I’d like to introduce you to Nina and her two sisters. Nina and her sisters were brought up in a loving family in Spain, then brought to the United States to live in their new home with their adopted family. When they arrived they were well loved and traveled to many places and saw many towns and people. Their beauty awed everyone who saw them. Finally they traveled to their final home, where the sisters were cruelly separated; the youngest Nina was taken from her two sisters and banished to the loneliness of the docks. Her two sisters however were still visited by hundreds of people, yet they became ill away from their sister and their natural home. Years went by, Nina and her two sisters became more ill as time went on. Finally a group of people, tired of seeing how Nina and her sisters were being treated tried to take action. The sisters adopted parent attempted to shun any responsibility for Nina, even going so far as threatening to have Nina killed in a fire. The good and kindly people were horrified and they did take action. Rounding up friends and family they spoke to any who would listen as to Nina and her sisters plight. The patron of the adopted parent heard of the plight of Nina and her sisters. He and his associates stepped in and intervened, and Nina at least is being cared for and nursed back to health. Slowly but surely, Nina is becoming whole again. Her sisters on the other hand are in more and more need of proper care.
Recently however, the group which is helping Nina, were able to examine her sisters to determine where their hurts are so they can be made whole again as well and reunited with their sister.
You may think this is a fairy tale. It is not.
That is the true story of The Columbus Fleet The Nina, The Pinta and The Santa Maria. The Pinta and the Santa Maria are currently housed at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, the Nina is at the T head on the Corpus Christi shoreline, where it has been undergoing restoration by the Columbus Sailors. A volunteer non-profit organization, which hopes to get all three of the ships fully restored and back in the water where they belong. The Nina has had her hull repaired, scraped and repainted and a lot of her rotting timbers replaced and a lot of her woodwork refinished. There is still much to do.
Recently members of the Columbus sailors have finished their examination of The Pinta and The Santa Maria, and while there are some necessary repairs that will be required before they can be refloated to join their sister, The Nina in the Corpus Christi Bay.
The Nina has recently been moved, after a repair to her hull and repainting with proper bottom paint, she is still undergoing further restoration at the T-head in Down town corpus Christi.
Some pics my adopted daughter Tory and I took when we were down there last month to see how the progress is coming along.
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| The Nina as you see her at the end of the T head |
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| One of the Columbus Sailors volunteers taking a break in the 101 degree heat index |
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| The front of the Nina |
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| One of the hatches with the newly built hatch covers |
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| The Nina's rudder and name plaque |
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| The Columbus Sailors shield at the quay |
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| The new built steps for entry, and you can see the hull has been receiving several coats of varnish |
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| The stern of the Nina |
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| How she looks from head on |
I have been given permission to post photos taken by members of the Columbus Sailors of their evaluation of the Pinta and the Santa Maria. And also updates on the Nina and estimates for the repairs of the Pinta and Santa Maria.
The Nina
Nina Update May 7, 2012
The Columbus Sailing Assn, a certified 501(c)3, has a formal contract with the City of Corpus Christi to restore the Columbus Ships and place them in the water in a suitable display. We’ve outlined 5 phases to as our plan to make that happen.
1) Restore the Nina in place. Projected finish, October 2012. Biggest obstacles to completion, need Sails, engine installed.
2) Set up a suitable dock arrangement on Lawrence St. to remove activities off the sidewalk. These activities would commence with restarting the sailing school to teach prospective sailors how to handle the lines and sail the Nina as well as allow the CSA to charge admission for on-board tours. This would allow us to obtain volunteers to help us with the maintenance.
3) Restore the Pinta & Santa Maria, including their ability to float.
4) Construct the Columbus Seaport with barges set up as floating piers to dock the Three Ships.
5) Lift and set the Pinta & Santa Maria in the water & tow them over in front of the Omni at the north end of the Marina.
Nina Restoration
1) The Nina had a haul out in September of 2010. Several Planks were replaced on the hull and an extra-ordinary bottom paint job was administered. The Master shipwright stated that this was one of the tightest ships he’s ever pulled and the bottom job should last ten years because of the extra Coal Tar coating he administered.
2) The crew started in December of 2010 by clearing the decks and hold of trash and unnecessary equipment. Over the ensuing months we have removed the port & starboard cap rails, the mizzen (upper deck) mast, most of the foredeck, all of the upper deck, the rear cap rail on the upper deck and a small portion the port side upper deck cap rail. We’ve rebuilt the upper deck hatch frame & covers, rebuilt new hatch covers for the forward hatch, rebuilt a new mizzen mast, replaced the port side cap rail, replaced the entire upper deck, replaced the stern cap rail on the upper deck. We’ve sanded & varnished three sea chests, upper deck ladders, the upper deck itself, the railings, 1/3 of the main deck, 3/4ths of the port side hull and the mizzenmast as well as all three hatch cover frames and refurbished the 8 shields that mount on the upper deck railings.
3) In our reconstruction we’ve set our course to replace everything we can with pressure treated lumber, galvanized screws & lag bolts to do a better job on lowering maintenance efforts & costs. We are using a $100 per gallon exceptional marine varnish ( for lack of a better word that is understandable) called Cetol. We have one coat on the areas I’ve mentioned. We will end up with three coats on the entire ship down to the waterline. The Boy Scouts are going to help us commencing May 12th on applying the varnish and hopefully they will finish the other two coats as well.
4) The remaining items for completion are as follows
a) Complete the sanding & varnishing of the entire ship by August.
b) Set the Mizzenmast on the upper deck. This will necessitate the use of a truck crane, approximately a $500 expense. At that time we will lower the foremast and bowsprit to recondition them. We will also extract the engine that is seized and set it on deck to exchange the rear transmission with the replacement engine we are purchasing from Kirk’s Truck Service.
c) Replace the fore deck and construct a pin board to hold lines. This may require having some special metal backing plates constructed & set.
d) Reset the foremast, & bowsprit, and drop in new engine. Will require the services of a truck crane again.
e) Replace approximately 10 main deck planks.
f) Caulk all decks with Styrofoam string (backer rod) and a semi plastic black caulking to seal decks.
g) Remove European corroded electrical panels & lines. Reconstruct necessary electrical system & wire in current Onan generator on board. Simplify system.
h) Get Engine to run and assess jet drive unit for propulsion.
i) Complete re-rigging of all standing & running lines. Most of them have been replaced with synthetic, but there are a few that need attending to.
j) Construct crew quarters below decks. There are two marine heads with a holding tank in working order.
k) Replace 6 heavy-duty batteries. 3 for the main engine & three for the generator. They can be set up to back up each other.
l) Replace main mast. AEP has donated a power transmission pole to replace the main mast. We need to cut the pulley slots and shroud cuts. We’ll need a big crane to remove the old & install the new. The main mast is 60 feet tall.
m) Replace sails and purchase sail covers.
n) Install an extra lag bolt on all exposed planks above the water line & below the rub rail. The Iron nails below the water line are secure.
I have left out information which is of a private nature of the Columbus Sailors, and their agreement with the City of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Now for the Pinta, I will post the survey document then some of the pictures from the survey, but not all of them. You will understand I have to edit these photos and include the watermark which is a little time consuming.
The Pinta
PINTA SURVEY – MAY 18TH, 2012
I, John Torrey, President of the Columbus Sailing Association went to the Corpus Christi Museum, where the Pinta & Santa Maria are in dry dock to conduct a survey of the ships’ hulls to determine what repairs are necessary to secure their floatability.
I looked at each & every plank on the Pinta’s hull up to the rub rail on each side. This is the area we need to be concerned about to prepare for soundness and to prevent leakage so that we can set the Pinta in the water with the expectation she will float with no problem. There is some wood, higher up, on the freeboard planks on the hull that needs replacement, but not as much as one would think. Those problems can be addressed after she floats.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that even though the spray system that had been set up, had long ago been dismantled, I did find that Rudy Mircovich, one of the ship’s carpenters had set up and did use a salt water wash down of the decks. This has the added advantage, because the decks were not properly caulked, to drip saltwater into the sides of the hull wetting down a large surface area that drained through a few cracks in the seams, or corroded nails. I believe this has helped preserve the hull. Almost no seams showed any signs of dry out separation. The vast majority were very tight. Time and future preparations of flooding the hold will reveal just how tight the hull seams are, but right now with a few exceptions they look very good. This constant spray down of salt water revealed very few seam leaks, which I take as a good sign.
Surprisingly, I found the vast majority of the hull to be in sound shape. I took an ice pick and attempted to pierce the wood to discover “soft” spots, which are indications of either dry rot, or in other instances I found nail rot.
This is where nails had become exposed to air and moisture, which corroded the nail, and this spread to the surrounding wood. The piercing I did approximately every 12” on every plank all the way around. Some soft spots may be addressed by chiseling out the deteriorated section and “scarfing” in a wedge of wood and using a two-part epoxy glue, place it in the carved cavity. No entire length of plank needed to be replaced. The longest plank was 84” and the shortest was 24”. I’ll detail each instance of repair I found necessary with an approximation of remedy and time necessary. Photos will be available after my return June 7th.
Starboard Side Hull from the Rudder Forward
1) Rudder itself. There are several large cracks on the rudder and the rudderpost, which hold the pintels, which hold the rudder pins, which suspend the rudder. These can be carved out and new wood laid in place & epoxy glued. This needs to be done to both sides of the Rudder & Rudder post. Gaps behind the rudderpost need to be filled with foam similar to that used for insulation that can be bought in a can. It will flow to fill the largest area possible and act as a sealant “gluing” itself to anything it touches.
Estimated time: Four 8 hr days two men plus materials
64 hrs materials $200 - Epoxy, wood, foam, paint
2) Cracked plank 10 ft from stern, two boards up from keel.
Area is 41” long X 81/2” high X 2 3/8” thick. We need to get a better handle on the thickness but that is what the Nina’s planks are. I will be submitting a request for quote to Armstrong Lumber, where we can get the size lumber we need specially cut.
Estimated time three hrs two men.
Plank Procedure: Need to hole saw around nails, pry board away, or beat out from inside the hull, drill around nails & pull, drill out nail hole so a dowel rod can be glued in place. Cut, seal & caulk board, drill ½” X 6” pilot holes, counter sink lag bolt and washer. Caulk hole.
It will be necessary to make other plank cuts while waiting for the dowel rods to dry in place. All plank cuts are straight; none are curved on the Pinta.
6 hours materials $50.00
3) Small ¾ inch run on edge of planks, Approximately 16 foot total. Soft on surface but not deep. Approximately 16 foot total in length ¾” deep, over three planks.
Remediation: use router or skill saw to cut out soft spot runs. Cut a one by two to fit, epoxy glue in place. Caulk when dry.
4 hours one man, materials $35.00
4) 2 planks near jet drive grate on stern side 36”X6 5/8” X 2 3/8”
Use Plank Procedure from above.
2 men 8 hrs = 16 hours – materials $150.00
5) Option: Remove Jet drive grate & jet drive. This will leave a four foot
diameter hole. It will require constructing a beam box on the inside to
mount the hull planks to cover the hole. 6 planks 7’X 6 5/8” X 2 3/8”
2 men 16 hours = 32 hrs, materials $500.00
6) 1 plank 38” X 6 5/8” X 2 3/8”. This plank is 32” from the #2 cradle
Use Plank Procedure from above.
2 men three hours = 6 hours, materials $50.00
7) Scarf small wedge directly above the #2 cradle 6” X 2” X 1” deep.
Carve out. Epoxy glue in cut wood.
1 man 2 hours materials $10.00
8) 1 Plank next to cradle #3, 24” up from bottom of cradle arm.
Plank is 40” X 6 ¾” X 2 3/8” thick.
Use Plank Procedure from above.
2 men 3 hours = 6 hours, materials $50.00
9) 2 planks right side of the bottom end of cradle arm #3.
Each plank is 24” X 6 ¾” X 2 3/8” thick.
Use Plank Procedure from above
2 men 6 hours = 12 hours, materials $100.00
10) Scarf wedge 2 feet to stern side of cradle #4 near large NUT.
10”X 4” X 1” deep. Carve & epoxy glue
1 man 2 hours, materials $10.00
Total Man hours – 150 Materials $1,145
Port Side Hull from Bow to Stern
1) 1 plank next near bow 2nd board up from keel 36” X 8” X 2 3/8”
Use Plank Procedure from above.
2 Men 3 hours – 6 hours, Materials $50.00
2) Body filler around nail holes Plank #2 from Keel 5 ft from bow.
Carve out bad wood put in filler
1 Man 2 Hours, Materials $ 30.00
3) Crack in Plank # 6 40” X 7” X 2 3/8”
Use Plank Procedure from above
2 men 3 hours = 6 hours, Materials $120.00
4) # 5 plank from keel stern side of cradle # 1 60” X 7” X 2 3/8”
Use Plank Procedure from above.
2 Men 4 hours = 8 hours, Materials $150.00
5) Scarf 8”X 3” X 1” deep cavity Epoxy glue. 3 feet towards bow
Cradle #2
1 man 1 hour, Materials $10.00
6) 3 feet towards bow from cradle #3 scarf 6” X 4” X 1” deep cavity
on plank # 7. Scarf 3” X 3” X 1” deep cavity on plank #8
1 Man 2 hours, Materials $15.00
7) 1 foot to stern from #3 cradle scarf 6” X 4” X 1” deep cavity
1 man 1 hour, Materials $10.00
8) Replace Plank by transducer 60” x 7” X 2/3/8” deep.
Use Plank Procedure from above.
2 men four hours = 8 hours, Materials $150.00
Totals 34 Man hours, Materials $535.00
Extra Lag Bolt on each Plank @ each Rib
I believe it will be confirmed by the Mile 533 Shipyard staff that it’s advisable to place a ½ galvanized 6” lag bolt w/ washer in between each two nails that hold the hull planks to the ships ribs. This would help assure hull integrity. There are approximately 4,000 of these that need to be fitted. I need to get inside the Pinta and count her ribs and her hull planks to get an accurate count. This is a 9-stage job for efficiency that requires four electric drills, 4 special bits, a marker, a soaper, a setter and a caulker.
I estimate 3 ½ minutes per bolt. That’s 14,000 minutes divided by 60 = 233 man-hours divided by four men = 60 hours apiece. Let’s call it two weeks and hope we do much better. ½ inch drills with an extra handle work best because they have the power to get in & get out as well as drive the bolts home. The handle helps as well to pull full bits back out.
Four half inch drills $ 200.00
Drill bits $ 100.00
Caulk $ 150.00
½ galvanized 6” lag bolt w/ washer
1000@ 50 cents each $ 500.00
Scaffolding $ ?
Four men 40 hours apiece = 160 hrs, Materials $950.00
BALLAST
There is 48,000lbs of lead ballast at the Bulk Terminal at the Port of Corpus Christi that belongs to the Santa Maria. We propose hauling 36,000 lbs of this ballast to the Museum and placing it in the Pinta. They are on about 20 pallets. This will take a flatbed semi-trailer of some kind two trips to haul the pallets to the museum. It will take a cherry picker type truck-crane to lift those pallets to the Pinta’s hatches and drop them into the hold. The lead ballast is in 70-80 pound ingots in the form of a short-legged “T”, they are designed to interlock when set in place. This will be a tedious process, as each ingot will have to be handled by two men to be set in place. This is 450 to 514 units. At five minutes each it will take 42 hours to set in place. If we double the men and move from the center in two directions it will still take 42 man hours, but it can be accomplished in three days
I would like to approach the city for the semi trailer & the crane. There will probably be a cost for those two pieces. One day for the semi and three days for the crane.
We will also need to drill tunnels through the floor beams to allow water to drain to a central pumping point. We may need to place a shim on the bottom of some of the ingots as well to facilitate that drainage. We will place a plastic chain in those tunnels to drag back and forth to free any debris that may clog the channels.
Man Hours Ingot placement 100
Tunnel drilling on hull ribs (78 bores) 2 men 30 hrs =60 hrs 160 hrs
Bottom Paint Job Options for Pinta
We need to consult with Mile 533 staff on what work we actually need done to secure a paint job like the one they did on the Nina.
Questions that need to be answered are
1) Do we need to remove the paint on the hull?
2) Does it just need to be scuffed or actually removed?
3) Can they come over and do it at the museum?
When I spoke to Manning Chapman with Mile 533, he expressed concern about air quality permits and other environmental issues that he is licensed for at their yard, but may not be available at the museum. Part of this I’m sure is because they use compressed air (which generates free aerosols) to paint at Mile 533.
4) If they feel they cannot come over, is it within our scope of effort to sand the Pinta or hire a firm to come in & sand it? (I’m pursuing a quote on the sandblasting.) We could perhaps paint it with a roller & brush thus avoiding the aerosol issue.
5) Can we “roll” coal tar paint? It appears to be a magic bullet for bottom jobs in terms of effectiveness & longevity.
The bottom paint job utilizes two paints; Coal Tar based paint and then regular marine bottom paint. The Columbus Sailing Assn does have an account @ West Marine as a “Shipyard” vendor. This gives us almost a 40% discount on supplies purchased @ West Marine.
The last Nina Bottom job was $12,000. Estimate on Pinta $15,000
TOTAL MAN HOURS 494 TOTAL MATERIALS $ 2,630
BOTTOM JOB $15,000
474X $25 HR = $12,350
TOTAL $17,630
TOTAL TOTAL = $29,980 PLUS CRANE?
Now for the photos:
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| The Pinta's Keel Bolts showing through the keel |
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| a hole along the keel in the hull |
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| The Pinta's rudder |
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| The Pinta's foredeck |
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| the hoses are a watering system to try to keep the hull of the ship wet so it will remain tight. the system failed in the not too recent past. |
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| The Pinta's mast collar |
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| The Pinta's rudderfrom the other side |
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| A frontal view from the Starboard side |
SANTA MARIA SURVEY JUNE 13TH, 2012
I, John Torrey, President of the Columbus Sailing Assn did undertake an inspection of the replica ship Santa Maria at the Corpus Christi Museum to ascertain what repairs are necessary to float the ship. Joe Hominick and Rudy Mircovich also accompanied me on this inspection.
KEEL
1) There are at least 6 keel bolts that are stainless steel but have mild steel nuts which have corroded excessively leading to “nail rot” to the surrounding wood. It will be necessary to remove these nuts and drive the remaining bolt out. We will have to carve out damaged wood and glue in a “Dutchman” Scarf to replace that section of wood. We will have to try and salvage the bolt. If not salvageable we will install a new bolt (20 inches long by 5/8 inch thick after drilling through the “Dutchman”, countersinking the nut and covering it with a wooden plug.
Man hours 24 Materials $200
2) At several stretches along the keel, there are cracks, which need filling and perhaps another keel bolt added.
Man hours 20 Materials $150
PORT SIDE FROM BOW
3) Hull planks from the port side bow to the first cradle, from the keel to the 2nd Rub-rail need replacing. There is a picture documenting this area, approximately 20 feet long X 16 feet tall. There is also a large plank area from the middle of the first cradle to middle of cradle number six up to the 2nd rub-rail above. This area is fifty-one feet, 3 inches long by 16 planks tall (approx 8 ft tall). There is a picture with these areas marked out. A number of these planks will need to be steamed to fit the curvature of the hull. Some of the planks have cracked vertically because of drying out. There are approximately 100 15-20 foot planks that need to be replaced.
Man hours 500 Materials $6000
4) There are 7 vertical “fishplates” along the length of the keel. These are stainless steel plates, but they utilized mild steel nuts & bolts. To stabilize these plates it will be necessary to drill new holes in the plates through the keel and install stainless steel nuts & bolts. I would also recommend cutting off the remaining nut & bolt heads, drilling the shaft down and then gluing a wooded plug in the remaining holes. There are six bolts on each plate. There is ample room to drill a new bolt pattern in the plates.
Man hours 42 Materials $1500
5) On the Rudderpost and Rudder there are cracks & voids that need to
be filled. We should also look at putting grease fittings on the rudder
pivots.
Man hours 36 Materials $150 excluding grease fittings
STARBOARD SIDE FROM RUDDER
6) Starboard side from the rudder forward, planks No. 4 thru 15 approximately 10 feet long need to be replaced. There are curves that will have to be built into these planks
Man hours 70 Material $420
7) There are four planks above and in-between cradles 8 & 7 on the starboard hull. They are approximately six feet long.
Man hours 16 Materials $150
8) 3 Planks between the rub-rails over cradles 6-4 approximately 15 feet
long.
Man Hours 12 Materials $200
MAIN DECK SUPPORTS
9) 10 Main Deck Beams (Joists) approximately 30’ long X 10” X 10”
This also includes building the mast box through which the main
mast is to be braced. Remove & Replace all. All but one, are on the
main deck, which is exposed to weather. The deck itself needs to be
removed.
A tarp needs to be suspended over this open section of deck
to shed water and provide shade until the deck is replaced. Need to
disconnect electricity & remove wires. With the deck removed we
need to pull the engines & jet drives. The generator as well, if it
cannot be revived. The beams may need to be cut from a large
enough trunk of lumber to effect an arch, or they may need to be
steamed to gain the arch.
Man hours 3 men X 5 hours per beam X 10 beams = 150 hours
Materials $3,000
10) Remove one jet drive & rebuild two 4 foot holes in hull.
Man hours 2 men 32 hrs = 64 hrs Materials $1000
11) 100 feet of 6”X8” longitudinal joist beams. Remove & replace. These
are runners that are underneath the deck beams connecting them.
Man hours 2 men X 32 = 64 hours Materials $600
12) Cracked plank 4 ft from bow keel 3 feet down from rub rail. 8 feet
long.
Man hours 4 Material $50.00
BALLAST
13) There will be six tons of lead ballast from the Port
Warehouse, available to place in the Santa Maria. This leaves a balance of 24 tons that must be replaced. I propose doing this by utilizing concrete pumped into the bilge. It will take approximately 16 cubic yards of concrete to replace the balance. We will need to prepare the bilge timbers to protect them as well as construct tunnels for bilge seepage that we can direct to a central pumping point to drain the bilges. This means drilling the hull ribs on the floor to allow this water to seep as well as placing tunnels in the concrete to facilitate this drainage.
Man hours 300 Materials $5,000
BOTTOM JOB OPTIONS
The same questions that were posed for the Pinta need to be answered for the Santa Maria. I’m still trying to run that down. Bottom job on the Nina was $12,000. I’ll suggest the Santa Maria will be about $15,000. Less if we can do it.
EXTRA LAG BOLT AT EACH RIB PLANK
1,102 Man hours 180 Materials $551
TOTAL MAN HOURS 1,482 TOTAL MATERIALS $18,971
BOTTOM JOB $15,000
TOTAL MATERIAL $33,971
Some of the survey photos below.
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| You can see where the deck is severely damaged and needs to be repaired |
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| Several deck joists also need repair |
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| the port forward hull |
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| the view along the port side hull |
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| the rudder |
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| the starboard side stern |
If you are down in the Corpus Christi area, the Nina can be seen moored by Joe's Crab Shack on the St. Lawrence T-head off of Shoreline Dr in downtown Corpus Christi. Please if you do go to see the ship do not board the vessel. It is a work in progress and as such there are dangers you cannot see on board. Take only photos leave no traces but do it from shore.
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