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The new Tideway in build at Good Wood Boat – click on the thumbnails for a larger photo
Traditionally built 12ft Tideway dinghies are available to order after a gap of ten years – and the new version of the boat will be on show at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show.
The new Tideways are being built by Good Wooden Boat Company after the company’s Stephen Beresford met the Tideway Owners Association (TOA) at last year’s show and was impressed by the boat itself, and by the association’s activities and enthusiasm. Good Wood Boat specialises in building boats using Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified approved sources. (The company also builds Uffa Fox’s Redwing sailing dinghy, of which more later.)
The TOA says that the new boat has already been bought by an existing Tideway owner and its members are very excited by the prospect of the new boat joining the fleet.
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When I left school in Leigh-on-sea, Essex, my first job was as a trainee with Lew Walker – who sadly died just before Christmas last year – learning to build the Walker range of clinker boats from 7ft prams to 14ft motor launches and Yachting World Dayboats.
In those days we worked a 52 hour week – including Saturday mornings – and I earnt £3 five shillings and sixpence. And I had to pay into the tool club. At least I could bike in to work.
The boats were built on a virtual production line in two small premises, one behind what was then Woolworths in Leigh Broadway, the other in the old Fire Station in Shoeburyness.
All the parts were machined against patterns on a spindle moulder so they were all exactly the same. Even the planks were got out of thick stock against the pattern and then "deeped" – resawn – on the bandsaw to get two identical planks. If you look at all Lew's Tideways, the plank pairs had the same grain.
While worked there we had a spate of requests for replacements for broken or damaged pieces from the Fire Station and while you could expect the odd plank to break, it was unusual, to say the least, to have requests for knees or floorboards.
When Lew finally got suspicious and inspected the loft of the Fire Station, he found an almost complete boat some nefarious worker was building for himself. . .
After a while I left Walker's and went to work as an indentured apprentice in Peter's Boatyard in Southend, next door to the old gas works and opposite Southend's decrepit Loading Jetty – and alongside one of Southend's houses of ill repute.
But that's another story. . .
Dick
I now own a boat that was built at peters boatyard in 1964, it’s a Walter F Rayner 38ft Atlantic Ketch. Would you have worked on her and know anything about how many were built. I might add that she has a black rubber type coating below the antifoul not sure but did they only treat one like this. There was an African man apprenticed there that was supposed to have made soles for his shoes with this black rubber underseal , any knowledge of that . Regards Sid..