Look up! Look up!
It’s time to start thinking of Alma’s rigging
The ticks on the project list of tasks to get Alma Doepelback into the water are growing and the lift ship which will take Almaoff her barge and return her to the water is currently scheduled to be in Melbourne in early May 2021.
Which means we can begin to see beyond the hull work which has been the focus for so long and look up to the rigging. Masts and all but one of the spars have been restored, but first of all we need the chain plates, pin rails and the wire for the standing rigging, and then the running rigging.
The chain plates cost $6,000, the skilled shipwright labour to fit the chain plates is another $9,000, plus the associated work on pin rails, margin boards and stanchions brings the cost of all these items to $18,000. When we add in the hundreds of metres of standing rigging wire and fittings required, the total cost of the standing rigging to support the masts is $30,000.
So our first campaign for 2021 is the “Look up!” Rigging Campaign, with the target – $30,000.