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

[jstarmarine]

These last couple of years have been a roller coaster ride for the team at the Chance Restoration project. Having to keep going through the Covid 19 pandemic and the fall out from that which put pay to much of the work we wish to do on Chance.
Also, the fact that Chance was put in Woodplumpton in Lancashire and we live in North Essex and not being in a position to move Chance South until last November when we had raised the funds to bring her south to Titchmarsh marina in Walton on the Naze so that Chance was going to be close to our home and my workshop.
So between June 2021 and last November we traveled north to Woodplumpton as many times as possible to do as much work on every visit to remove as much of the inside furniture and fittings to make Chance as light as possible to be able to move Chance south without damaging Chance any more than Chance had already had done to her structure.
A lot of the larger heavier items such as fuel and water tanks, both engines which weighted 1.3 tons, 1 ton of interior ballast and a lot of loose items in the boat.
Once all the items that were going to make Chance lighter were removed then we felt happy that it was time for Chance to move south. This happened on the 1st of November last year.

Now that Chance is now at Titchmarsh marina we could make a start on some major work on Chance, however,, life gets in the way as is often the case. a older family members passing away, my wife's retirement and other family upheavals made it difficult to get any work done on Chance apart from a few smaller jobs and not the major jobs planned to be done during the summer of 2023.

So at the moment we are continuing to do some of the smaller jobs off Chance and when the weather gets better and the spring gets here then we will try again to get on with the major jobs we had planned to do last year this year.

These setbacks have made us more determination to push on with the restoration and like lives says we all need a second Chance and we are going to give Chance a second chance.

 

[jstarmarine]

 

[jstarmarine]

Sorting out the workshop shelves into different parts of the interior of Chance, this shelf as all the doors and butterfly hatch lids and a few of the smaller galley locker doors on this shelf



This shelf has the main part of the cabinetry parts and the cockpit lifting roof hatch which needs dismantling and rebuilding there are also a number of small items which were taken out which need replacing with new bits such as work tops for the galley and the main cabin starboard side cabinet which was cut about by one of the previous owners to fit a diesel cooker in the main cabin which will now be fitted in the galley where it should have been all along.



The bottoms of the main cabin floorboards given their first coat of grey bilge paint to seal the undersides of these floorboards to stop any more bilge water and oily water and dirt soaking into them once they are put back in the boat.



The drawers in a poor condition having been in the boat when the interior had water in the cabins and the drawers got wet and were not removed from the water and so they got damp and fungi grew because the they were not removed from the water and let air get to them.



All the drawers that were fitted low down in the boat are in the same condition. The drawers that were fitted higher up in the boat faired better and are okay.











The three sets of steps needs and dusting off and wood staining and varnishing to being back their rich mahogany colour once more and they can go back in once the cockpit floor bearers are remade and the cockpit floor relaid in position.



The forecabin floorboard which need a good sanding and a couple of minor repairs and the floor bearers refixing in position and they can go back in place.



These engine bay floorboards are not able to go back in because they are soaked with engine oil and diesel and can not be painted. so there will have to be a new set of floorboards made to go in the engine bay between the centre pair of engine bearers.

 

[jstarmarine]

The story start back in the early part of the 2000's when Simon was asked to do some work on Token as Chance was called at that time.. This name had been hers for many years, since she was sold by her first owner who had her commissioned by the renowned boat builders James A Silver of Rosneath in Scotland. Chance as she was originally called at the time of her launching in 1948. My wife Tricia would visit me while I worked on Token (Chance) and would ask if we would be in a position to ever be able to have a vessel like Token. To which I answered not every likely as we were not in a position to own such a vessel of her size or perigee. I continued to work on Token until the owner moved her to another place. At which time I lost contact with her. Fast forward to 2021 and while looking on the YBW forum I cam across Token (Chance) once more and a person had taken her on as a project to restore her.

However,, this owner had not told his wife about the boat or how much work it was going to take to restore her back to a seaworthy vessel once more. So this owner asked if I would take the boat on as a restore project for him. Over the course of a few days may be a week, It became clear that he was not going to go ahead with the restoration himself and he offered me the boat for free, there is no such thing as a free boat.

Having said to the owner, I was willing to take the boat on and he transferred the ownership to me. At this point my wife came home from a long night shift at the local hospital. When I drop the bombshell. You are going to kill me, To which she replied what have you done now, thinking I had done something wrong and it was going to be problem.

I calmly said that I had been given Token ( Chance) to which she asked how much did this cost you. I said it was free the man just needed to get rid of her as the his wife had hit the roof when she found out what he had done.

I thought my goose was cooked, I did not expect the answer I got, my wife was over the moon as she had always wish we could own a vessel like Token (Chance).

So when got the chance to go to see Token (Chance) in Woodplumpton in Lancashire. We got in our car and drove to see her. At this time my wife felt in love with Token (Chance) again and we started to make plans to start the restoration of her there, then when it was possible to move her south to Essex to be nearer to our home we did. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 pandemic stopped these early plans and we had to put much of the work on hold until it was possible to work on her again.

Last year we were hoping to make a major start on the project but a family bereavement and other family matters stopped Us from doing any major work on Chance as she is now called again and back to her original name once more.

So this year we are hoping to make a fresh start and get some major work done of Chance

 

[jstarmarine]

 

[jstarmarine]

 

[jstarmarine]

 

[jstarmarine]

Hopefully this Easter weekend (Sunday & Monday) The Chance Restoration team should be working on Chance down at Titchmarsh marina is Walton on the Naze. My wife Tricia does craft fairs to help raise funds for the Chance restoration project. As well organising the behind the scenes work to keep the project going. While Simon gets on with the physical part of the restoration with the help of friends when they are able to help out. This weekend the team are going to try and put the cover back over Chance and try and make it stay in place and keep the rain and weather off Chance as best as it can until we can raise enough funds to get a permanent shelter build over Chance that will stay over her for the rest of the restoration project.

Over the winter Simon has been busy trying to source wood and other materials to get on with the major structural jobs such as the starboard side of the aft cabin area and the transom. His main job at the moment is to strip off the aft deck of all the teak decking to expose the aft deck beams which all need replacing with new deck beams as the starboard side was cut off so that they did not connect with the beam shelf. So that over the years that side of the hull as moved out of shape which is going to need putting back in position before any work can take place on rebuilding that part of the hull.

Therefore, Simon is going to have to support the aft cabin roof off the deck and give the hull a chance to be able to be lifted back into position with the aid of props and straps across the hull to bring the hull shape back to where it should be and then refit new frames into the hull. At the same time fit some new ribs in the aft cabin area to help maintain the shape of the hull. One of the main jobs will be to put a new correct shape and size beam shelf in the hull and bolt it is place to get back the shape and strength the hull needs to before the team can rebuild the hull once more.

So there is going to a lot going on #Chance over the coming months as we get to grips with the restoration after a very wet and windy winter.

 

[jstarmarine]

This update is to let our followers know that we have had a set back with our restoration of Chance and Mai Star II,Tricia had to go to Hospital the another evening having having an angina attack and so it has made it so Tricia can not do any work on Chance or Mai Star II for the foreseeable future in way of any physical work on the projects. This being the case, I am having to do a lot more work by myself, unless we can find people to help with some of the physical work that need two or more people to do on the projects. So if there are any of our followers out there who can help please contact Simon and let him know you can help if only for a few hours.

 

[jstarmarine]

This past week, a great grand daugther of the third owner of Chance/Token contacted Us to ask if the boat that our family is restorating in the same Chance/Token that her family owned between 1970 and 1991. To which I replied it was one and the same boat, Kristy said that she remember spending happy times on Token as Chance was called at the time during this time when Great Grand father owned Token and when her Grand Father then became Token's owner and sailed around the Solent area during her time in that area of the UK. It was good to hear from a former owner's family that they enjoyed the boat in better times before Chance/Token started her slow and painful decline to the condition we found her in after a number of failed restoration project be owners in-between Boxall family owning her and now when we as starting to restoration Chance/Token back to a sailing/motoring condition and back on the high seas once more and hope to sail her back to her builder's yard in Scotland.

So now we are now starting to fill in the gaps in her past by being contacted by the family of former owners to get a better understanding of Token/Chance's life from her launching to the present day.

 

[jstarmarine]

Help us if you can we do not wish to give up of Chance, we wish to give her a second Chance.​

At the moment we are in this position with Chance, We have a large poly sheet over Chance which keeps getting blown off as we can not fix it down very well and is a thankless task having to keep pulling over the boat until the next major gale of strong wind decides to remove the cover again.





That's the position at the moment, what we are looking for is a shed/workshop like the one over Helen Wycherley Heritage Restoration project in Whitby North Yorkshire. This type of shed/ workshop would do our restoration project a world of good and make possible for us to get on with our restoration of Chance.



So if anyone out there can put us in contact with anyone who wishes to move on their poly tunnel shed/ workshop, please get in contact with us through our social media channels. This would help our restoration project get underway again. Te cost of building a new shed is way out of our price range and without some help it is looking in a grave way as to how to move forward with our restoration of Chance.

Help us if you can we do not wish to give up of Chance, we wish to give her a second Chance.​

 

[jstarmarine]

What to say in videos which interest people to watch my video's

Over the past three or so years, We as a family have tried to document the restoration of Chance.
The restoration project as taken a long time as it as been done during the Covid 19 pandemic and the fact Chance was in a different part of the country to where we live, in Woodplumpton in Lancashire and we live in North East Essex, so the trips to Chance for the first two years of her restoration have been a long distance affair to say the least.
However, we were up to it and we did a lot of work removing much of the old furniture and the other items from inside Chance which were beyond saving, such as rusted fuel and water tanks, worn out stern gear, Seized engines which could not be restored without a lot of money being spend on them.
The inside of Chance was photographed a lot so to keep a record of how much of the interior was intact and what had been changed over the years and not always for the better and in some case caused major problem to the hull structure. this was found out when the starboard side from the cockpit to the transom was investigated and found to have been repaired at sometime in the past without refixing a number of structural fixing which would have kept Chance in the correct shape and not make her twist out of shape which is the case with the aft end of the starboard side and the transom which have completely gone out of shape. Some of it is down to parts going rotten and other to poorly repaired other items such as the Beam shelf which was not fixed back to the rest of the structural parts of the hull and deck.
So in future video I will go into detail what needs doing to sort out this major problem with Chance's transom and starboard side hull and deck.
Also , try to put the cover back over Chance until we can get a more permanent cover over her. We can trying raise funds through crowdfunding and other sources of funding which is available.

 

[jstarmarine]

What to say in videos which interest people to watch my video's

Over the past three or so years, We as a family have tried to document the restoration of Chance.
The restoration project as taken a long time as it as been done during the Covid 19 pandemic and the fact Chance was in a different part of the country to where we live, in Woodplumpton in Lancashire and we live in North East Essex, so the trips to Chance for the first two years of her restoration have been a long distance affair to say the least.
However, we were up to it and we did a lot of work removing much of the old furniture and the other items from inside Chance which were beyond saving, such as rusted fuel and water tanks, worn out stern gear, Seized engines which could not be restored without a lot of money being spend on them.
The inside of Chance was photographed a lot so to keep a record of how much of the interior was intact and what had been changed over the years and not always for the better and in some case caused major problem to the hull structure. this was found out when the starboard side from the cockpit to the transom was investigated and found to have been repaired at sometime in the past without refixing a number of structural fixing which would have kept Chance in the correct shape and not make her twist out of shape which is the case with the aft end of the starboard side and the transom which have completely gone out of shape. Some of it is down to parts going rotten and other to poorly repaired other items such as the Beam shelf which was not fixed back to the rest of the structural parts of the hull and deck.
So in future video I will go into detail what needs doing to sort out this major problem with Chance's transom and starboard side hull and deck.
Also , try to put the cover back over Chance until we can get a more permanent cover over her. We can trying raise funds through crowdfunding and other sources of funding which is available.

 

[jstarmarine]

A lot has happened over the past three years from first becoming the new owners of Chance the James Silver Western Isles in May 2021

Just got home after spending a couple of long days in Woodplumpton working on My James Silver Western Isles 'Chance" clearing out rubbish left behind by a previous owner. Once the rubbish was cleared away out of the cabins it made it easier to start to remove some of the smaller items such as locker and cupboard doors as well as other items to make it easier to view the hull from the inside and be able to make repairs to the hull and bulkheads as necessary along the way. One of the larger jobs to do is going to be removing the engines, stern gear over the coming months.



A lot as changed these photos were taken, Chance as moved from Woodplumpton to Walton n the Naze. The interior of Chance as been stripped out back to the bare hull. The worse of the removal of the rotten and broken parts are removed ready for the reconstruction of the hull and superstructure can begin this summer.
We are fund raising to get the materials to start the next stage of the restoration project. We are fund raising to get the materials for the planking, we have already got the oak for the beam shelf and the frames and ribs. So the first project this summer is to put the rotten and missing frames back in the hull so that the framework of Chance is sorted and then get the hull planking back on hull.
We are still looking for deck gear and portholes which have got missing over the years. We are looking for period parts which we can restore and put back in Chance as we rebuild her.

 

[Wansworth]

A

A lot has happened over the past three years from first becoming the new owners of Chance the James Silver Western Isles in May 2021

Just got home after spending a couple of long days in Woodplumpton working on My James Silver Western Isles 'Chance" clearing out rubbish left behind by a previous owner. Once the rubbish was cleared away out of the cabins it made it easier to start to remove some of the smaller items such as locker and cupboard doors as well as other items to make it easier to view the hull from the inside and be able to make repairs to the hull and bulkheads as necessary along the way. One of the larger jobs to do is going to be removing the engines, stern gear over the coming months.



A lot as changed these photos were taken, Chance as moved from Woodplumpton to Walton n the Naze. The interior of Chance as been stripped out back to the bare hull. The worse of the removal of the rotten and broken parts are removed ready for the reconstruction of the hull and superstructure can begin this summer.
We are fund raising to get the materials to start the next stage of the restoration project. We are fund raising to get the materials for the planking, we have already got the oak for the beam shelf and the frames and ribs. So the first project this summer is to put the rotten and missing frames back in the hull so that the framework of Chance is sorted and then get the hull planking back on hull.
We are still looking for deck gear and portholes which have got missing over the years. We are looking for period parts which we can restore and put back in Chance as we rebuild her.

mammoth task and test of will power and skill

 

[jstarmarine]

Now I have one project where I need it to be work on the Chance restoration can get underway again.
Now we have after three long days, we now have Mai Star II in the shed she should have been in for a long time. Because we have not been hard enough on customers making decisions about work being done on their boats. We finally had enough of waiting and got the boats removed from the yard so that owners wishing to have work could have worked done on their boats who had been waiting for the other boats to leave.

With this extra room in the yard, boats that have been held up by other boats not been worked on because their owners not making up their minds what they were going to do to their boats. We gave them a time to get their boats out of the yard or get the work done.
Now that Mai Star II is now in the temporary semi permanent grey shed there is now room in the yard for the Morgan Giles 30 to go once it comes out of the Workshop into the yard before it goes to the local marina to be finished before it is launched and under goes sea trails before it heads home to the North west of Scotland.
When the Morgan Giles 30 comes out then we will be able to lay out the furniture from Chance's interior in a way that it will be able to sort it out and repair and restore what is possible to save and what is not able to be saved and needs replacing can be done with room to lay it out and trestles and work on easiers than up until now.
It will also give us the room tolay out the frames which need to be remade such as the framework which makes up the transom of Chance which I have been told was made up on a jig at James Silver's when Chance was build back in 1948. The main frames and the transom were made up of the work benches and put in position after the keel and hog were laid down on the building strongback.
So over the coming months and taking a lot of measurement and making patterns we will be make a new transom framework on a jig in the same way it was done back when Chance was originally build.
So we now will be able to make some headway after so many setbacks over the couple of years.

 

[jstarmarine]

Quick look around Chance to know what tools I need to bring next time and get some drone footage from a different angle. The main job to do is get the twist out of the transom and get the transom square and level. Because at the moment the port side is low and the starboard side is high. So the back of the boat will have to have the props moved and a plump bob set up from the top of the stern post and move the port side until the line in in the middle of the stern post and the transom is in the correct position.

 

[jstarmarine]

Just need to get my tools together and down to Chance so I can make a start and get a sun hat on so I do not get to sunburn doing the work

 

[Wansworth]

Just need to get my tools together and down to Chance so I can make a start and get a sun hat on so I do not get to sunburn doing the work

Your a brave man Gungerdin

 

[jstarmarine]

Blaming the weather for not a lot of work being done on Chance.

In England, we always blame the weather for not being able to work on our boat projects, especially if you us you are not able to afford to have the boat project undercover because of the cost of shed space or able to afford the cost of the materials to build a shed over the boat to keep the weather off the boat while you are working on her.
During last winter and into the spring we tried to keep a cover over Chance, as soon as we got her a cover over her and tried it down then came a series of strong gales which were more powerful than normal and each case removed the cover again after each gale. so in the end we gave up trying to keep her covered up.
Since as happened we have left the cover off her. Also the problem now it is too hot to work on her as the temperatures are in the high 20's degrees and it is impossible to work for more than a a hour or two in the intent heat without stops to drink lots of liquids and sunblock.
So we have given working on Chance until the temperatures fall to a point when it is going to be able to work on her again. The only problem will be that the weather will change and we will not be able to work on her because it will be wet and windy as the Autumn and winter set in. So we dammed if we do not work on her or if we do. So we are hoping for a calm Autumn and winter so we can work on Chance again. In the meantime we will try to fill in the wheelhouse windows with some leftover perspex from a job we did early and refit the wheelhouse roof and cover the other holes around the boat to keep the weather out until we can save up the funds to build a temporary shed over Chance.