An Alma labour of love

Volunteer Francis Crome is restoring sailing ship Alma Doepel’s 198 wooden “blocks” in Shed 2, Victoria Harbour.

During the wind and sail era, the “block maker” was the first to start and last to finish and it is no different during the restoration of the heritage schooner.

Each block has to be pulled apart and sanded to be inspected, repaired and varnished. The steel strops are re-galvanised and sheaves are cleaned, serviced and refitted.

Each block is fitted with the ships name plate and an identity tag and is tracked through the repair process from start to finish.

Francis says these are not the ship’s original blocks but they are over 30 years old and most are made from elm. Francis spends two to three days a week on the Alma Doepel Restoration Project.

Alma Doepel now in her 107th year is a three-masted topsail schooner originally built as a shallow drafted coastal trader in Bellingen on the NSW North coast.

For more information visit the website http://www.almadoepel.com.au or contact Tony Spencer to arrange a tour for your group on 0418 313 816.