Category: Tuition and training

Boat Building Academy students launch a traditional Norwegian faering

Back in December a bunch of proud Boat Building Academy class members launched a clinker built Norwegian faering built to Iain Oughtred’s Elfyn plans.

The boat was was built by student Neil Hammond and the rest of the class, including Ross Wheeler-Clayton.

Planked in Scottish larch on steamed green oak timbers, she has laminated oak stems, a solid oak keel, Douglas fir thwarts and centreboard case, and spruce spars.

She has two rowing positions and a balanced lug rig – her sails were made by the students as part of a sail making short course at the Academy.

Neil came to the Academy from Somerset: his previous career has ranged from rigging and drilling in both the Persian Gulf and North Sea for the oil industry, to managing and directing IT and engineering services for the MET Office.

With a love for water sports and the sea, Neil has RYA Yachtmaster qualifications and is a keen kayaker – and came to the BBA because he wanted to learn skills to build his own boat.

Ross, who worked closely alongside Neil, was at 18 one of the youngest members of the class. He joined the Academy straight after completing A-Levels in film, media, sociology, philosophy and ethics.

He is a young ambassador for the Meningitis Now charity and is a member of the Young Fire-fighters and MOD Combined Cadet Force.

With particular interests in traditional boat building skills, Ross thoroughly enjoyed constructing the Elfyn’s copper fastened traditional clinker hull.

See the Elfyn’s build diary here and for further details about the Level 3, 38-week boat building, maintenance and support course, click here.

BBA student launch December 2015

Becky Brown at the Boat Building Academy has written with some photos and more details from the December 2015 student launch. (See Pete Bromwich’s shots published here a few days ago.) She writes:

‘We had some terrible weather this week but yesterday morning, just as the boats were being walked to the harbour, the sun broke through the clouds and the wind calmed enough for us to launch two of the four boats built by the class of March 2015.

The two boats that launched were a cold moulded, bright-finished 18ft7in Robert Steward electric motor launch, Barbara Anne, and a traditional clinker 16ft Norwegian faering built from plans by Iain Oughtred.

‘The two larger boats built by the class are a 22ft7in Iain Oughtred Kotik with a two-berth cabin, and a replica of a Herreshoff 12 1/2. However, these could not be launched – due to some awful luck several members of the class had to take time out of the course – one student was hospitalised after a car crash, another had to spend time in Austria after his father had a serious accident, and two others had to spend weeks away due to illness.

‘As a result the two boats weren’t quite ready and, with the bad weather, it was decided that they should not be launched. They were big projects and visitors invited to an open workshop after the launch could see at close quarters the beauty of the enormous amount of work put into them.

‘When the two unlaunched boats are finally put in the water in Australia and Austria, their respective homes, students Andreas and Steven have promised to send video.

‘It was a great day nevertheless, and thank you to everyone who made the day such a splendid celebration.’

For more photos of the boats completed and in build, click here.

Junk building – and their water-tight bulkheads

In 2009, China nominated the watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks for inclusion on the UN’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. The nomination was accepted the following year.

Developed in South China’s Fujian Province, the bulkhead technology is used to create watertight compartments such that if one or two cabins on board an ocean-going junk are accidentally damaged in the course of navigation, sea water will not flood the other cabins, and the vessel will remain afloat. I guess this is pretty well the same approach used in the Titanic, although in retrospect in the case of the linern it was not perhaps implemented as well as it might have been.

The junks are built using traditional wood-working techniques and tools and are made mainly of camphor, pine and fir timber, principally using rabbet-jointing planks caulked using the the fibrous ramie plant, lime and tung oil. The experience and working methods of watertight-bulkhead technology are transmitted orally from master to apprentices.

Communities participate by holding solemn ceremonies to pray for peace and safety during construction and before the launch of the completed vessel.

The techniques of building junks are being lost as demand for the vessels has decreased, with wooden vessels replaced by steel-hulled ships, and in 2009 it was reported that only three masters were still able to claim full command of junk building techniques.

My thanks to boat and sail designer and maker Michael Storer for posting this one on Facebook!