Shipyard Projects
Many folks wonder what we do in the winter. In the winter of 2005/06 we brought the French down to North End Shipyard, Rockland and hauled her out for some TLC. We replaced 25 older planks and three futtocks frames with new oak. We schedule these large projects every couple of years, so we're always staying on top of the necessary maintenance that is inevitable with a wooden boat.
Click on any photo to enlarge it.
After about a week of removing old planks, we begin replanking the French. Our shipwrights Brad, Mike and Jimmy cut out the new planks, most of which then have to be steamed into place because of the twist they have to take.
Now that planks have been cut out and hung, we will finish the job by fastening and caulking. Sounds easy but it is a lot of hard work.
We're almost done! Our next step is to paint and launch her. It's always nerveracking to launch after a major project,but everything went smoothly.
Let's go sailing!
