Tag: launch

West country style motor launch Lisa is launched in Devon

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Lisa on the water for the first time opposite the Ship Inn at Noss Mayo,
Devon, 29th April 2009

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West Country-style motor launch Lisa built by Nick Smith for the landlord of the Ship Inn was launched on the 29th April at Noss Mayo, in Devon.

Nick describes the event:

‘It was a low-key launch in the early morning with no splash and no champagne. We ran the trailer down at half tide at 6am and let the water flood around the boat. Lisa floated off quietly and made no water.

‘We started the motor and went for sea trials for an hour or so to make sure all was tickety boo. The ballast may need adjusting forward, as single-handed she floats a bit high, however with three people on board and under way the waterline was sweet. The steering was well balanced and even on tickover Lisa can turn in almost her own length. The sheer looked right from all angles, very pleasing to the eye.’

Thanks Nick!

If you don’t already know him, Nick comes from Devon and specialises in new builds in clinker and carvel for sail, motor and rowing power from 8ft to 28ft with a special emphasis on West Country style and design, and also takes on repairs and refits from 25ft to 50ft. These days he’s based in Hampshire, and can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on phone on 07786 693370.

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Motor launch Louise is ribbed out

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Louise gets her new ribs

Hampshire-based and Devon-trained boatbuilder Nick Smith has sent us some more photos of his current 16ft clinker-built motor launch project, Louise. This time he’s steaming and fitting her ribs, a process that would be recognised by boatbuilders going back many centuries.

‘Hi Gav

Louise is now ribbed out: the oak timbers, approxiamately 3/4  by 5/8in went in the steam box when steam was up, and cooked for the best part of an hour – the rule of thumb is an hour per square inch cross section, but it depends on the moisture content. ‘Green’ – almost straight off the tree – is best.

An hour and three quarters later we were done, including a beer break to put the second batch in the box.

The next job is to rivet all the copper nails , then gunl’s, risers, knees, breasthook and engine beds.

I went to the Beaulieu Boat Jumble yesterday and picked up, among other things, a period pattern matching pair of bronze fairleads, likewise a foredeck cleat, a bronze bilge pump and deck filler fitting, all to match the era of the design.

Thats it for now, more in a couple of weeks.

Nick’

Thanks Nick – I really like to see these projects progressing.

Click here for an earlier post about this project. If you don’t already know him, Nick comes from Devon and specialises in new builds in clinker and carvel for sail, motor and rowing power from 8ft to 28ft with a special emphasis on West Country style and design, and also takes on repairs and refits from 25ft to 50ft. He can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on phone on 07786 693370.

For some photos of Nick’s boats at last year’s Beale Park Thames Boat Show, click here. Nick tells me he’s be at the show again this summer, so if you’re interested it might be wise to put the dates 5th-7th June in your diary…

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Newly built Fowey River Dinghy number 53 launched

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Fowey River Class Dinghy number 53 was launched this weekend

This Saturday saw the launch of another local racing class classic at Fowey – a new Fowey River Class Dinghy made by Marcus Lewis for the local vicar and his family.

Built with a distinctive combination of spruce planking with thwarts and top planks of mahogany, the boat was launched at the Fowey Gallants Sailing Club and is number 53 in the class.

Marcus tells me that the Fowey River Dinghy is based on the Yachting World 15ft dinghy designed by Reg Freeman in the late 1940s with the aim encouraging people to build their own boats. Hunkins’ Boatyard at Polruan built one for a local dentist and they caught on, for by 1957 there were 15 boats in the fleet. Numbers continued to grow with other local boat builders betting involved, and the fleet reached 36 boats in 1965.

Interest in racing the wooden boats then dwindled, but over the last 15 years or so interest has returned with 15 new boats, several of which Marcus has built, and a number of restorations of the older craft. Five or six are seen sailing in regular Wednesday and Saturday racing, and the fleet swells to 15 or 18 in regatta week.

There are photos at http://jonbarkerpics.co.uk – the Fowey River Dinghies can be identified by their multi-coloured mainsails and jibs.

Marcus Lewis is based at Fowey and can be contacted on 07973 420 568.

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