Dale Appleton dropped into the Wooden Boat Festival at Geelong, Australia the other day, and tells me he’ll send over a brief report soon. In the meantime he has put some photos on his Flickr account, including these of the newly restored Ruby Merle, a Port Philip Couta boat.
Dale reports that the restoration work is a fantastic job.
Noticing the leather on the gaff jaws, he had this to say: ‘A detail that struck me: kangaroo leather is the choice material for gaff jaws and other high wearing points. If you have ever seen two kangaroos fight, you will understand just why the leather is so tough.’
Nice shots Dale – many thanks for them! More photos of Couta boats taken by Dale can be found in an earlier post.