Schleicher Rhönbussard

Schleicher Rhönbussard

In 1937 the Schleicher Rhönbussard was just about the state of the art in gliders. Things have moved on but there is a thriving vintage gliding community in this country and in the rest of Europe. Most of these aircraft were built in a combination of plywood and...
Wild Goose – Part 2

Wild Goose – Part 2

I am slightly taken aback to discover that Wild Goose has now been in the workshop for nearly three years. To be fair, she was always a side project to be worked on in quieter times and I was away sailing for four months last year. Still, the job continues to move...
New Boat for Old

New Boat for Old

The local open boat race fleet is thriving and has reached the point where the doesn’t seem to be enough boats to go round. One new boat has been built recently but this is a huge commitment in time and money so people have been looking for easier ways.  As a...
Woozle’s new rig

Woozle’s new rig

Like many wooden boats Woozle’s history is a bit uncertain but in any case she is an elegant little 12ft clinker dinghy which has been restored by the International Boatbuilding Training College in Lowestoft at some stage and she is an established member of the...
Adventures in plywood

Adventures in plywood

Like many other technologies plywood production improved a huge amount during the second World War. As a result of this , the shortage of solid timber and rising labour costs, the 1950s and 1960s saw a boom in the design and building of plywood boats. As so often with...