boatbuilder – Page 8 – intheboatshed.net

Great finds discovered and restored: two Macgregor canoes and a Salter’s rowing gig

Adrian Morgan wrote a couple of weeks ago to remind me of some treasures that I might have missed. He’s right, I need to make amends – though in my defence nobody mentioned them to me at the time!

(Note to traditional boat builders: please tell me what you’re doing, as this website gets seen by a lot of people!)

One important find was two rare and very beautiful MacGregor canoe found in the Marquess of Aberdeen’s sawmill loft a year or so ago – Macgregors are very rare and Adrian says the canoes came with full documentation. Adrian says the canoes were like Bugattis found in a barn: complete with chicken poo and swadust, they had been untouched for nearly 100 years.

Naturally, the Royal Canoe Club were over the moon and the canoes have since been restored by Colin Henwood.

There’s more about Macgregor here and here.

Another discovery at the same site was a half-rigged rowing gig made by Salter’s, which Adrian went on to restore – there’s more about this boat at Adrian’s website, but he says the colour of the Brazilian mahogany that appeared after weeks of stripping the gig was amazing. After treating the splits, liberal doses of Varnol brought the timber back from dry lifelessness to rich, deep colour.

Traditional boat builder Adrian Morgan is based at Ullapool and has a website at www.viking-boats.com and a weblog at www.thetroublewitholdboats.blogspot.com. The weblog is certainly interesting: recent posts argue for working with your hands rather than a mouse; praise the Jumbo, the Solent and the work of Fair Isle boat builder Ian Best; and appeal for plans for longish gun punts.

PS – I’m reminded that informative notes on the Rob Roy canoe are included in Macgregor’s book The Rob Roy on the Baltic, which is available from Dixon-Price Publishing. There’s also some material in the book Practical Boat Building For Amateurs.

BBA student launch day December 2010

Boat Building Academy class of March 2010 in crab and lobster boat Witch of Weymouth. They make a heroic load for a 14ft boat

More photos from the day – explanations will no doubt follow in the next few days

Boat Building Academy principal Yvonne Green has written to tell us about the student launch day at Lyme last Thursday. If you’re outside the UK, you may not know what we’ve had a generally horrible winter up to now – but that’s the reason for Yvonne’s enormous relief that once again the big launch event was blessed with good weather.

Here’s what she has to say:

‘It was a another brilliant launch day with boats and bright sunshine. We’ve had so much luck over the years that the Great Boat Builder in the Sky must be on our side

‘Nine students launched five boats, including Witch of Weymouth, and one student proposed to his girlfriend, on bended knee, in the middle of the harbour and on his boat’s first time out… It was a risky business but all went well and she said yes.

‘The boats were:

cold-moulded 13ft 6in electric motor launch
glued clinker 14ft Whitehall skiff
strip planked 15ft Chestnut canoe
18ft strip planked gaff rigged daysailer
traditional clinker 14ft Dorset crab and lobster boat Witch of Weymouth

‘The BBC filmed Witch of Weymouth’s launch because of a piece they’d run about her build earlier in the year, but the other boats deserved just as much attention.

‘The motor launch is now on her way to Australia, the canoe was last seen heading for Norwich on a roof rack and the daysailer is stored in a garage until the summer. Witch of Weymouth will grace the workshop until after Christmas, when she’ll go home to Portland before heading off to the National Maritime Museum Cornwall at Falmouth.

‘Attached are some photographs of the day – our favourite is the class of March 2010 all looking jolly in Witch of Weymouth. More will follow next week.’

Chris Partridge of Rowing for Pleasure has more on the Whitehall skiff and it’s builder’s amazing public proposal here. There’s also a Youtube video including photos from the workshop here.

Thanks Yvonne! We’re looking forward to hearing more shortly. Also if anyone has any further photos, Youtube videos or anything else they’d like to send in, please let me know at gmatkin@gmail.com.

Boatbuilder Adrian Morgan’s latest projects

15ft water ballasted small boat designed by Adrian Morgan for Loch Torridon

Stuck last week at home in the ice and snow like many in the UK, writer and Ullapool-based traditional boatbuilder Adrian Morgan got stuck into something he hasn’t done for a while – he sent intheboatshed.net some words and photos.

Naturally, I’m very grateful though I too could do without all that tedious white stuff.

In fact, it all got so bad for Adrian that he decided to start a very interesting weblog: The Trouble with Old Boats.

Here’s what Adrian has to say about the boat above:

‘This was launched in late summer for a client with a cottage on Loch Torridon. It’s built to my design developed from Norwegian original, but beamier and flatter-floored for more stability. She carries water ballast, so is light to tow and launch, but sits deeper for stability. She’s 15ft in length, and built of larch and oak with a standing lug.’

Oughtred Guillemot adapted by Adrian Morgan

And here’s what he has to say about this Iain Oughtred-designed Guillemot:

‘Built to replace a 12ft family dinghy that had been well used and loved for 40 years, this Oughtred Guillemot will be rowed on the choppy waters of the Firth of Forth. Stretched to just over 12ft from Iain’s plans for an 11ft 6in dinghy, she has enough length now to allow a rower forward and passenger aft, with another midships, or she can be rowed, swiftly, by one rower sitting centrally.

‘The planking followed Iain’s lines to the letter, once they emerged from below the waterline. Drawn for plywood, there was no way the garboards in larch could match the plywood’s width. I must admit to giving her a little more freeboard forward, as I was concerned she might dip her bow when fully loaded and punching into a head sea. I am not convinced I should not have stuck ruthlessly to Iain’s plans, but where’s the fun in building a one-off boat in solid timber if you can’t tinker a wee bit?

‘With her white-painted bilges, well protected against the rain water that is destined to fill her on her mooring, and varnished topsides, she is a simple, unpretentious little rowing boat of the kind once thrown up in their hundreds and thousands. The finish is smart, but not fussy. You can see your face in the transom, but a little wrinklier than for real. I hope she’ll last looking this good. If she lasts as long as her predecessor, then I will be happy – and in my 90s!’

Many thanks Adrian. I hope you enjoy your weblog as much as I enjoy this one!

If either of these boat tickle your fancy or even meet your needs, contact Adrian via his website: www.viking-boats.com

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: