoration.  

Looking aft at the last two frames on the port side, it is possible to see the problem there is with the starboard side. The starboard side is rotten and broken and is not connected any part of the boats hull and that the starboard side as fallen away badly and is going to need a lot of shoring up to get it back into the correct position once more. As can be seen from this photo the starboard side is in a very poorly condition with out a lot of connection between the beam shelf and the lodging knees which are all going to need replacing in due course. This lodging knee is so rotten that the only thing that can be done is to take a pattern of what is left and take another of the port side to see how much of the starboard side knee is missing and make up a new knee to put in place of the rotten and broken starboard knee. Also the starboard beam shelf is in three pieces at the moment which we will put back in two pieces with a long step scrape  in the mid section and will be fixed to ...

At long last got a cover that is able to cover the top of Chance and down the sides to keep the weather off Chances's hull and deck and make it able to work on the inside  over the winter and beyond. Now it is just a matter of getting the cover over the stem and over the top of the cabin and the rest of the superstructure  and then try it down. With a bit of careful pulling we were able to get it over the top of the foredeck and then over the wheelhouse and over the  aft cabin and now it is done it is time to get to work on the inside as well as the starboard side and transom.  

This is the RNLB Helen Wycherley undercover on Whitby Quayside where Richard Sworder and friends are restoring this Watson Class Lifeboat. Like us they are doing the restoration on limited funds. We both have patreon pages, gofundme pages YouTube pages & Facebook pages  so you can follow our progress as we both restore our own vessels. We when to Pickering to see where some of the scenes for Harry Potter were filmed ( Platform 9 3/4) we even had time to visit the Windermere Museum to look at the boats there which include boats from the Swallows & Amazons.    Finally a visit to the National  museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool to see how they make traditional ropes and many other things related to the Royal Navy  and the surrounding area over the centuries.  

As many of you will have seen from the lack of updates there as been little work done on Chance over the summer. This as been due a lack of time and more over a lack of funds to do major task done on Chance. especially the removal of the middle and aft section of the starboard beam shelf and reconstructing the transom and its framework which holds it in position.   However, all is not doom and gloom, has I have been able to take on an apprentice to help me during the working week on my clients boats and leave myself and wife time to get on with working on Chances repairs.  So hopefully over the coming week's we should be able to make a start on getting the beam shelf removed and replaced with a new correctly fitted beam shelf which will bring the hull back into position  along with the ribs and frames which have to be replaced at the same time to get the hull back into its correct position once more.  There is going to be a lot of shoring up of the starboard sid...