Sheila1905.com

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

We are restoring the 120 years old Albert Strange yacht Sheila.

She was launched on the Isle of Man in 1905 and as been sailing ever since, thanks to her many lovers.

This is episode 9, with more to come ! The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic in Baden have finished closing the hull and are working on caulking. We are finalizing the preparation of the rigging and the jib furling system is restored (yes, it is period, Sheila had a furling jib in 1905.)

We still have quit a bit of work on finishing.

Cheers from France !

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

We are restoring the 120 years old Albert Strange yacht Sheila.

She was launched on the Isle of Man in 1905 and as been sailing ever since, thanks to her many lovers.

This is episode 8, with more to come ! The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic in Baden are rebuilding the planking, now that their job on the structure is done.

Cheers from France

Le Chasse-Marée – Janvier-Février, n°343

… a real princess would always lie on her age and on her draught !

Many thanks to Gérard d’Aboville, Gwendal Jaffry and Maud Lénée-Corrèze

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

We are restoring the 120 years old Albert Strange yacht Sheila. She was launched on the Isle of Man in 1905 and as been sailing ever since, thanks to her many lovers.

The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic in Baden are recreating the stucture at the stern of the 1905 yawl, and in this episode we are focusing on the work by Yann and the whole team to restore the axial structure, very much the backbone of the boat.

This (already) episode 7, with more to come !

Cheers from France

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

We are restoring the oldest Albert Strange yacht in commission.

The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic are recreating the stucture at the stern of the 1905 yawl, and in this episode we are focusing on the work by Adriannna to restore the oak keel and the floor timber.

This is episode 6 and there are more to come !

Cheers from France

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

We are still restoring the oldest Albert Strange yacht in commission.

The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic are recreating the stucture at the stern of the 1905 yawl, and this will be the subject of the next episodes.

In the meantime we have been busy restoring the (original) ballast keel and the (original) main mast. There is also progress to be shared on the rest of the spars and the blocks.

This is part 5 of the project.

Cheers from France !

Season Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

We are busy restoring the oldest Albert Strange yacht in commission.

The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic are recreating the stern, piece by piece. As Adrianna is restoring the keel, Rose is working on the stern post. My contribution, the fairing for the rudder tube, is more in line with my limited skills.

We want to avoid laminated wood as much as possible and we were missing some grown oak pieces. We found them at “Le Bois Idéal” in Mayenne. A big thank you to Mickael for making himself available and providing us with dry wood from trees that were planted under Colbert’s leadership, under Louis XIV, in the XVIIth century.

This is part 4 of the project.

Cheers from France !

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !

The shipwrights team at Chantier de la Bascatic are carefully performing their clever art of transforming a relic into a performing yacht (but not too much.)

We are also busy trying to locate grown oak to avoid laminate as much as possible. In the meantime the deck is getting a big cleanup.

This is part 3 of the project.

Cheers from France !

Greetings to the Court of Princess Sheila !
We have removed the antifouling paint and the ballast keel and now we want to remove the part of the structure in need of repair, as a block.
We do not want Sheila’s hull to dry too much. So we have to manage everything in 4 months.
This is week 2 of the project.

Cheers from France !

Sheila is the oldest Albert Strange yacht in commission and to keep her credentials she needs attention over the winter.
We are worried that rot might have developed under the mizzen mast, at the stern of the boat, from rain water leakage. We are under the impression we will have to restore the stem post and the whole stern area. As much as possible we are obliged to do this keeping the structure and the planking which are original.
We will have to remove the ballast keel and this is an oportunity to sand blast this massive piece of metal.
And finally, we do not want Sheila’s hull to dry too much. So we have to manage everything in 4 months.

Cheers from France, this is week 1 of the project !