Tag: Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association

Nick Smith starts planking his latest 20ft motor launch project

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boatbuilder, clinker, fishing boat, motor launch, Nick Smith, planking, west country, Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association, WBTA

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boatbuilder, clinker, fishing boat, motor launch, Nick Smith, planking, west country, Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association, WBTA

Nick Smith’s building a new copy of the 20ft motor launch Bamboo Viper he made some time ago.

The latest boat is for a customer who lives on Hayling Island and will be 20ft 4in overall. She will have a Yanmar 15Hp inboard, and khaya mahogany planking on New Forest oak.

The earlier photos reveal how he set out the plank runs for the new boat, while the rest show planks going into place – in another few days it will be time to get his gang together to steam out the ribs.

But first he’ll have to drill holes for the rib nails, mark the bilge level inside, prime the inside, spike the nails, and get a good stock of straight-grained knot-free green oak for the frames, and, of course, set up the steam box.

The photo of Bamboo Viper below shows what the finished boat will look like.

Nick Smith west country style motor launch Bamboo Viper

Bamboo Viper built by Nick Smith – the new boat will be very similar

Click here for more posts relating to Nick’s impressive old-fashioned motor launches.

Nick, who is a WBTA member, comes from Devon, learned boatbuilding the traditional way 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. These days he’s based in Hampshire, and can be contacted by email at nick_smith_boatbuilder@yahoo.com and by phone on phone on 07786 693370.

Please fill out the Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association’s survey – it only takes a moment

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The WBTA has decided to find out about the kinds of people who buy and own traditional boats, where they  go and where they get their information – and it has engaged an independent market research firm to run a survey.

I was very pleased to be asked to put up this link to the short survey questionnaire, as it’s potentially an excellent step, and hopefully will elicit some really useful answers.

I’d be most grateful if as many of you as possible fill it in – it really won’t take long, you might win one of Kathy Mansfield’s very nice calendars, and you will be contributing to keeping wooden boatbuilders afloat business-wise during the hard times to come.

Yes – you heard right. There are PRIZES to be won!

It would be an added bonus if you could also please find somewhere to say that you came from intheboatshed.net – there’s at least one little window you can use to convey this essential piece of information, and I’m sure we’d all like to see the WBTA making more use of intheboatshed.net’s ability to communicate with the big wide world.

Finally please pass this on to your friends – all you have to do is to email them the link for this site (https://intheboatshed.net of course!), as I’ll leave this post at the top of the pile for a few days.

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