Chafing Gear

This past Saturday, volunteers worked on chafing gear for the new line at the bow of the ship. At low tide, the line rubs on the concrete platform below it. The chafing gear will provide protection for the line, extending its life. Over the next few weeks, we will be checking and replacing, as needed, the chafing gear on all of the other lines.

Mahalo to the Honolulu Fire Department for the old fire hoses we are using to make the chafing gear.

Elastomeric coating work continued on the poop deck.

Playing Catch-Up

My apologies for the break in posts. The real world gets in the way and before you know it…

Despite the lack of blog entries, the Falls of Clyde world keeps turning.

In April, the big project of the month was replacing two of the ship’s key mooring lines. Once again, we are very, very grateful for the kokua from Fred Calkins of Leeward Marine and his enthusiastic and hard-working crew.

Since then, Paul Pollock has been working on restoring power to the ship.

Metal shelving was purchased for the tool room. The tools and associated supplies were sorted out and organized on the new shelves.

The roof of one of the deckhouses was checked for leaky spots and repaired.

The sanding and varnishing of the poop deck rail was completed.

In addition to these specific projects, routine maintenance continued.

This past Saturday, the wood fo’c'sle deck was treated with a borate product to kill any existing termites. Elastomeric coating work continued on the poop deck.

Deck Progress

Work on the deck is done! Coats of non-skid paint were applied over the elastomeric coating.

This photo is taken from a different angle, but it serves as a reminder of what the deck looked like when the ship was turned over to us.

Deck Progress

Work on the deck continues. The temporary plywood deck has been painted with an elastomeric coating.

Sanding, cleaning, and varnishing of the poop deck rail also continues.

Poop Deck Rail

It seems we didn’t put enough coats of varnish on the poop deck rail and neglected to maintain what we had done. As a result, the cracked and peeling varnish has to sanded off and new coats applied. We are trying out le Tonkinois. So far, so good.

Deck Progress

The yards and masts were moved off the wood part of the deck (a Big Mahalo to Fred Calkins of Leeward Marine), so plywood could be laid down.

Once this is done, the seams will be sealed and an elastomeric coating will be applied.

New Temporary Skylight

The skylight will help keep the rain out and brighten up the tween deck.

Happy New Year

The holidays and the recent rainy weather have meant that not a whole lot has been going on on board the ship these past few weeks.

Volunteers covered the wood part of the weather deck with tarps to try to minimize the amount of rain water leaking down to the tween deck.

Catching Up

Apologies for the break in blog posts.

We’d like to thank Chris Jannini for his hard work, sage advice and guidance. We are continuing on with the projects we started while he was here.

Our priority at the moment is to prepare the wood part of the weather deck for the plywood cover, as mentioned in previous posts. Most of the masts, yards and fittings that were welded to each other and to the deck have been freed. The yards and masts will have to be moved or lifted to allow us access to the wood deck and to clear the areas around the bitts on the deck.

In addition to vacuuming up debris, filling in some of the larger holes in the existing wood deck, and leveling out some of the uneven surfaces, we will be treating the wood with a borate-based product that will help prevent further damage by termites and fungi.

We have installed a bit of plumbing (pipes and taps), so we now have running water on board the ship. We are also working on improving the situation with the electricity supply for lighting, power tools and other equipment.

An old, termite-eaten wooden bulkhead was removed. Very old, unusable items were disposed of.

We had to remove most of the shade tarps over the deck because their movement, as they flapped in the recent gusty winds, set off the ship’s alarm system.

The old fire hoses donated by the Honolulu Fire Department were loaded aboard the ship and stowed.

This past Saturday, we took rough measurements of the lengths of some of the worn mooring and spring lines that we are planning to replace.

General maintenance as usual.

Bulkheads and Benches

Chris Jannini continued to work on the heavy-duty work benches he designed and is building for the ship.

The positions of the oil tank bulkheads were located and marked on the hull of the ship.

A special mahalo to the Honolulu Fire Department (Steve Nakasone) for providing us with a pallet of old fire hoses. They will be turned into chafing gear for the ship’s mooring lines.