The next major step after raising the frame ribs was to clad the hull inside and out with strong oak planks and to lay the pine decks. This process began in 1999 and was completed in 2003.Enormous amounts of timber are required for a wooden ship the size of the “Götheborg". An old rule of thumb states that the timber volume, measured in terms of logs, is equivalent to the length x width x height of the ship, which in this case is approximately 4,000 m³. Seventyfive per cent of this comprised oak and the remaining 25 per cent pine. Just about all the timber that was purchased had to be specially ordered, as ship´s timber cannot be bought at regular timber yards. The solid oak planks were first measured up and then sawn out. After that, in order to be bent and adapted to the shape of the hull, they had to be moistened, i.e. softened up with steam. The oak planks were placed in a long box, known as a moistening chamber and specially manufactured for this purpose, and steamed for four to six hours. Once a plank had softened, it

Extra reinforcements were installed around the masts. The amount of timber used, around 500 m³, says a great deal about the scope of the project. The lower deck was lowered by 10 centimetres and the weather deck raised by 10 cen-timetres compared with the decks on the ori-ginal ship. This increased the headroom by 10 centimetres on the upper and lower decks, which was necessary as people are slightly taller now than in the 18th century. More than 250 forged steel knees were in-stalled inside the ship to reinforce the hull crossways, and to connect the decks to the  sides of the hull.  On the upper deck, knees made of crooked oak were used, as on the original ship, as well as supporting blocks for the knees, locking blocks and plank sheer blocks. After that it was necessary to treat the hull and decks with oakum, i.e. to seal the wedge shaped openings, the seams, between the planks. Using a mallet and iron to force tarred flax yarn into the seams is a laborious process, which has to be carried out with great care. A skilled craftsman can complete 20-40 metres in a day, and there are many dozens of kilo-metres of seams to be sealed in all! After sealing with oakum, the outside of the hull was coated in boiling pitch. Sealing and pitching make the ship watertight and rigid.The upper part of the hull was painted with oil paint, the sides were tarred and the ship´s bottom was painted with hull paint over the sheathing, i.e. the layer laid on top of the hull planks to protect the hull against shipworm.When the ship was launched on 6 June 2003, the exterior of the hull was almost finished and all the major components for the engine room had been taken aboard, such as tanks for fresh water and diesel oil, as well as the main engines. The majority of the other major mechanical components were installed during the year, and work on the fitting out began in the autumn. The hull was largely completed during 2004. Technical installation and fitting out work continued throughout the year. The work on the figurehead commenced, and the figurehead lion itself was installed just in time for the naming of the ship on 3 September 2004.