16 Mar 2020

In line with current government advice OHBS has suspended all face-to-face activities for an indefinite period. All OHBS heritage vessels are currently in safe storage so there should be no loss or deterioration of heritage during this suspension of our activities. Individual volunteers are remotely managing administrative work.

13 Mar 2020

Painting the hull of Saga with primer began today. Unfortunately, we ran out of primer before completing a full coat so more paint will need to be ordered before next week.

On Waterlily more work was done preparing No 2 Strake for filling with backing pieces put in place to hold filler and rotten timber on the outside hardened ready for filling next week.

Further work was done on preparing the scarf joints on the sheer strake of Shamrock. Oak strips have been sourced to repair the timmers along the starboard side of Shamrock.

10 Mar 2020

Some volunteers are away down south while other continue with the conservation work.Wood filler applied last week today needed to be sanded and faired. Whilst one of the team worked on sanding filler on both Saga and Waterlily the other team members worked on Shamrock.

Further work on Shamrock

To get access to the rivets joining the sheer strake to number 6 strake it was decided to cut the stringer just aft of the forad thaft and remove it temporarily.  With the stringer removed we could also get access to the timmers, many of which were broken at tulfer level.  A decision was made to cut away the broken timmers in this area of the boat and replace them, suitably scarfed to the existing good wood. Work also began cutting scarf joints on the sheer strake.

Stringer removed

6 Mar 2020

While some of the team sourced new wood and started on the cutting plan others continued to remove old wood from Shamrock and carried on with filling/sanding work on Saga and Waterlily.

Shamrock before cutting

Shamrock after cutting

Waterlily filling

3 Mar 2020

With several boats now pretty much fully stripped we could examine the state of the underlying wood. The gunwale of Shamrock is too far rotted and much of the gunwale requires replacement so we cut away the rotten material and measured up for new wood. Wood hardener was applied to small areas of Waterlily and the forward thwart was cut out to be replaced. Filling of small areas of the keel of Saga was started.

Filling small holes in Saga

Cutting away rotten gunwales on Shamrock

28 Feb 2020

There's still snow on the hill tops of Hoy but not much remaining on Mainland so not too bad getting out to the boat shed today. The rotten rubbing strake was removed from Saga leaving a clean hull which could be sanded off. Wood hardener was applied to the soft areas of the underside which didn't justify replacement.

25 Feb 2020

Spar and oar stripping day and a bit of sanding on the exterior of Saga. Much quieter in the shed today as there was no wind.

Something missing from the top of the mast?

21 Feb 2020

Another day and another gale. The Northlink ferries are taking the day off but not the hardy OHBS volunteers. With the bottom of Saga pretty much stripped we started sanding the planks to fair off any stray bits of wood lifted by the scraping. We also started stripping some spars & oars which had been put aside for a rainy day.

Sanding in progress

Stripping a spar

18 Feb 2020

Despite the best efforts of storm Dennis a few volunteers turned out to complete the exterior stripping of Saga. With the exterior varnish now fully stripped she can be turned over again and the remaining bit of the interior finished of.

14 Feb 2020

After a short break from the manual work for (i) a sub-committee meeting, (ii) a visit to see some yoles in Kirkwall and (iii) a field trip to Deerness to inspect a dinghy the work crew are back on the job. The interior of Saga is nearly fully stripped. There remains a small amount of old paintwork still to strip in the bow but this is a one person job. Rather than one person working and four standing around chatting we flipped the boat over and got five volunteers working on stripping the exterior.

Working on the interior

Working on the exterior

4 Feb 2020

After the gales of yesterday the weather today was surprisingly good for another work session in the shed (it can be very noisy in the shed if there's 50+ knots of wind coming from the wrong direction). More progress made on the inside of Saga; more bits-n-bobs removed and further stripping of the hull.

31 Jan 2020

Lots of hands available today to finish off the stripping of Shamrock and continue stripping Saga. Currently we have Waterlily & Shamrock completely stripped off and both drying out. Saga still has a a weeks worth of stripping work on the inside then we need to flip her over and strip the exterior varnish.

28 Jan 2020

Scapa Flow from the top of Scorradale 

A very pleasant day in the islands but this didn't prevent volunteers making further progress with the current restorations.

Shamrock at the end of the day

24 Jan 2020

No pics today but a concentrated effort on the insides of Saga & Shamrock. Shamrock is now close to being finished while Saga will require a few more weeks to clean off the inside and out properly.

21 Jan 2020

Birds are back in the shed so we started by opening the big doors to persuade the birds to leave - no joy, they can stay. Work continued at a steady pace on stripping the inside of both Saga and Shamrock.

Progress on Shamrock

Progress on Saga

17 Jan 2020

Lots going on today. We needed to move a couple of boats around to make further work easier, Ian also came along to the shed to inspect four boats and provide input to the Conservation Management Plans for these boats - AKL, Saga, Shamrock & Waterlily. Finally we managed to start some work on cleaning up the inside of Saga and the inside of Shamrock.

Waterlily 'parked' between moves

Something interesting going on inside Shamrock

14 Jan 2020

Very high tide this morning so all vehicles had to be parked on higher ground than usual as the sea gave the parking area a good wash. No only did the hard standing get a wash but the sea also made it into the shed coming in under the doors and side panels. Thankfully the wind was not a strong south easterly otherwise we could have been standing in several inches of sea water at high.
Waterlily has now been completely stripped inside and out and now both Waterlily & Shamrock await professional inspection and an agreed Conservation Management Plan. Focus may now shift back to Saga which still needs stripping inside and out.

High water today

Waterlily fully stripped