Seven Bells: Restoration in 1999-2000

Seven Bells was transported from San Francisco to Seattle by Dennis Markin of Rio Linda Marina on December 17, 1998. The boat then had its bottom painted at CSR Marine before a Christmas launching on Lake Union. Spring 1999 in Seattle, Tim Ryan and Steve Vogel at CSR Marine on Lake Union led the final stages of the restoration project.

The work at CSR included restoring the teak foredeck, laying new teak side decks over the badly deteriorated existing decks, and undertaking a major restoration of the interior -- especially the aft cabin and galley. In addition, Paul Grove installed a new high-powered alarm system to keep tabs on oil pressure, the raw water engine cooling system, the bilge pumps, and fire or smoke.

Steve Vogel, with help from Paul Life and others, rebuilt the cabinets, soles, floors, and overheads, and Frances began the painstaking process of applying several coats of varnish to the soles and aft cabinetry.

Tim Ryan fit the new dinghy, fresh from Seattle's Wooden Boat Shop, to the boat's newly reconditioned davits.

Tim Paull of MDM Upholstery, a premiere hotrod artist, worked to recreate the original leather diamond-upholstered cockpit cushions and the berth mattresses. >Tom Stangeland, furniture-maker to the stars, built a new teak dining table for the aft cockpit. And then -- for his piece de resistance -- constructed a new top for the chart table using a technique of wood inlay known as marquetry. This project involved using an original 1929 blueprint for Seven Bells to create an image of the boat by fitting together jigsaw pieces of seven different kinds/colors of wood.

Frederique and Mampouya sanded, painted, and varnished the walls, cabinets, berths, and ceilings in the fore and bridge cabins.

In the aft cabin and galley, Steve, John, Chris, Paul, Rick and others worked to replace rotten or cracked ribs on the hull, replace floor joists, rebuild the propellor shaft logs, and build new fir soles (floors).

Steve and James built new curved teak members at the places where the fore and side decks meet on both sides of the boat. 

Frank Ford redid cabinets and hardware in the fore cabin, and rebuilt the settee in the bridge deck cabin. Michael sanded and faired the decks after Steve and others had repaired, prepared, and sealed them. The fore decks have been routed, sanded, and recaulked, and new teak decking has been added to both sides.

Inside the cabins, the soles (floors) of all three cabins were replaced, new berths and cabinets were built, and the galley was refurbished and re-equipped.

Visit the Seven Bells web site.