Restoration
Journal
September 22nd- 2003 - #4
More stripping...
The starboard team is now stripping the stern. And it's hard: the
oak is as hard as... well oak! The planking is hard and after ruining
a saw
blade, we are using chisels to free the nails which it seems not even
the largest crow bar can overcome.
Pieces of Purple Heart are wedged between
frame and planking to pry it out. Then we get to see the frame but still
need to remove the concrete hiding the bottom part of it.
And more concrete!
We have received some very interesting information from Jean-Pierre Drévillon,
son of one of the original owner/fisherman of Karrek Ven.
"I inquired of my father about the concrete found in the hold of
Karrek Ven. It is used on all boats of this kind with multiple advantages:
- Serves as ballast
- Protects the frames
- Facilitates the maintenance of the hold
Concrete was used both at the crew's quarters, and the stern
but not in the engine room". So this concrete becomes one of the elements
of this building technique that we are preserving.
It is a very hard concrete, poured with granite stones from the Brittany coast and it is often re-enforced with bolts or metal mesh. The work crew is struggling to remove it. At the same time, the accumulating pile of discarded concrete block is becoming potential building material for some envious house builders. The Breton shipwrights probably couldn't have guessed the future use for their boat's ballast, 60 years later.
Storm in the yard
During the night, sand blasters came to clean the boat next to us. The
high pressure hose blasts a mixture of sand and air to strip paint,
rust, and anything in the way of a clean hull. The sound is not unlike
that of a jet during takeoff and the resulting dust, a mixture of barnacles,
algae, sand and paint.
Karrek Ven became enveloped in a cloud of dusty fog. The compressor ran all night long and by morning, nothing had escaped the dust.
We can't even check the time on a watch laid next to us...during a vain
attempt to sleep, and this tempest of cleaning will last four nights
in a row. Hurray for wooden boats! "it is a material closer to man than
metal"
says Aldo
our
carpenter.
At the other end, the bow...
Unlike the stern, the bow is seriously damaged. Some frames have fallen apart from rot! From the gaping hole we can see the forefoot, the large piece re-enforcing the bow/keel joint. It will need to be replaced. It seems that the concrete and the oily bilge water did a good job protecting the aft part of the framing, unlike what we have discovered at the front.
Where are we at?
The new lumber is ready to be picked up at the mill. We plan to do that
this weekend, and then start replacing a frame every other two or three
frames to stabilize and stiffen the hull and avoid a likely distortion
of it. That's what we will be up to this week.
Restoration Journal
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#28 March-2004- |
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#32 April-2004- |
#34 |
