Fast forward to 2006. The boat has been used as a back-drop for several family reunion photos, but basically hasn't moved in over 20 years. The bare wood is now badly weathered, with a thick patina of algae and lichens growing on it (see photos).
Photo of hull planks, showing heavy weathering. The dark area
in the lower left of the
photo shows the patina of algae and lichens. The lighter areas
have had that scraped off.
Photo of hull, from the bow. The central hull plank was removed
by me in
1987 to try to allow things to dry out. You can see a small amount
of deadrise built into the frames, in addition to extensive rotting
and
weathering of the hull planks.
Inside the hull, most of the frames have rotted out. I may be able to salvage 3 of the 8 frames, and most of the transom will need to be replaced. Most of the rotting initiated in the ends where they butted against the hull planks. Here is a QuickTime video clip of the first looks at the boat in 2006:
My main goal in the summer of 2006 was to get the hull stabilized for transport from northern Minnesota to my home in Bellingham, WA--across 7 miles of lake and 2000 miles of pavement. To stabilize the hull, I made a few temporary frames and added extensive cross-bracing to keep the hull from "taco-ing" when the boat was rolled over. Here is a QuickTime video clip of the stabilized hull:
After the hull was stabilized, I took a page from the Eskimo/Aleut boat building playbook and wrapped the hull like an Umiak. I temporarily sheathed the hull in heavy plastic and held the plastic in place with firring strips screwed through the hull into the frames (see photo):
Two different views of the Colonel Lewis sheathed in plastic
in preparation for the attempt to float it across the lake.......
If you want to see how my plan worked, continue on to
First
float in 27 years.......