MFV BF494 'Pansy', an old Motor Fifie Conversion

After much trawling (geddit?) we found some 'ickle (!) bits of wood for the old girl.

So pretty much a year on, this old fishing boat is pretty much 'bottomed'. nothing left to throw away hardly, so here starts the putty back together phase I guess. Just had a look back through some old posts, all archived away out of embarrassments sight, but worth a look, the voyage home still raises a smile: The Pansy Genesis - Where it all started

So on to new stuff, and specifically some rather hefty bits of tree that arrived yesterday, and just as an extra test to the combined ingenuity of passers by that were roped in (literally) and plied with beer, it was bang on low tide. which means the pontoon is some 5 or 6 metres below the walkway. 16' long beams, 8" by 5" aren't the most portable things in the world.

First suggestion was just throw them over the side then fish them out of the water, luckily I spotted the potential of 200cwt of oak torpedo hurtling across the marina and getting intimate with some shiny white plastic thing, so that was rejected

after a bit of umming an ahhing,a few visitors were press ganged into service, some ropes whipped off the boat, wrapped around the barrier a couple of times and the beams lowered on ropes down to the pontoon - The Friction and Gravity method - It worked well, only Keith's broken toes to stop it being heralded a complete success

The press gangee's then dutifully carried the demi-trees along and stuck em on deck for us

Problem now is, I'm already rather fond of them (the woody bits, not the press gangee's, although I'm quite fond of them too, obviously not in any dodgy have my babies kinda way, just a bunch of nice blokes)

100 year old scottish oak (I counted the rings) felled not far from where the originally timbers that make up the Panser were felled. It just looks lovely, I might possibly have cuddled one bit when no-one was looking, but there they are, lying across the deck, seems a shame to chop em into shape.

So, got wood, got a chainsaw, got nails, got sticky stuff and tools - what's the worst that can happen

behold!! rot free wood! Introducing the panser to here new deck beams, frame heads, knees and beamshelf

A 'Big Up' to Henry here for selecting and milling the timber for us, and loading it on the wagon, First class job. Although I bet he cheated and used one of them forky lifty things

not a shake, knot or crack in sight, Next week though I'll probably be offering lots of blunt tools for sale