In May I was working on my then other boat, a trapper 28, when I was introduced to a rigger who was working on a nearby boat. In the course of the conversation I mentioned I was looking for a qualified person to restore “Memory”, my 1911 Harrison Butler. He mentioned a man he knew in Northern Ireland who restores and repairs boats. Pat has been building and repairing boats for the last 30 years. He inspected Memory and told me that she needed a new stem which was rotten and this had allowed the planks to pull out and the stern was equally as bad. The dead wood would have to be replaced along with the rudder. Inside the hull the story was as bad. All the floors would have to be replaced along with 64 ribs which were cracked or had turned black. The deck was nailed with steel nails which had now rusted and expanded causing damage to the wood around it. The top plank was rotten and would need to be replaced along with the coach roof sides, cockpit bulkheads and some of the cockpit. I decided after discussing the over all cost with Pat to restore Memory back to her original condition using traditional materials and methods.
In August 2010, I shipped the boat to Pat for the work to start. Below, Photographs of the boat before the work started.
