Category: River boats

How to build a 1930s British sharpie

I’m going sailing, so you won’t hear from me for a day or two.

In the meantime, here’s a chapter from an old book describing how to build an old-fashioned British sharpie. Not many people would build a boat like this now, but I think it’s interesting, not least because it could so easily be a predecessor of the GP14.

This chapter includes instructions and plans for the hull and spars; see part II for sailmaking instructions:
How to build a 1930s British sharpie, part II

Build a sharpie Build a sharpie Build a sharpie

Build a sharpie Build a sharpie Build a sharpie

Build a sharpie Build a sharpie Build a sharpie

Continue reading “How to build a 1930s British sharpie”

Punts galore at Oxford

If you’ve been admiring the punt described in Chapter 3 of Boat Building for Amateurs, my guess is that you might also be interested in seeing some of these elegant river boats in action.

I took this collection some years ago with a low-spec camera, but I think they paint a pleasantly bustling scene, and show quite a lot of useful detail, if you’re planning on building one. If you are, please don’t forget that we’d love to hear your story.

Punts galore at Oxford Punts galore at Oxford Punts galore at Oxford

Punts galore at Oxford Punts galore at Oxford Punts galore at Oxford

Punts galore at Oxford Punts galore at Oxford Punts galore at Oxford

It’s wonderful to be appreciated, Part II…

The Truant Romance Keith Kendrick, singer of sea songs and concertina player

intheboatshed.net has been doing particularly well in the past couple of months, not least in terms of the numbers of people calling by to read our daily posts. As I write, we’ve had almost 34,000 hits, which I’m told makes us very successful for a weblog about a minority activity. While I would agree that we’re not doing too badly, I’d also suggest that perhaps the people who admire traditional boats constitute quite a large minority, as minorities go…

I’m particularly pleased today as we’ve had a delightful message of support from the great US writer and editor Peter H Spectre, as you can see at Continue reading “It’s wonderful to be appreciated, Part II…”