Month: February 2008

A Thames skiff at the NMM Cornwall

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Thames skiff at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

1905 Thames skiff on show at the NMMC, Falmouth. Naturally, I’ve asked the
curator to let me know what the boats in the background are!

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall at Falmouth has added a clinker-built River Thames skiff to its collection for ‘flying boats’, which hang from the ceiling, and can be viewed from above and below. It will remain in place for the whole of 2008.

Skiffs have long been used on the Thames as pleasure boats around the turn of the last century. Many are still in use today and can be seen during Swan Upping, an annual ceremony where swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, marked, and then released.

The particularly skiff on display was built by Hammerton of Thames Ditton in 1905 and features all her original equipment including part of the original cane in the back seat. I’ve linked to an interesting set of skiff plans drawings at this intheboatshed.net post.

A similar boat famously featured in Jerome K Jerome’s much loved 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat, which tells the comic story of three friends taking a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford. The trip was recreated for the BBC some time agao by comedians Griff Rhys-Jones, Dara O’Briain and Rory McGrath. More recently the same trio appeared in another reality TV entertainment in which they raced on board Rhys-Jones beautiful Phil Rhodes-designed yacht Undina.

Visit the National Maritime Museum Cornwall website.

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Watch out for the woodpeckers!

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Woodpecker damage to Broads yacht mast

Broads yacht Slantendicular

Damage wreaked by a confused Norfolk woodpecker; Slantendicular in flight,
photographed by Mary Moore of Moore & Moore Exposure

Joe Field of Navigators & General insurance got in touch with an oddball story late last week. It seems that a boat kept in a Norfolk Broads boatyard came under attack from a feathery predator. I’ll let the owner Steve Law tell the story:

‘On a couple of occasions during last October, on arrival at the boat at the yard we found what looked like wood chips scattered over the cover. The first time I merely brushed them off and went sailing, as you would. The second time, a week later, I became suspicious and asked the yard owner if he could shed any light. He came, looked, pondered and declared he knew nothing about it.

‘Then we competed in the end of season Downriver Race from Horning to Thurne, and pushed her quite hard. Wet decks are not something our boat Slantendicular normally suffers, but she did that day.

‘I muttered something about having to tighten the shrouds later, since they looked a little slack. Having returned to base, forgotten about the shrouds and gone back to work for the week, we returned the following weekend to find yet more woodchips on the cover, even more than before and now there were even hard varnish on one side of some of them!

‘Was it the lads in the yard having a laugh? The boss came and looked, looked again, looked up – and suddenly knew what had happened.

‘”So that’s where the woodpecker’s been hammering! We’ve heard him for a few weeks now, but every time we came to look it all went quiet. But now we know – he was up your mast all the time!”‘

‘I’d like to say thanks to Nav & Gen, who have accepted the claim and a new mast will shortly be made – they have been first class in their handling – no fuss, just accepted the story, rolled over laughing, and gave the OK!’

Navigators & General approved replacement with a new spar, as the policy covers damage caused by external accidents which means including vermin – though of course it isn’t strictly fair to call a bird such as this woodpecker by that name.

On the boat itself, Steve has this to say: ‘My boatbuilding career started with an old Enterprise dinghy, which I almost had to rebuild, and a Selway Fisher canoe I built from plans. And then I built Slantendicular from my own drawings, with much help from David Williams, who has built several Broads Cruisers and other boats. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude.

‘Building Slanty then took three years or 1500 hours in the garage, leading up to her launch in April 04.’

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Redmond’s Elver – is it related to Southwind?

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Elver sail plan

Steve Redmond’s Elver

Any resemblance seems to be accidental!

In response to my request for information about whether Chappelle’s intriguing Southwind had ever been built, today I received an email suggesting I have another look at Steve Redmond’s Elver. The email’s author suggested that the two boats might be very closely related, and that one might have been redrawn from the other.

The comparison is interesting. The Elver has something in common with the earlier Southwind design, including a flat bottom, fairly similar proportions, and sides shaped by a master curve. And both boats are better suited to day sailing than to extended cruising.

However, they are far from being the same boat:

– the Elver has relatively more no rocker where the Chappelle boat has a significant amount

– the Elver is lightly built and unballasted, while the Southwind is designed to be heavily built with many frames, and is certainly intended to carry ballast

– relatively speaking, the Elver has rather more freeboard than Southwind

– the Southwind’s widest beam is relatively forward of Elver’s

– and the two boats have different rig and cuddy arrangements

All in all, while the Elver is like a big dinghy with a lid (in the British English sense), the Southwind is a workboat-derived yacht, and it could be argued that each boat reflects the interests and background of its designer.

As if to eliminate any lingering doubts, not so very long ago at the Woodenboat forum Redmond himself made clear that his boat was not redrawn from Chappelle’s, and seems not to have known of its existence before it was pointed out to him quite recently.

Having settled that question, it’s clear we can’t assume the Elver’s performance is any sort of guide to that of the Southwind’s. Although various people have raised concerns about the stability of the Chappelle boat, even without making any calculations, I’d suggest that even with internal ballast a boat that lived in an area of reasonably light winds, measured 22ft in length with modest overhangs and was 8ft in beam might be expected to stand up to sails just over 200sqft much of the time. I’m quite sure, however, that it wouldn’t have the self-righting characteristics we expect from modern boats, however.

I have come across a tantalising link suggesting that Southwind has been built at least once.

In the meantime, intheboatshed.net readers may be interested in the following links featuring the Elver:

– Short video clip of sailing a home-built Elver.

– A tour of the same Elver.

– Another video clip showing an Elver boat building project.

– Photos and commentary about another home-built Elver, together with some reflections on the boat’s merits and some alternatives that potential builders might consider.

– Another Elver boat building project.

– The Elver builders Yahoogroup

– Elver plans from designer Steve Redmond’s site.

I should declare an interest – I’ve been harbouring an urge to find time build Redmond’s skiff Whisp for years, and have mentioned it once or twice on this weblog.

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