YARD NEWS

Craftsmanship

Yard News

Edited by Ste an Meyric Hughes: +44 (0)207 349 3758 Email:ste an@classicboat.co.uk

C/O THE BUILDER

WESTER ROSS, SCOTLAND

New and old, island and mainland

Work continues apace at the yards of Isle Ewe boats on the scarcely populated Isle of Ewe, and Johnson & Loftus Boatbuilders in nearly Ullapool on the mainland. On the island, Alasdair Grant and team are well on with the rebuild of the Loch Fyne ski Clan Gordon (bigger photo above), with the boat fully re-framed, and planking progressing in native larch and oak, milled at the sawmill shared by the two yards. They are also mid-build with a 17ft (5.2m) carvel-planked, inboard motor launch. Meanwhile in Ullapool, Johnson & Loftus are busy with the rebuild of the Zulu St Vincent (inset photo above). The hull has been reframed with home-milled Scottish oak and the stem and sternpost have been replaced. Planking is now under way. On the new build front, Tim is building a 16ft (4.9m) pulling boat for an estate on Mull.

PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON Lid goes onto Tally Ho

The Albert Strange-designed, Fastnet-winning ga yacht Tally Ho of 1910 came a significant step closer to completion in March, when owner and boatbuilder Leo Goolden and a small band of volunteers put the deck planks on. The 48ft (14.6m) vessel now has a swept deck fastened straight onto the deck beams – no plywood subdeck here – with thousands of Frearson-head deck screws, each of which had to be plugged in timber. The deck will be caulked with cotton and payed in the traditional way. Tally Ho is looking more like a yacht every day, but there is still a huge amount of work to do, including the rig, for which the spar timber, Sitka spruce, is ready and waiting. Next will come the cover boards, king planks, bulwarks and stanchions. See Leo’s popular series of videos on his website, sampsonboat.co.uk, where you can also give a bit to the project via Leo’s Patreon page.

LYME REGIS, DORSET

BBA launch day

Despite a forecast that left little room for optimism, sta , students and spectators at the Boat Building Academy (BBA) were determined that the three boats built by the Class of May 2021 should at least make some contact with the water on launch day. It was entirely sensible, however, that they should all stay within the relative shelter of the harbour and that the two sailing boats shouldn’t even consider hoisting their sails.

First into the water was the 14ft (4.3m) clinker motor launch whose sponsoring student is Karl Bedlow, a former insurance underwriter. Built to Paul Gartside’s design number 189, she is of clenched clinker construction with a sapele keel, oak stem and transom, steamed oak timbers, khaya planking, and oak gunwales and fit-out. With a Tohatsu 20hp outboard on the stern, Karl hopes she might do 15 knots.

Next in was former dairy farmer Luke O’Connell’s 18-footer (5.5m), based on a late-19th-century Mersey river boat. Her white hull is strip planked Alaskan yellow cedar, glassed inside and out, and, although she was decked with plywood at the time of her launch, she will later have iroko decking laid over the plywood. Her spars are all in spruce, with the mast, boom and ga of hollow bird’s mouth construction.

Last but not least was the 15ft 6in (4.7m) Westray ski (blue hull) whose sponsoring student is Jonathan Bevan, who previously spent 40 years working in IT. Based on a type of fishing and transport vessel common in the Orkneys in the early part of the 20th century, her lines were developed by course tutor Mike Broome from a collection of sketches provided by Orkney boatbuilder Ian Richardson. She is glued clinker with marine plywood planking, and has iroko laid decking over a plywood sub-deck and iroko fit out.

Both of the sailing boats have sister ships previously built at the BBA, the Westray ski ’s being in clenched clinker; and in boat cases the sails – which remained securely stowed away from the blustery conditions on Launch Day – were made by the students at the college. Judging by the length of the spars, the Mersey boat’s sail plan may prove challenging in all but the most benign conditions.

GLASGOW

Crypto payment for pre-war classic yachts

The Mylne Yacht Design o ce is now accepting payments in the crypto currencies of Bitcoin and Ether. Owner David Gray said “Just as the best yacht clubs around the world do, we are striving to engage a younger and more diverse generation to appreciate the charm and beauty of our sport. Our new crypto payment platform will help us find a new audience for our original authentic pre-war re-creation opportunities.” See more at mylne.com.