Regular drivers over the Route 9W bridge on the Rondout Creek may have noticed something odd in the past few weeks; the white pine mainmast of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater towering a bit taller above the roadway. That’s because the iconic vessel is on dry land — or more precisely a concrete pad — at its usual berth on the Rondout Creek directly below the bridge. It is undergoing the final phase of a 15-year-long bottom-up overhaul that Clearwater staff hope will keep her sailing for another six decades.

Launched in 1969 by folk singer and environmentalist Pete Seeger and local activists to call attention to the sorry state of the river after decades of industrial pollution, the vessel has served ever since as a floating environmental studies classroom and a tireless advocate for clean air and water in the Hudson Valley. The all-wood sloop is a replica of the broad-beamed shallow-draft Dutch-style boats designed specifically for river travel that were a mainstay of commerce and travel along the Hudson from the days of the New Netherland colony in the 17^th century until the 1820s when they were supplanted by steam-powered vessels.

But, while the Clearwater’s ancestors were handy for navigating the Hudson’s inlets and tributaries, they were never meant to last. Unlike ocean-going vessels which benefit from what Clearwater’s Captain Rory Kane called the pickling effect of salt water, the sloops plying the freshwater above the Hudson River salt line tended to rot easily. With high-quality wood cheap and plentiful in the Hudson Valley it was easier to scrap an aging sloop and build a new one than continually replacing rotten beams and planks.

“They could afford to use these sloops for a number of years and then scrap them,” said Kane who is overseeing the restoration work. “They say that a boat rots from the top down, so the biggest thing that these ocean-going vessels have on us is they can wash the deck with salt water and it actually helps whereas if we were to wash the deck with river water we would have to replace it within two years. So, a boat like this in the 1600s, 1700s,1800s would really only have lasted about five to ten years max.

The effect of water on wood makes keeping the Clearwater in shape a full-time effort, employing a niche skill — traditional wooden boat building. To ensure an available pool of skilled labor, the Clearwater has for decades run an apprenticeship program where curious newcomers can work alongside a master shipwright and learn the precision art of cutting wooden ribs and other elements of the hull each of which must fit exactly. Many of the shipwrights start as volunteers in a month-long winter program and go on to become mainstays who return season after season to further sharpen their skills. Kane called the shipwright program key to the Sloop’s continued operation.

“The only way we can continue this is to continue bringing in more people so they can learn and become part of the ever-growing community,” said Kane. “Investing in the people who continue to learn, teach, and complete the work necessary to keep the sloop sailing is one of the most important things we can do for Clearwater's community.”

On a Thursday morning, Kane and his shipwrights are hard at work cutting planks and hammering nails on the stretch of Rondout waterfront that serves as Clearwater’s homeport. The initial stage of the restoration project is pretty straightforward, building a frame around the vessel that will then be covered in plastic to keep it safe from the elements during the eight-month $1.2 million restoration project. Once that’s done the shipwrights will get to work replacing the sloop’s topside above the waterline and transom, the flat exterior of the vessel’s stern. The work will involve checking the condition of some wooden parts and completely replacing others with custom cut new ones.

“All of the planks have to come off, get scoured so that we know where they are; then all of the frames have to come out and be replaced,” said Kane.

While the clearwater might be out of the water, Clearwater staff want to keep it in the public consciousness during the restoration project. To that end, the public are welcome to stop by and watch as the work progresses. The sloop will hold potlucks and special events in the boat barn adjacent to the work site and have volunteer docents on hand Fridays and Saturdays to allow visitors to get an up-close look at the complex network of ribs and frames that are normally covered in planking.

“This type of work usually happens in private boatyards so it’s very unique for most people to see it happening up close,” said Clearwater administrator Caitlin Dinsley, and “so we want to give people as many opportunities as possible to see what we’re doing here.”