Restoration & Preservation Plan
The restoration and preservation of Stalker is not going to be easy, it is going to challenge everybody involved with her, both mentally and physically

Today, it would seem clear that, if we are going to restore and preserve Stalker as a sea going historic vessel, then it is imperative that we can get access to the resources, skills and the facilities that will enable us to do much of the work as possible ourselves. However, if we cannot get access to these skills and the supporting facilities that will be required, for the restoration and preservation needs of Stalker, then it is going to be exceptionally difficult to keep the project moving forward

The question of resources is not just a question of money, although this will always be an important issue. However, with the decline in the shipbuilding industry the supply of trained shipbuilders and repairers is drying up. But with the restoration and preservation of Stalker it could be said that, in some small way, we are helping to preserve these skills and techniques

Volunteer support is therefore vital to the preservation of Stalker, which will in turn allow the Trust hopefully to draw on the possible rich source of skills and commitment that we hope maybe present within many communities in the Portsmouth area. Indeed, with the help of these volunteers it could be said that this will be the only way of making any sense of the huge costs involved. However, at best as valuable as this source of assistance will be, it is only likely to provide a partial answer.

The fact is, that not only are the supporting industries and the skills disappearing, but so are the shipyards and the dry docks, which it seems, are all too often turned into shopping centers and car parks for out of town parking. The result therefore, is that the essential dry-docking of Stalker, will become an increasingly difficult process as the years go by. Yet it must be said that if the access to these facilities cannot be found in this country, then the Trust must look elsewhere, after all, the survival of Stalker is paramount.

Such problems are not unique in the preservation of ships, but they also apply to a greater or a lesser degree to all aspects of restoration and preservation, whether it’s a building or other historic artifacts. We feel that restored and preserved ships were never meant to lie static in dry docks or afloat tied up at a berth, without proper ventilation, or in one position with their structures and running gear exposed to the same mixture of environmental and natural elements to be found in still water.

Yet it could be said that these static preserved vessels are, so to speak, ships that are all dressed up, with nowhere to go!



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