50' Traditional Danish Sailing Ketch (1932) - GIPSY

1932 Danish 50′ sailing fishing ketch. Gipsy went to Greenland due to WWII. She fished there until early 1970’s. She was purchased by a Shipwright working in Greenland and was rebuilt enough to motor back to Denmark where she was outfitted with a new rig. She then proceeded to the Caribbean and down to the Falkland Islands. They were planning to spend the winter in the Falklands but Argentina invaded and they had to leave. It was June, dead of winter, they sailed for the Straits of Magellan, and then nonstop to Hawaii.

Gipsy ended up in Washington State and that is when we bought her and took her to Alaska in 1984. I sold her in 2005, something I regretted doing. Ten years later I bought her from the City of Seward as an abandoned vessel, cleaned her up a little, and drove her across the Gulf of Alaska and have spent the last 9 years rebuilding her. All the work has been done in Juneau, Alaska. The new sails were build in Port Townsend at Northwest Sails with Sean Rankin and crew. Now we are just finishing the rig and hope to be sailing this summer.

The work rebuilding Gipsy was extensive. All the spars and rigging were removed, spars were stored in a covered area. Wheelhouse and trunk cabin were measured, removed and disposed of. All interior bulkheads, tanks, wiring, plumbing and cabin sole were removed. Only the 7 ton Alpha Diesel remained. Gipsy was towed to a yard and hauled out. Over the next three months, all compromised wood we could find was removed. Some of the double sawed frames were repaired and single frames were sistered. Most frame damage was due to nails. The transom was reframed and approximately 35 planks were replaced. all the covering boards were replaced. The hull was re-caulked.

It was a very intense 3 months, with four of us working 7 days a week. When she was relaunched the hull was done but no cabin, wheel house, aft bulwarks or deck. Those were installed over the next two years. The past four years have consisted recommissioning the rig and all the interior and all the systems. I think personally over the past ten years I have spent about 10,000 hours on the restoration. Hope to put all the pictures and story together to share with the world for anybody that is interested. Tried Instagram but it is not really my thing.