intheboatshed.net

John Harris with his Tammie Norrie, built while attending the
Boat Building Academy at Lyme Regis

Yvonne Green, principal of the Boat Building Academy at Lyme Regis has kindly sent us some photos and details of boatbuilding projects by recent students - and here’s the second in the series.

While still working in his career as a consulting engineering geologist John Harris made a kit boat with oars and spars, and attended a basic clinker boat building and repair short course at the Academy. When he retired, however, he fulfilled a life-long ambition and, as he puts it, came to the Academy to learn how to build boats properly.

While on the course he built a glued-clinker Tammie Norrie yawl with a balanced lug foresail designed by Iain Oughtred. The plans are available from Classic Marine.

See an earlier post about Ian Thomson’s Nestaway dinghy.

Tilikum at Margate, with Captain John Voss
standing at the bows. As usual click on the
images for much larger photographs

Fishing luggers sailing out of Mevagissey,
Cornwall

Falmouth quay punt

Lowestoft trawlers in a shot that looks more like a
painting than a photo

West Mersea smacks looking very handsome on a near run

I picked up a dusty old book the other day, and found it contained many photos of some well known old boats. Here are just a few. I must say I was particularly pleased to find the Tilikum shot, as it gives a clear impression of what the boat was like when Captain John Voss had her and sailed such enormous distances. Voss’s book The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss is a jolly read, as you’d expect from someone who became a professional adventurer - there are some copies at ABE Books. There’s a bit more on Voss’s voyage here, and thanks to the kind folks at the splendid Duckworks forum, I’ve just learned that Venturesome Voyages is also available online.

On other topics, there are various intheboatshed.net posts on luggers to read and others on Falmouth quay punts, and on fishing generally.

Nick Smith is making progress on a 17ft launch Lisa
built to a set of lines from an Admiralty lifeboat of
100 years ago. Moeity was built to the same lines but
is a few inches shorter. Click on the images for much
bigger photos

It’s always good to hear about new projects and to receive photos. On Friday, Nick Smith sent me this message:

Hi Gavin,

As promised a nice photo of Lisa, a 17ft, clnker-built khaya mahogany hull to be framed with green New Forest oak.

The design is as per Moiety (lines taken off an Admiralty lifeboat of about 100 years old), but while Moietyis 16ft 4in, Lisa has been stretched a further 8in. The second photo shows Moiety on her launch day in  1996 on the river Medina, Cowes - see the landmark of J S White’s crane in the background.

Lisa will have a 15hp Yanmar twin fitted, and the owner who lives in Noss Mayo wants to explore the estuary and on good day go around the coast to Cawsand and maybe Plymouth too.

I have an another order to follow - a 16ft motor launch for customer who also lives on the river Yealm.

Will send you some more photos during Lisa’ s fit out.

Regards Nick

Thanks Nick! As usual, clicking on the photos will bring up a bigger and better image in each case.

For more photos click here: intheboatshed posts showing Nick Smith’s work.