More information about the Kent-built ‘Blackwater sloop’ Gadfly II

We’ve had a short message and a few more photos of Gadfly II from boatbuilder and restorer Simon Papendick.

‘Since I contacted you last on the website, I have found out more about the boat’s history and type of boat she is – or at least the design she was built to.

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Gadfly II – she’s fairly clean, but there’s still plenty of work to do!

We’ve had a short message and a few more photos of Gadfly II from boatbuilder and restorer Simon Papendick.

‘Since I contacted you last on the website, I have found out more about the boat’s history and type of boat she is – or at least the design she was built to.

‘It appears that Gadfly II was built in Kent, as was I was lead to believe was the case. However, she was built to look like a Blackwater gaff sloop called Iolanthe and has the same hull design and dimensions.

‘The only different between the two boats is that my boat has an extra 3in depth in the iron keel. I have attached a few photos of the work in progress to restore this fine old lady to her former glory.’

Iolanthe appeared in Classic Boat magazine September 2004. I should get my copy out and have a look!

For an earlier intheboatshed.net post about this boat, click here.

Simon Papendick, who runs J-Star Tuition & Boat Services, can be reached at 07799401650 and info@jstartuition-boatservices.co.uk.

A Selway Fisher Northumbrian coble launched at the Boat Building Academy

This time they show Neil Bailey’s boat built to the Selway Fisher Northumbrian coble plans.

‘Neil, a Royal Marine for 22 years before coming on the course, wanted to find a new career working creatively with wood. With his main partner on the build, journalist Mike Lowson, he built the the boat with a solid mahogany sheer strake and fitted the boat out in sapele.

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Neil Bailey on launch day – and doesn’t it look like a real celebration!

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As promised, Boat Building Academy principal Yvonne Green has sent us some more photos from the big student launch day at Lyme in December.

This time they show Neil Bailey’s boat built to the Selway Fisher Northumbrian coble plans.

‘Neil, a Royal Marine for 22 years before coming on the course, wanted to find a new career working creatively with wood.  With his main partner on the build, journalist Mike Lowson, he built the the boat with a solid mahogany sheer strake and fitted the boat out in sapele.

‘In the entire 38 weeks of the course we didn’t see Neil look half as happy as when he opened the champagne and took to the water for the first time.’

Yvonne addss that the Academy has been busy recently with a wooden boat restoration course that included staff from some of the leading museums. Apparently,  the eight on the course were keen to come back and suggested the folks at Lyme should think of running more courses on restoration. The hot news right now is that intermediate and advanced wooden boat restoration courses are being planned, probably next year.

The ‘coble’ itself seems a very attractive and useful boat, but I’m not sure how much it resembles a traditional cobles: click here for a post about cobles at intheboatshed.net. For more intheboatshed.net posts mentioning cobles, click here.


Share your boatbuilding and restoration stories

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Some recent boatbuilding posts at intheboatshed.net, including making a moustache, boats built to plans by Iain Oughtred and Tad Roberts, a birch bark canoe and photos from Newlyn. Click on the images above to see them all

Amateurs and professionals If you’ve got a restoration or boatbuilding project you’d like the world to know about, why not send us something about it we can post? We will of course link back to your website or weblog, if you have one, or include contact details if that’s what you’d like. It’s a great way to get a project weblog or new website known to the tens of thousands of visitors who drop in at intheboatshed.net each month* – and it’s entirely free.

All we need from you are photos and some interesting words – the background to the the project, perhaps a little history about the boat type or the boat itself, something about the interest the boat holds for its owner and builder.

Of course there’s more to boating than boats, and more to the sea than water, and intheboatshed.net ranges broadly in its boating-related topics. However, the beating heart of it is its interest in old boats, boat restorations, and boatbuilding projects with just a little of the traditional about them – and so that’s what we’d love to hear about from you.

*As of this morning, Statcounter reports that intheboatshed.net has received 13,596 visitors in the last 30 days. Send us a story at gmatkin@gmail.com and some of them could be coming your way.

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