Tag: boatbuilder

A double-ended 15ft rowing boat built by Adrian Morgan

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15ft double-ender built by Adrian Morgan

This Adrian Morgan boatbuilding project started with a message you don’t often hear: ‘We’re digging a lake, and building a boat house, and now we need a boat.’

A couple from West Sussex who wanted a 15ft rowing boat for their family. The delivery date was two weeks hence, May 2007, in time for a father’s birthday – but that was too tall an order, so the boat was delivered a year later, in time for his next birthday.

Adrian says: ‘The boat is essentially a scaled down version of my standard 18ft sjekte, with correspondingly more beam in relation to its length to create a stable boat that’s still easy to row.

‘The form is almost symmetrical fore and aft, with a bold sheer forward which sweeps up slightly at the stern. The price was around £4,500, finished clear varnished inside and outside, with a white bottom to set things off nicely. I have to say that the planking was a joy, the strakes almost made themselves, so sweet were the curves. They conformed almost effortlessly to the moulds, and there’s little or no tension anywhere, which promises longevity.’

See Adrian Morgan’s website.

Hannu Vartiala’s website changes address

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Hannu’s coracle. His site offers plans for a range of
small boats derived from traditional types

Hannu Vartiala has just let me know that he has moved his website to a new address – so I’d like to take this opportunity to direct intheboatshed.net readers over there for a happy few minutes.

It’s true that Hannu’s chosen boatbuilding material isn’t mainstream for intheboatshed.net, but those of you who yearn to build a small boat and are happy to do so in plywood may well find his plans interesting, for as well as the coracle pictured above, he has included some interesting boatbuilding plans and material on flat-bottomed swamp boats, drawings for a useful-looking 12ft flat-bottomed skiff, various variants on the Auray punt theme including Chapman’s Ekstock boat, and a couple of light-weight plywood dories. Well worth a look, I’d say.

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17ft clinker-built launch Lisa gets framed-out

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Nick Smith’s latest build Lisa gets her ribs

While we were away, professional boatbuilder Nick Smith sent us this brief update on his current commission, a 17ft launch to be called Lisa. Here’s his note to me about it – I love the human touches, and the sense of a continuing tradition in what he says:

‘Hi Gavin,

‘For your interest here’s a photo of Lisa framed out.

‘It took two and a half hours (including a break for cold beer) from steam up. There were four of us, two outside driving the copper nails and two inside bending the timbers.

‘The first five seconds after taking the rib out of the steam box are crucial – that’s all the time we have to give the frame a quick ‘pre bend’ and then a final bend into place, ready to nail while the rib is still hot. No drilling of the rib is necessary.

‘I first did this task when I was 16 years old and it has remained unchanged for donkey’s years.

‘So the next job is to rivet all the nails, with one bloke outside (traditionally it’s the apprentices job, that is the ‘boy’) holding an iron (or dolly) on the nail head while I work inside the boat doing the rivetting (or clenching).

‘First I drive a ‘rove ‘ (or ‘roove’ or ‘ ruv’ onto the nail. The exact name depends on where you are in the country), but it’s basically a copper washer. For this we use a rove driver and a hammer, then cut off the point of the nail with a pair of ‘cut nippers’ then rivet ( or ‘peen’) over the rest of the nail with a rivetting hammer, which is just a ball peen hammer of an appropriate weight. Its a dull job and therefore traditionally done quickly from start to finish to get it over with!

‘Thats it for now Gavin some more photos when the engine is in.

‘Thanks, Nick’

And thanks to you Nick!

Nick Smith can be contacted at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com.

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