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
This delicious little canoe yawl ‘inspired’ by George Holmes Eel is for sale over at the Albert Strange Association website.
I suggested to a pal that he might consider buying it and he replied that it is indeed ‘pure bliss… and therefore undeserved’.
She’s 21 by 7ft, with a draft of 3ft. Built in 1972, she was extensively rebuilt by Jamie Clay ten years ago.
If you’ve been a good girl or boy lately, why not make an offer?
Fowey boat builder Marcus Lewis has got in touch to show us these photos (top) of the latest clinker-built Fowey River sailing dinghy that he has built.
‘This is number 61 in the long established local class. It was built in the spring and launched a couple of weeks ago.
‘Named Puffling, she is built of Canadian spruce with mahogany sheer strake, thwarts, gunnels and steamed oak ribs, all rivetted together with 1300 copper rivets.
‘She was built for champion Dart 18 catamaran sailors Kim and Sarah Furniss, who live near Fowey, and have now decided to sail something more sedate but still challenging given the fickle winds and frustrating tides of Fowey Harbour.
‘They have already raced Puffling successfully already in the Wednesday evening and Saturday afternoon races.
‘My latest project is a 14ft Mayflower dinghy, which is gunter rigged and with a steel centreplate. These were formerly built by Skentlebery’s in Plymouth, (there’s an article in Classic Boat magazine in January 93 for those with an extensive collection).
The company has licensed me to build them, and am building one ‘on spec’, hopefully in time to show it on the Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association stand at the Southampton Boat Show. If any reader’s in the market for a newly built gunter rigged dinghy of about this size, I might be well worth getting in touch with Marcus right now – his website is at www.woodenboatbuilder.co.uk.
This is the 23ft 8in tabloid cruiser described in Howard Irving Chappelle’s classic book Boat Building: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction.
If you’ve read Chappelle’s book, you’ll likely know this design and will have been intrigued by it – I’d guess that it has something in common with New England lobster boats and Hampton boats of the past.
The photos here were kindly sent to me by Randal Cooper of Goolwa Masts. Randal reports that the boat, which is made of strip-planked cedar, is about 20 years old and is owned by a young employee of his. Randal also says that the boat is quick under sail compared to trailer yachts the same age and that there’s a plan afoot to enlarge the rig.
I’m in two minds about the idea – on one hand the rig as laid out in the plans is snug, but on the other this centreboard boat is really a big dinghy and if it gets knocked down will be too big to right. You takes your choice…
There are several other interesting sets of plans in Chappelle’s book. Are any others afloat, does anyone know? Do you have photos, please, and how do they perform?