Wheelhouse Restoration, 1977
These two photos show the first stages of restoring the wheelhouse. This work was done by Jim Clements and Glen Garver (on deck) in Hepburn Marine's berth in Morris Canal, Jersey City, NJ, in 1997.
At the top left is a hook that was part of a come-along, hooked into a rope sling on the center post of the window arrangement and to the stem bit on the other end. Using the come-along, we were able to pull the whole wheelhouse forward to be plumb again. It had sagged aft a few degrees in her old age. Triangulation was added to the back part of the house to prevent that from happening again.
The uprights in the photo are new, into old mortises on the top and remade mortises on the bottom. The bottom mortises had rotted out. The uprights are air-dried New Jersey fir. We found a mill out in a New Jersey township that had a beautiful, close grained fir.
As shown in the drawings below, the tug is of wooden construction from the boat deck to the top of the wheelhouse. (The upper deck is called the "boat deck" because the lifeboat was up there.) The boat-deck beams are iron with wooden beams sitting in the angles to use as nailers for the tongue and groove used for the deck itself. These are bolted through the angle iron.
Everything was back painted. Some plywood was wrapped around the completed work to add more triangulation. Then we needed to close everything up for a very long time as Hepburn Marine needed to put the restoration on hold.
In June of 2002, we started another restoration project: that of the portside bulwark--rusted out and very dangerous to walk around with thin, sharp, raggedy edges. The first step was to burn the existing corroded steel off, down the binding angle (the angle that attaches the bulwark to the main deck). Many of the stantions were missing, but most of the remaining ones were the originals--added to and welded upon but there.
The part of the bulwark to be replaced. |
 |
| |
Closeup of step 1. |
By the time of the bulwark replacement project, Norman Brouwer had found many of the original drawings of the tug and her sisters at the Museum of Industry in Baltimore, MD. The drawings indicated that the stanchions were original fabric. This was exciting, so we made a replacement plan to echo the presence of the old stanchions.
 |
 |
| Drawing from Museum of Industry in Baltimore, MD. |
Bending the channel iron. |
The same profile was made out of channel iron--a more modern, standard product. The "bulbed" angle is no longer available. We chose channel iron again to replace the cap rail that in the 50s had been fabricated with flat plate and pipe--the channel is stronger--better to maintain and perfect for adding an oak cap rail in the future (see drawing above.)
 |
 |
| Bending the channel iron. |
Channel iron, bent. |
Many of the original stanchions had to be extensively repaired. Originally riveted, they were left as intact as possible. The old and the new were tweaked and prodded to reflect the sheer from the deck, the curve of the side of the hull and the slight, inward inclination--the "tumble home.
 |
 |
| Heat a section, bend it, clamp it, weld it. Repeat. |
Use mechanical persuasion wherever necessary. |
In a process called quenching, we bent the channel iron to the curve laid out for it in the stanchion arrangement. Red hot triangular shapes are made on the channel, and the piece was then coaxed into place with clamps, come-a-longs, etc.--while "quenching" cooling down the hot steel with water from the garden hose. The quench makes the hot triangle shrink dramatically--the base of the triangle being on the inside of the cap rail, the quenching distorts it to an inside curve. It is an intuitive process, very satisfying. Over the phone instructions were provided by John Gardner at Garpo Marine.
 |
 |
| Welding done, clamps removed. |
Creating a plywood template. |
Plywood templates were made for the shell plating on the outside. With the curve, tumblehome, and sheer, the shapes were quite radical. The outcome was pleasing to the eye and very strong. There's just 150' more to replace.
 |
| Finished! |
|
