Having completed fitting new planks to the starboard side I turned my attention to the port side. Again she was a patchwork of original and crudely fitted repair pieces of softwood and one of oak that was so stiff it had straightened a section of gunwale. As built the boat had an elm walestrake each side that had softened to dust and only a couple of short sections remained. The gunwale had a sort of 'threepenny piece' appearance as a result and was no longer a fair curve. These short sections of elm were the only parts that were still fastened to the rest of the boat with copper nails and roves. To remove these existing fastenings I used an angle-grinder to take off the top of the riveted nail from the rove then drove the nail back with a narrow pin punch before pulling it out from the outside with pincers.
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| Riveted end of nails ground off inside boat |
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| Protruding nail head gripped with pincers for pulling out |
Once removed and the land cleaned up the new strake was cut after being marked out as a pattern from the starboard one. A few trial fittings later and happy with the fit I removed the old rubbing strip and cut the stem and stern geralds
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| Offering up port-side walestrake |
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