Adrian Nowotynski and his partner Ken are making real progress on their Falmouth quay punt, Teal, and deserve a cheer or encouragement.
Read all about it on their weblogs, which can be found here.
Here’s what Adrian had to say at the end of last week:
‘I just thought I’d send you an update on our progress with Teal as we passed one of our major milestones today when the ballast was refitted.
‘To date we have replaced her entire center-line structure, including her keel, aft deadwood, stern knee, stern post, transom, stem, apron, bow knee, mast step, all the lower futtocks of the sawn frames and all but one of the transverse iron floors.
‘We will be moving on to planking very shortly but hope to save a lot of it, as apart from damage most of her original pitch pine is in very good order. It’s a bit too soon to tell but we will get a clear picture once the paint comes off in the coming weeks.
‘She will be getting a new deck, new cockpit, new interior, a new main mast and a small
inboard engine in the very near future so stay tuned – I try and keep the blog bang up to date for anyone who takes an interest in such masochism!
‘Best regards
‘Adrian’
Teal was launched in the summer of 1914, and was built by WE Thomas of Falmouth for a young author named Percy Woodcock. She’s had various names and owners since that time, including a two-season engineless trip to the Baltic in the hands of Andy Rankin following a lightning two-month refit job – an account of this period appeared in the magazine Classic Boat some years ago.
Adrian and Ken, who believe they are her 19th owners, are undertaking an extensive restoration at Hegarty’s Boatyard near Cork – the yard is also where the project to restore the AK Ilen is based.
I must say the job sounds arduous to say the least.
Adrian’s weblog reveals that her bronze nails were all brittle and loose in her frames and that only her copper fastenings have held her together. All her lower futtocks were either brittle or rotten, and her steamed timbers aft are doubled and even tripled, and had to be removed.
The plan is to replace the interior following the original layout but in Iroko and red deal rather than the original teak, pitch pine and kauri, and with oil lamps and a parafin stove rather than modern equivalents, and a bucket instead of a sea toilet.
The deck will be replaced with a new pine one covered in canvas and the coachroof will be kept but fitted with a new skylight.
The cockpit will have folding seats, if her new engine allows – Teal was originally built with an engine but the plan now is to fit a very compact diesel with a folding prop to one side of the stern post, as the original stern knee and post where never really heavy enough to take the stern tube.
By the end, we’re promised that she will look more original when we’re finished than she has for a very long time, and that probably still have 50 per cent of her original timber.
Teal afloat