Tag: boat building academy

Ian Baird restores a 1961 Burnham on Sea motor launch

Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird

Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird  Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird

Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird Yoma II 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company 'Sturdy 16' built at 14ft restored by Ian Baird

Boat Building Academy graduate Ian Baird’s first professional commission is nearly ready to take to the water after an extensive restoration.

Yoma II is a 1961 Burnham on Sea Motor Boat Company-built vessel based on theirSturdy 16 model of the time. However Yoma was built at 14ft to the owner’s specification. ‘We think the original owner, Tony Palmer commissioned a smaller boat to make her more manoeuverable around the small harbour of her home port of West Bay in Dorset‘, says Ian.

‘This was a difficult restoration to take on as a first job. Yoma’s bottom had completely rotted out and everything from the fifth plank down from the gunwales had to be replaced.

‘Working as a one-man band isn’t easy, but I had help from some of the former BBA students from my 2010 course to get through the more difficult tasks, and she is now ready to go once her engine,  an original 1.5hp two-stroke Stuart-Turner, has been put back in.’

Her current owner, John Palmer, will continue to use her from West Bay as the tender to Yoma, a locally-built gentleman’s motor launch built in 1921.

While on the BBA course Ian Baird built the replica Dorset lobster and crab boat named Witch of Worbarrow – see an earlier post on this project here.

Iain Oughtred-designed Tammie Norrie built by BBA student

Tammie Norrie at Beale Park - Photograph by Emma Brice Launching Fiona's Tammie Norrie, with Gail in waders - Photograph by Derek Thompson LRPS

Fiona Molloy Tammie Norrie awaiting launch

Boat Building Academy student Fiona Molloy built an Iain Oughtred-designed Tammie Norrie – click on the images above for a much larger view.

Lancashire-born Fiona developed a new passion for sailing and shortly after threw in the day jobin management accounting in London in order to do something different and more practical for a while. In 38 weeks on the long BBA course she built an 13ft 6in  glued clinker Tammie Norrie using plywood and mahogany. She chose the boat for its combination of manageable size and stability.

The choice to do the BBA course wasn’t really a career choice for Fiona: she will go back to her previous job, though hopefully in a setting connected with the sea and boating. But first she’s spending this summer using her new skills to varnish her living room floor and attending some sailing courses on a cutter with the aim of completing an RYA day skipper qualification.

See a photo diary of Fiona’s Tammie Norrie build here.

Boat Building Academy students launch a stripper canoe with sailing rig

Strip-built canoe under inspection at the harbour. Photograph by BBA student and photographer Derek Thompson LRPS BBA Director Tim Gedge presents Chris Smith with his certificate after the launch. Photograph by Jenny Steer

Chris on his maiden sail. Photograph by Jenny Steer Chris, Colleen and Cally preparing the EllaJen's maiden voyage. Photograph by Jenny Steer

 

 

 

Boat Building Academy student Chris Smith from Dundee built this Selway-Fisher designed 16ft Canadian sailing canoe, with the help of included Paul Hutchins, who is from the South Devon.

Named EllaJen, the canoe is strip-planked in western red cedar, with a resin-infused inner laminate giving a lighter structure and higher quality finish. Chris chose the design because wanted to build something a bit different, and a canoe he could sail as well paddle fitted the bill.

Find out more about Chris’s canoe at his blog here, and see a photographic diary of the build here.

Before joining the Academy, Chris completed a degree in marine sport technology, which enabled him to kit the canoe out in modern racing dinghy style, with a light-weight carbon-fibre mast and racy rigging and control lines.

Chris has now now applied to take a masters degree in maritime engineering science at Southampton.

Co-worker Paul is busy establishing a workshop and business in Tavistock specialising in traditional and bespoke joinery, traditional boats, shepherd’s huts and gypsy wagons. The business is called Tavy and Tamar Boat Builders and he can be reached at tavytamarboats@live.co.uk.

PS – While we’re thinking about the BBA, don’t forget the raffle to raise money for a permanent workshop at Lyme for Gail McGarva. There are just a few days left, and the prizes include an eight-week woodworking course and £100 towards materials for a personal project piece, a five-day traditional wooden boat building or wooden boat restoration short course, and a day with Gail in her workshop. More than £1000 has been raised so far, and tickets will also be available at the Lyme Gig Regatta on the 14th August – which is also the day of the draw.