Blog — Friday, 20 December, 2019

Jonathan, a new member of the team arrived from Europe. He left his native NZ in his teens, and has since spent most of is working life working on classic yachts in various locations across Europe.

From early Monday morning, five crew members were working on the interior mahogany furniture. There are still many original pieces to be assembled, and members divided up the remaining tasks. French polish (flakes of Shellac dissolved in denatured alcohol) is applied on the restored parts, which takes time and skill to match the colours and textures of the new timber with the original parts.

Brass breather pipes with mushroom shaped hoods, which allow the underfloor tanks to “breathe,” have been installed on deck just inside the bulwarks.

Today, Paul and Nico were fairing the stern cheeks. At the bow, Mattis and Richard have been finishing up the washboard and capping rails. Japanese members of the crew were varnishing the masts again. This is the eighth time they have been varnished, and still more coats are needed.

Paul, Richard and Mattis are checking the fairing of the capping rails and discussing the line.

Kawashima is reassembling some of furniture.

Hashimoto works on restoring the original desk in the saloon.

The wood is steamed for a few hours to make it bend to the correct shape. The rule of thumb is to steam for 1 hour for every 25mm of wood thickness, then bend it, clamp it and leave it overnight to dry into its new shape.