Steel-hulled schooner for sale, lying at Standard Quay, Faversham

Schooner for sale

Schooner for sale

A pal and I dropped by Standard Quay at Faversham to see if we could spot a little lugger that we’d heard a friend is considering buying, so I took the opportunity to bag some photos of how things are there now. I’m sorry if you feel they’re not up to my usual standard – on arrival I discovered the battery of my usual camera was flat and so had to use my mobile phone, which seems to produce quite blue-grey images. I must get a spare.

Anyway, if you’re in the market for a steel-hulled schooner liveaboard, the one currently for sale at Standard Quay may be just what you’re looking for. It looked in pretty good shape to us, though neither of us has ever seen it sailing. The schooner’s pictured above.

Lady of the Lea Thames sailing barge Lady of the Lea Thames sailing barge Cambria being renovated

Roxane at Faversham Thames sailing barge Cambria being renovated

On a more cheerful note, the first two shots above are of the lovely small Thames sailing barge Lady of the Lea, two shots of Bob Roberts’ old sailing barge Cambria in restoration and a nice little Roxane that lives on the creek here.

And below is the bow of another Thames sailing barge Lady Daphne, here in a dry dock being repaired after a racing accident (I believe) and the yuppie flats that have already encroached the area opposite Standard Quay. The blue banner reads ‘Save Standard Quay’. For more on the Standard Quay campaign, click here.

Lady Daphne, Save Standard Quay banner

Lady Daphne, Save Standard Quay banner

Andrew Wolstenholme cold moulded electric motor launch built by BBA students

James Bird - Dick Stiles Electric Motor Launch (61)

Emma Brice Dick Stiles Electric Motor Launch Derek Thompson Dick Stiles and his Electric Motor Launch Emma Brice Dick Stiles Electric Motor Launch

Photos by James Bird, Emma Brice, Derek Thompson and Emma Brice – my thanks to all of you for permission to use these shots

Dick Stiles’ silent Andrew Wolstenholme-designed 13ft 6in electric motor launch was the cold moulded boat built by the March 2010 group, says BBA staffer Emma Brice – each 38-week Boat Building Academy course at Lyme aims to have a range of boat construction methods in the workshop.

Dick wanted to avoid a traditional build on this occasion because the boat, which he has names Bia 2, will be out of the water for long periods of time.

The hull is laminated mahogany with mahogany thwarts and seating, sapele decks, and oak detail for contrast on the covering boards. Dick used Douglas fir as a contrast for the sole boards and Emma says he did an exceptional job with the matchboarded veneer bulkhead.

A boat built to the same design was also built as part of student Phil Evans’ course in 2009.

In building Bia 2, Dick added a curved transom, modified the central thwart to house the battery – it has a hinged lid for access – and included a rear seat that conceals the converter and provides a water tight storage area and buoyancy.

Dick, who has dual New Zealand and British nationality, joined the course after thirty years in the oil and gas industries. He has now headed back to his home in Australia to set up a boat building workshop alongside his house there, in which he is to be helped by wife Maria who has herself completed the BBA’s eight-week woodworking skills course.

One of Dick’s main co-workers on the build was Ross Doherty, also from Australia, a project manager in commercial construction. Ross is now in India with his wife Lis to relax after a very busy nine months. On return they are hoping to settle down in the UK and begin a new career in boat building and begin family life, as they’re expecting their first baby.

The BBA website has a series of photos of the electric motor launch build, which strongly remind me of the early days of this boat building technique.

Photographer Matthew Atkin in Thailand

Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand

Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand

Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand

Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand

Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand

Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand Matthew Atkin boat photos from Thailand

Matt Atkin’s photos from Thailand

I never cease to be amazed by my brother Matthew Atkin’s beautiful photos of boats in the Far East.

It seems amazing and wonderful that Western and Eastern water craft should still be so different  in a globalised and homogenous era, and also given that the physics of water, the technology available for powering craft, and many of the materials available for boatbuilding are often the same or at least similar.

These latest photos from Thailand make the point. Check out the stylish young men, the older couple fishing, the elegant small canoes, the curvaceous pleasure boats and, perhaps most remarkable of all, the ferry with its astonishing truck motor balanced on what looks like a precarious pole and with a vicious-looking straight prop arrangement. I’ve seen photos of smaller craft set up like this, but this is much bigger than anything I’ve come across up to now.

Thanks bruv!

See more of Matt’s photos from Hong Kong and Vietnam.