Stunning Thames steamer Alaska
Nick Smith 17ft carvel 7/8th inch Douglas fir on oak fishing and pleasure boat
You don’t see too many of these. West Country traditional boat builder Nick Smith is selling a new built 17ft carvel built launch fitted with a fully restored 10hp Bukh inboard – what he calls ‘a proper old thumper’.
He started building it from a 24ft, 36in log four years ago, but only completed a year and a half ago.
It’s an offer he’s unlikely to repeat – the centre line went together well enough, but once the planking started Nick realised that building in carvel even at this length and size wasn’t going to be an easy project. Really, he says, it needed two journeymen and was tough work on his own. From now on, it’ll be clinker all the way…
Due to a change in the original customer’s circumstances the boat hasn’t been afloat, but Nick has run the engine on the trailer, and has faired and repainted the topsides, which are still settling in.
The bilges have been filled for a few days so the planking has taken up.
See eBay for prices and details – but be quick, for the auction is only open for another day.
How to talk like a barge skipper
The British Library is an amazing institution and its website is a tremendous resource, not least because of the wey it can connect people.
Here’s shipwright and barge skipper Rick Cardy, retired barge skipper Pat Fisher and ship repairer and barge skipper Andrew Harman talking about the way they speak in and around Maldon, Essex.