Opinion Poll- Rebuild or Conserve?

[Renegadenemo]

I think Donald would be horrified at the prospect of someone attempting such a foolhardy act in his old crock of a boat. His concern for the safety and well being of others is well documented and I don't think he'd be impressed at all.

We're bloody lucky to have K7 back at all and we'll be incredibly privileged to see her run again under her own power - let's not push it, eh?

[rob565uk]

We're bloody lucky to have K7 back at all and we'll be incredibly privileged to see her run again under her own power - let's not push it, eh?

This neatly sums up my feelings about this matter and probably those of many others ..............

[klingon]

yup-flag on the tail is British-not Japanese,and they were the last guys to have Kamikaze pilots!

[Graham Milne]

Ha ha, I can just see the lake conservation society agreeing to old Bluebird hurtling down the lake at 300mph............

I think Road Warrior might've overdone it on the caffeine at the time of posting that......Chuckle..

[Chris Knapp]

Museum people do not necessarily want to see dead objects. The engineer in me likes to see machines running as they were designed but the museum person in me likes to preserve history rather than risk losing it. If there was several examples of the controls left I would be in favour of rebuilding one and fitting it but as this is the only one touched and put in that position by Donald I would be reluctant to lose it. Also bearing in mind that the boat is going back in the water there is the risk of losing it again. I know that every precaution plus a few more will be taken to prevent that but the risk is always there. I have spoken to Bill many times about the ethics of conservation and there are no easy answers. This is a fine example of that and you can never please everyone. In this case the museum person in me wins and my vote is the keep things as they are, a replica will not affect the interpretation of the boat but it will help to keep a little bit of history. My apolgies if this sounds a bit garbled but I can see merit in both arguments.

[bluebirdsback]

I can sort of see Chris's point in preserving machines to look at, but not when one part of the machine is in one place and the rest of it is in another when it could all be put together. If only parts of Bluebird had been recovered then fair enough, put them in a display case for people to look at.We have almost a complete machine and have always strived to use as much original fabric as possible. This is not an every day type museum exhibit. You can have your complete spitfire hanging from the ceiling and controls from another in a glass case to show how it worked. We dont have that luxury. The chances of losing that control during trial runs is very minimal, the chances of us not being able to get it back should the worst happen is even less. and the chances of that lever being in the position Donald pushed it into in my opinion is even less again. Its a crash damaged part of the boat which can be repaired and put back onto a working machine.

[Renegadenemo]

For those who don't know, Chris is a big player. He's actually head of conservation at Imperial War Museum Duxford as well as having been our conservation director for several years and I thank him for coming down here to offer an opinion. This debate underlines the argument I've been having with the museum types for years now, that the public want to see more than dead machines, but at the end of the day, Chris is absolutely right - we move that lever and the history has gone forever. Perhaps his most pertinent point is that including a replica control will not affect the interpretation of the finished boat so we can effectively have the best of both worlds.
I had to smile at the remark about it all possibly being lost again, and that was the true museologist coming out, in my humble opinion. They really don't like to see their lovingly conserved objects getting wet - even if it is a boat.

What's important is that somewhere between our (and by 'our' I mean all of us who've voted to mend and include the original) gung-ho, 'let's fix it' attitude and the anal, 'let's conserve everything' take of the museum fraternity lies a path that will fulfill and excite everyone and that's where we've been trying to strike a balance with this project.
For all it's a shedload of extra work we can do without I can't help thinking we should build a new one of those Bloctube controls and be done with it.

Come to think of it - would anyone like to buy one? because there'll probably be a few spares by the time we get it right.

[bluebirdsback]

Will that affect the rivet department Mike? Or is that a seperate union?

[Renegadenemo]

Now now, comrades... The management is prepared to engage in negotiations for better conditons for fuel cock controls. Let's not be hasty here.

[Jordangbr]