Evans Boatwork specialises in building, restoring and repairing wooden craft, and is located close to Milford Marina and the commercial docks at Milford Haven, one of the deepest and most protected harbours in the world.The area is particularly interesting to yachties because it offers cruising in the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea, and the Cleddau river, which is part of the Pembrokeshire National Park. Evans has a nice little website featuring three of its restoration projects, two of which are of particular interest: a 1960s Shetland skiff and an X boat.
Tag: craft
Vintage Wooden Boat Association
The Association has over 900 registered boats ranging from classic racing dinghies to wooden ships. Membership extends world wide and there are a number of Regional Sections holding regular meetings; members meet at a national rally and at boat shows.
One of the VWBA’s current projects is compiling a pictorial and historical archive of registered craft that will provide a lasting record for the future.
For more on the VWBA:
http://www.vwba.org
Each month the site features a different boat, and at the time of writing it was Cordon Rouge, a 28ft 1930s Broads sailing yacht built by Applegates of Potter Heigham:
A barge with a Viking-style square sail
The Humber keel Comrade is a rare surviving example of a type of craft evolved to work the difficult Humber Estuary, and its tributaries and canals. She was built in 1923, at Warren’s shipyard at New Holland, and was originally named Wanda. At 61ft 6in in length and 15ft 6in in beam, she had a hold capable of carrying over a hundred tons in cargo.
The Humber is very much part of Viking invader territory, and I do wonder how much this unusual square sail may owe to those invaders of more than a thousand years ago.
For more on Comrade and her sister ship Humber sloop Amy Howson, see http://www.keelsandsloops.org.uk/