Tag: boat plans

Stand by for the May/June issue of Water Craft magazine due in a few days

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water craft, magazine, pete greenfield, boatbuilding, methods, techniques, wooden boats, plywood boats, boat plans, articles, photos

The May/June issue of Water Craft magazine is about to come out, and editor Peter Greenfield has sent us his customary preview. Here’s what he says:

‘April, moaned Mr Eliot, is the cruellest month. Obviously, he also had suffered the seemingly interminable wait for the weather to warm up enough for varnishing the gunwale. What to do while you’re waiting? Well, the new Water Craft is out on the 22nd, with…

Two French connections: last year, Tim O’Connor loaded his elegant Oughtred Acorn on the car roofrack, hitched up the caravan and went sailing the lakes of Limousin. And much more recently, in March in fact, Kathy Mansfield caught the Eurostar for a long-planned visit to the amateur boatbuilders of Nautique Sevres, near Paris.

Back in Dorset, professional wooden boatbuilder Gail McGarva builds Cornish pilot gigs and in the first of a two-part series, she explains not only how but why. However, If a 32ft (9.8m) clinker rowing skiff is a tad too ambitious for you, see Paul Gartside’s complete plans for a 12’ (3.7m) outboard skiff. Clinker too challenging? Build the hard-chine flat-bottom pocket cruiser called the Stevenson Weekender, like Jeremy White. Or you could go to boatbuilding college, like Lars Herfeldt from Berlin who learned to build a Petersson Runabout at Lyme Regis.

Still too wintry? Time to read designer Andrew Wolstenholme’s report from Dusseldorf on the latest in electric propulsion… And designer Paul Fisher’s description of his new Felix electric launch… And designer Matt Newland’s introduction to the Bayraider 17, which he hopes to exhibit at the Beale Park Boat Show, 4-6 June. Where you’ll also find Water Craft, together with a St Ayles Skiff – see W79 – and one of Gail’s gigs.

Finally, it must be warm enough now! Time for a varnishing workshop with master boatbuilder Colin Henwood…

It’s particularly good to see the Home Built Boat Rally group’s Tim O’Connor getting a mention, and also Lars Herfeldt – see photos of the the launch of his handsome gentleman’s runabout here.

You will be able to find the May/June 2010 issue in good UK newsagents from the 22nd April – this website will find you a newsagent stocking the magazine. Alternatively, buy a subscription here and support both Water Craft and intheboatshed.net at the same time.

Western skiff looking for a new home

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nigel irens ed burnett western skiff

nigel irens ed burnett western skiff nigel irens ed burnett western skiff

THE OWNER TELLS ME THIS BOAT HAS HOW FOUND A NEW HOME AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE!

Edward Beaumont has written to say that he needs to find a new home for his Nigel Irens– and Ed Burnett-designed Western skiff as he’s moving home. However, it needs to be the right home, as he’d like it to go to someone with a boathouse with access to river or lake: he feels a boat like this must be kept indoors, it would be saddened to think of it being left out, so much so that he’d rather burn it than have that happen.

Naturally, it has always been stored indoors, it comes with a trailer and trolley.

If you’re interested and think you might qualify, email me at gmatkin@gmail.com and I’ll pass your message along to Edward. Here’s what he says about the boat:

‘I suppose it was 11 years ago when I thought, what a very pretty little boat the Western skiff was! So I ordered the kit from Nigel Irens and built the boat in my garage with the aid of my younger son Sam, who was aged about 13 at the time. He’s in the Nike jumper in one of the photos, with me behind him. This was the day we turned the boat over and brought it out of the garage.

‘I love Nigel’s designs and would like to do a Romilly one day. I bought extra epoxy from the late great Tony Pink at Hill Head Chandlery (along with a lot of useful free advice), and also got a few extras from him, like a nice brass keel band that curls over the top of the stem in a way that pleases me. The boat is a little over weight, as I strengthened various things such as the mast support and added pads inside the transom to reinforce the rudder fixings.

‘Its a smashing little boat to row, really lovely for one or for two. It sails quite well, but you need to sit down low and its wet down there, so having sailed all my life and would say, I’d say this boat should be on a lake or river, but not on the sea. Also, if you go out for a picnic with the sailing gear (we had some great trips in the upper reaches of the Hamble) you have too much clobber to be able to row nicely, so in those circumstances it’s best to leave all the sailing stuff at home and just row.

‘That said, if you’re alone, the water is smooth, and there is a bit of breeze, it is nice to sail.

‘Called Little Faith (my wife said we would never finish it), the boat has not been wet for several years, but sits in the garage in which it was built on a nice combi trailer, with chocks under the stern. The sail is kept indoors and should be almost like new. The four Collars oars have leather on, but perhaps not in quite the right places, and I daresay that a few bits of string are missing.

‘The boat is finished in dark green with creamy white inside, and some varnish work, and I must say, I felt very proud at the launch – though that turned to shock when the mast rolled off the top of our van and knocking my elder son nearly unconscious!

‘I need to move this boat as the house is to be let. If someone comes along, and if I like them, I’d probably sell it for a lot less than the sum of all the bits cost me. But not if they are going to leave it outside or be silly with it, so it should probably be someone with a landing stage and boathouse. And if no-one suitable comes along I can always move the boat to my new house and stick it in another garage!

‘Best wishes

‘Edward Beaumont’

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Will Stirling draws boatbuilding plans for a gentleman’s cutter of 1880

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Gentleman’s cutter Integrity in the style of an 1880 cruiser-racer, beautifully drawn by Will Stirling. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger image

Here’s a lovely piece of work: a set of drawings by Will Stirling for a forthcoming project to be built by Stirling & Son.  She’s a 43ft gentleman’s cutter of the period around 1880 drawn with careful reference to craft of that era including Nicholson’s Marigold, Beavor-Webb’s Partridge, GLWatson’s Vanduara, Dixon Kemp’s Zoraida and Fife’s Bloodhound. A cruising-racer, she can set 2,000 square feet of canvas in fine weather, yet Will says she will snug down to trysail and storm jib in poor conditions.

Click on the thumbnails above to see the lines and boatbuilding details more clearly. As you do, it’s worth reflecting that thay have been created without the aid of computer-aided drafting software – Will completed the whole drafting job the traditional and laborious way using ships curves and calculations. I have no doubt that her carvel-built wooden hull will be equally historically accurate from stem to stern.

Many thanks for this Will! I think Integrity is bound to attract some serious attention over the coming months, and I’m delighted to be able to give the boating world this preview.

Contact Will at http://www.stirlingandson.co.uk, tel 01822 614 259.