Maintenance 2009 / 2010

Hello to you all and thank you for taking the time to hopefully enjoy reading about the on-going hard work to keep the historic Pleasure boats of Eastbourne alive.

A good season is so important because the ticket sales have a massive effect on the yearly maintenance and the upkeep of the historic vessels, DUKW, winches and landing stage relies on this.

Like all seasonal businesses, we suffer greatly if the weather gods’ rays are not shining down upon us. When the weather is behaving itself, then it’s a great pleasure to see so many people enjoying our unique pleasure trip along the Eastbourne coastline to Beachy Head.

The 2009 summer season - again if you could have called it a summer season - was another disappointment to us. As you know, we pick up of the beach next to the pier, so we need the sea swell or chop to be minimal. Eastbourne’s air show (Airborne) - which can be a busy time for us - was better than last year.

MAINTENANCE

Winter 2007 going into 2008 was a time to repair the side of the William Allchorn, which had suffered cracked planks due to a freak swell forcing it into the landing stage in 2007. The boat had to be totally stripped on the starboard side in order to replace the inner planking (larch) and the outer planking (mahogany). A search to find all the wood, including naturally curved oak for the inner strength beams, was the first battle. All the wood had to be carefully measured up, steamed and put into place.

Also, as a consequence of the on-going battle with the salty sea, the roof was found to be rotten in places, so a complete rebuild was necessary.

Along with all the other routine maintenance, it took 5 months to build up the side of the boat. The late 2008 start was due to this.

At the same time, the DUKW’s outer skin was replaced/restored - a massive amount of hard work to knock off all the rust, and then using lots of 6mm zintex plate steel. We coated the steel with special paint and then with an under seal (which is used on automotives) to try to prolong its life span.

The DUKW has been - and always will be - an integral part of the Allchorn operation. The DUKW has many uses. With it, we carry the run planks - either floating or on the sand - at low water from the Net Shed to the beach. In November 2008, using the power of the DUKW, we also towed the landing stage back for a complete overhaul. Also, by slotting an ‘A’ frame onto the back and combining it with the winch wire over the top - you have a crane.

The winch is used for many purposes. I would have to say that even with extensive investigation into other machines to suit our needs; I have not come up with an equivalent.

Winter 2008 into 2009 brought on the complete restoration of the landing stage

Like everything else at Allchorn, the ‘stage’ plays a very important role in the operation. It is massively over built to take on the elements and also a 37 ton in the sea swell and tide pushing against it most of the time.

It is estimated that this stage has been in use for over 20 years. It is amazing that it has lasted so long when it is being constantly bombarded by the elements, especially with the amount of rust we had to knock off in order to start the restoration.

Lots of welding has been done and the rotten Steel beams have been replaced and finally coated with special rust treatment and seal paint. All the wood has been either conditioned or replaced and it has a complete new wooden walk way. The work on the stage was completed in the boat shed, which meant that we had to keep the William Allchorn in the marina for longer than usual.

It is nearly the end of the 2009 season, and the work of maintaining the boats, landing stages and winches will start again at the end of October, ready for the 2010 season.