Fally-over houseboat ship project

[Huntsman]

Arnold Cunningham said:

Yes, part of that. But also, when you see these projects - they always start with a whole bunch of fanfair, support clubs and so forth.
And then when the reality of the massive restoration and cost required truly sinks in, they quietly disappear. As always, hope I'm wrong, but it is following the pattern.

Sadly so.

I learned today that another quite big heritage project is going to be scrapped.

[Arnold Cunningham]

May I ask which boat?

[Huntsman]

Arnold Cunningham said:

May I ask which boat?

Calshot

[hidetheelephants]

Huntsman said:

Arnold Cunningham said:

May I ask which boat?

Calshot

There's a definite limit to the number of mouldy old ships the british public are prepared to support, steam tug Cervia is on borrowed time too and she's far more original than Calshot, which was hacked about when converted to diesel and operated in Ireland.

[Arnold Cunningham]

I do feel if a boat isn’t going to be kept in nice nick, there comes a time when it’s better scrapped than left hanging around like a ghost. Whenever something does get scrapped, there’s the inevitable “someone should do something” outcry. Every single person saying that could have done “something”, but even then, the success stories are usually pivoted around an individual with the right combination of desire, motivation and money.

I hope Howard is this man for llys helig.

[classicaholic]

Old boats are money pits, the less you pay for them the more they cost!

I know from experience with my 1936 racing yacht, its still not quite finished after a year when I had hoped for a 6 - 8 week rebuild!

[Arnold Cunningham]

Ooo! Do you have a pic?

[dhutch]

I'm told by someone who should know, that the hull of Cervia is not as bad as many make out, and certainly is is reported the machinary (and presumably boiler with that) are in good condition.

Calshot appears just as an important vessel, and being diesal converted doesn't reduce that appeal. However if the hull is in a bad way then that is a lot of cost.

[dhutch]

A short post and a handful of replies to my questions on the Llys Helig facebook page.

The current plan appears to me to bring a floating drydock around to take her to her new home, as the hull as been deemed not sufficiently sea worthy for the trip.

"This floating dry dock Uber is taking forever to arrive...

1. offonmytravels
2. leavingonadrydock #sittingInadockonthebay
3. septembertravel"

[Arnold Cunningham]

Yeah, I saw and replied to that, referencing what they did to the James Craig to move her when she was recovered. In a beautiful moment of social media, my post disappeared. Basically the lined her with concrete which both ballasted her, sealed her, and gave her more stuctural integrity.

I don't think it says concrete here - but I saw it with my own eyes when we had a look round her in about 1984 ish - just before they moved her onto the "pontoon slave dock" I think - I remember them saying she was due to be moved to a new dock soon.

https://www.shf.org.au/explore-the-fleet/our-opera...
https://portal.engineersaustralia.org.au/system/fi...

I've seen her fully rebuilt - 2018 maybe. They have done a fantastic job on her.

And if anyone happens to be in Sydney - pay the maritime museum at darling harbour a visit - where the James Craig. It is an excellent museum, including the worlds water speed record holder, hanging just near the entrance. A record that has stood since 1978 - 317.59 mph.

I hope Howard has really really deep pockets. Once she’s shotblast back I suspect there’s not too much metal left on the hull plates.

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Saturday 6th August 14:35

[Arnold Cunningham]

Yeah, I saw and replied to that, referencing what they did to the James Craig to move her when she was recovered. In a beautiful moment of social media, my post disappeared.

I hope Howard has really really deep pockets. Once she’s shotblast back I suspect there’s not too much metal left.

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Saturday 6th August 19:54

[Arnold Cunningham]

Was pleased to see they've got a dry dock coming in to move her now. Look fairly set and ready to move her, they were potentially talking about last thursday to get the dock under her I think. No updates since the 4th though, so I imagine it's delayed.

[dhutch]

Yes, I saw the updates too. It was always going to be a long game, and it's always better to do it slowly and carefully than rush it, but it's also been slow even by that measure.

[WF36]

Arnold Cunningham said:

Was pleased to see they've got a dry dock coming in to move her now. Look fairly set and ready to move her, they were potentially talking about last thursday to get the dock under her I think. No updates since the 4th though, so I imagine it's delayed.

Work is scheduled to take place on the 17th and 18th January 2023

[Simpo Two]

WF36 said:

Arnold Cunningham said:

Was pleased to see they've got a dry dock coming in to move her now. Look fairly set and ready to move her, they were potentially talking about last thursday to get the dock under her I think. No updates since the 4th though, so I imagine it's delayed.

Work is scheduled to take place on the 17th and 18th January 2023

Which is today. Nice and freezing

[Huntsman]

I see a twitter update of a few days ago that she's had another go at sinking. She seems quite determined.

Good luck to them.

[Arnold Cunningham]

I continue to see messages that don't bode well
Twitter says : ...for the hull to be blasted and surveyed

Why? I am qualified enough to be a surveyor and one of my good friends is an actual surveyor. She doesn't need a survey to tell you that all the major structures are massively undermined - to sail again she'll be by and large triggers broom. So the question isn't what needs replacing, the question is what can be saved.

What's going to happen is they'll move her. She'll be shotblasted, there'll then be a bunch of hand handwringing and head shaking before she's cut up for scrap. I'm happy (well, a bit sad really, it would be nice to see her restored) to take that on as a "virtual bet".

[Teddy Lop]

Arnold Cunningham said:

I continue to see messages that don't bode well
Twitter says : ...for the hull to be blasted and surveyed

Why? I am qualified enough to be a surveyor and one of my good friends is an actual surveyor. She doesn't need a survey to tell you that all the major structures are massively undermined - to sail again she'll be by and large triggers broom. So the question isn't what needs replacing, the question is what can be saved.

What's going to happen is they'll move her. She'll be shotblasted, there'll then be a bunch of hand handwringing and head shaking before she's cut up for scrap. I'm happy (well, a bit sad really, it would be nice to see her restored) to take that on as a "virtual bet".

I'm guessing it's about provenance, do boats have this the same way as cars, where someone will pull a lump of pig iron out of a lake and go "behold, a Bugatti", then a few years and a few bob later they're driving around in an actual car and claiming it's related to aforementioned lump o pig iron as that's the difference between a bug and a rep.

[Huntsman]

Teddy Lop said:

I'm guessing it's about provenance, do boats have this the same way as cars, where someone will pull a lump of pig iron out of a lake and go "behold, a Bugatti", then a few years and a few bob later they're driving around in an actual car and claiming it's related to aforementioned lump o pig iron as that's the difference between a bug and a rep.

A rebuild does not have to meet current regs, do can result in a prettier hull form.

[dhutch]

Arnold Cunningham said:

I continue to see messages that don't bode well
Twitter says : ...for the hull to be blasted and surveyed

Why? I am qualified enough to be a surveyor and one of my good friends is an actual surveyor. She doesn't need a survey to tell you that all the major structures are massively undermined - to sail again she'll be by and large triggers broom. So the question isn't what needs replacing, the question is what can be saved.

Shot blast, and then survey to see what can be saved. Surely?

How else are you going to know for sure what is or isn't good, at speed. Obviously if you find chunks that are not worth blasting, you can skip that.

I don't know how bad she is, but it's quite possible to have a significantly compromised hull that's still economically salvageable.