February, 2018

Planks that have been damaged or have unwanted fastener holes are bunged, and a teak patch is glued over the top to restore the surface.

Lewis, Hashimoto, and Kawashima discuss the process of cutting out the futtocks.

The riveted steel engine room bulkhead is removed with a chain hoist. We hoped that about 75 percent would be salvageable, but in the end decided to fabricate a replacement.

Work on replacing the futtocks is continuing, one by one.

Taking the deck beams out turned out to be quicker than expected because of their poor condition. In fact, when the deck planks were released, some of them just fell out. They were in such bad condition that we didn’t have to make decisions on what was salvageable. Wires and bottle screws were fitted at stations to control the spreading of the hull at the edge of the deck.

Only 3 or 4 beams are left at key positions to maintain the deck’s profile. There are no more obstructions and the entire hull is now accessible.

Work in the lower bilge marches on with new being added to old.

A number of laminating experiments were carried out to test the critical ambient temperature and timber moisture content.

Lewis and Nico are making steady progress on the seemingly endless task of fitting the frames.

Paul surveys the stern chock before removal. We decided to replace the chock but we needed to collect data before removal. We also had to find all the fasteners so it could be removed smoothly. A number of repairs have been made over the years and we didn’t want to find any surprises. These chocks are usually only held in place by the hull planks and the deck, with perhaps a bolt through the end of the horn timber (the extension of the keel on top of the stern post that creates the backbone for the counter stern). Surprisingly, in Cynara’s case, it was held only by a single screw.

Jesper Olsen, a highly experienced Danish shipwright, joined the team. Experiments confirmed that it was too cold in the tent for laminating pieces, so his first job was to build a laminating table in one of the empty offices adjacent to the build tent. In the office, the air temperature and humidity could be kept constant, and the lighting was better. Here Jesper is laying steel sheets (the same ones used when we moved the keel) on top of sturdy pine blocks and levelled. Then a series of holes were drilled to provide anchor points for the brackets and bolts that allow different curvature patterns.

Scaffold shores are being extended from the hull to the scaffold of the tent for further stabilization.

Nico is using a slide hammer to release the end of a plank at the stem.

The strong back has been extended to run the entire length of the keel, and the steel table that Paul built has been fitted underneath. Ben balances on a ladder (above) as he works on the rudder cove, the hollow at the back of the stern post that takes the leading edge of the rudder.

Some of the futtocks were very short. Some at the stern had a lot of curve, and we decided to make a few of them from laminated iroko. It was faster and cheaper to buy a small quantity of iroko, that we knew was dry, rather than mill large pieces of our oak stock into laminates.

Jesper’s laminating table was quickly put to use, and it worked perfectly.

Meanwhile, work at the stern continues. Lead paint was applied to slow the drying of the stern knee. It was submerged for decades, so if it dries too quickly it could crack. Red lead was used because normal paint would have trouble drying on the damp surface.

Kawashima examines one of the teak planks and makes small repairs. This was the first use of the new joinery tent, and it will never look this clean and dust free again.

A shipment of timber—English oak and teak decking—arrives.

Clear grained hemlock supplied by the local timber merchant (top) was scarphed together to create long, continuous ribbands (above) that were fastened to the frames around the hull. These were used to check fairness and to have a reference to check against our line drawing. The old planking kept the original frames in position (below), but they weren’t good reference points as they were not necessarily fair or in the right position.

January, 2018

Carefully selected strakes, which are a run of planks from the stem to stern, are being removed by extracting the rivets and the ship nails (called dumps) with slide hammers and drifts. Kawashima (above) is drilling a hole into the head of a dump. It is then tapped with a thread before inserting the threaded end of a slide hammer and drawing it out.

A piece of string is tied through one of the holes to prevent the plank from springing out and falling to the ground when the opposite end is released. The planks may be very old, but they still retain their spring. The vertical tube is used as a water level in these early stages to monitor movement in the hull as strakes are released.

Nico Calderoni and Kawashima discuss a stubborn fastener.

After removal, the planks are cleaned, labelled, and stacked.

Ben is cleaning out the holes around the heads of the keel bolts. These are the long bolts that extend through the false keel, keel, and stern knee, and are difficult to remove.

Paul and Ben having one of their discussions on the plans with Takamiya.

Cleaning one of the sockets that housed a futtock, one of the curved rib-like timbers that make up the frame of the boat, after its removal.

Lewis is working on shaping one of the futtocks (above), and handing it to Nico, inside the boat (below) for a first fit.

The careful selection of strakes to be removed allows the boat shape to be manipulated more easily. Some strakes are left in place to act as ribbands, keeping the frames in place while alternate pairs of lower futtocks are removed.

The lower section of the false keel was finally separated from the boat.

Chuck Demangeat, Cynara’s rigger, is onsite to check the deck layout. He’s discussing the positions for new fittings with Paul (above). The positions will more or less match the old ones, but this has to be checked at an early stage so that deck fittings don’t collide with existing hull fastenings and the strong points can be built to take the anticipated stresses and loads of the rig on the hull. It was interesting to see the methods that the original builders used, something that can only be seen when the hull is stripped. After more than 90 years of use, it was also necessary to examine the condition of these areas.

Wooden ribbands are fitted low down in the hull to make sure that the new futtocks being installed are fair.

A chain block is used to remove a riveted steel bulkhead in the bow.

Nico is working on the lower stem section of the hull. There was no scaffolding at the time, so working with the heavy oak timbers off of ladders and benches was not easy.

Paul is fitting adjustable scaffold “legs” at select stations around the hull. These allow the sheer line to be maintained and tweaked where necessary. The legs are securely bolted to a heavy steel box section ribband that was stretched around the hull two plank levels below the sheer line. They also help keep the hull vertical during the boat’s deconstruction and through the frequent earth tremors that Japan experiences.

Nico and Lewis working on the futtocks under the hull.

Pascal is in the bilges, cutting thwarts and braces to make sure the hull in the bilge area keeps it shape.

Cynara is slowly getting her original shape back, based on the original drawings. The hull already looks fairer, but there’s more to do before she matches the drawings.

Clamps are used to secure the keel to the strong back I-beam. This is to take out any memory of the hog from the keel timber and ensure it stays flat and straight while work on Cynara continues. It also keeps the hull from moving during the random earthquakes.

December,  2017

This month saw the removal, packing and shipping of a number of items to be repaired, restored, or used as models for making new versions, when that was necessary.

The bronze quadrant, which is part of the steering mechanism (above), the portholes and the keel bolts (below) were readied to be sent to the UK. A minor crack that had been repaired earlier was discovered in the quadrant, so we decided to send it along and have it checked over.

The false keel prior to removal (above) and after (below).

The large H beam that would be used as the strong back arrived, and was moved under the wood keel to support the yacht and keep the keel straight while work proceeds. To support the beam and the boat, heavy duty steel tables were welded onsite and securely bolted to the floor.

Certain strakes—a line of planks from stem to stern—were selected for removal (above). We tried to remove strakes that approximately followed the diagonal lines of the drawings. The process went like this: The bungs are removed from over the riven heads on the outside of each plank. Then the heads of the rivets are ground down to remove the burr over the clench rings that hold them.

Then someone (Pascal in this case, above) drives the rivet out from the inside, while someone on the outside (Kawashima in this case, below) ensures the rivet comes out clean. Each plank on average had a 7/16 inch rivet and two 4 inch nails, or dumps, at each double frame.

Planks are marked with a letter and a number and holes are highlighted depending on whether it’s a dump or a rivet to be removed. Even with the fastenings removed, remnants of oakum and swollen timber, submerged for decades, still makes them a challenge to release.

Pascal (above) removing one of the dumps (below).

The hull planks are always tough to remove, as they are swollen from 90 years of saturation. Making it even more difficult was the fact that the boat was out of shape, adding tension to the hull. Add to that the deep caulking and the “edge set” planks—meaning that straight planks are bent to fit the curve of the strake. After prising one end free (above), we lash it to something stout or add tension using a small block and tackle (below).

Holding the plank away from the hull as it is teased out helps to take the spring out of the 2-inch teak planks. It also allows room for a wedge between the plank and the frame. Each blow on the wege gains us a few millimeters as the stubborn planks come slowly out.

We remove full strakes to ease the tension in the hull, allowing it to move more easily. Broad strakes in the stern have been removed to expose the futtock ends at the stern knee.

Wrought Iron floors are labelled and stacked on pallets to be shipped to the UK. It was decided it was going to be more efficient to send the original floors rather than fabricate complicated patterns against frames that were in poor condition and would be changed. The foundry could make accurate copies. Simple patterns were kept onsite so that new frames would maintain the correct profile but the complicated twist and shape of each floor could be forged using the originals. The floors are not cast, but forged from billets of iron. Each one is unique.

Also removed from the boat this month were the main mizzen step (above) and the generator bed (below).

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.