2007 was a very busy year. We began the year still looking for the right vintage schooner to restore and by March Jill and I felt that we had found the one. The sea trial off Victoria was promising however the survey found a bit more repair work was needed than we had hoped. The survey was performed by Lee Ehrheart from Havorn Marine Services and he was kind enough to point me to the right people in Port Townsend where we could get a better feel for the extent (spelled dollars) of the repair work we would be taking on if we bought the vessel. In the end we set sanity aside and bought the vessel that we renamed the MERRIE ELLEN
Once permanent moorage had been secured, an interesting task for a 107 foot boat, we set about getting the required materials for the restoration. The original steam engine and boiler of our 1922 schooner had long since been replaced by diesel power but it was in need of an upgrade. We elected to install a new 300 hp John Deere along with new stainless fuel tanks. The 32 foot long 3 inch thick planks were another story. We ended up selecting a volunteer from our property and after falling the fir and milling the planking we laid up the planking stock to air dry. During the 08 refit we found that we needed and additional 8500 board feet of three inch thick western red cedar planking.(see below) We followed with a new staysail boom with fittings and a new main top mast. On earlier pages of this site you can see the hand forging process of making the 3800 eight inch iron spikes.
It wasn't all work in 07. We attended a fund raising event in Tacoma for their 08 Tall Ships event. The team down there put on a fun evening and we had lots of people aboard dock side to see the MERRIE ELLEN. We will be back for Tall Ships next summer with lots of progress to show.
In December we received our Jones Act waiver from the USDT Maritime Administration so once the boat is ready she will be available for six pack crewed charters out of Pleasant Harbor.
The new halyard winch takes shape, the port side tank hydro test and shaping the main top mast
Three photos of the crew roughing it on the August trip to Tacoma
Jan. 08 The weather didn't cooperate with us for most of January so the haul out was delayed until the 24th. The Port Townsend yard crew did a great job with the 300 ton travel lift handling the MERRIE ELLEN. She landed so gently that you would never guess her weight at 320,000 lbs.
David Thompson and crew set to work evaluating the topside planking and David observed that some of it was composting nicely. Nearly all of the topside planking failed to pass his hammer test and was removed. The huge framing did not give up the old planking spikes easily and most showed no need for attention.The upper end of about twenty frames on each side will be replaced on this haul along with the transom framing and the stem. One member of the crew offered the opinion that we were all saving money on sun screen. I believe that it may have been in reference to the snow that was falling on us as we worked. I snapped a quick picture of the work that appears below during one of the short sun breaks.
Jim gives some scale to this shot
David evaluating top side planking
David, John and Jason removing "compost". note the almost solid wall of 6"x8" frames.
The coaming and frame of the new scuttle showing the new staircase decending to port.
The new scuttle taking shape will improve access to the staterooms and main saloon.
February 08. We have spent the entire month of Feb. in the yard at Port Townsend. All of the top sides planking ( The black part of the hull above the water line) was removed to gain access to the frames that need to be replaced. We elected to reframe the transom and install a new stem at this time as well because we already had them exposed. David and the guy's are half way done with the replacement of about 40 frames from deck level down to the first futtock. Tyler reframed the transom as you can see in the photos. I elected not to use the Fir planking stock that we cut last year on David and Tylers advice. The search for the 8500 board feet of red cedar planking stock 3 inches thick proved fruitless so we went to plan B and purchased logs locally. I will need to mill the logs into planking stock and get the lumber dried in a hurry to keep up with the shipwrights. The old GM diesel came out and the new John Deere went in (see photos). We also removed the old fuel tanks. I need to give special thanks to Mike, Charlie and Jason for all of the volunteer help they gave moving engines and tanks.
Jason working to move the old engine out. It just fit as you can see.
One of the Red Cedar trees that volunteered to become planking
Flying in the new John Deere
Some of the transom framing and Port side frames were in by the end of Feb.
March 08. We finished milling the new planking on the Wood Mizer by the 17th. There was a small complication in that we were not able to find any of the custom dry kiln companies that were both able and willing to dry the lumber for us on short notice. So we built our own dry kiln. Arlyn, Dave, Linda and Jade helped Jill and I build the kiln in five days. Jim is tending the kiln as the wood drys as I need to do my real job for a while. Tyler and Clint Thompson are making the new stem out of purple heart and the reframing is now about complete. the planks will start to go back on as soon as they are dry. The new halyard winches came back from galvanizing and we are assembling them to mount on the deck prior to launch. The new fuel tanks are ready to go in thanks to Jason but we are holding off as they would be in the way of the framing crew if we put them in now. The art work for T-shirts hoodies and stuff is complete so it will soon be available on this site or from T-Line design.
Splitting the planking logs. (we didn't really use that saw)
The start of the kiln
The kiln crew
Tylers almost done with the transom framing
Progress on the new winches
David finishing a new fuel tank
Planking drying in the new kiln
The new purple heart stem weighed in at 2000 lbs.
Clint and Tyler guide the stem into place with the help of a boom truck.
The guys worked three days to shape the new stem starting with 2400 pounds of purple heart. The new cover boards aft were also replaced with 3 x 12 purple heart. We are just about ready to start putting the new planks on.
April in the yard saw tremendous progress. The aft 50 feet of covering board on each side of the vessel was replaced with 3 X 12 purple heart. The stem was replaced as can be seen from the photos above. The last of the frame repair was completed and the port side of the boat was re-planked. T-LINE has produced samples of many of the products for the ships store with the image of the boat. Items include T-shirts, quarter zip fleeces, hoody sweat shirts, coffee cups, hats, and shot glasses.
Here are a few new pictures of the boat showing the planks going on. The final count came to 8500 board feet of planking replaced.
Anthony, Clint and Tyler start with the hardest planks. The curve and twist of the three inch thick planks at the stern was a challenge.
The shear plank along the deck is a 3 inch by 10 inch timber 33 feet long
The last planks go on the port side of the boat
The month of May saw most of the planking go on including the last plank. Progress continued on setting the new engine and fuel tanks in place. The well deck forward was planked and the ceiling was installed. Once the well deck is corked, payed and painted the bow sprit can be reinstalled. Ozzy handled the big auger as usual drilling the new planking and frames for the chain plate bolts. In the pictures below you can see some of the planking and corking process. Each planking seam gets a line of cotton caulking driven tightly into the bevel after the gap is first painted with boiled linseed oil. Oakum is pleated into the seam over the cotton and driven in until it is hard with the use of a special mallet and caulking irons. David Thompson then fairs the planking with an electric hand plane so that Jill and Smallz can putty the seams to bring them out flush with the planking surface. There is three thousand feet of new planking seam on the boat and 3/4 of it is complete as I write this on June 7th.
Jason, Clint and Al bend a hot plank right out of the steam chest around the bow.
Clint drills and countersinks a hole in a mid ship plank as Jason drives an eight inch square spike to hold it in place. Each 30 foot long plank was fastened with about sixty of these spikes. We forged 3600 of them in all to go along with the ones we salvaged and regalvanized.
Smallz, Jason and Al have fastened the forward end of this "shutter" plank in place already and they are driving it in to the final gap. Shutter planks are made to fit very tightly between adjacent planks because of the difficulty you face trying to find a way to clamp them in place. Shortly after this plank was fastened off work stopped for the day as we observed the tradition associated with the "whiskey" or final plank.
Clint can be seen here driving oakum into a seam that he has already "corked" with cotton
Jill pays a seam with putty over the oakum.
David fairs planking with a powered hand plane or "Moto Beav"
The new paint is almost dry 6-27-08
Rigging for the lift. 6-28-08
Afloat again after five months on the beach!!!!
On Friday the 28 th of June we launched the boat after five months on the hard at Port Townsend. The guys from Shoreline Marine Diesel worked all weekend to get us ready to go and we were able to sea trial on Tuesday (our scheduled departure day). The new John Deere worked as advertised and we were underway by 1:30 in the afternoon for Port Orchard.
The folks in Port Orchard welcomed us in and provided a nice dinner for the whole crew. In the morning After a security briefing and a visit from the Coast Guard we took two ASTA videographers aboard for the sail to Quarter Master harbor. It was a lot of fun to get the sails up again for a little while and the ASTA team got some good on board video as well as video of some of the other boats. We arrived in Quarter Master harbor and just as soon as we had the anchor down the Tacoma Yacht club whisked us away for dinner at the club.
It is not easy to describe the "Parade of Sail" from Quarter Master harbor over to the Tacoma yacht club and then along the shore line to the Thea Foss water way. There were many spectator boats and many security boats but we had a nice sail into Tacoma. I probably have a few more gray hairs after the event from parallel parking between the bow sprits of the Bounty and the Nina each day.
The show staff and volunteers in Tacoma did a great job putting on the event and making us welcome. We had between two and three thousand visitors across the decks each day and only took time out for one excursion sail per day.
The show is over and we are back to work on the boat. The forward engine room bulkhead is now installed (it had to be removed in order to install the new engine and tanks) and work is progessing on rebunging and recorking the deck.
Shooting sailing video from the sprit
The parade of sail
Jen "built" a custom cake to celebrate making it to tall ships
"A dock" in the Thea Foss Water Way at Tacoma
The Lady and the Lynx sail by during one of their cannon battles.
