Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Modern and plywood boatbuilding and plans
The youngsters on Faversham Creek Trust’s annual Boat Camp programme have this year built a couple of two-handed Julie skiffs. Here’s one of them in action on the creek in a good headwind:
I’d say they were doing well despite their lack of rowing experience, and that the boat was doing well also.
Plans for the stitch and glue Julie skiff are available from the free plans page on this website. If you’d like the extra drawings for the two-handed version, email me at gmatkin@gmail.com.
Our friend Faversham boat builder Alan Thorne is available to give talks to clubs and campaign groups about the boatbuilding aspect of the Faversham Creek Trust’s annual Boatcamp programme, in which local school children experience building boats and sailing, and spend time rowing on the Creek.
The Boatcamp programme includes building small plywood boats, which is the part of the programme Alan is most involved in. He has already given several talks, which have included the long version of Richard Fleury’s excellent film about the Boatcamp project (a short version is linked below).
The film clearly shows how much the children enjoy and learn from this smashing initiative.
We saw Alan give a talk to the Hollowshore Cruising Club, and it’s fair to say a good crowd turned up and were fascinated by what he had to say.
Alan says he’s happy to travel throughout London and the South East, and area that will include a lot of sailing and rowing clubs, and of course towns and villages where campaign groups may be looking for ways of encouraging the local community to engage with their own creeks and rivers.
Contact Alan by email at ajthorne3@hotmail.com or phone 07865 091155.
‘I don’t want to charge anyone to participate. In that way anyone can come along and everything necessary will be provided. People can make a donation if they’d like to. For some it will be a therapy, others will want to learn boat building skills, many will grow in confidence and everyone will have fun as Joansa takes shape and finally floats gracefully on the water.
‘Not charging a fee means that I need to fundraise to cover my costs and to start the next course. Already I am over subscribed. Your help will mean that many people will be helped. Thank you!’