January 2010

Our hopes of a Christmas launch were dashed when we lifted the damaged covering board to reveal widespread rot and damage from iron fittings around the forward beam shelves.  We are now replacing the deck, deck beams, beam shelf, king plank and some more frames. We are also fitting some proper bits which attach to the keel.  Rob and David have less time as they need to earn money and the funds are further depleted - so we are down to just Tim helping us from the yard.  We will not be doing the Tall Ships this year, but we continue restore her properly aiming for a launch this spring.

CONTROVERSY? The bulwark stanchions were the main source of ingress to cause rot - we are thinking of not replacing them - IS THAT SACRILEGE?

October 2009

When we took apart the transom, more rot was found in the horn timbers and the cockpit, so we are rebuilding the back end - I suppose that many old ladies would need their back end lifting at Leila's age!  We are going to need another £20,000 to finish the restoration so we are holding a leaving party in Southwold just before Christmas to help with fundraising.

The pictures show the reconstruction and below an interesting comparison between iron and bronze fastenings in oak.  The iron bolt on the left has been attacked by the tannic acid in the oak and rusted, expanding to crack the oak and allow water in to subsequently rot the oak, whereas the bronze bolt did not corrode or rot the oak - this is why we have replaced iron bolts with bronze throughout the restoration. The picture on the right shows the good news - the port bow has been planked, caulked, payed and primed for painting.

September 2009

After Steve uses a laser to scribe a waterline and Tim fairs the port side, we start to apply white lead putty and primer - then disaster strikes again.  We find extensive rot in the transom which Tim starts to take apart, while Steve and Mark continue with the starboard side. Further rotten planks are found on the port bow and quarter, so David drives to Sheffield for more mahogany planking and Rob sources  more oak from Sotterly.  This sets us back at least a month, and we are unlikely to make Lowestoft before Christmas. Yard bills of more than £3000 a week are crippling us financially, but the Alisons help again and the PD James Trust promises to contribute. The rot in the planks seems to start in the middle of the plank, which is why we were unable to detect it earlier.

Summer 2009 

A frustrating time as we can't start on the HLF funds until the hull is finished, but we run out of time and money. Rob and David have to take time off to go and earn some money to keep the home fires burning. In early August a local trust donates £8000 and we start to use two shipwrights from the yard to get the boat finished so that we can launch in September and get to Lowestoft. The pictures show Dick Baldwin, a local fisherman, helping with the fairing and sanding of the planked port side, ready for painting - Blakes Paints have agreed to supply all our paint for half price. The starboard side is still being planked by Steve and Chris of HMS. You can see the new stem made by Rob. Pictured in close up is Steve the yard foreman who is now running the hull restoration. Steve has spent a lifetime working on boats, starting work in a Lowetsoft yard on ships.

May 2009

The Heritage Lottery Fund comes good unexpectedly early and approves our application, as long as we secure £5,000 match funding. We discover dry rot in the stem which has to be cut out. Someone had previously tried to burn it out by stuffing a burning rag or something down a bolt hole, so that the stem and apron were charred internally. Sotterly estate have an old oak post that will do the trick for us.  The hull repairs have taken four times the expense and time that we budgetted - there is always more rot than you can see even with the closest survey. Richard of APA continues to get us good publicity and Bull gets on the telly - BBC Look East - bringing a few previous owner and sailors out of the woodwork.

April 2009

We track down our mahogany to a Cumbrian timber merchant who lets us have another seven planks at the same price.  We have a big set back when we discover more rot beneath the port channel and have to replace the channel, a deck beam, more frames and more planks.  Harbour Marine Services foreman Steve is helping us when he can with the race against time to get Leila planked and in the water before she opens up and needs a complete re-caulking. Tom, a foredeck monkey that we sometimes race with, helps with sanding and oiling the spars.  Hugh comes down for an interim inspection and we finally submit our Heritage Lottery Fund application.

March 2009

We start planking using a steam box made from Swedish pine that has drifted onto the beach from Newhaven. Our excellent Fijian Mahogany supplier goes bust, so we are on the hunt for 50 foot of 2 inch mahogany planking. We receive another generous private donation from Geoff of Southwold to keep us going, as we run out of money every week. The bronze fin head bolts for the plank butt joints alone cost £500 and have to come from America.

February 2009 The frames are fitted and two more planks have to be removed from the port side below the waterline - another 50 foot of mahogany is ordered. The stern gear is serviced and greased. A used prop is bought for £20.

The new frames are ready to bolt as sisters to old or broken ones. We have opted to make our own bolts out of aluminium bronze rod as its less than half the price of ready made bronze bolts. The new exhaust has been fitted as well as new seacocks - one was held on by a prayer.  Leila is starting to dry out in the shed but it is good to be out of the weather. More cuprinol for the hull.  A local ex-barge skipper donates £1000.

 

December 2008 More rot is found below rotten stanchions. Rotten stanchions, mast partners, planking and frames are removed.  The funeral of a good friend Dick Spring raises £800 for the boat. November 2008 Leila comes into the Harbour Marine Services shed on Blackshore, Southwold.  A piece of fibreglass over the apron is removed to reveal extensive rot in the rock elm, which has to be hacked out and replaced by a laminated piece of oak by HMS shipwrights.  Rot is found below all the rotten stanchions. Cuprinol is applied with a garden sprayer.  Some good publicity generated by East Anglian Press Agency in the local press cause the son of a previous owner to contact us.

 

October 2008 Leila comes out of the water, just. About five tons of ballast and the rig is removed to reduce the draft so that we can lift her out. We start to remove rotten planking and drop the rudder out of the stern. The budget is drawn up and fund raising planned.

 

September 2008 With a £2000 grant from the National Historic Ships Register and a further £2000 from Pam Alison, we bring her down to Southwold from Great Yarmouth. Seen here leaving the Yarmouth piers for the first time in twelve yearsSubsequently we find a loose sea cock, a paper thin plank and a fishing net around the prop, so were lucky to make it!
Summer 2008 Rob Bull finds Leila in Great Yarmouth and brings David Beavan and then John Buckley of HMS to see her. The Trust is established and application made for a sustainability grant from NHSR. The trust becomes a registered charity. None of this required a solicitor and was all done on the internet.