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 result...
read moreWoozle’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...
read moreAdventures 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...
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A new plank for Leila
Leila is probably the most elegant boat I have yet worked on. She is a William Fife designed 6 metre racing yacht built in his family yard at Fairlie on the Clyde in 1912. Much of the backbone and the larch lower planking has been replaced and now we are selectively...
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No boat is ever perfect
All boats are to a greater or lesser extent built to a price; this means that even well build new boats can benefit from some careful additions. Parker Yachts are well known for their build quality and in latter years the internal joinery was particularly high...
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Iain Oughtred – Little Tern “Skute”
Although he lives on the the isle of Skye, Iain Oughtred is in fact Australian and was born in the outskirts of Sidney. During the many years he has lived in Britain, Iain has become one of our most highly regarded designers of small wooden boats with well over 100...
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Stem Repair
Estralita, a 20 foot clinker motorboat spent much of her life carrying tourists in Salcombe harbour. She is now around a hundred years old and in need of a fair amount of repair. One of the most troublesome leaks was around the the stem where an old repair in the stem...
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Making a mast
Spar making is often considered a bit of a black art; in fact it is quite straight forward but is a painstaking process and labour intensive. You also end up with an awful lot of wood shavings on the floor. First you have to prepare for a financial shock: Sitka Spruce...
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Eleanora
Eleanora was built at the famous Gosport yard of Camper and Nicholson in 1927. She was designed in house, built largely in teak and her power came from a pair of 8 hp Stuart Turner petrol engines mounted under the floor of the aft cockpit. Much of her history is lost...
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Lady Gwynfred
The Thames sailing barge Lady Gwynfred was a 68 ton sprit rigged, wooden barge built by Glover at Gravesend in 1904. Like many barges she had a varied career and came to a sad end. She operated as general trading barge under sail up to 1933 when she sank at...
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