A Boat Like No Other (Part 2)

 
The Covers Removed
 
On 22 November 2012 an item was posted on this blog about the creation of a working boat of the type unique to the Chesterfield Canal  -  the New Dawn project.
 
This is a tremendous undertaking totally manned, and funded, by members of the Chesterfield Canal Trust.
   
In November the boat was still draped in tarpaulins, but since then the covers have been removed and the scale of what has been achieved is plain to see.
 

They worked throughout the wet summer of 2012, and now the late bitter coldness of winter/spring 2013, but by early February the volunteers could take delight in seeing what they had achieved.



By late March the major task was caulking.  This means forcing the caulking (created from woven strands of old and new ropes and soaked in Stockholm tar) into the joints and seams, and the gaps between the planks, to make the timbers watertight.
 

At the bows  -  both sides of the stem post are being sealed.
 
Harry, on the left, is cutting out a slot using a brace, and on the right, Richlow's John is caulking the joint with a wooden caulking mallet.