No named storm

Tomorrow Orkney is forecast to get wind gusts in excess of 70kts but it's not a named storm for us. A few hardy volunteers turned out today to finish off some varnish scrapping on Saga parts.

Venture has been primed/undercoated ready for topcoat in the new year

Doris is covered up for the winter

After Darragh

Strom Darragh - didn't notice that one go by to the south. The fire exit handrail has now been reinstalled = it's not all boat work, we have to do building maintenance also.

Although Venture is not in too bad a state there are hull repairs that need to be completed, so the team working on Venture continue with this work.

Elsewhere paint stripping continues on the elliptic stern yole Laverne.

After Conall

Strom Conall went well south of Orkney, so no dramas up here, business as usual. For some reason known only to the builders who installed the large boat door they removed a fire exit handrail which didn't require removing. We are now finally getting around to reinstalling the handrail.

Work clearing bruck (rubbish) out from the inside of Venture turned up an unexpected find. A rather old bottle of Stella was discovered. Keeping the boat as light as possible was obviously not top priority for the last crew to race this boat.

Work on Saga continues, we are now working on fixtures & fittings such as the rudder and centre board.

After Bert

Orkney missed the worst of storm Bert, although we had some snow the warm sea means that the snow never stays around for very long. Storm Connall missed us completely, didn't even notice that one going past to the south.

Doris is almost finished. Deck fittings have been refitted and the interior boards reinstalled. There is a little paint touch up work to be completed at some point.

Doris deck fittings being reinstalled

Doris

Work has continued on stripping the catamaran Venture in preparation for new paintwork.

Venture

Snow, Ice & Storm Bert

With snow & ice during the week we had a slightly reduced turnout this week. The set of storage shelves rescued from the fireworks night community bonfire have been tightened up with additional fixings and cross bracing added. These shelves will be pressed into use next week.

Nellie's rudder has been getting painted despite the cold weather.

It's getting colder

A set of shelves was rescued from the local fireworks bonfire by some observant volunteers. The shelves need a little fixing up but will be a valuable addition in one of our storage rooms.

Inside and out of the weather cleaning up of the inside of Esmeralda continues and paint work on Nellie and Doris.

While we label parts taken off boats, not all the parts taken off a boat always end up in the same place so some time has been spent locating and consolidating various parts into label baskets.

Working on Boats

This week we received a generous donation of tools from the Black Country = Dudley in the midlands. Being a nice day work started outside with stripping of Nellie's rudder and old varnish off Venture.

Nellie's rudder

Venture

Inside Saga's third coat of varnish on the new deck is now cured.

Not sure what is going on here...

After all that work tea break

Sorting out wood

With some decent weather we used the opportunity to sort through the sawn larch planks we have stored outside. As well as separating the planks into 'thick' and 'thin' piles we swept off all the sawdust stuck to them from when the sawmill cut them.

and all sorted ready for the winter

Inside Saga has had her cap shroud chain plates replaced but not yet bolted into position. Also her deck was sanded back for a third coat of varnish.

Work was started on stripping all fittings off Venture so that we can see what restoration work needs to be undertaken.

The internals of Doris have received a topcoat.

Maintenance & More Boat Moves

As well have working on boats we also have to maintain their supporting infrastructure. This week we serviced all the trailer lightboards we have. This involved checking all the lights were working and making sure all cables were properly anchored.

Two more boats were moved and covered ready for the winter. Esmerelda being prepared for towing:

Boats ready for the winter

Housekeeping

The catamaran Venture has been moved to the Old Herring Factory in preparation for some restoration work. With Venture moved we could tidy up our second storage location to allow some boats in preservation mode to be moved out of the Old Herring Factory.

Venture

Tidy up complete

Falcon moves

Falcon has finally been moved to Ian Richardson's yard so that he can instruct a group of volunteers on how to go about making and attaching several missing planks.

While at Ian's yard we inspected Ian's latest project - an elliptical stern yole

Back at the Old Herring Factory Nellie's steam boiler arrived, being rather heavy it has been left in the compound but covered.

Boat Moves & Varnish

With the help of a Hiab Loader Lorry we moved some boats today. Lagertha was moved within the compound. AKL was moved from Ness to the Old Herring Factory, then Shownia followed.

Moving Lagertha

AKL arriving at the Old Herring Factory

Shownia arriving at the Old Herring Factory

Inside Saga was treated to a further coat of varnish.

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New Boat Door is finished

In addition to restoring and preserving old boats we have to do some maintenance on the building. Today the side trim on the new boat door was weather sealed (the top trim had already been sealed).

Falcon has been put on a trailer ready for moving to Ian Richardson's shed so that the missing planking can be finished. Ian intends to provide a master class in the finer points of boat repairing for some of the society's members.

Doris is receiving undercoat on the outside of the hull.

Some off the fittings taken off Doris have now been cleaned up.

New Boat Door is almost finished

The new boat door which was installed at the end of 2023 has finally had the missing trim fitted. All that remains now is for us to run a bead of sealant along the exterior trim edges.

At another location the Norwegian Lifeboat "AKL" has been moved outside so that she can be lifted and moved to the Old Herring Factory.

Winter is coming

With winter on the way we have are moving boats around so that the more vulnerable boats are stored under cover.

Cingalee been moved under cover

Cingalee inside

Bulldog being moved to the Old Herring Factory

Waterwitch & Cingalee inside

Boat Manoeuvres

In between rain showers we swapped boats between trailers and got several boats ready for moving to another location for winter storage.

Lagertha off her trailer

Waterwitch on the wrong trailer

Cingalee on her trailer