ibtc trained boatbuilder shipwright
Back working with tom owen, in fowey. with a new restoration on a 6 metre classic racing boat, built in 1947 for the olympics in 1948. Got replanked in traditional carvel in Switzerland a long time ago. now here in fowey, most frames are good and the planking and floors are all good. so deck off and starting with a new beam shelf and onward from there.
I spent 3 months on a interior refit going on in emsworth. putting in new bulk heads, sole bearers and floor boards, reshaping corners to rounds to make more space, many loo steps and former’s, iroko trims, deck beam repairs and putting tanks in place with chocking ply walls filleted into the hull walls
i led the small boat building course. A month long from start to finish boat build. teaching the locals wood work and starting off the educational center in the astillero verde yard in costa rica.
I’m back in costa rica to Join the team again as the work shops manager, run and teach the small boat courses. To improve the courses we have a boat house at the head of ceiba’s stem, and i’m increasing the modals so the students get the most out of their time on the course, such as the oar making class.
Improving the work shops by making tools and improving the way things are ran, and the cycle of wood flow through out the yard. Also making Rigging blocks such as the four triple blocks that hoisted the 2 tone stem into position.
traditional wooden boat building. Repairing teak planking, putting the Angelique stem together and chopping in the back rabbit and buttoning up the hood ends on Zingara an english 34 foot sailing boat being restored. Rigging up boats, Top coat painting and varnishing. Replanking a few stakes on the Alabama life boat. Had a bit of time to sail and carve.
I came up with a small scale drawing of the profile view, coming up with the rocker, shear and stem and stern, and then used an existing kayak’s body plan designs to use the angles of the chines. By getting the actual shear stringers at 12 foot and plotting where the stations will be and clamping the two ends together so I could put the kayaks wide point at the centre in to push the stringers apart giving the natural shape/ curve of the kayak in plan view, then measuring the widths at each station plotted I went back to the body plan view and came up with the height and angles of the chines. Then I checked for fairness of all the stations chines, by plotting them on my profile view. All looked good so to work I went and one day put it all together and it turned out ok.
on ceiba’s yard in costa rica we are providing small boat courses to the local ticos and ticas. using a hard chine design, we are building wooden boats from the small milled up cypress trees that we fell in the mountains. using traditional methods and carvel caulked planks. this is the first one, and we hope to do more courses soon.
Ceiba is a 45metre cargo ship new builds in costa Rica Punta morales.
Website:Sail cargo inc.
I started helping out on this project in January 2019 for 3 months. It was perfect timing as my first week here was the week they got the keel up on her blocks. From felling the trees to milling the logs and sawing them up from there Ceiba will be made. its a fantastic experience, from the style of living , learning how big ship builds are done and learning how to build right from the raw material is brilliant, also helping out the locals.
Starting to make the frames, frame 48 made and ready to be raised, getting the scantings and scaling them up from the frame designs to the lofting floor and transferring that to the selected Spanish cedar. Also felling trees up the mountains, where lynx has designed and built some wooden rooms and spaces.
Doing repairs and recaulking decking 6 metre yachts with Tom Owens at Classic yacht restorations.
Sadly I wasn’t there to fair off the repair, but Tom sent me a photo of it after.
Built in 1911on the isle of man, based on the lines of Morecambe bay drawner or Lancashire nobby. 34 ft LOA. Pitch pine on oak bone. Full length rocker. Cast iron keel. Gaff boom and sprit. I’m on this project for a minimum of three months.
I’m replanking the 5 strakes on the starboard side, The first two weeks were fitting the bottom strake in which has most shapeliest tuck plank. Was very interesting to do, and by the end of the week I got the next plank shaped and ready to fit. Really enjoying the project and environment.
we got up to four strakes and sorted out the frames to then carry on up the topsides and continue planking.
Starting to form the two shutter strakes,
Some edge repairs and spiling out the last 20ft plank before the shutters.
Plant a boat, Planta Genesta, Plant a seed in my heart…
The two shutter strakes gone in, with a whisky plank celebration. Hull is complete.
