Month: June 2009

Nick Smith 16ft traditional West Country motor launch receives her engine

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16ft traditional West Country motor launch Lisa receives her engine

Hampshire-based boatbuilder Nick Smith has just sent me these photos of his current motor launch building project Louise as she has her engine put in place.

Here’s what he says:

‘Louise now has her engine fitted, her decks laid and her middle thwart in place. The next jobs are fitting coamings, gun’l cappings, bulkheads, side seats, rudder and tiller, engine controls, exhaust, fuel lines, sole boards and a list of smaller finishing off bits. Luckily for me, the customer is going to do the majority of the varnishing.

‘She may look like identical to the last build Lisa, but at 16 foot Louise is a foot shorter and less beamy at six foot, and her sheer is much flatter – you can see from the photos of Lisa on the water at Noss Mayo that she has quite a high bow for coastal tripping and fishing. [See the link below – ed]

‘So Louise is less ‘cocky’. I have built her smaller, lighter and finer, because the owners will dry sail her and need to be able to launch and recover easily.

‘The engine is a Vetus twin cylinder diesel rated at 11 hp , plenty of power for a boat of this size.

‘Thats it for now! Regards,

‘Nick’

Thanks Nick! For more photos of Louise during her build click here.

For photos of the previous build Lisa click here.

Nick comes from Devon, learned boatbuilding the traditional way 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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Interested in Bob Hinks’ Cirrus? Contact him to arrange a date to sail her

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Cirrus

Bob Hinks, who graduated from the Boat Building Academy a little while ago, is looking for commissions to build up-market day-sailors along the lines of his widely admired Cirrus.

He explains:

‘Cirrus was conceived as a classic gentleman’s daysailer, designed to be fast, sail beautifully and look a picture. A miniature J class yacht is what we set out to achieve, and I think we got pretty close.

‘She was designed with a particular sailor in mind – someone who might have a larger boat but who wants to get back to the fun and excitement of sailing a smaller boat on offshore and inland waters. She is unashamedly a luxury item built to exacting standards in everything from her teak decks to her purpose built fittings.

‘I think her market is Poole, Mylor and Chichester Harbours, the Norfolk Broads, the Solent, Western Isles of Scotland, the Caledonian Canal, Lake Windermere and many other beautiful locations worldwide. With a lifting keel and rudder, and a minimum draft of only 500 mm, she can easily be moved on her trailer from one sailing area to another.

‘The price of £40,000 might seem high – but she cost £20,000 in materials alone, and took 2400 hours to build. If I took the drive system out of the equation she would be £7000 cheaper – but it is such great thing I don’t want to. The electric motor just makes the boat very easy to control. Getting in and out of a harbour is quick simple and nearly silent. When motoring up a creek to the pub there’s no smelly fuel or exhaust, and the quiet engine is blissful.

‘I enclose some pictures of Cirrus at the Beale Park Boat Show, which was a great success. She was sailing most of the time and looked wonderful – we had as many as five and a dog on board at one point. The pond is only just over a meter deep so we had to sail with the board and rudder up but she still performed like a dream. She was described as the belle of the ball, and I spent my time doing interviews and sailing, and dealing with many interested enquiries.

‘There are various changes I plan to make on the next boat, including a slightly heavier keel with an electric winch, repositioned bilge pumps and a modified rudder lift device. If the orders come in, I’d like to build two or three boats, one of which would be similar but a bit longer and with a small cuddy.

‘I hope to sail the boat in the South of England this summer starting with Mylor harbour in a couple of weeks – if anyone is interested in the boat and would like an opportunity to sail have a go at sailing her, I’m sure we can arrange it.’

Bob can be reached by phone at 07785 346072 and by email at bobhinks@btinternet.com.

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Cirrus publicity material


Classic Motor Boat Association boats at the Beale Park Show

Motorboats at Beale 16

Motorboats at Beale 13 Motorboats at Beale 14 Motorboats at Beale 17 Motorboats at Beale 15

A seriously cute Italian speedboat in the rain at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show. As usual, click on the thumbnails (including the big one) for much larger photos

Motorboats at Beale 11 Motorboats at Beale 12

This Avenger 21 made from carbon fibre belonged to offshore powerboat racer Tommy Sopwith, and was a tender to his yacht Philante V

Motorboats at Beale 9 Motorboats at Beale 10

Thunderbolt III belonged to hydroplane racing legend Len Melly

Motorboats at Beale 7 Motorboats at Beale 6 For sale at Beale

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Two Broom speedboats. The upper example is for sale: see the third image above

1964 Tremlett 14 Zulu originally built for inshore racing

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