The 51 double oak frames of the Jeanie Johnston are now in place and larch, for the planking of the ship, has arrived from Austria. This is being put into position.
Not an easy task. The larch planks have to be placed in a steam box for up to four hours to render them into the exact curvature required. Once that process has been completed, those involved have only around 20 minutes to fit them.
Otherwise they would split. In all of this, old skills are being harnessed and are being passed on to a new generation.
The Jeanie Johnston project continues in Blennerville, Co Kerry. It is going to be a replica of the emigrant ship that brought thousands of people from Co Kerry to the hope and expectations of the new world.
Most people associate Cobh - then Queenstown, in Cork - with Irish emigration, but Blennerville played a significant part also.
The Jeanie Johnston operated between 1847 and 1856. Remarkably, no passenger died of disease or in the sea.
If you go to the site of the wonderfully restored Blennerville windmill, nearby you will find the Jeannie Johnston shipyard. Youngsters and craftsmen from far and wide have been called in.
The International Fund for Ireland's Wider Horizons Programme has brought young people together from both traditions, north and south of the Border, to work with skilled shipwrights. They are getting along famously.
The windmill at Blennerville has an interpretative centre which is already attracting many tourists. The old railway line between Blennerville and Tralee is running again.
The Johnston Marine Hotel has opened nearby and is the vision of a local, Sean Og McElligott, who did it on his own, raising finance without the help of partners.
And last weekend, Carraig Donn, the knitwear company, based in Westport, Co Mayo, opened its 11th store in the Republic at the Jeanie Johnston Exhibition Centre.
Altogether, it's a tourism package that has restored the backwater of the Blennerville area and made it vibrant again.
Whatever their political colours, people around Tralee will tell you that this and much more besides could never have happened without having Dick Spring at court.
As one local businessman put it last week "If he stays on, Dick won't be counting votes - in case he's short - around here again."
The Jeanie Johnston replica is scheduled to depart on a six-week voyage to the US and Canada next April, retracing the original route of 150 years ago.
When it reaches Washington DC, President Clinton will mark its arrival.
In the meantime, places on board have been offered to 12 passengers at a cost of £10,000 each. There have been numerous enquiries.
It's a matter of three meals a day on a tall ship and a flight home at the end of the voyage.
But it's an exciting and romantic one. People want to do it. This flotation will be oversubscribed.
Contact number
Readers who wish to contact Dick Hogan can leave messages by dialling (01) 670-7711, extension 6297.