Jun20
Photographs of the Hudson folding boat at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show
Hudson Folding Boat on the National Maritime Museum stand at the Beale
Park Thames Boat Show this year. Click on the images for a larger photograph
One of the most fascinating objects on show at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show this year was this amazing folding boat. I’ve posted a photograph of this boat once before, when the National Maritime Museum Cornwall included it in a display of folding boats.
However, I hadn’t realised it was such an exquisitely complicated piece of engineering. This is a real mass of hinges and brackets, sealing wax and string, and deserves admiration!
The folding boat was designed by a gent called Dick Hudson in the early part of the 20th Century. Intended for use as tender that could be tied onto a yacht’s roof without obscuring the helmsman’s view, it folded down to 20cm in thickness and with the help of a couple of brackets would sit on the running board of a car of that era.
3 Comments »Boatbuilders and restorers, Cruising yachts, Events, Modern boatbuilding, Small boats, Suppliers, Techniques, Uncategorized
gavin Jun 21st 2008 at 01:12 pm 1
Wow! Are the drawings for Dick Hudson’s folding boat available anywhere?
jeff cole Jun 22nd 2008 at 09:00 pm 2
G’day Gav, What a wonderful construction the folding dinghy is! Such a beautiful thing in wood. Are there drawings available, I don’t think I could make a full size one but I’d love to do a model. With those changing angles on the diagonal ribbing and the sloping bow it’s like the skeleton of a reptile of ancient time.
Jeff
Craft A Craft Jun 24th 2008 at 02:28 am 3
Hudson Folding Boat pictures…
Gavin Atkin at InTheBoatShed.net has had pictures of this nifty folding boat before, but he has recently put this post up with a bunch more, detailed pictures.
People really created works of art with these boats!…