March Update
Challenge
Not much work has progressed on the condenser during March, as we have been waiting for a delivery of new ferrules to arrive. But in the meantime the team has been getting on with many other jobs.
Around a third of Challenge’s hull length has been painted in two fresh coats of paint and the rest will be getting worked on this month. This has only been possible at the current speed due to the loan of a pontoon by the Royal Navy Sailing Association. The plan is to completely re-paint Challenge before our return to Dunkirk in May. The whistle has also been removed to be polished.
One of our volunteers, Brian, is building us two new light boxes for the bridge wings. The old ones were rotten and the starboard one fell apart whilst being removed. The supports will be getting renewed before the new boxes are mounted.
The oak for our new mast was brought onboard at the beginning of the month and work immediately began on measuring and cutting. The four sided piece of oak was cut down to eight sides, then sixteen sides and has now been sanded round. The next stage will be to do the top half and put them together before coating and mounting.
Portwey
Hull repairs have now been completed and the rubbing strakes have been re-mounted with new timber.
With the hull repairs complete the volunteers filled up with coal, wood and water and began to fire the boiler for the first time in two years. Unfortunately part way through steaming up a tube burst. Upon inspection a hole had formed in the top of the tube and under the small amount of pressure it burst. This has led to the steaming up process being put on hold. The volunteers have carried out an inspection of the other tubes and it has been decided that it will be best to replace all of the tubes.
