The holes in the planks for the bolts and nails need to be plugged in a watertight manner. Plugs of spotted gum – the same timber as the planks – are made in Shed 2 and glued into the holes. The excess plug protruding with be sanded flush with the plank surface then primed.
Athird section of the garboard plank has been fixed on both the port and starboard side. All plank sections will be primed with an aluminium based, underwater paint. As can be seen the keelson is also being similarly primed.
Top photo shows the second section of the garboard plank on the port side of the hull. The chamfer or caulking seam is clearly evident in the second photo. This chamfer will be done on all planks and is the space or seam between planks that the caulking is inserted into.
A plan for planking the hull has been developed and battens have been attached to the frames. The battens indicate the position of the planks. Four sections of the garboard planks ( two each side of the ship at the bow ) have been fastened and painted.
The following 3 minute slide show illustrates the progress of the restoration of the Alma Doepel hull since being raised on the barge. The slide show tarts at 2013 when the Alma Doepel was raised from the water to the significant milestone of completing the framing of the hull in May 2019.
A Framing Out ceremony was held on Thursday 2nd of May, to mark the completion of the framing of the hull of the Alma Doepel. The attendees included the major stakeholders who have provided the necessary purchased or donated goods and services , cash donations or volunteered their time to get the Alma Doepel this far in the restoration effort. Below are photos of the ceremony with the last section of frame being installed, followed by shots showing some of the completed frames.
In the week before Easter many more frames were finished being shaped and then painted. Several planks that had been positioned and fixed earlier ( mid 2017 ) have been removed for further fairing of the frames. This has necessitated the removal of spikes and dumps from the frames. These were cut to remove the planks. The planks will be reinstalled to the same position when the shipwrights have completed the fairing of all the frames.
