Shipwrights at Mystic Seaport Museum's Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard are repairing the stern of the topsail schooner Shenandoah this winter.

The schooner was built in 1964 by Black Dog Tall Ships founder and captain Robert S. Douglas and sailed out of Vineyard Haven, Mass. It is now operated by Foundation for Underway Experiential Learning, known as FUEL, still out of Vineyard Haven.

Ian Ridgeway, executive director of FUEL, said Shenandoah is scheduled for its first passengers at the end of May, so the work of rebuilding the stern, including the rudder post, ring timber and associated planking and beams, is expected to be complete in time for the tall ship to get its Coast Guard inspection and return to Vineyard Haven.

While the museum's shipwrights undertake the extensive work on the stern, Ridgeway and his staff are performing other maintenance and repairs. On Thursday, Ridgeway and Sam Shields were scribing templates for a new plywood roof for the deck house.

Ridgeway took his first voyage on Shenandoah on a fifth grade school trip and has been involved with the schooner ever since.

FUEL's mission is to "help youth thrive through high-adventure learning," according to its website, www.fuelprogram.org.

FUEL is fundraising both for continued repairs and maintenance for Shenandoah, as well as a plan to build a new, steel-hulled schooner capable of longer trips farther at sea.