The Restoration of Lady Luck HMCo. 1034 S Class

[Nick]

I recently became the owner of a Herreshoff S Boat, although, owner is probably not the best description of a classic wooden boat owner. Probably steward or caretaker best describes the short time I will have with her. You see, Lady Luck has had no fewer than 11 owners prior to beginning my tenure. This vessel is the 1034th built by The Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. She was originally launched in as 'Barracuda' in 1928 and has been known as Lady Luck since the early 50's. She will remain Lady Luck with my wife's fond approval. Lady luck is not the prettiest belle at the ball as she needs a fair amount of work to bring her back to a former glory but I am told by many that she is a fast boat and a worthy project.
Lady Luck will be my first foray into restoring a wood plank on frame boat. I have much to learn but I am fortunate to have many resources available to guide me through the restoration. She is now at her new home in Swansea, MA and is in the very early stages of evaluation and planning for the restoration. I will from time to time post progress pictures and welcome comments from the community.
Nick Sollecito

[Steve]

Welcome to the Forum and good luck with your restoration.

[Nick]

I am beginning to formulate a plan of what I would like to tackle over the winter. Below are some photos of what I have found over the last two weeks of work.

Lady Luck has been out of the water for over two years so there is a lot of of shrinkage in the keelson and deadwood as you can see in the following series of photos. I have scraped and removed some of the caulking and filler to check for rot. So far no rot!




The forward seven frames are rotted where the original iron bolts are attached to the floor timbers. I am planning a temporary fix to these frames by scarfing partial new white oak frames in place of the lower half of these frames. Three of the floor timbers also need to be replaced. Below you can see the third timber removed which I will use as a template to make its replacement. You can also see the rot in the lower half of the frames along with all the rusted out iron bolts. Once this is done I will replace the iron floor bolts with silicon bronze fasteners and bolt though the scarfed joints and planks. This repair should last at least 5 or 6 years until a more permanent restoration is undertaken.

[Adam]

Love to see another S being restored - good for you. Seems they have a very strong following - second to the 12 maybe nowadays...Welcome to the forum - and keep the pics rolling....!

[Nick]

The stripping of the hull has commenced. It is coming of quite nicely with a heat gun a scraper. A surprise find; a filled in cove stripe and arrow head. I will definitely bring this back!







The White Oak shear strake was painted. What I have uncovered so far looks OK. I am hoping to clean it up so I can varnish it.



Close up of the Arrow Head. Maybe there is another term for it?

[DaveHub]

Hi Nick!

I am sponsoring the restoration of "Misty" (See the blog on her, hull #1385)  (will be launched as 'Clara J') at the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS).  Check the student blog by Hans Scholl, bottom left of the IYRS.edu home page.  Although mine needed a total rebuild.  Lot's of good shots there.

I have seen Lady Luck when I was casting about for a bout this past summer.  She is in better shape than mine was.

It's great to hear she has found a steward (yes I totally agree with you there!).

Keep us posted!
Dave

[Nick]

Hi Dave,
I actually have been following the IYRS blog on Clara J. It is amazing to me how much knowledge there still is out there to restore these wonderful boat. Can't wait to see her out there sailing. I will be following the progress.
Best of luck!
Nick

[Nick]

I added a poll to the top of this thread. I could use some help with the color choice for Lady Luck. I am stripping her bare and have the opportunity to change the color. The current color is red. Not my favorite color but there is an interesting story behind the color. In 1937 John Dorrance bought her. He was the CEO of the Campbell Soup Company and had the color matched to that of the red Tomato Soup can. According to this registry he only owned her for 1 year but the color remained all these years. Since I am a sap for a good story I am inclined to keep the color but there are some good reasons to change the color to white. The best one was just given to me by someone I know. He suggested that I change to white since most of the S class boats are white and red will stick out if I am over the line early. This is a very good point since I am over early quite often. Then there is Captain Nat's statement about the color of boats: “There are only two colors to paint a boat - black or white. And only a fool would paint a boat black.”

[Nick]

I took of the ID plate today and cleaned it up with brass polish. Looks Sweet! I do not think I will be putting it back on though. I have heard that the plates sometimes get stolen. Kind of sad.

[DaveHub]

I'm fairly new to this, but some wisdom others have given me on paint: black and dark colors are higher maintenance, because they heat in the sun and the water vapor raised behind then will blister.  I have also been advised against a boot stripe, as it can look droopy at the bow given the hollow bows of the S.  Red is kind of in the middle. And does stand out. I would probably lean toward the original color. IMHO red with a dark underside would be striking.

[Keith422]

Hello Nick, I worked on Lady Luck a number of years ago, just prior to her being donated to the Herreshoff Museum. I also now work at the museum as a shipwright, along with my real job as a shipwright at a Bristol-area boatyard. I'd be happy to offer any advice or guidance if you need.

[Nick]

Dave, you are right about the darker colors. The red topside has numerous areas that were blistered. I wasn't sure why but that makes perfect sense. Thanks for weighing in.
Keith, Thank you for you offer! What Kind of work did you do on Lady Luck?

[Charles Barclay]

Nice Thread Nick!  And nice avatar, never saw that one before-great photo.

Each of these boats has an interesting story, and as the next caretaker you'll add your own.

I would urge you to replace the plate upon finishing the vessel just as I would urge you to eventually replace an aluminum mast with a wood one if your boat had one. 

Yes, you are probably right about the occasional plate being stolen, more frequent and problematic for provenance over the years have been owners that kept the plate as a keepsake instead of letting it go with the boat. 

Thieves have stolen entire boats, and wrecked them in the S-Class.  We've had a devil of a time reconciling which boat was which and what it's final destination because in part owners took the plates off some of boats, name changes, borrowed sails, etc.  which one was wrecked, which one was demolished/parted out.  I think you get the idea.

The value of boats without their plates especially in the one-designs is somewhat less as well.   

You want to be a good steward.   I would urge you to replace the plate and polish from time to time.  You've made a great start, and I think most everyone that follows the registry is quite happy you've rolled the dice with Lady Luck. 

[Nick]

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the kind words!

You make some very valid arguments on keeping the plate affixed to the boat which would be my preference. Maybe I am bring a bit paranoid but I would sure hate to loose it. There are screws that will only thread in and cannot be removed. Maybe I can try that.

"Roll the dice" I like it!

Thanks!
Nick

[DaveHub]

I didn't realize she had an aluminum mast. Of course the S normally has a curved hollow wood mast.  I can recommend Jim Titus of Mt.  Hope boat in Newport for masts. He is doing the blank for Clara J, and the class will finish it.