Friday, 29 September 2023

Winter is coming

When the weather worsens as winter approaches more volunteers head for inside working. A variety of jobs are in progress at present. An old table saw is being stripped down and rebuilt, White Wings has been turned over so that work can progress on the underside, Ruby has been deep cleaned and the wood repairs on Shamrock make further progress.


White Wings

Ruby

Shamrock

Friday, 8 September 2023

Rain & Shine

We had a good deal of heavy rain, lightening & thunder for a time during the last week however all the boats we recovered the previous week all survived with no pooling on the canvas cover.

Falcon under cover

Inside painting has continued on White Wings with a top coat being applied to some areas.

White Wings

With fine weather once again returned the opportunity was taken to wash & treat with Milton's fluid some of the sails in our collection.


Friday, 1 September 2023

Esmeralda cleaned & re-covered

After being left open to the elements for a week (during which we had a lot of rain) Esmeralda was given a gentle pressure wash to remove the last of the bird muck. Her cover was also washed off and dried out. Not having a drain hole nor a working bilge pump we used an external pump to suck the collected water out from inside.

Cleaning Esmeralda

Drying Esmeralda's cover

Esmeralda drying out before being recovered
Elsewhere another team worked on a cover for Falcon. She also had no drain hole so we wanted to cover her to prevent her filling up with water.
Setting a ridge pole for Falcon
With a bit of time left before lunch we also diagnosed and fixed a problem with one of the machine tools.



Friday, 25 August 2023

Esmeralda uncovered

For the first time in 5 or 6 years Esmeralda had her deck cover removed today. Now that she is outside in the weather, her timbers soaking up a bit of water, her flat deck cover is acting as a rain catcher. We will put a ridge pole in to solve this problem, but since we had to empty the water today we took the opportunity to remove the cover and have a look inside.

Despite having been stored inside a covered barn some birds had decided to build a nest on the side decking under the cover. The birds had also left a bit of a mess on the inside of the boat. We have left the cover off for the time being to let the rain soften the bird mess which we will pressure wash off next week.

We also now have a main access door which can be latched closed and won't swing open in the wind.

Esmeralda - rain catcher
Esmeralda - removing rain water
Esmeralda - cleaning the inside
New latching door lock


Friday, 18 August 2023

Sheena + Tern

The engine in Sheena was run for a good while today using a hose pipe to supply cooling water. At the same time the interior of Tern was cleaned out. Since being added to the historic fleet Tern has been in 'tight' storage with little access so this is the first proper opportunity we have had to sort through the debris. 



Working in Tern

Friday, 11 August 2023

Ruby moved in & clearing out elsewhere

Ruby was moved into the Old Herring Factory and currently sits alongside the other small boats inside.

Ruby settled in at her new home

The time had finally arrived to move all the remaining OHBS assets out of one of the several storage locations OHBS has been using in Mainland Orkney. Two boats and a pile of wood had to be moved so a work group set about the task which was only slightly interrupted by drizzle for a short time.

Loading wood
Unloading wood
Loading Tern onto a trailer for moving

Thursday, 10 August 2023

Meet Ruby

Today we picked up the Alex Stout built 12' dinghy Ruby from near Kirkwall. Ruby was built in North Grinaby, Westray in the 1960s for a Capt Burgher.