Each day a picture and a poem
Martin repaired the two ends of the “livholt” and now Joost is helping to see if they can get one of the rotten pegs out, next week they have to see if they can find the peg on the outside because from here it isn’t working.
Click here if you want to read the Introduction/first post.
On the port side Joost is busy changing more planks. We are still changing less planks than anticipated and it looks like it will stay that way.
Click here if you want to read the Introduction/first post.
This week Peder, the electrician finished his work on Brottsjø for this year. All the old switches, sockets and switchboards are cleaned, measured and repaired, if necessary using old parts where possible. Look at the results, they look like new again.
Click here if you want to read the Introduction/first post.
This week I worked with the new stern. The old stern didn’t fit so good anymore after so many years so I spent some time measuring the old Skin and inner stern/knee to make sure that the new one fits good.
Click here if you want to read the Introduction/first post.
Our smith has made a new part for the steering system. Chains from the steering wheel control this arm that is connected to the rudder, it was originally made by a smith so we used the same techniques to copy the old one.
Click here if you want to read the Introduction/first post.
This week we started making the first new parts for Brottsjø and the sun is also back, what more do you want.
Click here if you want to read the Introduction/first post.
We started working again on Brottsjø this week.
Because we don’t have enough boat builders work goes slowly on board Brottsjø but, we started working with the electric systems and Kazimierz the mechanic is organizing and planning his work.
This week we removed the “egnerhus”. There are parts from different periods, from the 1960 to the ’90. Under the glass fiber roof cover, probably from the 70’s we found small nails indicating that there was originally a canvas cover on the wooden roof. The sink and poorly made table are from the 90’s and have to go. When Brottsjø was used for fishing there was also a second stove standing in the “egnerhus” used for cooking and drying cloth, you can still see the round hole.
One of the last things the mechanics took of Brottsjø were the tubes around the chain steering. Now they can begin with restoring and cleaning everything.
Because the calculation has to be ready in a couple of weeks I concentrated this week on the “lugar”. The interior is as old as Brottsjø itself so from the thirties, we try to save as mush of the original interior as possible but we have to check the structure underneath like the ribs.
Brottsjø in the sliphall. I made fixed points in the slip hall and use these as a reverence for the grid you see here on the boat. The grid can help to position the different parts of the boat later when we start rebuilding the boat. This is one of the new things we use on this project, in the past a reference point sometimes got lost because it was taken away, like a stem.
One of the problems with the old electricity, the wiring, switches, sockets and equipment is that we don’t exactly know what we can use later. What are the regulations, is it aloud to use old wires. The goal is to save as much of the original as is allowed so for now it’s finding out the regulations.
Almost 10 Years ago I worked for the Nordnorsk Fartøyvernsenter og Båtmuseum in Gratangen Norway as a wooden boat builder. There are three of these “fartøyvernsenter”, (boat preservation center) in Norway, two are specialized in restoring wooden boats and one is specialized in steel or iron boats.
I started working in Gratangen in 2006 as a boat builder and in 2010 I was responsible as project manager for the Restoration of Brottsjø together with the help of the other experienced boat builders. Because my Norwegian writing skills were not good enough I started a blog where I wrote in English and kept a relative detailed rapport on what I was doing on a weekly basis.
Nochrisis
I restore wooden boats for a living. The technics and tools we use have not changed much the last view hundred years and some of the tools and technics go al the way back to the beginning of boatbuilding. One of the most important tools in boatbuilding, one that has been used for thousands of years, are our eyes. We off course use our eyes for most jobs we do but in boatbuilding we used them not only for seeing the quality of our work, we use them also to see the lines and shape of the planks we use for the hull or the masts. Boatbuilding is not an exact science where you can put measurements on a piece of wood and cut it out. A lot of lines on a boat are not straight end even if you manage to lay out a nice plan and line up everything nice and straight, time and humidity will warp the wood and ruin your careful laid out plan. If I make a plank to wrap around the ribs I can make some measurements but the final line, a line that is often a few meters long with a slid curve, will be made with my eyes. And like in real life I have to walk around the problem/plank, lower my head for another perspective, till I have seen it from all sides and adjust the solution/line till it looks right.
