The missing parts
Skuldelev 2 is being reconstructed in full size on the stocks at the Viking ship museum boatyard. Its form is based on the reconstruction model, while all details are fashioned from drawings of the original materials. It is not possible to solve all problems in a 1:10 scale model and drawing. The shipwrights must therefore often go back to the original ship to study specific details. It is not unusual for this to lead to the drawings being altered. The entire reconstruction is thus carefully re-evaluated throughout the building process. The completed ship will therefore resemble the original ship as much as possible.
Several details have been reconstructed on the basis of other Viking Age finds, adapted to suit the dimensions of this ship. For example, the frame on which the rudder is attached is not preserved on Skuldelev 2. A rudder frame from the same period found on the Danish island of Falster has therefore been used as a template.
No Viking ship has yet been found with well-preserved rigging and sail. It is therefore a particular challenge to recreate these correctly. The rigging has been designed on the basis of depictions from the Viking Age, traces of the rigging in the wrecks, finds of ropework and tackle and the rigging used on descendants of the Viking ships – for example the Nordland boats of Northern Norway.
