The major restoration of Chance (Token) James Silver Western Isles Motor sailer

jstarmarine

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What a day, today has been travelling across the country from one side to the other side. Starting on the east side of the country and driving over the Pennines to the west coast.
Yesterday after a very tiring day driving up the country from my home in the south east of the country in North East Essex. Because of a car crash on the one of the major north to south roads in the country I was using to get to my brother's home and the fact the crash was between the two slip roads I could use to take a different route to my brother's home. That Life, Having had a good nights rest I set off to Chance to get a few things sorted and clean up round the boat. Namely cover up the cooker and the toilet which were not covered up properly when I had to leave last time because of the problems with my Transit van. The clutch problem which was to be repair this last week. It was repaired but then failed after a short while and now back to renting a car to keep working. However, that is a story for another day when I am not so stressed.
I did get to Chance this morning to find her in good order with the covers I put over her still in place and doing their job of keeping the rain and weather off the deck and keeping the inside of the cabins dry. So that next time I am up working on Chance the weather will not be a problem that will stop me and my family working on her interior.

I will be posting a few short videos of the boat in the coming days to highlight what as to be done over the next few weeks and months. The three main areas to finish off are the toilet room and the main cabin cupboards and settee areas to expose the hull in these areas and finally the engine room / compartment which has to have the engines and tankage removed and disposed of and in this area it is going to be completed re-designed to bring it is line with modern requirements.
Lets hope I get my Transit van back on the road soon and I can get on with my work on Chance and make a living doing my day job as a boat builder, which helps fund these early stages of Chances' restoration .
 

jstarmarine

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Because of my van problems and the fact, I am unable to get to Chance for a couple of weeks. My day job taking priority, that is repairing other peoples;s boats before my own fine vessel. I will put aside some time after work to sort out the parts of Chance's interior woodwork I have already got at my own boatyard. Most of it is in fair condition, however, it will all need re-vanishing after all the old varnish is removed and the bare wood is sanded back to the original grain and colour. A long job, but a necessary job to bring back the colour of the original colour of the wood when Chance was originally build in 1948.
It appears that Chance was build using South American Mahogany and not like a number of other James Silver boats build around the same time which were build using Teak. May be the original owner did not wish to have her build of Teak or it was not available when she was being build. I will have to do some more research in to why this was the case. It may be just cost, who knows.
Some of the parts which came back after the first couple of visits to Chance are in poor condition and will need to be renewed Parts of the drawers and doors have areas of rot in them and will need to be renewed. The old parts can be used as patterns to make the new drawers and doors. The next problem will be trying to find good quality mahogany with a colour close to the original.
So it is going to be a task to set up a work station in my temporary workshop out in the yard to work on the parts that are already back at my boatyard. The first job will be to wash the old parts down to get rid of any dirt and to check out the condition of each part before making pans to to sort out what needs doing to which parts . So it will be a job for one of my apprentices catalog each part and give me a report on the course of action for each part.



https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-coming-week-55734496/edit
 

penfold

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Decent timber was hard to come by in the immediate post-war era, some yards had hoarded quantities of the good stuff and were willing to build for regular customers only.
 

jstarmarine

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How my life has changed in the course of a week.
It is amazing how your life can change in a matter of days and your view on life can change and your priorities shift.
This time, last week I had a quiet Saturday after a busy week at work doing a number of jobs on my clients boats over the course of the week and was looking forward to a quiet weekend at home with the family and planning our next trip up to Chance to continue with her restoration. Over the month or so my family with the help of my brother John had been getting on well with dismantling the furniture on the inside of Chance. Having cleaned much of the aft cabin and forecabin back to the hull apart from the main bulkheads between the cabins which keep Chance in her correct shape.
Much of the galley area had also been removed and so had much of the aft heads and the engineering room. Also 3/4 of the internal pig iron ballast had been removed at this point in time.
This left just the remains of the locker in the galley area and the small amount cabinet work in the aft heads to remove then make a start on the main saloon. This would leave the cockpit to do. This being the biggest challenge, the removal of the engines and the tankage in the engine compartment under the wheelhouse floor.

Then life took a curve ball. Last Sunday night life was turned upside down in a way I did not see coming. I felt a little under the weather thinking it was just that I had push myself a bit during the previous week. Little did I know that the next few hours that I was going to go into my local area general hospital for emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. Because of my age and other health issues the surgeon laid it out on the line. If I do not operate on you now in the next few hours you will die as you will die of blood poisoning. However, because of you underlaying heath issues you have a 50/50 chance of coming through the surgery.
So I took the way that gave me the only option to survive. Thankfully I am still here to be writing this blog to you my patrons. It is good to be alive and still in the game, however with a different view on life and work in general.
In the weeks to come it is going to be a time of re-evaluating life's priorities and offloading the rubbish around ones self's especially at work and making plans for the future.
The main plan is to clear as much of the work in my yard as possible by employing boat builders to get the jobs in hand down to a manageable amount so that when I am back on my feet I can do more supervisor work until I can get back to a place where I feel able to get back to work. This is a the plan for my future.
The restoration of Chance will be put on hold for a couple of months while I sort out my yard and workshop so that there is room for the boat to be back here in Essex.
So over the next few weeks there is going to be a lot of planning on how to get the ball rolling and get get on my feet and get my yard up and running again.
 

tillergirl

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Blimey, bad luck. Perhaps good luck, your timing and decision making has been both very fortunate and very sensible. Having had a stroke I appreciate the need to revise one's life plans and to compromise. I wish you the very best. Chance can wait for you and we can wait with patience for the updates. The very best wishes.
 

jstarmarine

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Blimey, bad luck. Perhaps good luck, your timing and decision making has been both very fortunate and very sensible. Having had a stroke I appreciate the need to revise one's life plans and to compromise. I wish you the very best. Chance can wait for you and we can wait with patience for the updates. The very best wishes.

Thanks Tillergirl,

The next few weeks are going to be he most challenging has I change my priorities after a lifetime of working as a boat builder. Life will fun???
 

tillergirl

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Yes life will be fun - but it will be different. It did take me a couple of years to accept what would be the sensible thing to do. And I still miss many things. But there are still so many alternatives.
 

AntarcticPilot

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I have had several "curve-balls" thrown at me - the most recent this year when my wife died suddenly and unexpectedly (not Covid-19). The best advice I've been given is that things will return to "normal", but it will be a new normal. In my case, the return to "normal" is taking longer because I can't get closure on some things because of Covid-19 travel restrictions (not UK ones; I could handle those).
 

jstarmarine

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I have had several "curve-balls" thrown at me - the most recent this year when my wife died suddenly and unexpectedly (not Covid-19). The best advice I've been given is that things will return to "normal", but it will be a new normal. In my case, the return to "normal" is taking longer because I can't get closure on some things because of Covid-19 travel restrictions (not UK ones; I could handle those).

Hi AntarcticPilot

My curve ball is a chance to re-evaluate life's' priorities and see the world around me for it is and my place in it. Also a chance to offload the rubbish that as been holding me down and under a lot of stress both personal and professional. Then once this is done make new plans for the future.

Regards
Simon
 

AntarcticPilot

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Hi AntarcticPilot

My curve ball is a chance to re-evaluate life's' priorities and see the world around me for it is and my place in it. Also a chance to offload the rubbish that as been holding me down and under a lot of stress both personal and professional. Then once this is done make new plans for the future.

Regards
Simon
That happened for me when my first wife died, 14 years ago.
 

jstarmarine

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Hi Followers,

I have had a busy few days scraping off old varnish off Chance's cupboard doors, lockers doors and her cabin doors. Some of the doors have had little varnish on them since they were first made over seventy years ago. The inside faces of the cupboards and locker doors especially have had very little in the way of varnish over the many years since Chance was build. Whereas the faces of the doors facing into the cabins have had a number of coats of varnish over the years and there is a fair amount of build up of varnish on these surfaces. So doing one side of the cupboard and locker doors as been a straightforward job of just cleaning the surface and then sanding the surface to get back to the original colour of the timber when it was first made into the cupboard and locker doors.
The faces of the cupboard & locker doors into the cabin and the cabin doors have had a larger amount of varnish on the doors has these have been varnished over the years.


The other necessary job with doing the doors has been to remove all the door furniture and see how much of it can be saved and reused and how much will have to be sourced from places and businesses that still manufacture today. Some of the door and roof hatch furniture which Chance still has onboard and will have to be sourced as the work on her restoration continues and so it will be many hours of surfing the internet to find the parts over the next few years and collecting the parts as they become available.
So this next week we will continue to do work on the doors and other items that are in my workshop, until I get a chance to get back up to Woodplumpton and Chance to collect more of the parts that are still on Chance and ready to come down to the workshop and get worked on.
 

NealB

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Hi Followers,

I have had a busy few days scraping off old varnish off Chance's cupboard doors, lockers doors and her cabin doors. Some of the doors have had little varnish on them since they were first made over seventy years ago. The inside faces of the cupboards and locker doors especially have had very little in the way of varnish over the many years since Chance was build. Whereas the faces of the doors facing into the cabins have had a number of coats of varnish over the years and there is a fair amount of build up of varnish on these surfaces. So doing one side of the cupboard and locker doors as been a straightforward job of just cleaning the surface and then sanding the surface to get back to the original colour of the timber when it was first made into the cupboard and locker doors.
The faces of the cupboard & locker doors into the cabin and the cabin doors have had a larger amount of varnish on the doors has these have been varnished over the years.


The other necessary job with doing the doors has been to remove all the door furniture and see how much of it can be saved and reused and how much will have to be sourced from places and businesses that still manufacture today. Some of the door and roof hatch furniture which Chance still has onboard and will have to be sourced as the work on her restoration continues and so it will be many hours of surfing the internet to find the parts over the next few years and collecting the parts as they become available.
So this next week we will continue to do work on the doors and other items that are in my workshop, until I get a chance to get back up to Woodplumpton and Chance to collect more of the parts that are still on Chance and ready to come down to the workshop and get worked on.

What a great thread.

Sorry to read of your 'curved ball', but it sounds like you are still full of determination and optimism.

I hope everything goes well for you on all fronts.

If I can help with anything (though fetching and holding things is about as far as my practical skills go), please don't be shy to pm me.
 
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jstarmarine

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Just a few more doors and then it will be the turn of the drawers to get sorted out
Just a couple of the pile of doors to do and then it will be the turn of the number of drawers from the boat to look at and in some cases make new drawers as some have so come rot at the backs where they were in contact with the hull planking and were in damp areas of the boat with little or no ventilation to keep the areas from being a breeding ground for wet rot.
Now that much of the interior is removed and air can circulate around the inside of the hull and the fact that the decks are covered with weather proof sheeting the water is being kept out of the inside of the boat and the boat is getting a chance to get dried inside.
One job I will have to do first is sort out the contents of the drawers and dis guard any items in the drawers which are just rubbish and keep any items that are going to be reused in the restoration and source other items if there are items that are more to be needed later on in the restoration of the boat.
One thing that appears to come to mind is the need to get a number of the fittings re-chromed as a number have chromed fittings on one side of the cabin doors and cabin locker doors and the other side is just brass or bronze fittings which on the underside is still chromed. This appears to repeated on nearly every door so far on the doors I have removed from the boat whichever end of the boat it as come from so far.
Tomorrow for the first couple of hours it will be more scraping to get the doors finished off as far as scraping it done and then it will be the turn of the electric sander to get rid of the last of the varnish and sand the doors back to their original colour ready to be coated with thin varnish to seal the surface until they are needed to be finished off and put back on the Chance later on in the restoration and before she is relaunched.
Hopefully I should be able to go back to Chance soon and that some more of the items back to the workshop to be worked on and get back to working on Chance and get the engines out soon and so getting the hull stripped out ready to work on over the winter months and then ready to move back to my yard in the spring .
 

Bilgediver

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Dear Forum members,

I am looking for information about the early part James Silver Western Isles TSMY Chance (Token) life, such as who owned her, the dates that she was owned by different people during her long life. I do not need any information along the last 15 years as I know who owned during this time. It is just her time until the 2000. Also does anyone know if the second Western Isles is still in commission or if she as long since gone into the mists of time.

Kind Regards

Simon
I will go for a wander to a nearby field and if what sits there isn't yours then there may be one in an equally poor condition. Certain ly bears a resemblance to yours but no hole in the transom a few weeks ago that I remember..
 

jstarmarine

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After what appears to be an age I hopefully from Wednesday this coming week I will have a van again although it is not mine it is still a Transit van, so I can get back on the road and get back to Woodplumpton and get on with finishing off the stripping out of the interior of Chance and get last of the furniture out of the main cabin and the aft heads and the wheelhouse roof off the cockpit and get ready to lift the engines out and remove the tanks for inspection and if possible be able to reuse the tanks if they are still in a condition to be used. If they are not then look about for replacement tanks for the boat.
While I have not been able to get to Chance because of my recovery for a emergency operation which meant I had to not work for 6 weeks and that put a hold on doing any work of any kind for that period. So I have now started to strip down the cabin and locker doors and stripped the old varnish off the doors and started to sand down the doors back to their natural colour. It has been a very difficult job as the old varnish was hard to get off at first however, with a bit of elbow grease and a hot air gun and course sandpaper they are starting to look more like they did when Chance was first build.
So I have not been able to do any major work on the boat itself, I have been busy with some of the smaller items which were already back at my boatyard.
Other bits that I have back at the boatyard are some of the old original fittings such as her original Navigation lights that have still been on the boat after all these years. many of the door furniture are original as well. They appear to be still in god condition apart from needing re-chroming at sometime during the restoration when I have a large enough number to make it not a expensive job.
As you can see their a few items that have survive the years, these will all have a fair amount of TLC and will be going back on the boat later on in the restoration.










 
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