ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997 TAG: 9703130032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MATHEWS
SOURCE: TINA McCLOUD DAILY PRESS
Discovery's masts and rigging are being refurbished by employees and volunteers at a small repair shop at Jamestown Settlement.
The sailing ship Discovery, resembling a bathtub without her masts and rigging, is being repaired at Zimmerman Marine in Mathews County.
The Discovery is a reproduction of one of the ships that brought the first colonists to Jamestown. Usually docked in the James River at Jamestown Settlement, Discovery was towed by water to Zimmerman's on the East River last week.
Zimmerman craftsmen are replacing some of the wooden planking that forms the ship's outer skin, said Eric Speth. He oversees Discovery and her sister ships, Susan Constant and Godspeed, for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
Discovery was built in 1984. This is her first major refurbishing, Speth said.
Chalk marks show where deteriorated wood will be replaced.
The original planking is long-leaf pine, also known as pitch pine, which is difficult to find because most of it has been cut, Speth said. Most pines grown for lumber nowadays mature in 35 to 40 years; the long-leaf generally takes 175 years to mature, he said.
The replacement planks were salvaged from a 1910 textile mill torn down in North Carolina. This type of wood is very dense and durable, boatyard owner Steve Zimmerman said. The yard has extensive experience with wooden boats, including repairs to the former presidential yacht Sequoia.
Meanwhile, Discovery's masts and rigging are being refurbished by employees and volunteers at the small repair shop at Jamestown Settlement, Speth said.
All three reproductions undergo routine maintenance, such as painting, cleaning and caulking, and are hauled out of the water once a year, he said. Zimmerman's will do the annual maintenance as well as the planking repairs at an estimated cost of $50,000, Speth said. Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation spokeswoman Debby Padgett said state funds would pay for the repairs.
The work at Zimmerman's will take six to eight weeks. That will put the Discovery back at Jamestown in time for the peak tourist season, Speth said. Godspeed, which is the same age as Discovery, probably will undergo similar replanking later this year. The Susan Constant is only six years old and will require only routine maintenance, he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB