Amazing March

Yep over 20 degrees, clear sunny days and long evenings since the time
changed last Sunday. Highest temperature in March since 1965 apparently.
So what does this mean for Teal ? yep she's drying out a lot.
John Hegarty advised me to give her a coat of parafin everyday I'm down
there so thats what I'll do.
I've made a start on the sawn frames and have two pairs nearly ready. I
cut them at home then took them to the boat and did the final shaping.
Now there in the shed waiting for paint.
Next job will be plugging fastening holes so that we can get them fixed
in place.
I could probably get more done but I've been out on the local lake with
the firefly enjoying the weather, while it lasts.

Hegarty's from the other side

A beautiful morning on the Ilen river,

Frame out but fastenings to be removed , for this I need my helper and his dolly

First pair nearly ready

The firefly at anchor on Curraghalicky lake. I had somewhat of a drift back to shore this evening.

Bits arriving

Got a few goodies delivered today. Some silicone bronze screws and
a big pile of galvanised nuts and bolts from Seaware and my
resorcinol from C-guard.

Been experimenting with plug cutters for making the fastening hole
dowels. Teal is fastened with large bronze nails on to her sawn frames
and has never been refastened.  We are going to use silicone bronze
screws instead as we replace the frames but the nails have left a 5 or
6mm hole so they have to be plugged

We also made a start on the new frames but its limited until the new
keel is in and the new floors arrive.

Anti climax

Despite my head cold and sore throat I couldn't resist getting started on
the keel yesterday, I set out my battens and took up all my marks from
the old keel then tacked the top batten on to the top of the new keel and
transfered the marks and  faired the lines. Then I turned it over and went
tacking on the batten when one of the nails seemed to go in very easily.
Noticing this I gave the near by timber a clout of the hammer only to
leave a sizable dent. F*%K S^*T B*%^^X.
A line of rot running about four foot into the timber. So we're back to
waiting for a keel again and now without the money we had for it.
Well such is life, and I've learned to scruttanize the next piece
more aggressively.
Its not a total loss as three quarters of the piece is still good oak so we'll
cut out the rot and set the remains aside for future projects.

I continued today with roughly cutting a few frames from the crooked
oak we got and finally got the false keel made as well. I had picked up
another piece of oak to get that out of after the first one wasn't big enough
but this one had splits running through it so I've now made it in two
pieces instead.

A section of pith which is what was rotten, Obvious in retrospect it can be seen here on the end grain. 

 

I had wanted to see the log being sawn to make sure the pith was avoided but it had already
been cut when we arrived and I hadn't realized it ran so far into this piece.

Setting out the lines

After a coat of linseed oil

The split piece, soon to be fire wood. The old rudder can be seen in the background, it broke in half after it fell lightly against the door.

Got our keel

So thankfully we got our keel timber today and got it locally and
at a good price. We also got some crooked stuff to get a few frames
out of and a nice piece of oak for the new sternpost so theres plenty
to get on with now. Also the trailer held up so not a bad day.

 

Fingers crossed

Although we have nothing to get on with at home and we won't
get back to paint scraping until Wednesday there are things happening.
As I've said already, the floors are being forged, the floor bolts and some
other bits and pieces are on there way. I've ordered some resorcinol glue
for plugging fastening holes in the planking and we should have our
timber for our sternpost, false keel, some of the frames and hopefully
the keel timber in the next week if things go to plan, so I spent most
of today repairing my long suffering trailer in order to collect it.
We also need to call to a local Co-op for some 16mm galvanised bar
for deadwood bolts.
With all that and getting Providence ready for launching next month
we have plenty to do.
Perhaps soon we'll see a bit of life coming back into this boat.

Lead Poisoning

We've spent the last two days at the boat striping paint. Yesterday
we went burning it off but both felt pretty crap from the fumes after
even though it didn't seem that bad at the time.
Today we started with paint striper but that was useless so Ken, wearing
a proper mask went burning while I got on with a few jobs on
Providence. Standing outside of Teal today while Ken was burning I
could see why we might have felt sick, the fumes where terrible.
Last thing we did today was remove the worst sawn frame and
pull the bronze nails. They are in a brittle state but as the frames need
replacing the fastenings will be done in turn, Unfortunately there are
around 800 of them and there not cheap.

Charing on the planking was caused by the fire in the 50's

Little victory

Well not much to report at the moment, Still no keel, told the guy who
said he can get it to go ahead but haven't heard back yet.
Floors are being made, and I placed the order for galvanised bolts and
silicon bronze screws.
Also I got the last stuck bolt out off the ballast the other day, it was the
one under the wooden dowel so must have been stuck there for quite
a while. Just drilled a piece of ply, stuck a bolt through it, sat it over
the bolt and gave it a few clouts with the sledge hammer and out it
came. Just the way I like to do things :)
We're going down on Friday to try and do a few more bits and pieces
so might have something to show following that.

Few bits done

Got a few bits made this week, deadwood, bowknee and mast step are
done and have gotten a coat of linseed oil. The piece I got for the
false keel had sapwood on one edge that I hadn't noticed so I'm going
to get another piece for it instead of messing about with it.
We went to the forge today as well and gave them a few photos of the
detail on the floors and a deposit so they'll be getting started soon.
Got one of the rotten keel bolts out of the ballast, one to go, and
Ken started cleaning down the ballast for painting.
Still no word on the keel timber, We can get a piece but its in
northern Ireland and not particularly cheap plus the cost of fuel so
we're holding off on it at the moment.
I am also about to order all the galvanized bolts and some of the
silicone screws off of seaware.co.uk .
So at least we're moving in the right direction.