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

[jstarmarine]

Now it is run up to Christmas, it is time to make plans for the new year part 2

Making temporary floorboards so that the old floorboards can be removed and cleaned and repainted before putting them back later





The first of the temporary floorboards in place more to come as the months go on





Some of the equipment getting removed so that we can access to the hull to make repairs to the hull planking






Then to removing the ballast out of the bilges for the first time in over 70 years and they were in a hell of a state, covered in dirt and oil and god knows what else








About a 1/3 of the ballast out and more to come as we were able to remove floorboard that covered them





There has been a fair few of these large buckets full of rubbish and other shit coming out of the boats interior and there are going to be more to come as the months move on

 

[jstarmarine]

Now it is run up to Christmas, it is time to make plans for the new year part 3 removing the engines


Then came the largest job to date the engines removal from the boat.
The old engine have been in the boat for 70 years now and spares and keeping these engine running is going to cost to much so it was decided to remove them and go for modern clearer engines





A very old fuel filters which we can not get any spare parts for, I would love to keep them, however, there are more modern filters that do a better job today and more modern engines in better filters than these.





My brother starting the long process of removing all the parts holding down the engines so that we can lift them out







The last photo of the engine in the boat before we lifted them out with the help of the yard owner with his crane





One engine out





Then the 2 engines out and off to be disposed of, it is hoped that there may be a person out there who as the time and money to sort them out

 

[jstarmarine]

Now it is run up to Christmas, it is time to make plans for the new year part 4 The jobs to do when not being able to get to Chance

One of the trips to Chance we were able to bring back with us a few of the loose items of the boats interior which we can work on while not being able to get to Chance for whatever reason and we can continue to work on parts of the boat.

This is one of the drawers from the interior which is a be worse for wear and is in need of replacing as parts of it are rotten. The fronts are okay however, much of the rest is beyond saving and will have to be rebuild.





The general condition of many of the drawers which were in low areas of the boat are in much the same condition as they have been sitting in damp condition and rot as set in





Some of the drawers have faired better and just need a good cleaning and sanding down and repainting and varnish before putting back in the boat later on in the restoration





Some of the varnished panels are in reasonable condition however, some will need a bit of TLC and repairs doing before they go back in the boat





Starting to strip and sand some of the many doors that Chance as, lots of elbow grease and sand paper to go







Thankfully not many of the doors were find to be rotten apart a couple of small doors





and a couple of the larger doors, these are going to be fun to remake as it as been a number of years since I have made any doors of this type and size





Some of the smaller doors and lids which have been sanded ready to be varnished

 

[jstarmarine]

The reason for doing the restoration on Chance, to safeguard a piece of maritime history
My mission is to restoration my James Silver Western Isles Motor Sailer Chance. She built in 1948 at James Silver’s Yard at Rosneath in Scotland to a John Bain design. Chance was a change to the normal boats that James Silver was renowned for as Chance was a 50/50 Motor Sailer and not a motorboat which the boatyard was building before Chance was built and after her launching.
In that way she is unique in that she only had one other boat built to her design, the whereabouts of which is unknown at the present time.
So over the next few years, my family, which is my wife Tricia, and son Michael and I, my brother John and friends have taken on the restoration Chance to bring her back once more to sail the high seas.
The last 6 months have been challenging with the Covid pandemic making it difficult to go to Chance which at present is in Woodplumpton in Lancashire and I live in North Essex 300 miles away. So that working on her as needed a lot of planning to go to the boat and work on her in the spare time I have between working on my clients’ boats as I run my own boat building business in Essex which keeps me busy.
So if you have been following my previous videos on the work that my family and I with the help of my Brother John, you will see that the first few trips to Chance have been about removing as much of the rubbish and rotten wood from inside the boat and getting to a point where we can start to see the hull and the extent of the task ahead of us over the coming months and years.
Much of what has been done so far is to photograph as much as possible the interior of the boat to rebuild it in the way it was originally built and to remove parts that were not there when she was launched.
One major job to be done after the Christmas break , is to tackle the hull planking and any frames or ribs that need replacing so that we can transport it down to my small boatyard in Essex to continue the restoration near to where I live and work.
So when this happens, there will be hopefully more videos of the work we can undertaking on the boat.

 

[jstarmarine]

New Year & New beginnings
Now having drawn a line under the last year's work. It is time to make new work plans for the new year on the restoration of Chance.
Much of the time spent on Chance during 2021 was spent cleaning out the rubbish out of the cabins onboard the boat. Taking each cabin one at a time , first removing the rubbish left behind by previous owners who had lost heart and funds to undertake such a large undertaking as the restoration of Chance was going to be. We too had to coming to terms with the restoration challenge ahead of us over the coming few years.
The biggest different between myself and my family and the last two owners of Chance, is that they were in some ways thinking it was not as bigger challenge as it appears on the surface.
There are so many different areas on the boat that need a lot of work doing to them. So unless you can take the long term view it becomes overwhelming when taken as a whole. Yes it is a lot of work in different areas of the boat. So the way to not overwhelm yourself and that of your family and friends is to break the restoration into smaller more manageable sections in the overall restoration process.
So as the months during 2021 came and went and we made a start on clearing out the rubbish left on the boat, things like old vacuums, electrical leads, torn covers, an old fridge, and countless other rubbish that laid around the cabins. These were put in a skip to be where possible to be recycled and not put into landfill.
So with the rubbish removed from the boats interior, we were able to take stock of the massive task ahead. It appeared extremely daunting at first if you took onboard the amount of work ahead as a whole and yes it is daunting.
However, not a family to be put off by a daunting task and up for the challenge we moved ahead with our plans to restore Chance.
It took a number of visits to Woodplumpton at weekends when my wife was off work and around my wife's shifts when she was off during the week. At first we would stay over night at my brother and his wife's home in West Yorkshire and then travel over the Pennines to Woodplumpton to work on Chance before going back to West Yorkshire each night while we were working on Chance.
We knew this could only be a short term fix to our sleeping over while working on the boat, So we hunted around for a suitable caravan to live in while up working on Chance. After quite a search, having looked at a number of caravans which on the surface fitted the bill, but came up short, we were able to find the right caravan close to our home.
The next thing was to find a caravan site that we could stay at all year round and was not far from Chance. We found a good caravan site close to Chance, in fact it was just six miles away and on the edge of a very pleasant village with all the necessary shops and facilities we will need to make our stay comfortable. So one weekend we contacted the caravan site and made arrangements to move the caravan from Essex to Lancashire that weekend.
So the next adventure was to hitch up the new to us caravan and travel up country from home to Little Stubbins and to the caravan site. We got there and set about setting up the caravan on its pitch and settling down for the night.
So with one part of the jigsaw in place, it was time to put in some longer days on sorting out the interior of Chance.
As with any long term restoration project you have to have a short term plan of action and one overall plan of action. If you do not have both plans in place before you start you can get bogged down by getting dishearten at what appears to be slow progress at times. This is where a number of restoration projects come to an end before they really get started. So this is where the old saying comes into its own fault to prepare and prepare to fault. I find that making lists for each area or section of a restoration project helps. Breaking the project down into smaller areas or sections keeps your mind focused and keeps you from losing the will power to keep going when things get tough or a problem arises you had not taken onboard earlier on, when you should have.
So with the restoration of Chance, I have broken down the areas in to ten different areas or sections.
Forecabin,
Galley,
Main Cabin/Saloon.
Engine Bay/ Cockpit
Aft Heads compartment
Engineering room
Aft Cabin /Stateroom.
Aft Cabin sides removal
Decks removal and relaying with the hatches restored refitting
The hull planking
That way each area or section as its own jobs that have to be done and given to a person to work on that area. The only time there is any crossover is when a part of one area goes through a bulkhead and needs sorting out before the work in each of the areas can continue.

 

[penfold]

Is there nowhere near where you live she could be moved to? It won't take many round trips to lancashire to tot up the cost of having her trucked south.

 

[jstarmarine]

Is there nowhere near where you live she could be moved to? It won't take many round trips to lancashire to tot up the cost of having her trucked south.

Hi Penfold,
I will move Chance as soon as I can, however, first I have to do make the repairs to the hull structure. As the last time Chance was lifted off transport she had planks damaged because the people lifting her off did not use the correct lifting gear and spreader bars. So she is in a poor condition because of this lift last time.
So now I have to do a lot of work to the hull before I am willing to get her put on transport. So over the next 4 months I am going to be up to my neck in removing and replacing planks. Then I will then will have Chance a mile or so from my yard and workshop.
Regards
Simon

 

[jstarmarine]

Now the Christmas and New Year break is behind us, it is now time to get back to work on doing some of the jobs that were left unfinished from before the Christmas break. One of the presents I got from my family was a mortise attachment for my large pillar drill in my workshop at my boat yard. So one of the first jobs after sorting out the yard and the workshop, will be to set up the pillar drill to become a mortise drill for making the new doors needed for Chances' cabin lockers and a couple of the cabin doors that need renewing as well. So I am sure I am going to be having a lot fun getting to grips with the installation of the parts for the mortise attachment and making some dumpy runs with the mortise bits before I get it right and then tackle the doors.

 

[scandalpete]

Hi I'm new to this site and am very interested in your restoration. How long is Chance ?
I went down a similar process of restoring a Silver on the brink of disappearing about 20 years ago. She is called Bodilla and is 38ft long built in 1955. There is an entry in the 1956 Yachting World Annual showing a line drawing. She has a sister ship called Lemara which is still, I think, around. I got a local boat-builder who was used to do all the replanking in a well known local yard to fit the 3 bottom planks as required by the surveyor and when he'd done that (very well) I made the mistake of assuming he could do anything that was required. Superficially everything was fine and the boat was launched and used for a while in Chichester harbour. I then became aware that another Silver (a Brown Owl class) had been worked on in another yard and went to speak to the boat-builder there. He was intrigued to see if Silvers had changed their method of building which seemed to entail resting the weight of the diesel tanks and wheelhouse sole boards on the steamed frames rather than perhaps on the bulkheads. He was surprised to see that they hadn't and then told me that most of the frames were cracked in that area !! The first restoration had been done on the basis no expense spared because I didn't want to do it again. Imagine my horror at the news !
Bodilla was slipped again not only to have the frames in the engine area replaced with the scantlings enhanced but also to have a new steel keel fitted - the old one was found to be no more than a length of concrete with various bits of steel bar etc pushed into it. This all went well until the yard changed hands and the new owners showed their disinterest in anything wooden by giving my boat-builder (who was not employed by them but rented a shed) notice to either join the company or leave. He chose to go leaving the boat with all the cabin and sole boards out and not fitting again because the increase in the size of the frame scantling prevented anything from fitting again.
Fast forward many years of storage, initially using tarps (regularly blown off) and eventually a huge rigid cover in another local marina. By now the lack of knowledge of my planking "friend" (who had by now decamped permanently to a warmer climate !) showed itself in that the wheelhouse sides, which had looked great to the unknowing eye and which were made out of a single piece of mahogany approx 6ft by 3ft, had started to warp in 2 dimensions breaking the windows in doing so !! So I am now gearing myself up to get back in love with the boat and sort it out - unless someone else would like to take it on.
Good luck,
Peter

 

[jstarmarine]

Hi Pete,
Chance is 40ft and was built in 1948. She was one of two Western Isles that were built at the time. I have tried to find the other Western Isles, but have drawn a blank. Chance design features are the same in some places, such as port holes and the shape of the rectangle fixed windows in the main and aft cabins which appear to be a design feature of other silver's of the time and silver's designed by John Bain.

So far the worst damage is the areas of rotten planking in the areas of the cockpit and on both sides in the area of the galley and the aft end of the fore cabin. The interior as been messed about with over the time. However there are still signs of the position of a lot of the interior furniture behind the parts that were put over the original fixtures so it is going to be a matter of tasking lots of photos and measurements and remaking the original furniture again once I have completed the planking repairs.

~Thankfully being a traditional wooden boat builder is a major plus point in that I can do the planking work without getting another boat builder to help, most of the work over the coming year is going to be general labouring work with supervision.

Just need to get Chance's hull in a sound enough condition to be able to move her back to my small yard in Essex so that I can get on with the rest of the re3stoation close to home. I hope you go underway with your restoration and may be help each other out along the way.

Regards

Simon

 

[jstarmarine]

The first week into the New Year and major plans for the year ahead

Now we are back at work and we have given ourselves a dead line for getting Chance down the country to my home part of the country.
The deadline is going to be around the time of my birthday at the beginning of May. All being well and the country not being lock-downed again. The hull of Chance should be in a condition to be able to move her down to Essex from Woodplumpton and then continue the restoration down in Walton on the Naze in Essex where my yard is situated.
I hope to go back up to Woodplumpton during January to continue to remove the last remaining bits of furniture and the fuel and water tanks out of the engine bay along with the engine drip trays which need to be removed as under the starboard drip tray there is a plank that as come off the frame which needs investigating to find out why the plank as come adrift and repair or renew the affected frame.
Once the tanks are out and loaded into the trailer and the engines are put in the back of the van then they can come down to the J-Star Marine Services Workshop to be worked on and if repairable then have them repaired or if that is not possible get prices to replace them. I would like to keep the old tanks if possible as they are a good size.
Another job when we go back up to Woodplumpton, will to continue to clean out the bilges and get them into a condition where it is possible to gauge their condition, then when they are clean and dry paint them out.
So that should see us through January, so if February, it will be time to mark off the planks that need renewing and order the wood to replace the rotten planking. We are going to use Mahogany for the planking once more as this is the wood used to build Chance and so it is only right that the same material is used again to re-plank her. We expect to have to take a fair amount of the hull plank off the hull especially on the port side as this appears to be the worse side in the amount of rot and short planks that have been replaced in the past.

 

[jstarmarine]

It is now 6 months since I become the owner of Chance.
Over the past six months a lot has gone on with Chance. The first few trips to Woodplumpton were to make a start with clearing out the inside of the boat and taking stock of what we had on the boat and what is missing.
It appears that along the way all the deck fittings have gone missing, which is a great inconvicetion as I will have to get the deck fittings remade using patterns from other James Silver boats that are still around. The other James Silver's that are close to where I live are close in size to my James Silver and so I will be able to get the parts remade easily. Harbour Marine Services has restored a number of James Silver's over the years and the owner now owns Davey & Co so parts are not going to be a problem to source when the time comes to start doing that part of the restoration.
The part of the first six months as been the removal of the old furniture and other items in the inside of the boat so it is going to be easier to get to the planking and make repairs the planking and where necessary the frames and ribs.
As with any work that has been done on the boat a photo portfolio as been made up of all the areas of the boat as a reference point when put back the boat as we move forward with the restoration over the next couple to three years as we put the boat back together again.
In the meantime, while I have not been able to get to Chance, I have been sorting out some of the parts that have been brought back each time I have made it to Chance. So if I can not get to Chance for whatever reason work is getting on with other parts of the boat.
So the next time I get up to Chance it will be a matter of finishing off the dismantling of the interior and then make a start on the rebuilding of the hull.

 

[jstarmarine]

The good part about the old fuel filter system on Chance is that it is a non disposable system, so it just needs cleaning at regular intervals to keep it working




Although there are a number of parts to the filter system it is straightforward and easy to dismantle and rebuild when it needs cleaning to maintain the engines





Just need a couple of parts replacing as they are worn out, apart from that the system is ready to be reused again for another 70 years or more

 

[jstarmarine]

Putting a positive viewpoint on a negative situation

Hi fellow Forum members,
One of the major problems having your boat in one part of the country and living in another part of the country is working out how best to make the best use of the available time and your resources and not to make any wasted trips which end up with little or nothing being done to move the project along.
Over the past six months there as been a lot of problems with Covid and friends passing during Covid pandemic, however, their deaths were not due to Covid, their death were not Covid related. However, this did however, put pay to some trips and trips that were planned had to be rearranged for other times.
So that was a spanner in the work while we sorted out the fallout from that situation. That aside the long term problem with my works van being off the road for such along time. Still not resolved at present, however, should be resolved shortly fingers crossed and toes as well.
So after almost 6 months without my works van and having to use my wife's MPV as a stand in works vehicle. There should be light at the end of the tunnel. Before you say it it is not a train coming towards me.
One thing to come out of all this negative situation is to make plans, plans. and yet more plans, However, never lose sight of the final goal to restore Chance back to her former glory and get her back on the water once more.
One major problem with all this situation is that you have understand you will have to make a lot of sacrifices along the way. However, realising that they will be worth it all in the end.
Although this past six months as seen a lot of dismantling of Chance to get to the inside of the hull and to some people this has been boring and uninteresting, it is all part of the restoration process the finding out how bot builders build Chance back in 1948 and how many of the methods of boat construction have not change over the time sine she was built.
So although my family and I have not been at Chance as much as we would have liked this past six months with the restriction on travelling and general movement are coming to an end it should be possible to make more plans to visit Chance and get the project underway in a more speedy way and spend more time at Chance to get her in a condition to move her in May back to Essex and near to my workshop and yard and then the major part of the project can get underway this year and into the next couple.
So although we have had a bad six months with many hurdles in the way we are as committed to the project as ever. We hope to make new friends and bring them along on the project to help us on getting Chance back to where she belongs.

 

[tillergirl]

It isn't boring and uninteresting. There isn't a lot to say though at times. That is not the same as saying there is nothing to enjoy. There is.

Personally, the only thing I would suggest is that you need to bring her home asap. When I lived and worked in London travelling to the coast to the boat, I was in the process of removing the original laid teak deck. In an idle moment I worked out that it would take me just short of 4 years to remove the old deck because of the limited availability of time and travelling backwards and forwards!

 

[jstarmarine]

Hi Tillergirl,
That is my intention as soon as I have the hull repairs done and I feel it is save for her to be lifted on to transport to come down to Essex where I live and have my yard and workshop. However, in the meantime it is trips to Woodplumpton to do the repairs until Chance is in a good condition to move. It give me and my family a chance to visit places in the local area when we need a break from boat work or other things.
It would be good from time to time for people to make comments on how I am doing and give me suggestions on any thing they wish to know about why I am doing the work and ideas they may have that may help me with my project.

Regards Simon

 

[jstarmarine]

Plan "A" for the next week up at Chance in Woodplumpton
Tomorrow should see me going back to Chance for the first time since before Christmas. I know it as been a long time, my day job had to come first as to most jobs that pay the bills. However, I have got some time spare and I am making the best of it by going to the boat and getting the last bits and pieces out of the inside ready to get on with the rebuilding of the hull. Which should start next month with getting the planks to be removed marked off and making a start to remove the most rotten planks first starting at the starboard bow and working my way aft from there. At the same time removing the portholes so that they can be refurbished and replaced after the planking is replaced with new mahogany.

While I am up at the boat, the bilges will be continued to be cleaned out and so that any water that makes its way into the bilges can be pumped out quickly and easily using the bilge pump system still in the bilges and where that is not possible use a mobile sump pump to get rid of any water still in the bilges. That way keeping the bilges dry and clean and so if any thing gets dropped in the bilges it can be removed as we will be able to see where it fell and not have to go hunting through the dirt and mess that is in the bilges at the moment. So that is my plan for the next week while up at Chance continuing with her restoration.

The other major job I have to get done this timer is the removal of the water and fuel tanks out of the engine bay as they are under the side decks and behind the up rights for the cockpit sole supports, so it should be a lot of fun. As long as I have six arms and legs and three bodies.



https://www.patreon.com/posts/plan-for-next-up-62597408/edit

 

[scandalpete]

I hope you have electric power on site. Then a good wet/dry vac is perfect for getting soggy bilges clean. Indeed even using a hose and brush to give the bilges a good scrub is well worth while. In due course let me know what particular areas of the inside of Bodilla you would like
Good luck, Peter

 

[jstarmarine]

Hi Peter,
Unfortunately, no mains power on site, however, got large genset to make up for the lack of mains power. The first part of cleaning the bilges is getting rid of the heavy bits and the thick mess in the bilges and what is left of the ballast I was not able to get out before on previous visits to Chance . Getting the remaining bits out is one of my first jobs so then be able to get a clear run at the bilges after the remaining floor boards are lifted and removed for cleaning back at my workshop. I was given a 25 litre drum of bilgex and that will get rid of a lot of the mess and oil and other stuff in the bilges and get them well clean.

If the plan of your interior is as it is now, the only parts that are the same are the aft cabin and the way the galley area is set out. the rest is completely different. the layout of the forward end and the cockpit are completely different.

Chance from the cockpit forward is a main cabin with a settee to port in a L shape and cupboards and drawers and a large cupboard worktop to starboard. then ahead of that the galley set out the same way round as yours. then a single berth fore cabin with its own sea toilet in that cabin. The cockpit is set out completely differently as behind the helm position there is a seat and to starboard there is a chart table with drawers for charts and a large locker below the drawers. It appears Chances' layout was done especially for its first owner as I have yet to see any other Silver with a layout anything like the way she was laid out. Also there are no other Western Isles to get any points of reference from as there are no other Western Isles around to look at as it appears no other Western Isles were ever built. So Chance is a one off. The only parts that are the same are the portholes and design of the windows in the forward part of the hull and the portholes and fixed windows in the aft cabin sides. The other part which I am looking for is the sail plan for the boat as the boat was once rigged as a ketch rigged yacht as she was a 50/50 motorsailer and I still have her masts and would dearly wish to rig her again as she was when first was first build. The only major change she is going to have through this restoration is a pair of new engines to replace the original engines which are no longer serviceable and parts to keep them going are not easily available for 70 + year old engines.

So I have my work cutout for me and my brother for a few months and years to come as we make headway with this restoration project.

 

[jstarmarine]

We are finally back in Woodplumpton after what is an age, One problem after another that kept us from coming up to Chance just before Christmas and into the New Year. We have finally made it back and ready to get on where we left off before life got turned upside down.

So the first job today was the removal of the cupboard top to expose the framework underneath and find out the condition of the framework. Some was in reasonable conidtion and other pieces were well rotten and turned to dust.




Once the top was off and the divider in the cupboard was removed the back paneling which covered up the ribs was removed to expose the planking





A bit of a mess was the answer about what I found, Badly renewed ribs which did not go the full length to the deck and where they what fitted in was not correct as they did not sister up the ribs past each other far enough






This photo shows that this side of the boat as had a large amount of re-planking over the years and that the planks were screwed in place with stainless steel screws and not re-fixed with copper nails and roves






One thing that as come to light is that there are a number of ribs broken in the same area of the bilge along a line with the waterline outside on the hull. This is going to be a major steaming operation to steam new ribs into the boat from deck level to the keel