An Arbroath boatyard is helping to give a new lease of life to the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world.
Mackay’s Boat Builders is working on two 55ft logs from the Enchanted Forest as part of an effort to re-mast the world famous Waverley.
The Waverley paddle steamer is undergoing a refit and Richard Kelly and Graham Swankie at Mackay’s have been working to remove the bark and plane the logs which were planted in the 1960s.
Named after Sir Walter Scott’s first novel, Waverley was built on the Clyde in 1947 to replace the original Waverley that sunk off Dunkirk during active war service in 1940.
Paul Simpson, director of Mackay’s, said it was a great honour to be working on one of the country’s best-loved tourist attractions.
“We previously restored the timber decks last year and that was when we were asked if we could re-mast the Waverley,” he said.
“Richard and Graham are currently working on the aft-mast before they move on to the fore-mast.
“Each log takes up almost the whole length of the workshop and we hope the entire job will be finished by the end of next week.”
The logs, which were felled last August, were sourced from Faskally Wood near Pitlochry.
They were transported to Mackay’s by the Geddes Group in Arbroath.
The team at Mackay’s then used a crane to get them into the boatyard where they are now being shaped and fashioned.
They will then be taken to Glasgow for fitting to the Waverley.
Once the work is completed, the Waverley will once again grace Britain’s coastal waters.
Mr Simpson added: “The log is chipped away by hand until they get a square edge to work off before you start to taper it.
“The whole process takes a few weeks but we’ve experience of this as we have worked on the Reaper and the Falkirk Canal boats.”
In 2006 Mackay’s worked on the re-mast of the 1901 herring drifter Reaper which is based at the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther.
Mackay’s has also previously worked on the restoration and conservation on the RRS Discovery which is based in dry dock in Dundee,
The company has been operating since 1967, during which time they have earned a reputation for high quality work and a meticulous attention to detail.
They are renowned for their repair and restoration work, which is carried out on all types of vessel, from leisure through to commercial craft and historic vessels.