Tag: clinker

Nick Smith makes still more progress on the motor launch Lisa

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Lisa’s getting nearer and nearer – but she still some way from being finished

Hampshire traditional boatbuilder Nick Smith has kindly sent some more photos of Lisa, the 17ft motor launch he’s currently building. At first glance she might look as if she’s close to completion – but, as he explains, there’s still a fair way to go.

He writes:

‘Hi Gav:

‘Here are some more photos showing progress on ‘Lisa’.

‘The next tasks are to build the sole boards, engine box and battery box, fit fuel pipeage. engine control lever and cables, exhaust hose, bronze manual bilge pump and electric float pump, fit crutch sockets, fairleads, foredeck cleat, towing cleats, ensign socket and pole, bilge rails, seven coats of varnish, bilge paint and a traditional red antifouling. We used to call antifouling ‘compo’ when I was an apprentice, which was short for ‘composition’ – a paint antifouling people used that was based on arsenic!!!!

‘Yes , thats all! Won’t take five minutes. More next week!

‘Regards Nick’

Thanks fella – I’ve no doubt the owner will be very proud. A trivial point that comes to mind from these photos is about the masking tape – I wonder what people used in the past for that job?

PS – Nick had this to say about the masking tape. It sounds like a slice of real life to me:

‘As for masking tape, when I was apprenticed there wasn’t a roll in the yard, everything was cut-in with a brush, so thats what I learned to do. It was ok cutting-in a waterline if you were good, but successive years of cutting-in by someone inept would end up with the line creeping up by 1/2in every year, and sometimes it looked like a permanent wave pattern had been painted in!
‘Likewise, nothing was templated. “Template” was a dirty word and there was no 1/8in template ply in the place, as it was thought a waste of money.

‘No, they would much rather pick up the piece of wood to be used, even if it was teak, rough mark it, cut it , and plane it to fit, plenty of pieces went through the bandsaw and back home for kindling, not by me of course, but learning that way was good for me as you had to get it right first time. As an apprentice, when I got it wrong I was told I was a ‘f****** c***’ , as I wasn’t keen on being called that I soon learned to get it right first time every time. When I did well the best I got was to be told I was “not bad for a boy”, but then I knew I had arrived.’

Nick has sent us quite a few photos of the Lisa project over the past few weeks.  If you’d like to see all our posts about his work, click here and scroll down the page. If you don’t already know him, Nick comes from Devon and specialises in new builds in clinker and carvel for  sail, motor and rowing power from 8ft to 28ft with a special emphasis on West Country style and design, and also takes on repairs and refits from 25ft to 50ft. He can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on 07786 693370.

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Build a sailing canoe for $15

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How to build the $15 canoe, 1876-style

The $15 figure is at 1876 prices, I’m sorry to say. In this excerpt from a Scientific American Supplement dated that year, Victorian-era writer Paddlefast provides offsets and the rest for a canoe with a simple hull that looks eminently buildable by  either clinker or strip-planking methods.

In our time, we’d build it with water-tight compartments fore and aft, but many details could easily remain the same. For example, clever details here including halliards that are led forward through a block to provide forestays, and the drawings include outriggers for rowing.

Thanks here go to Craig O’Donnell, proprieter of the always-intriguing Cheap Pages.

Follow this link for more on sailing canoes at intheboatshed.net.

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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.