July 2017

 Most of the month of July was spent with more dismantling of the interior. By the end of the first week, the interior was largely empty, as can be seen in this view forward from the aft cabin on the port side. The bulkhead in the distance marks the forward end of the saloon and galley doorway, while behind the partition on the right is the main stairway to the deckhouse.

This view is looking back from the saloon area towards the stairs up to the deckhouse. Summers in Japan are hot and humid, and part of our cooling system, which consisted of electric fans, can be seen on the right.

Another view looking forward on the port side (above). The thick vertical pipe is the original bilge pump. The long piping running along the hull is part of the original heating system that supplied heated water. The original pipes that ran throughout the boat in the bilge area (below) were for fresh water and grey water.

By now, all the fixtures, including the nickel-plated light switches and door handles had been removed, catalogued and stored, awaiting restoration.

The four tanks in the bilge were for fresh water and grey water. Three were riveted and one was welded for some reason that is not clear.

Ben and Nico are using a chain block to lift out one of the tanks through the space left after removing the deck house.

Now that the interior was stripped, we had a better idea of the condition of the iron floors and the center line bolts (top), the clips (center) and the keel bolts (above, labeled “8”). It’s clear that one of the floor hold down bolts is completely missing.

Progress also continued on the outside of the hull, with the second broad strake being removed on the starboard side here.

The next big step was going to be removing the hogged keel so it (and the boat) could be straightened. The forward end was broken.

On top, work started on dismantling and removing the deck planking.

Keiji (above) had joined our team by then, but we were still undermanned.

By the end of July, however, the deck was stripped, and Cynara had become even more skeletal.