Readying Nancy Belle

After a week in the boat shed having quick lick of paint and some varnish Nancy Belle is now back in the water ready for the seasons 'Nancy Belle boat trips'. Before the first trip the arduous task of surveying the river had to be endured with warm sunny weather and a spring tide Nancy Belle ventured to the highest tidal reaches of the Tamar with no unknown sunken trees or other navigational hazards being found.

Approaching Morwellham

Gunnislake weir

Almost Empty Boat Shed

With shipwrights Shuggs and Josh away completing another job, the crew has taken the opportunity to clear out soggy shavings and scraps of timber from around under and in Shamrock and also a general tidying of the area ready for visitors. It's planned to build a scaffold walkway under her cover allowing visitors to see Shamrock's repairs progressing. The wood that has been drying in the boat shed has now been moved out onto the quay allowing it to dry naturally and freeing up space in the boat shed. Some of that free space has already been taken up by ‘Nancy Belle’ ready for a quick coat of paint before her river trips start. She was due to be painted on the boat shed slipway but the weather had other ideas, too wet or too cold.

Clean and tidy.

Will it dry?

Lots of space.

Cornish Oak

As Shamrock spent the majority of her working life plying her trade in the Truro - Falmouth area it seems only fitting that some of the large slabs of Oak being used in her repair have been sourced from the Tregothnan estate that is situated alongside the confluence of the Fal and Truro rivers. These Sessile Oaks where planted in 1880 and cut approximately three years ago having survived the mass tree felling of the Second Word war due to their remote location. The Oak slabs have been used in the repair/replacement of Shamrock's starboard lodging knees and frames. Shamrock's starboard frame repairs are now complete also the third new section of beamshelf has been bolted into place along with that sections beams and hanging knees.   

Cornish Oak.

Completed frame repairs.

Hanging knee installation.

Beamshelf through bolted scarf.

Shamrock's new river view.

Shamrock Repairs March Update

The discovery that the forward section of the starboard beamshelf had been renewed in the past with an undersized section, was only loosely bolted to the frames and not attached to the Breasthook*. This has resulted in it being removed and a new section is being cut ready for fitting. It has also been found that there is no evidence of the starboard side beam ends ever being secured to the beamshelf. To correct this, the beams are now being through bolted onto the new beamshelf as it is fitted. More areas of rot have been discovered in some of the main beams, one of them being a section of beam behind the main mast tabernacle. This beam also supports the forward end of the cargo hatch combing and will need more investigation. Most of Shamrock's starboard side deck planks have been removed with the chain locker seeing the light of day for the first time since her restoration. With the amount of water ingress found between the deck planks and beams it has been decided to remove all the deck planking to allow all the beams to be checked, repaired or renewed as necessary and allowed to dry out before fitting new deck planks. Shamrock's windlass and deck winch have been unbolted and moved to the side ready to be removed to the boat shed once space is available. One bit of good news is that to date only one small section of rot has been found in the ceiling planks. Most of Shamrock's starboard side frame repairs have been completed and her lines are looking pleasing to the eye.

*BREASTHOOK A grown timber crook or wrought-iron knee used either as a tie to bind the Stempost, Beamshelf, Hawse or frame tim­bers of the bow together.

Breasthook port side.

Breasthook starboard side, no bolts.

Beam rot behind main tabernacle.

Rotten ceiling plank. 

Missing deck.

New short beam.

Repaired frames.

Chainsaw Mill

With repairs to Shamrock's frames and knees continuing, time has been taken to split a 13.3cm (5.25in) thick and about 7.6m (25ft) long plank of larch into two planks. To complete the cut a rather lethal looking chain saw mill was used, even this required three persons to use it, one to operate the chainsaw, one to push the mill along the plank and one to keep driving in wedges along the cut to prevent the chainsaw becoming stuck between the two sections of plank. The larger 8.2cm (3.25in) plank is to be used as the last section of beamshelf and has been marked out ready for shaping. Away from Shamrock the first of the two new quay ladders has been bolted into place and Nancy Belle's deck boards are receiving a fresh coat of paint ready for the river trips in the forthcoming season. On an eco-friendly note, the wood used for the ladders has been sourced from two larch trees which came from the Cotehele estate.

Chainsaw mill.

Starting the cut.

A long way to go.

New ladder.

Oak Lodging Knees

Shamrock has ten deck beams with oak ‘lodging knees’ mounted horizontally between beam and Shamrock's side providing horizontal stiffness and ‘hanging knees’ to provide vertical stiffness as well as preventing her sides sagging. With the two new after sections of beamshelf bolted into place there was relief all round when with the fitting of the first three ‘hanging knees’ it was found that Shamrock had kept her shape. With her side now held firmly in place the remaining ‘hanging knee’ has been removed along with the last section of the beamshelf that is due for replacement. The removal of this part of the beamshelf exposed substantial amounts of rot in various sections of beams and frames. Also revealed was damage to a lodging knee that has split on the line of a through bolt hole. (Yet another job of repair or renewal). Rot had already been discovered in the ‘lodging knee’ attached to the cargo hold ‘after’ coaming support beam, and has been repaired with a new section of oak scarfed into place. In preparation for the final stages of repair, a large nail punch has been manufactured ready to be used when the hull planks are fitted.

Hanging knees and beamshelf in place.

Rotton lodging knee.

Exposed beam.

Broken knee.

More rot.

Repaired lodging knee.

Shuggs mass production of lodging knees.

Checking for size.

More shaping required

Homemade nail punch.

Missing Deck Planks

With the quay starting to look like a paddy field, work is still continuing on Shamrock with the fitting of the after two sections of the beamshelf. A third beamshelf section still needs to be manufactured once the last remains of the existing section are removed. Six of the seven hanging knees have been moved to the boat shed for cleaning and painting with the seventh to follow once it has been removed. To enable the refitting of these knees the starboard side deck planks, up to the side of the cargo hatch coaming, have been removed to expose the half beams to which the top of the knees are through bolted. Some of the beams have started to rot due to the ingress of water through the deck plank seams and will need to be replaced or repaired. With the removal of the deck planks the amount of old caulking to be removed has been greatly reduced, much to the relief of the crew. The after cabin, soon to be the engine room, has had its two bunks removed in preparation for the fitting of the propeller shaft, engine and subsidiary equipment.

Missing deck planks.

Two new sections of beamshelf bolted in place.

This section is still to be removed, note the mycelium around the scarf.

Hanging knees.

Beam rot exposed after removal of hanging knees.

Remains of Shamrock's after bunks.