RESTORING FREDA

Freda will become an example of the Spaulding Center’s commitment to the museum-quality restoration, care and maintenance of classic San Francisco Bay wooden yachts. The Center is preparing Freda for another century of vigorous use, which will require a methodic restoration of her hull.

Walkaround of Freda on May 7, 2009 at Spaulding Boatworks     (Flash animation)

Bob Darr, Director of the Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding in Sausalito, is the volunteer Project Director for Freda’s restoration, with the support of the Arques Maritime Preservation Foundation. Under Bob’s direction, the Spaulding Center has become a classroom for his students to learn the art and science of taking the lines off Freda, lofting and fairing the lines, and making patterns for the boat’s new sawn frames.

Same day – Freda walkaround from a lower angle     (Flash animation)

Bob and his team have begun cutting the grown shapes needed to make the new frames out of pepperwood trees. Next, new Port Orford cedar planking will be purchased and stickered to dry, non-ferrous fasteners will be purchased, and the hull reconstruction will get underway. When new cabin furnishings, rigging and sails are added, Freda will return to an active life on San Francisco Bay as the centerpiece of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center.

The complete restoration of a boat like Freda starts with lofting, which involves taking the “lines” or hull shape from the boat before the planking is removed. The lines can be translated into the skeletal frames that the exterior planking is fastened to. In this photo, Freda has just been hauled, and her lines are being taken by Bob Darr and his students from the Arques School.
 
The complete restoration of a boat like Freda starts with lofting, which involves taking the “lines” or hull shape from the boat before the planking is removed. The lines can be translated into the skeletal frames that the exterior planking is fastened to. In this photo, Freda has just been hauled, and her lines are being taken by Bob Darr and his students from the Arques School.

Restoration requires a source of suitable lumber from which to fabricate the frames and planking needed to bring the boat back to new condition. Wood for Freda’s restoration is being harvested from local forests by the Arques crew. In this photo, Bob Darr and the Arques crew is milling the pepperwood planks for Freda in a local forest.
 
Restoration requires a source of suitable lumber from which to fabricate the frames and planking needed to bring the boat back to new condition. Wood for Freda’s restoration is being harvested from local forests by the Arques crew. In this photo, Bob Darr and the Arques crew is milling the pepperwood planks for Freda in a local forest.

The cut lumber is made into individual frames for Freda using the lines created during the lofting process. The template for a frame is traced onto the cut lumber, and it is carefully cut into the frame shape as you see in this photo.
 
The cut lumber is made into individual frames for Freda using the lines created during the lofting process. The template for a frame is traced onto the cut lumber, and it is carefully cut into the frame shape as you see in this photo.

In this photo, Bob carefully matches the frames with the lines drawn on the lofting floor at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center. The complete set of frames is assembled to represent one “station” of Freda’s hull, in this case, Station Four. The finished frames will be fastened to a new keel and the already restored decking and cabin before the hull planking can be applied.
 
In this photo, Bob carefully matches the frames with the lines drawn on the lofting floor at the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center. The complete set of frames is assembled to represent one “station” of Freda’s hull, in this case, Station Four. The finished frames will be fastened to a new keel and the already restored decking and cabin before the hull planking can be applied.

How Can You Help?

You can participate in the restoration of Freda by buying a plank, contributing money or donating items of value to the Spaulding Center. See Make a Donation on this Web site.

Return to main Freda page.

You can see photographs and videos about Freda in our Media Gallery.