Category: Restoration and repair

Abingdon and Skabardis get to work on a Kenneth Gibbs Halcyon dinghy

Gibbs dinghy restoration (6)

Gibbs dinghy restoration (3) Gibbs dinghy restoration (2) photo (1)

Gibbs dinghy restoration (4) Gibbs dinghy restoration (5)

Kyle Abingdon of Abingdon & Skabardis Marine Carpentry based at Dargate near Faversham has written to say his outfit is refurbishing a Kenneth Gibbs 14ft Halcyon sailing dinghy.

It’s similar to one that Simon Papendick has been working on – see an earlier intheboatshed.net post.

Kyle and Maris (Skabardis) acquired the dinghy as part of a deal.

Her hull was in good order but she had a lot of rotten frames and rot at the bottom of her transom.

‘We have replaced more the half the frames – 16 – and repaired the transom.

‘We are now putting a new deck on her and then we will turn her over and varnish her.

‘It’s been a long time since she was in the water. Hope your enjoying the weather as much as we are!

‘Regards, Kyle’

An invitation to the BBA summer student launch

BBA summer launch invitation

Click on the image for a larger view

Once again, we’re invited to celebrate with the Boat Building Academy class of September 2012 as they gather at Lyme Regis harbour to launch boats built as part of their 38-week boat building course.

The boats include a Whitehall rowing skiff, a Red bird canoe and a traditional clinker-built replica of the Morgan Giles’ Pip-Emma dinghy currently housed at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth.

The boats will be ceremonially walked in procession from the Academy to the harbour, and after a few words from BBA director Commander Tim Gedge and town mayor Sally Holman, they will each be launched to cheers from the crowd and the popping of champagne corks.

To find out more about the BBA class of September 2012 and see the build diaries of each boat, click here.

A great IBTC student boat builder’s weblog

Scantlings Weblog

I very much like IBTC student Philip Lane’s weblog – it shows a real pride in what he’s learning to do and what the college does, and boy does he adore the boats he works on.

And so he should. They have included a pretty little rowing boat planked in larch, an 1882 Camper & Nicholson yawl, and 1882 Camper and Nicholson pilot cutter, an Aldeburgh One-Design dinghy, a Herreshoff Columbia dinghy, a River Cam dinghy, and a 1912 William Fife III Six Metre, and the Albert Strange-designed Cloud.

Gosh… How will he ever be able to go back to normal life after an experience like that? Perhaps his weblog will cover that part too…