Rust Never Sleeps

Here you can see the rust on a stringer below. Though the restorers have scraped, chiseled and painted, rust never really stops and some of her stringers were in dubious condition. There's a real dilemma facing them -- to repair her to seaworthy condition would take a huge project of metal replacement and new welding, which would take her further and further away from the original condition desirable for a museum ship. At present she is safe enough at her dock, floating and dry on her own bottom, but could not safely be taken offshore.