Courtesy of The Cutty Sark Trust, London

Ellmer to ‘work’ the planks on historic ship

Ellmer Construction has started work refitting timber planks to the hull of the historic 19th century tea clipper, Cutty Sark, which was seriously damaged by a fire in 2007.

Ellmer will start work on re-fixing all the planks with new bolts to the hull of the ship in time for it to re-open in 2012.

The hull planks were in need of varying degrees of repair and have been removed from the ship to undergo carefully managed stages of detailed conservation. The client, Cutty Sark Enterprises, has tried to retain as much original material as possible.

The planks vary in size and are curved to follow the hull of the ship. They will be fixed to the iron ‘skeleton’ of the hull using nuts, bolts and washers. The bolt heads are recessed into the original holes of the planks.