Thank you sir, for keeping alive a piece of American history, from a time period when things were built with love and care with attention to absolute detail. It's a shame that we now live in a world where we replace instead of restore, and a beauty of the magnitude would end up in davys Jones' locker. You are keeping a cherished time in history alive and by doing so, showing that anything can be accomplished if the will to do so exists. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. I'm excited to continue with you on this amazing journey to full restoration. And if you ever need any deck hands, count me in Cap'n!
I started watching the SV seeker 3 years ago and that was super exiting to watch and I wish I started to watch it from the beginning and I’m happy that I started to watch this from the beginning.
That ship is huge, but gorgeous! That’s always been my dream to live on a boat. It’s nice to meet you! I’d love to get to see her sometime. What an adventure. I really love your tenacity when it comes to your ship. It’s certainly a labor of love. Your preserving history. Much love to you & yours & I can’t wait to hear more about her. Stay safe!❣️ I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors.
At the very start of this project all that was playing in my mind was the Ship of Theseus and how not much of the original boat would be left but now i understand how much you guys care about the restoring it to its former glory and getting it to a pure historical landmark. keep up the great work!
We will always do our best to do right by this ship. My goal above and beyond anything else is restoration and preservation. Thanks for the kind words..
@@AuroraRestorationProject An informed discussion on restoration philosophy might help. For example, there's no way the existing propulsion systems will move this boat reliably, but they do have a place in the boat's history. How will you deal with that? So far, the videos make the project appear like someone piddling around on whatever project takes their fancy, with a few guys doing a little work for the prospect of an enchilada, beer, and bull session afterwards. I am certain that is not the case, and that there is thought, planning and hard work behind what we've seen. Most importantly, I don't think you have communicated a vision for the project - that will make it hard for serious, skilled volunteers to sign on. All that said, I had similar feelings about Ship Happens, but I now find their videos entertaining, their approach more sustaining, and their skills and decisions more professional.
Hey man! You should go in contact with the Stiftung Hamburg Maritim. Its a non profit society in Hamburg which keeps old Hamburg related ships running so the history of old ships will not be forgotten. Your ship perfectly fits to them. They even have the biggest, still running, museums frighter of the world the MS Bleichen as well as an old flying P-Liner the Peking which they restored for 20 million the last years. They are dedicated to help with professional knowledge and history backup and maybe money. I know them personally, my guess is, they would love to get in touch with you.
Yes, exactly this. The ship fits perfectly among the other ships Hamburg Maritim is involved with. Its historical significance is huge, they would definitely love to get in touch with you.
If I have the time I would love to come out and try to work on the machinery spaces. I'm a prior marine diesel mechanic having worked on small to medium-size ships in the military.
@@missingremote4388 That means parts are gonna be hard to come by so they would have to be machined if not found. But I'm willing to bet there are schematics out there.
You're getting followers quickly. You need to start making a plan for how you're gonna organize the different forms of help you will be offered. Thanks for sharing this adventure. This is really cool. You're on to something here.
Oh man - what an unbelieveble great project! Wish you good luck and lots of power to make this. Many greetings from Hamburg, where this nice ship was built.
I know (far too well) the overwhelming *need* to help an unloved boat with soul. Aurora has a soul - and you will make her beautiful again. (And no, I'm not a complete whack-job!)
This channel has seriously motivated me to embark on a project way outside my current means lol! I am so excited to see the restoration progress over the next couple of months. I must find a project ship with such history as this one🙃
Thanks for the kind words. I too hope this project turns out to be as amazing as I envision. I’m not looking to make money so much as I am trying to save this ship for future generations. Thanks for watching..
The old laundry room is incredible. Please preserve that as-is. It’s a sight in its own right. Wow I would seriously watch a full video on the laundry room alone. Those machines look incredible.
Wow! These videos are so well done and I cannot wait to see more of these come out as this project is making amazing progress! Thank you for all you do Chris and keep up the amazing work! :)
Hey For starter it is awesome, what you are doing and please keep up :) And second thiing a small advise - it would be very helpful for yoou to have an industrial ish vacuum cleaner just like Karcher WD4 or AD4. It is helpful for sucking all the dirt which then you can throw away to big trash bag or dumpster
I love what you are doing here. Have you considered doing an episode where you do a walk through of the ship? It would be nice to know where everything you have shown is in context of the ship.
Love both ideas. The laser idea is however the most intriguing. A bit on the expensive side to secure a system like this but likely well worth the investment. We have been avoiding blasting to minimize the risk of getting anything into the water. Thanks for watching…
Finally making sense 😌 a long career in disaster recovery, with factories. So Chris had the eyes to see the project as manageable. . . Cool to see your crew, Dave’s the man! 😄. In Cologne Germany is a chocolate museum that sits out on a river. Maybe you could do something similar related to the amazing farms of the Central Valley. Nice to see the American pride in that unite-or-die flag!
I’m not really much of a film maker but finding my feet when it comes to the story behind the ship. From now on each episode will have a part of the story..
@@AuroraRestorationProject Ha, I hereby call you an honorary postwar German, your self-deprecation is like the self-deprecating postwar Volkswagen ads.🤣. I think your approach is first-rate, doing the history in relatively short segments so that people don’t slide into Ken Burns documentary sleep. 😵💫. The ending was oddly short I guess . . . maybe you could have an outro or review highlights or bloops or something. (My sister edits reality TV professionally so I guess I like to believe I know something lol.😝😉)
@@CharlesLangSamuel I have the next part of the story in the works now. Will try and do a little better at not cutting off so early. It’s really the little things that make a good video. At this moment I’m doing good just to be able to do basic edits but every day I learn just a little more..
@@AuroraRestorationProject I think your audience is grateful for all your uploads and will be super happy no matter what, and I think there are no rules. I just mentioned the very end because everything else seems like, tv style (your nice intro showing man and machine and beautiful delta, and the segments about history with the shift to dreamy music etc). The humor at the end with Dave was sort of like an inside joke and then like “okay we’re done” lol. Like going to Disneyland and they send you on a ride that has a bunch of stuff missing and you end up wondering whether they even really like you lol. But yeah I agree the small stuff is great; we got to see some of the way your crew coheres, in the moments of banter etc., and maybe the end is a good reality check about the tv-land aspects.
I absolutely love what you are doing and love watching your videos. If wasn't in canada I would be there to help. Thank you for documenting this for everyone to see, keep up the great work!
Since I am just a bit older than the Aurora I appreciate watching her be made new again. You and the crew work so clean, nothing pollutes the environment. Very cool. You folks are amazing. Was the ship tolled from the Bay Area to the Delta, how did she get relocated? During your engine department tour I don't remember you saying that the diesel engines had been run recently.
@@AuroraRestorationProject looking forward to it. Steaming on Persistance this Saturday if you're interested. If too busy we'll blow the whistle for you.
Thanks Chris another great up date hope you enjoyed project brupeg As many other followers have said I wish I was there helping Gemma has nailed it making the time to get over and help out leaving there own project all the best Kiwi Chris
I live in Stockton and have a handful of pictures of your ship. It makes for an awesome background for automotive photography. Love watching the progress. Do you allow volunteers to help?
Would have LOVED to see the expression on your wife's face .... " hey hun what you think to us buying a soon to be scrapped ship and live on it !!" Lol It's hard to believe there is concrete on that ship ! Though to be honest what else would you use as flooding? As another post mentioned it would be nice to hear from your helpers why they are there Did I hear you say you had some old crew helping ??? Great show as always keep it up !!
Great videos and a noble pursuit! I am a little disappointed by how much "advice giving" takes place in the comment section though. I cannot imagine the amount of time, energy, and money this project has taken (not to mention the editing and filming). Most of the people giving you "advice" would not have had the courage to do this at all. Like water off a duck's back, my friend!
Thanks for the kind words. Yes there are a lot of people giving advice and I have to admit some of the advice has been great and we certainly plan on implementing what makes sense. However there are some who have little or no knowledge of how things should be done. I don’t claim to have all the answers but I am doing and will continue to make this project happen at all costs. Thank you for watching…
Thanks for the update. Look forward to seeing more! Based upon your previous videos, I wonder if you can recruit local volunteers to help with the video/audio work! Some competing channels produce script/ A rolls/ B rolls/etc. Really brings in the subscribers!
Working on just that over the last few days. Once we get our footing on filming and editing with the right people then things should start to take form. Thanks for watching…
@@AuroraRestorationProject Great, I hope you can get help! Problem I ran into is new people try to move project in their “direction”. They need to understand that #1 priority is to restore/rebuild Aurora at your direction and not tell you what to do!
Hi, I like everything about this! The project, the history, your reason, motivation and even personality (as much as you tell us in this channel haha) cheers man hope you enjoy the process and the result
Thank you, I’m still trying to find my feet for n all of this but hopefully production quality gets a little better with each video. I appreciate the kind words.
so that's a completely different league than the eternal hammer restorations. I read the question of what the bridge looks like here somewhere. So this has already been asked. For the project in general : good contact with the neighbors is really important - water surfaces carry the noise. And everyone is curious. ☝️ Hearing protection ☝️
It would be real cool to have a map/diagram of sorts that helps visualize the layout of the ship. Then when you're going over each area there's a reference in my head. Also if you have plans to change anything about the original layout, I love hearing the scope and purpose discussed and I may not be alone.
I am pulling for you. How fun. Trying to get to some old restoration myself. I keep wondering about the hull? I don't know if you've referenced it, but what is the status? It's probably worth mentioning frequently, as fixing the decks wouldn't help keep a rusted hull from sinking. Good luck!
She’s not likely to sink as she is a double bottom with many sealed compartments and empty fuel tanks. She sits in shallow fresh water and she takes on no water however pulling her out of the water is certainly on my priorities list when able to do so. Decks however are just as important as many vessels rust from the inside out.
Need find yourself some local Navy-Blue shirts. sure, most of them hated their Jobs while in but hey, we all did are Jobs to best we could, sure you can find few that will lend some time, help get her back in shape, you be surprised what work you can get for Pizza some cold drinks.
Thank you so much for this journey! Things could get a little out of hand like the talley ho.. but I think you got a lucky hand at this one. I am verry happy your taking care of this beauty :) Great Greetings from Germany.
Very nice project..if I hear good , you are using a gaz generator, to save on petrol you could get a solar generator with some solar panel and power all your power tools quietly. Ecoflow or bluetti with 2000 watt of solar would pay it's self quite fast , has I assume you are in for some time
We actually have a good number of solar systems set up aboard including the cabin we stay in. Works rather well. But for doing large projects it takes much more power. Thanks for watching…
Would love to hear more about what makes a guy take on a project like this. I can't imagine it is cheap, or quick. Is there return on investment or is this just a pure act of love?
As a sailor, I can definitely appreciate the work you are undertaking. Restoring and maintaining a ship is no small feat. I have spent countless hours needlegunning and repainting a section of my ship only to finish and have to start the whole thing again. Bravo Zulu to you for your persistence in bringing this old gal back to life! Anyway, would you be open to discussing the costs of this project in a future video? What was the purchase price and how much have you put in so far? Thanks!!
Judging from appearances, these are some veteran Metalworkers, maybe even Shipwrights. With a genuine interest in seeing this ship come to life! Maybe the script makes them sound like veterans, I doubt there is any script though. If not for the commute I would be waiting on the Gangplank one day!
Hey, just letting you know I love the project you've got going on. In the late 90s (I was 20ish) I had dreams of buying the Aquarama (Marine Star). Seems pretty silly now but it was cool at the time. Anyway..I've been watching these videos and for what it's worth, I like the videos showing you guys working, the before and after, the challenges etc. I have a good idea of the history of the boat by now. Any chance you plan on filming more of the actual work and what you learn from it?
So, if I understand this correctly, the more comments a YT channel receives, the more favorable the YT algorithm is towards that channel. I don’t always have a question or observation for your videos, but since I a big fan, don’t be surprised if you start seeing lots of “COMMENTs” in the future. ATTENTION ALGORITHM: COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT!
What is the schedule for completing this project? Do the guest rooms need overhauled too? How about the bridge and kitchen/galley? Does the plumbing and fresh water systems work? How about the electrical? There are a lot more video ideas. :) It would be cool to see a bunch of volunteers descend on this project and move it along to get it back out on the water.
We have a good volunteer base but certainly welcome more skilled volunteers as we progress. Some of your thoughts will certainly be in future episodes.. Thanks for watching..
Actually in the case of the Aurora she originally had 5 scuppers on each side coming off from the gutters. I believe scuppers are just the actual drainage ports unless I am mistaken?
@@AuroraRestorationProject Umm, I’m ex British merchant navy, and in my head a scupper is anywhere waste or rain water can run away, as in along the edge of a deck, or in the galley… It’s a marine term for a gutter, in the British merchant navy, anyway.. Out of interest, I’ll look it up and get back to you! I now live in New Zealand, otherwise would love to give you a hand on your ship, she sure looks like a ship should !
Does the Aurora have an engineering space? Like machine tools, a mill? A lathe? Or did they just expect to do repairs to anything in port and tug her is she broke down?
So I've binge-watched the episodes (quickly) and I am amazed you did not give up yet and have still sooo much enthusiasm about the project!! Love to see more progress 🙂 Question: In Germany we have a thing called "Verein" (unincorporated association?) which allows people to join from interest side or to work with you, give money but are also insured if something happens etc. An example would be the steam locomotive club in Nördlingen (Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum e. V.) where I've helped and want to help restore old steam locomotives. Is there something like this in the states? I know Patreon and other support platforms exist, but it's not at all the same.
Seeing you chiseling away all this concrete I'm a little scared of my own little project boat. Do you have any idea why they used concrete for this purpose?
I have never hear of concrete being used on a ship - okay I know some people make boat hulls out of concrete but that always seems a little 'out there' to me. This has come up on previous videos too - mainly for internal areas I believe, and while I can think of other materials, concrete would be far cheaper.
Has the initial price of the Aurora ever been posted? I recently found the page and subscribed. Just interested in what the Craigslist price for a 293foot cruise ship goes for! Just a ball park $10k or $75k or $150k Love the content so far.
You know at the 1.5 yard days equal one day. Your pretty close to your unlimited mates coastal. Via her tonnage. Just saying. You could get your a 100 ton masters then work more for the upgrade just working on her. The lovely citrus taste of ospho!
At this point I am a one man band on filming and putting up content. I think however that this will soon change and we will get better and more consistent content. Thanks for watching…
I wish I wasn't on the opposite coast. I'd come out in a heartbeat to help. Maybe you could do something like what Doug did with SV Seeker where he just had a huge rotation of people come through every week and he would put them up. You certainly have enough and better space for it.
Of course, We can use all the help and support we can get. If your interested in Volunteering or helping another way your welcome to message or email me and I will be glad to give you my personal contact info. Thanks…
Try to get a German audience involved. All Germans under 40 are on English UA-cam and we are bloody serious about heritage. See what you can find on the shipyard that build her.
German Wikipedia lists Blohm+Voss in Hamburg as the shipyard. The Wikipedia article is quite extensive, the ship's history seems to be very well documented.
@@davidjonfosterart Shame, I’m not on Facebook anymore for some time. Love the project. More background about the crew might be helpful to relate. Why those guys? How did you connect. What’s their ‘angle’? You got all the assets, make it work. I’ll enjoy the ride for sure.
@@HansWeberHimself thank you, I met Chris about ten years ago when he brought the Aurora to the Sanjoaquin Delta. I’ve been helping him with the ship ever since. Grid and Shane are my friends from acting and filmmaking and over the years as I brought them to the ship to make films they became great friends with Chris and developed a love for the Aurora and wanted to help in her restoration. That’s the short of it. I’m sure it will all eventually be explained as the channel creates new videos in the future.
If you've ever seen videos of people doing ~abandoned area~ exploration, they tend to find a lot of areas where previous (less respectful) visitors leave their tags, and I suspect it is far more likely that this was a tagger, not a rapper.
If you can provide room and board I'll provide my owen food and stuff heck I'll stay on the ship if that's cool and I'll work on it for free I'd love to help out
I've bought many crazy things on Craigslist, well, neat to me crazy to my wife. You sir, are a in a category of your own!
Ah, yes, the air chisel. My old friend/nemesis.
Mine too…
Thank you sir, for keeping alive a piece of American history, from a time period when things were built with love and care with attention to absolute detail. It's a shame that we now live in a world where we replace instead of restore, and a beauty of the magnitude would end up in davys Jones' locker. You are keeping a cherished time in history alive and by doing so, showing that anything can be accomplished if the will to do so exists. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. I'm excited to continue with you on this amazing journey to full restoration. And if you ever need any deck hands, count me in Cap'n!
Wow!!
I started watching the SV seeker 3 years ago and that was super exiting to watch and I wish I started to watch it from the beginning and I’m happy that I started to watch this from the beginning.
That ship is huge, but gorgeous! That’s always been my dream to live on a boat. It’s nice to meet you! I’d love to get to see her sometime. What an adventure. I really love your tenacity when it comes to your ship. It’s certainly a labor of love. Your preserving history. Much love to you & yours & I can’t wait to hear more about her. Stay safe!❣️ I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors.
It world be so cool if a major network like the discovery Channel or TLC picked up your story
You have a good heart!
Saludos from Spain 🇪🇸!!!! What an amazing project!!!! I wish you the best of the lucks!!!
At the very start of this project all that was playing in my mind was the Ship of Theseus and how not much of the original boat would be left but now i understand how much you guys care about the restoring it to its former glory and getting it to a pure historical landmark. keep up the great work!
We will always do our best to do right by this ship. My goal above and beyond anything else is restoration and preservation. Thanks for the kind words..
@@AuroraRestorationProject An informed discussion on restoration philosophy might help. For example, there's no way the existing propulsion systems will move this boat reliably, but they do have a place in the boat's history. How will you deal with that?
So far, the videos make the project appear like someone piddling around on whatever project takes their fancy, with a few guys doing a little work for the prospect of an enchilada, beer, and bull session afterwards. I am certain that is not the case, and that there is thought, planning and hard work behind what we've seen. Most importantly, I don't think you have communicated a vision for the project - that will make it hard for serious, skilled volunteers to sign on.
All that said, I had similar feelings about Ship Happens, but I now find their videos entertaining, their approach more sustaining, and their skills and decisions more professional.
🤣🤣 buddy with the smoke and beer is looking for a party boat! Hahahaha!
End of the work day beer.
Hey man! You should go in contact with the Stiftung Hamburg Maritim. Its a non profit society in Hamburg which keeps old Hamburg related ships running so the history of old ships will not be forgotten. Your ship perfectly fits to them. They even have the biggest, still running, museums frighter of the world the MS Bleichen as well as an old flying P-Liner the Peking which they restored for 20 million the last years. They are dedicated to help with professional knowledge and history backup and maybe money. I know them personally, my guess is, they would love to get in touch with you.
Yes, exactly this. The ship fits perfectly among the other ships Hamburg Maritim is involved with. Its historical significance is huge, they would definitely love to get in touch with you.
Do it my friend!
This sounds interesting. Anyone have a contact?
@@AuroraRestorationProject Have you searched?
Good luck! This is awesome!
If I have the time I would love to come out and try to work on the machinery spaces. I'm a prior marine diesel mechanic having worked on small to medium-size ships in the military.
I noticed the diesel generator was made at Waukesha Engine.
They went out of business in 1963. , my hometown in Wisconsin.
@@missingremote4388 That means parts are gonna be hard to come by so they would have to be machined if not found. But I'm willing to bet there are schematics out there.
Love it!
You're getting followers quickly. You need to start making a plan for how you're gonna organize the different forms of help you will be offered.
Thanks for sharing this adventure. This is really cool. You're on to something here.
Oh man - what an unbelieveble great project! Wish you good luck and lots of power to make this. Many greetings from Hamburg, where this nice ship was built.
Wow I’ve never known the back story to this ship. Thank you for saving a piece of history.
Absolutely brilliant. Lots of work. Creating memories. What insane fun!!! Thanks for sharing. Laughing with every picture.
This story is very addictive!! I still feel that One Million Subs by years end is do able! Thanks to all the hard working crew.
I know (far too well) the overwhelming *need* to help an unloved boat with soul. Aurora has a soul - and you will make her beautiful again.
(And no, I'm not a complete whack-job!)
i really enjoy your project, great work.
What a lovely story 🤩 This is some project and I’m in for the journey 😂🏴
This channel has seriously motivated me to embark on a project way outside my current means lol! I am so excited to see the restoration progress over the next couple of months. I must find a project ship with such history as this one🙃
Idk if anyone is going to tell you enough…..what you are doing is AMAZING and i hope you see amazing things come from this financially and emotionally
Thanks for the kind words. I too hope this project turns out to be as amazing as I envision. I’m not looking to make money so much as I am trying to save this ship for future generations. Thanks for watching..
@@AuroraRestorationProject thank you for giving us the chance to follow along, i cant wait to see what this beaut turns out to be
The old laundry room is incredible. Please preserve that as-is. It’s a sight in its own right. Wow I would seriously watch a full video on the laundry room alone. Those machines look incredible.
Cool story. Wonderful goal!
Good to see you chugging along!
Wow! These videos are so well done and I cannot wait to see more of these come out as this project is making amazing progress! Thank you for all you do Chris and keep up the amazing work! :)
I love the progress. Keep it up and I'm still awaiting the release of the t-shirts.
Hey
For starter it is awesome, what you are doing and please keep up :) And second thiing a small advise - it would be very helpful for yoou to have an industrial ish vacuum cleaner just like Karcher WD4 or AD4. It is helpful for sucking all the dirt which then you can throw away to big trash bag or dumpster
It's a really cool project. Getting everything sealed back up is definitely the correct goal.
Thank you, My exact thoughts. Priority is always the decks and the hull. Thanks for watching…
@ayofishing should come give you a hand. I hear he has experience with big boats 😂
I love what you are doing here. Have you considered doing an episode where you do a walk through of the ship? It would be nice to know where everything you have shown is in context of the ship.
Very good call. Will be working on this for a future episode sooner than later. Thanks…
Looks like ya have an amazing Team!!
Love seeing the whole prosses .
Thank you…
Great Video, can't wait to see more.
Thanks for watching. More coming very soon. Thanks for watching..
Its a great project glad I am on board.
Very glad to have you aboard…..
It seems like using either the laser or dry ice blasting technologies I've seen all over youtube would be a huge time saver for you. Just a thought...
Love both ideas. The laser idea is however the most intriguing. A bit on the expensive side to secure a system like this but likely well worth the investment. We have been avoiding blasting to minimize the risk of getting anything into the water. Thanks for watching…
Finally making sense 😌 a long career in disaster recovery, with factories. So Chris had the eyes to see the project as manageable. . . Cool to see your crew, Dave’s the man! 😄. In Cologne Germany is a chocolate museum that sits out on a river. Maybe you could do something similar related to the amazing farms of the Central Valley. Nice to see the American pride in that unite-or-die flag!
I’m not really much of a film maker but finding my feet when it comes to the story behind the ship. From now on each episode will have a part of the story..
@@AuroraRestorationProject Ha, I hereby call you an honorary postwar German, your self-deprecation is like the self-deprecating postwar Volkswagen ads.🤣. I think your approach is first-rate, doing the history in relatively short segments so that people don’t slide into Ken Burns documentary sleep. 😵💫. The ending was oddly short I guess . . . maybe you could have an outro or review highlights or bloops or something. (My sister edits reality TV professionally so I guess I like to believe I know something lol.😝😉)
@@CharlesLangSamuel I have the next part of the story in the works now. Will try and do a little better at not cutting off so early. It’s really the little things that make a good video. At this moment I’m doing good just to be able to do basic edits but every day I learn just a little more..
@@AuroraRestorationProject I think your audience is grateful for all your uploads and will be super happy no matter what, and I think there are no rules. I just mentioned the very end because everything else seems like, tv style (your nice intro showing man and machine and beautiful delta, and the segments about history with the shift to dreamy music etc). The humor at the end with Dave was sort of like an inside joke and then like “okay we’re done” lol. Like going to Disneyland and they send you on a ride that has a bunch of stuff missing and you end up wondering whether they even really like you lol. But yeah I agree the small stuff is great; we got to see some of the way your crew coheres, in the moments of banter etc., and maybe the end is a good reality check about the tv-land aspects.
Can't wait to see it restored !!!
I absolutely love what you are doing and love watching your videos. If wasn't in canada I would be there to help. Thank you for documenting this for everyone to see, keep up the great work!
Thank you….
Since I am just a bit older than the Aurora I appreciate watching her be made new again. You and the crew work so clean, nothing pollutes the environment. Very cool. You folks are amazing. Was the ship tolled from the Bay Area to the Delta, how did she get relocated? During your engine department tour I don't remember you saying that the diesel engines had been run recently.
Enjoy hearing your backstory. Looking forward to the next installment.
Thanks Wes, I have so many more parts of this story to go. Will be in the videos for a very long time. See you soon…
@@AuroraRestorationProject looking forward to it.
Steaming on Persistance this Saturday if you're interested. If too busy we'll blow the whistle for you.
An interesting story.
Thanks Chris
another great up date hope you enjoyed project brupeg
As many other followers have said I wish I was there helping
Gemma has nailed it making the time to get over and help out leaving there own project
all the best
Kiwi Chris
What is the USCG ship docked next to it?
USCG Light House Tender FIR 212
I live in Stockton and have a handful of pictures of your ship. It makes for an awesome background for automotive photography. Love watching the progress. Do you allow volunteers to help?
Would love to see sometime…
@@AuroraRestorationProject what’s your email? I’ll gladly send them.
Great project! Good luck! Trade free cabin rent and meals for workers!
I love it 👍👍👍👍👍
Amazing Project! However I am so confused on the order of operation and timeline of the videos?
Would have LOVED to see the expression on your wife's face .... " hey hun what you think to us buying a soon to be scrapped ship and live on it !!" Lol
It's hard to believe there is concrete on that ship !
Though to be honest what else would you use as flooding?
As another post mentioned it would be nice to hear from your helpers why they are there
Did I hear you say you had some old crew helping ???
Great show as always keep it up !!
Great videos and a noble pursuit! I am a little disappointed by how much "advice giving" takes place in the comment section though. I cannot imagine the amount of time, energy, and money this project has taken (not to mention the editing and filming). Most of the people giving you "advice" would not have had the courage to do this at all. Like water off a duck's back, my friend!
Thanks for the kind words. Yes there are a lot of people giving advice and I have to admit some of the advice has been great and we certainly plan on implementing what makes sense. However there are some who have little or no knowledge of how things should be done. I don’t claim to have all the answers but I am doing and will continue to make this project happen at all costs. Thank you for watching…
Oh wow, this is going to be amazing to follow. Have you guys set any deadline you hope to be finished?
Great episode Chris! Was a good day 👍🛳🔨
Thanks for the update. Look forward to seeing more! Based upon your previous videos, I wonder if you can recruit local volunteers to help with the video/audio work! Some competing channels produce script/ A rolls/ B rolls/etc. Really brings in the subscribers!
Working on just that over the last few days. Once we get our footing on filming and editing with the right people then things should start to take form. Thanks for watching…
@@AuroraRestorationProject Great, I hope you can get help! Problem I ran into is new people try to move project in their “direction”. They need to understand that #1 priority is to restore/rebuild Aurora at your direction and not tell you what to do!
Hi, I like everything about this! The project, the history, your reason, motivation and even personality (as much as you tell us in this channel haha) cheers man hope you enjoy the process and the result
Thank you, I’m still trying to find my feet for n all of this but hopefully production quality gets a little better with each video. I appreciate the kind words.
so that's a completely different league than the eternal hammer restorations. I read the question of what the bridge looks like here somewhere. So this has already been asked. For the project in general : good contact with the neighbors is really important - water surfaces carry the noise. And everyone is curious. ☝️ Hearing protection ☝️
It would be real cool to have a map/diagram of sorts that helps visualize the layout of the ship. Then when you're going over each area there's a reference in my head.
Also if you have plans to change anything about the original layout, I love hearing the scope and purpose discussed and I may not be alone.
Interesting, Will give some information about her layout in the next videos. Thanks for watching…
I am pulling for you. How fun. Trying to get to some old restoration myself. I keep wondering about the hull? I don't know if you've referenced it, but what is the status? It's probably worth mentioning frequently, as fixing the decks wouldn't help keep a rusted hull from sinking. Good luck!
She’s not likely to sink as she is a double bottom with many sealed compartments and empty fuel tanks. She sits in shallow fresh water and she takes on no water however pulling her out of the water is certainly on my priorities list when able to do so. Decks however are just as important as many vessels rust from the inside out.
@@AuroraRestorationProject Thanks for giving me the time. I am not Mr. Nautical, just felt is was one missing part of the narrative. Fair weather !🙂
Need find yourself some local Navy-Blue shirts. sure, most of them hated their Jobs while in but hey, we all did are Jobs to best we could, sure you can find few that will lend some time, help get her back in shape, you be surprised what work you can get for Pizza some cold drinks.
What were they asking for this ship, if I may ask?
Thank you so much for this journey! Things could get a little out of hand like the talley ho.. but I think you got a lucky hand at this one. I am verry happy your taking care of this beauty :) Great Greetings from Germany.
We will do our best to keep this project in line. Lots going on behind the scenes. Thanks for watching…
How many meters long is that ship?
She’s small. 50 meters
Sorry, type 95 meters…
Do you plan in putting the Hamburg wappen back on the bow someday?
Absolutely….
@@AuroraRestorationProject that makes me incredibly happy to hear!
Very nice project..if I hear good , you are using a gaz generator, to save on petrol you could get a solar generator with some solar panel and power all your power tools quietly. Ecoflow or bluetti with 2000 watt of solar would pay it's self quite fast , has I assume you are in for some time
We actually have a good number of solar systems set up aboard including the cabin we stay in. Works rather well. But for doing large projects it takes much more power. Thanks for watching…
Would love to hear more about what makes a guy take on a project like this. I can't imagine it is cheap, or quick. Is there return on investment or is this just a pure act of love?
As a sailor, I can definitely appreciate the work you are undertaking. Restoring and maintaining a ship is no small feat. I have spent countless hours needlegunning and repainting a section of my ship only to finish and have to start the whole thing again. Bravo Zulu to you for your persistence in bringing this old gal back to life! Anyway, would you be open to discussing the costs of this project in a future video? What was the purchase price and how much have you put in so far? Thanks!!
Introduce your helpers and let them talk about their experience and why they are helping
Agreed !!
Already filmed for next video…. Thanks for watching…
Judging from appearances, these are some veteran Metalworkers, maybe even Shipwrights. With a genuine interest in seeing this ship come to life!
Maybe the script makes them sound like veterans, I doubt there is any script though.
If not for the commute I would be waiting on the Gangplank one day!
Hey, just letting you know I love the project you've got going on. In the late 90s (I was 20ish) I had dreams of buying the Aquarama (Marine Star). Seems pretty silly now but it was cool at the time. Anyway..I've been watching these videos and for what it's worth, I like the videos showing you guys working, the before and after, the challenges etc. I have a good idea of the history of the boat by now. Any chance you plan on filming more of the actual work and what you learn from it?
What is the story with the other sunken ship next to you in the river ??? is it being saved or let rot away ???
curious how much you paid for it.. although i wouldn't be surprised if you didn't want to disclose
If you ever in Portland oregon come check out the LCI 713 a ww2 landing craft I been helping out on it for like 20yrs it has came a very long ways
Grit blasting followed by hot zinc metal spray is nearly as good as hot dip galvanise. Epoxy over the top.
Interesting….
So, if I understand this correctly, the more comments a YT channel receives, the more favorable the YT algorithm is towards that channel. I don’t always have a question or observation for your videos, but since I a big fan, don’t be surprised if you start seeing lots of “COMMENTs” in the future.
ATTENTION ALGORITHM: COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT!
Thank you. The more the better of course. Every view is helping this ship just a little more…
What are the plans for it when you're done?
What kind of investment went into buying the old girl? Anybody know?
The guy's a regular engineer with a tech startup, I am too - but this is WAAAAHAYA out of my price range, should cost >$10m
@@velianlodestone1249 wow!
What is the schedule for completing this project? Do the guest rooms need overhauled too? How about the bridge and kitchen/galley? Does the plumbing and fresh water systems work? How about the electrical? There are a lot more video ideas. :)
It would be cool to see a bunch of volunteers descend on this project and move it along to get it back out on the water.
We have a good volunteer base but certainly welcome more skilled volunteers as we progress. Some of your thoughts will certainly be in future episodes.. Thanks for watching..
Gutters on ship are called scuppers… picky, I know..
Actually in the case of the Aurora she originally had 5 scuppers on each side coming off from the gutters. I believe scuppers are just the actual drainage ports unless I am mistaken?
@@AuroraRestorationProject Umm, I’m ex British merchant navy, and in my head a scupper is anywhere waste or rain water can run away, as in along the edge of a deck, or in the galley… It’s a marine term for a gutter, in the British merchant navy, anyway.. Out of interest, I’ll look it up and get back to you!
I now live in New Zealand, otherwise would love to give you a hand on your ship, she sure looks like a ship should !
Does the Aurora have an engineering space? Like machine tools, a mill? A lathe? Or did they just expect to do repairs to anything in port and tug her is she broke down?
So I've binge-watched the episodes (quickly) and I am amazed you did not give up yet and have still sooo much enthusiasm about the project!! Love to see more progress 🙂
Question: In Germany we have a thing called "Verein" (unincorporated association?) which allows people to join from interest side or to work with you, give money but are also insured if something happens etc. An example would be the steam locomotive club in Nördlingen (Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum e. V.) where I've helped and want to help restore old steam locomotives.
Is there something like this in the states? I know Patreon and other support platforms exist, but it's not at all the same.
Seeing you chiseling away all this concrete I'm a little scared of my own little project boat. Do you have any idea why they used concrete for this purpose?
I have never hear of concrete being used on a ship - okay I know some people make boat hulls out of concrete but that always seems a little 'out there' to me. This has come up on previous videos too - mainly for internal areas I believe, and while I can think of other materials, concrete would be far cheaper.
Concrete is/ was used as noise reduction and smoothing on decks, only 1" to1.5" .
Not typical to use in scuppers….
id volunteer if you were in germany cause i am a shipmechanic and love these things
what i am wondering is how much did you buy it for?
What do you do for money , the dock space alone has to be costly even if the ship was free
Has the initial price of the Aurora ever been posted? I recently found the page and subscribed. Just interested in what the Craigslist price for a 293foot cruise ship goes for! Just a ball park $10k or $75k or $150k
Love the content so far.
I will discuss in a future episode. Seems to be a popular question. Thanks for watching.
@@AuroraRestorationProject that would be great!!!! Just subscribed very interesting project!!
You know at the 1.5 yard days equal one day. Your pretty close to your unlimited mates coastal. Via her tonnage. Just saying. You could get your a 100 ton masters then work more for the upgrade just working on her. The lovely citrus taste of ospho!
Why do I feel like we are struggling to get this story in order ??
At this point I am a one man band on filming and putting up content. I think however that this will soon change and we will get better and more consistent content. Thanks for watching…
I wish I wasn't on the opposite coast. I'd come out in a heartbeat to help. Maybe you could do something like what Doug did with SV Seeker where he just had a huge rotation of people come through every week and he would put them up. You certainly have enough and better space for it.
I just have one question: How can I help?
Of course, We can use all the help and support we can get. If your interested in Volunteering or helping another way your welcome to message or email me and I will be glad to give you my personal contact info. Thanks…
Try to get a German audience involved. All Germans under 40 are on English UA-cam and we are bloody serious about heritage.
See what you can find on the shipyard that build her.
German Wikipedia lists Blohm+Voss in Hamburg as the shipyard. The Wikipedia article is quite extensive, the ship's history seems to be very well documented.
@@InterFelix They are still operating. Part of ThyssenKrupp.
On our Facebook page there is one or more old photos of the ship during construction in the Hamburg shipyard.
@@davidjonfosterart Shame, I’m not on Facebook anymore for some time.
Love the project. More background about the crew might be helpful to relate. Why those guys? How did you connect. What’s their ‘angle’?
You got all the assets, make it work.
I’ll enjoy the ride for sure.
@@HansWeberHimself thank you, I met Chris about ten years ago when he brought the Aurora to the Sanjoaquin Delta. I’ve been helping him with the ship ever since. Grid and Shane are my friends from acting and filmmaking and over the years as I brought them to the ship to make films they became great friends with Chris and developed a love for the Aurora and wanted to help in her restoration. That’s the short of it. I’m sure it will all eventually be explained as the channel creates new videos in the future.
Dude set up a 501c3 asap to manage the ship
Oh and make sure you get no liability contracts for your workers to sign!!!
Someone spray painted LILJEN on the side of the ship. Discounting the possibility that it's a rapper name, Liljen means "the lily" in danish :D
If you've ever seen videos of people doing ~abandoned area~ exploration, they tend to find a lot of areas where previous (less respectful) visitors leave their tags, and I suspect it is far more likely that this was a tagger, not a rapper.
Pity you couldn't get some corporate sponsorship
Part of the reason we are now on UA-cam. Who knows who will step out and offer to join this project??? Thanks for watching…
god, I hate when I have chihuahuas but no enchiladas.
Thanks for watching.
I would say this much if you did not take on that ship it would have probably It would have been sent to the breakers
🐒💕🙏
Thank you…
If you can provide room and board I'll provide my owen food and stuff heck I'll stay on the ship if that's cool and I'll work on it for free I'd love to help out