In Their Shoes: Restoring The USS Constitution

BOSTON (CBS) - When you are a 217-year-old, you need a little nip and tuck now and then.

So for the first time in 20 years, the U.S.S. Constitution is undergoing a restoration. And for one worker, it's the restoration of his career.

In a Charlestown dry dock, behind a 60-foot door that holds back the harbor, the ship is getting a little face-lift.

David Cavanaugh is part of the team replacing some of the huge beams in the ship. He's got his own history. In 2012, he quit a high tech security firm to work on one of the first forms of security.

"We try not to look like we are having fun," he says. "It's a serious work place."

With some serious work to be done.

Old Ironsides actually has a lot of copper. While it's in dry dock workers will replace 3400 sheets of the copper. Underneath you can see the wood of the keel. It's white oak that is 220 years old.

That's what lies beneath. While above, Gordy Lincoln, the rigging supervisor, oversees the dismantling of the masts.

He started working here 20 years ago while in high school. Lincoln is a local boy from East Bridgewater.

His mom, dad and kids brag about his job, which has its perks like the occasional cruise around the harbor.

David Cavanaugh has never cruised on Old Ironsides, but he hopes his crash course in carpentry will set a course for his beyond the dry dock dreams.

After David quit his high paying job in security, he started volunteering full-time on old boats and at museums.

His gamble paid off with a dream job. The ship will sail again in the fall of 2017. Maybe he'll be on board.