Month: March 2009

National Register of Historic Vessels to include foreign builds and 33ft vessels

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Inclusion criteria for the National Register of Historic Vessels change from the 1st April this year to include vessels built abroad but with strong UK associations.

The size requirement is also reduced from 40 to 33ft overall.

The latest National Historic Ships e-News explains the changes, which stem from concerns that important vessels have been excluded including the Bombay-built HMS Trincomalee and more recently HMS Stalker.

The rule on length has been changed to fill a gap that existed between the National Register of Historic Vessels and the National Maritime Museum’s National Small Boat Register.

If you’re wondering whether your boat may qualify, length overall is defined as the length between the forward and aft extremities of the hull: spars and projections are not included.

Other criteria for including a vessel remain unchanged: the craft must have been launched more than 50 years ago, it should be currently lying in British waters and must be substantially intact.

PS I’ve just heard from NMMC trustee George Hogg that all the 33ft and over currently on the NSBR will be retained on it until the NRHV site is up and running again.

Nick Gates & Co, of Thornham Marina

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From top: Lady May;  SCODs ; and Girouette

Nick Gates & Co is a traditional workshop based at Thornham Marina, near Emsworth in Hampshire.

Set up in 1999 by boatbuilder Nick Gates, the company specialises in the repair and restoration of wooden boats and looks after a wide range of craft, from clinker dinghies, to classic racing yachts, steam launches and gentleman’s motor yachts.

Nick trained at the International Boatbuilding Training College in Lowestoft before joining the renowned Combes Boatyard in Bosham, where he worked until the yard closed in 1999.

Boats being worked on in the yard at the moment include Lady May, a 1930s Camper & Nicholson launch, which came to the yard for finishing and to have its interior put back in, and Girouette, a Hillyard-built boat that has been in the same family for nearly 50 years.

Partially restored by Combes in the early 1990s, she has since been laid up, and is now at Nick Gates & Co for a new deck, interior and engine.

Nick also specialises in the Nicholson-designed, 26ft South Coast One-Design (SCOD), and in recent years five of the local fleet have visited the workshop. The jobs carried out on these boats have included a total rebuild, new decks and coachroof, external varnishwork and mast repairs.

For more information see the company’s very nice website at http://www.nickgates.co.uk

This page from the site might be particularly interesting to anyone who has been interested in the progress of Gadfly II – note the strong resemblance.

Ed’s boat for sale

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Thorne Luckhardt’s friend Ed is selling his boat to make room for another build.

He built Florence in 1996 to his own plans and says he was  inspired by Cape Cod catboats, but I think she also has a touch of the Hampton boat and of the two-masted Humber duster about her.

Wherever she comes from, she makes a pretty boat. Florence is 16ft long overall, with a beam of 6ft, and a 12in draft with the board up, and in snug, working boat fashion has 115sqft of sails. She’s built from 6mm okoume ply, white oak frames and keel, black locust centerboard logs, honduras mahogany with red merranti trim.

The cockpit is ten feet long with seats running full length, or it’s possible to remove the forward half of the seats and put the cuddy in place to create a dry area that provides somewhere to sleep.

Notice the photo in which the boat sails without anyone steering: Ed says Florence is the best sailing boat he’s built, for with both sails of her two-stick rig set, she will sail herself without lashing the tiller.

To see more, click here.

My thanks go to Duckworks Magazine for the tipoff.