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+--- Thread: €20,000 to maintain a replica ship? (/showthread.php?tid=22940)
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Epictetus - 07-24-2013
A RAT member posted a link to an interesting article on Facebook: Ancient Greek Boat Model Argo at Sea Again.
I was surprised by this:
Quote:The boat’s maintenance cost reached €20,000. The works that were done concerned prolonged maintenance of the boat, such as sandblasting and painting, replacement of the sails and maintenance of its 65 paddles.
The maintenance works started with a delay, as the first competition that was made for the assignment of maintenance works brought no result. The boat was ashore for a long time, as it was launched last December.
Am I reading correctly that the Argo was just launched seven months ago but maintenance costs have already reached €20,000? Judging by the picture, it looks to be a huge, fabulous ship, but I'm stunned at how much it costs to maintain it.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Medicus matt - 07-24-2013
I think that the article is badly worded. The ship was built in 2007. Perhaps they meant that it was brought ashore last December? It was being used for filming this time last year.
€20,000 doesn't seem like a lot, especially if that includes labour costs. Replacing the sails must have cost at least half of that.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Vindex - 07-24-2013
I agree that the sum is not really a lot to maintian the vessel's sea worthiness.
It would have been, if it were a newer ship, though!
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Epictetus - 07-24-2013
Okay, thanks; I misunderstood. I thought it was only seven months old and already needed repainting and sails replaced and new oars and all that. If it is six years old a €20,000 makeover for a ship that size doesn't seem bad at all. I assume for a wooden ship like this maintenance costs must be pretty high.
Don't we have some members who are involved with such replicas? We've all read about them being built, but I don't remember much of anything about maintaining them. It can't be easy. For longer time periods are they stored on land?
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - caiusbeerquitius - 07-24-2013
If the ship has a place in a harbour (or worse, in a marina) in the mediterranean - even if it is a land place and not a water place - will cost a lot of money. Repairs, keeping the wood in order, regular cleaning... it´s quite expensive.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - M. Demetrius - 07-24-2013
Quote:For longer time periods are they stored on land?The ancients hauled them up onto shore or into a ship shed whenever they stopped for more than a night or two to keep the woodworms from eating the wood below the waterline. Sea (and land) termites, sort of. Or at least that's what I've been told.
Their ships were pulled onto shore in the Odessey, iirc, but that's not really a historical reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodworm
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Flavivs Aetivs - 07-24-2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipworm
It's actually not a worm, but a species of Mollusk. The name derives directly from ancient Greek.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - M. Demetrius - 07-24-2013
Thanks for the correction! That makes more sense, doesn't it?
Hmm. And when they get on shore, the wood boring beetles...No wonder we don't find many bits of wood from the old days.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Giannis K. Hoplite - 09-26-2013
It so happens that the captain of this ship is my neighbour and i have asked him about the maintainance costs of this ship and of Olympias, that to me seemed extraordinary, and he explained to me that it is the construction method of these ships that make their repairs very difficult.
Contrary to medern ship building, the ancient boats were constructed hull first, with a system of pegs that fitted the wooden planks together. The sceleton was added after the hull was complete. The problem is that if one plank needs replacement, one has to dismantle all the planks above it, replace it, and put all the timber back again. Does 20.000 seem still too much?
The ancient harbours would have (he calculated about 8) men working every day on this exact job on every ship that needed repair, in constant basis.
Khairete
Giannis
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Flavivs Aetivs - 09-26-2013
Skeleton first construction wasn't invented until the Roman era, I know that ships dating 3rd century AD onwards were skeleton first, which also prompted the introduction of the spur instead of a traditional Ram.
Skeleton first I think was invented in the 3rd century BC though.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Epictetus - 09-26-2013
Quote:Contrary to medern ship building, the ancient boats were constructed hull first, with a system of pegs that fitted the wooden planks together. The sceleton was added after the hull was complete. The problem is that if one plank needs replacement, one has to dismantle all the planks above it, replace it, and put all the timber back again. Does 20.000 seem still too much?
That's really interesting, Giannis. Thanks. I think I had an idea of how the hull was constructed, but it never occurred to me how difficult it would be to repair. That makes sense.
Quote:The ancient harbours would have (he calculated about 8) men working every day on this exact job on every ship that needed repair, in constant basis.
8 men per ship? This sounds like a very labour-intensive job for skilled craftsmen.
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - alekaras5811 - 09-26-2013
Is this the boat you are talking about?
I thought you would enjoy the images.
[attachment=8043]image.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8044]image_2013-09-26.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8045]image_2013-09-26-2.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8046]image_2013-09-26-3.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8047]image_2013-09-26-4.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8048]image_2013-09-26-5.jpg[/attachment]
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Vindex - 09-26-2013
Quote: Does 20.000 seem still too much?
The ancient harbours would have (he calculated about 8) men working every day on this exact job on every ship that needed repair, in constant basis.
Khairete
Giannis
20K euros is beginning to sound very fair!
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Epictetus - 09-27-2013
Great pictures! Thanks!
€20,000 to maintain a replica ship? - Medicus matt - 09-27-2013
What a beauty!
The shaping of the planking at the stern, the way it flows together and curves so gracefully...makes me feel quite giddy with delight.
Thanks for the pictures.