November 2017

The plan to remove the ballast and straighten the boat moved ahead. It included the making of two heavy duty tables that would support the boat fore and aft. The tables (forward one above) were designed to support the strong back carrying the hull and allow height adjustments with the use of a 50-ton jack under each table. The ballast would then be lowered away from the hull.

The ballast was supported on cross beams welded to two long I-beams (above).

Skates were placed under the I-beams, so that the keel could be rolled out from under Cynara. The 8 skates, each with a 6-ton capacity, had to support the 25-ton weight of the ballast and the weight of the cradle.

The boat was stabilized and the steel frame jacked up to meet the ballast. (The chalk lines mark the locations where the keel bolts ran through the ballast.) Blocks were used to account for the angle and the irregular shape of the lead. As the cradle holding the ballast was lowered, a gap appeared above the ballast (above).

When the gap was large enough to allow it, the 25-ton ballast began its journey to a new location. It was moved inch-by-inch with pulled by steel cables and turfers anchored at strategic points in the concrete floor. For turns, the corners were jacked clear of the skates, and the skates were set in the new direction before the cradle was lowered back down on them. Steel sheets were placed over the floor to reduce any strain from stones or cracks in the concrete.

Lewis checking the angle of the skates as the ballast begins the final turn out of the machine shed. Though very slow, it was a remarkably smooth journey once everything was set. The hardest part was moving the awkward steel sheets.

The hog is clearly visible in this shot.

A strong back was created using four-inch blocks spaced evenly on an I-beam that ran between the two tables. This was then jacked up to the centerline to give the necessary support. The weight was taken by the beam and the tables, and the 4-inch blocks let us access any bolts in the underside of the keel. This was when she was at her most precarious, balanced on timber shores with nothing supporting the centerline. Now we could focus on straightening the distortion of many years in the keel timber, and jack it up to the correct angle.

October 2017

The keel bolts were removed, cleaned and measured. Of the 18 keel bolts, only three of the main ones and two smaller ones at the stem ended up being replaced, even though some were slightly bent. They were sent for inspection using a dye which shows any hairline cracks that might be invisible to the naked eye. The nuts were replaced.

It was clear that the iron clips that connected the keel bolts to the iron floors were corroded beyond repair (above). We made wooden models (below) that were sent off to Topp & Co. in the UK so that new clips could be forged, along with the floors. The wooden patterns only recorded the principal dimensions. The sharp edges of the pattern were eliminated in the forging process.

Late summer and autumn is typhoon season, and we were hit with a fairly large one on October 17. The storm surge swept over the marina and carried the main boom away. (It was later found underneath a beached boat across the bay.) In the above photo, the storm surge has reached the side of the shed, 100 meters away from the edge of the dock.

The high winds shredded the roof of the tent (above), and gave the boat a soaking. Otherwise, it was undamaged.

September 2017

We continued cataloguing and storing items from the interior. The ingenuity of this folding sink (above and below) was fascinating. It is now displayed in the ship’s museum on the Seabornia Marina site.

The remains of the beautiful nickel plating on the bronze cleats are still visible on these originals. These were set aside to be cleaned, restored, polished and reused.

Lewis took out the mast step for cleaning and restoration with a chain hoist. He also helped set up the joinery shed (below) next to the large shed that housed Cynara.

 In the joinery shed we stored interior parts (mainly the pine panels), some of which would be restored. The rack that is visible above was used mainly to house the white painted paneled bulkheads. (We were optimistic at the time that some could be stripped, repaired and reused. Because of changes in the layout, and the fact that many had suffered from water damage, in the end they were used for reference.)

The deck house was also stored in the shed. Here, the peripherals—the glass, the sliding hatch, etc.—are being removed.

August  2017

In early summer, we began planning the removal of the keel in order to straighten the hog.

 As we began removing the planks, we found evidence of work that had been done earlier. At some point over the years, the lower half of the stem had been replaced. We could see where the bottom of the double frames had been cut through to allow the removal of this section. Bronze straps (outlined in chalk above) had been installed to bridge the joint between the lower frame end and the new section of stem. The repair had been done not with oak, but with iroko, an African hardwood with properties similar to teak. That suggests that it was done sometime during the 60’s, when the use of iroko was prevalent in Europe, but there are no records.

On either side of the main mast step a large naval brass plate (above) was fitted to add extra strength in this area. We decided to use these in the restoration as we thought it did no harm having the extra stiffness.

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.