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John Watson and Dave Snelling’s 12 1/2 Haven on student launch day in December
John Watson and build partner Dave Snelling built the Joel White Haven 12 1/2 version of Nat Herreschoff’s 12 1/2 Buzzard’s Bay Boy’s Boat during their course at the Builtbuilding Academy, reports principal Yvonne Green.
While the original design has a full keel, the Joel White version has a centreboard, making it possible to bring the boat into shallow waters and easier to trailer. The boat is Douglas fir strip planked and sheathed in glass fibre, has a cast lead ballast keel, and is 15ft 11in in length with a beam of 6ft 1in.
Neither John nor David were doing practical work before they came on the course at Lyme – for the last thirty years John has worked in corporate law in America, while Dave, although he worked in the marine industry at the beginning of his career, has been working in IT. Yvonne says the boat was quite an achievement, but John and Dave were incredibly focused on the course and worked steadily to complete it in the six months they had on the main workshop floor.
And a wonderful finished product the Last Rose is! I actually had the priviledge of working with John and Dave one weekend in the boat academy. And she is a thoroughly impressive build. Congratulations to you both.