Need to start putting stuff back

We went down today and done what we could,
The guy who had been laminating up the stem before we bought it had
stopped the plank end fastenings with epoxy so Ken began uncovering
them but after a chat with Liam we decided just to change the lower
bit of the apron and leave the laminated stem be as its not a bad job
and just needs finishing off,
Then we set about dropping out the deadwood, which after removing
the concrete either side and putting it mildly "removing" half of the stern
knee came out quite easily.
Now we really need to press on with the keel before we can continue with
frames, floors etc

Aft deadwood

Cans sealed down and filled with diesel to try and loosen old keel bolts

Why the keel needs replacing

The aft end has lots of repair patches and actually broke off as I lifted it on to the stand so I had to nail it back on.

Rotten frame fastenings were protruding from the center here

Splitting and rot under the bow knee, it no longer held the dumbs attaching the bow knee

The keel was made from Elm and is showing its 98 years of duty

Here ya go Leo

Got a nice bit done today, Ken removed the cockpit, I cut the keel loose.
We got the keel out without much hassle and finally got to have a look at
the 98 year old floor bolts. They were as you would expect.
Best of all theres not much left to remove.

Some Progress

So we got down as planned on Tuesday morning and despite the forecast for
imminent rain it actually stayed dry. The boat had already been moved so we
got on with shoring her up.
The keelbolts opened without any hassle bar one which we had to chisel into
the keel and cut off with the saber saw, The aft keelbolt which was hidded
under a metal plate had apparently been replaced with a wooden dowel, not
ideal.
We lowered off the ballast without much hassle and left it aside. I went back
down today and finished shoring her up so we should be able to jack her
up and remove the blocks under the keel when we're ready to slide it out
and just block it back up with a 9x3  in place of the keel to carry the load.
Also I finally got hold of a camera so heres some pics of this and that.

1 1/4 ton of cast iron

Not much good there

The bow knee was very weak and brittle

Wooden keel bolt !!!!!!!!

All striped out

All shored up and a bit of primer on the bare wood

Whats going on

I've been contemplating writing a post for the past two weeks but I wanted
to have some progress made and some photos taken, Unfortunately the
camera charger has yet to reappear,
I've contacted a man who says he will have the keel timber for us but when
I rang yesterday he said maybe next week so We'll just have to wait and
see with that one, It will be worth the wait if he has it because his prices
sound very good indeed, less than half what I expected.
We went to the boat last Friday and took templates of most of the starboard
sawn frames, They should be close enough to use for picking the grown
crooks for both sides, We also took down all the timber for the stand we
need to build, Unfortunately we didn't have everything as Liam offered
to move the boat for us, Anyway Ken wasn't feeling good and that was
apparent from the gas leaking from his rear end, and the weather was crap
to boot,  Its probably a good days work to get it done.
I went to town to today to get the Iroko to make the new rudder as I can
get on with that at home but when I got a look at what they had in stock
I decided it wasn't good enough for what they where charging so there
going to order in a few lengths of good quality timber for me, Its only
two lengths 2.300x200x80 and 2.500x200x65 and that works out at 150
euros. I know the rudder isn't a priority at this stage but I can make it
at home and I would like to see some progress and at the
end of the day we need a rudder.
I also picked up 5 lengths of M12 treaded bar, 10 bolts and 50 nuts and
washers for making the stand so I think we're ready to go with that.
One other thing we got done was to cut out the steel compression post,
It had to be removed to get the bow knee out and the floor bolts under that,
We also uncovered the mast step so she did indeed have a keel stepped
mast originally as we had expected, We plan to return it to a keel stepped
mast but thats a long way off yet.
Hopefully my next post will show some real progress and have some
pictures as well.

How she looked

Just a pic or two of Teal, The first one was taken on the Baltic in 04 or 05,
Images borrowed from www.midsummerenergy.co.uk
Just to give you an idea of just how pretty a boat she will be when restored.
The second pic was in a 1914 issue of yachting monthly, Her original owner
Percy Woodcock wrote an article named 'Our new ship' which was featured.

Looking for Oak

So can't say a lot has been done since the last post but there is a definite plan of
action at least, The yard is pretty busy with trawlers and such so Teal still sits
on the forklift, Once some space has been made we're going to make up a frame
to support her in a way that leaves the keel free to be removed and as we sit her
on to it we'll let the ballast come away. For the keel we need a length of Oak
15"x5"x15' . It will probably take a bit of searching to get hold of that and quite
a few phone calls as apparently people who sell timber don't respond to emails.
The only other job I've done was to measure up the rudder for its replacement
and scraped some paint off of it to see what timber it was made from. On doing
that I found a nice crack running right a long the lower rudder plintel , Could
have been nasty had it failed at sea.

From what I can make out her rudder, keel and deadwoods are Elm, I know her
original transome was wych elm so the rest are probably the same.
The new keel will be of Oak but the rudder will probably be of Iroko.