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Gentleman’s cutter Integrity in the style of an 1880 cruiser-racer, beautifully drawn by Will Stirling. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger image

Here’s a lovely piece of work: a set of drawings by Will Stirling for a forthcoming project to be built by Stirling & Son.  She’s a 43ft gentleman’s cutter of the period around 1880 drawn with careful reference to craft of that era including Nicholson’s Marigold, Beavor-Webb’s Partridge, GLWatson’s Vanduara, Dixon Kemp’s Zoraida and Fife’s Bloodhound. A cruising-racer, she can set 2,000 square feet of canvas in fine weather, yet Will says she will snug down to trysail and storm jib in poor conditions.

Click on the thumbnails above to see the lines and boatbuilding details more clearly. As you do, it’s worth reflecting that thay have been created without the aid of computer-aided drafting software – Will completed the whole drafting job the traditional and laborious way using ships curves and calculations. I have no doubt that her carvel-built wooden hull will be equally historically accurate from stem to stern.

Many thanks for this Will! I think Integrity is bound to attract some serious attention over the coming months, and I’m delighted to be able to give the boating world this preview.

Contact Will at http://www.stirlingandson.co.uk, tel 01822 614 259.

The new 9ft dinghy from Stirling and Son – the lower
photos show the materials and moulds

The Stirling and Son boatyard down at Morwelham near Tavistock must be one of the most picturesque anywhere – I enjoy the photos Will Stirling sends us for their setting almost as much as the boats.

Here’s what Will has to say about the dinghy in the photo.

‘Dear Gavin,

‘The dinghy is to go to Northumberland – but I can build another with a lead time of approximately six weeks.

‘She is 9ft long of mahogany planking with an oak sheer strake. All other timber in the boat is oak with copper fastenings.

‘The shape is a very stable one, as I’ve had had some near-capsizes getting into dinghies in the past. She has a mid-19th century shape with the bold forefoot and relatively full bow, while she is finer aft with a shapely transom.

‘After building this dinghy I have set down the shape in a full five-page A2 draught with A4 offsets, scantlings and materials list. I am to build the next dinghy from this draught and then make full size mould templates with the planking lined out and a little colour booklet with photos taken along the way. I will let you know when that is all prepared, probably in a couple of months.

‘Best wishes

‘Will Stirling’

I think that booklet might interest quite a few budding home boatbuilders, and when it’s ready I’d like to put up a post about it here Will!

See the Stirling and Son Wooden Shipbuilding and Repairs website at http://www.stirlingandson.co.uk or contact the company at 01822 614 259.

PS – If like me you’ve been admiring Will’s trestles, see some handy trestle plans here. Ok, they aren’t Will’s plans but they look quite similar.

A yawl for HMS Victory, build by Stirling & Son. Even the supports

Boatbuilder Will Stirling of Morewellham has sent us these photo of the striking yawl his company Stirling & Son has just built for HMS Victory. She was built to a Ministry of Defence contract using drawings dating back to 1793 supplied by the National Maritime Museum, and a specification from David Steel’s book Naval Architecture published in 1805. So it should be authentic!

One question I feel is particularly relevant, however: how did men manage when they had to wear hats like that?

Will is perhaps best known in the boating world for having designed and built the 18th century style lugger Alert, which is now back from a trip to Iceland and is for sale: read about her here.

The news on Alert is that Will has dropped the price a little to £67,500, as he’d like to get on with a new project – if you’re in the market for a magnificent boat like this, it would be well worth taking a look also at the Stirling & Son website for more information. Alert is an outstanding piece of floating history, and the kind of boat that would be noticed and admired anywhere.

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