Hard to believe, but it is five years since I started this blog, with its heading ‘From GP to novice boat builder.”
Well, I’m still a GP, helping out at our local surgery two mornings a week. What started out with me offering to assist following the sudden loss of the Senior Partner, and doing my bit in Covid, has become well established and part of my normal week. I enjoy the clinical work and the patients, and I will miss it when the Practice decides it no longer needs me, or I finally decide to let medicine go.
As for the novice boat builder, I am very much a novice still, but I am slowly building my first boat, and have done many woodworking projects using the skills I learnt at IBTC Portsmouth.
The cost of the blog domain and website facility is not that great, but the arrival of an invoice in my email in-tray, has prompted me to pull stumps and leave the blog. Instead, I shall take advantage of the no fee services of Instagram, and I hope that those following me here will take a look at my progress there.
Once again, we were back in Lyme Regis in late July, staying in a cottage by the River Lym and its Mill Race. This time, for me to do a short course in sail making the Boat Building Academy, and to make the sail for my clinker dinghy project, Mischief.
Nearby Bere, with its beach huts, and boats – it still has an active Lugger fleet that race regularly.
Of course, we made the most of the local restaurants in Lyme Regis, and our visit coincided with the annual Morris Dance Festival. No, not tempted to join a local group!
But the main event was the sail making course. There were six of us (one had to leave early) and we made three sails over the five days. Mark was an excellent teacher and the sewing machine was only a little temperamental!
My sail is made of Clipper Canvas, which is a polyester cloth, but has a soft “handle” and suits traditional boats. Available in cream or tan, I chose tan. The panels are cut and sewn together with one of the adjoining edges straight and the other curved, so as to create an aerofoil shape in the sail. The corners have reinforcing patches, there is a set of reefing eyes, and a leech rope … for fine tuning!
A superb course, with a super sail made, and a lovely time in Lyme Regis. Here are some more photos from our time there:
Lastly, a caption competition (and, no, they are not having a builder’s pee):
It was in September last year, that Paul Nobbs (Nobby) commented on my post “Readying Buccaneer.” A fellow Tela-owner, he told me that he had sailed his boat, Kingfisher, through the Great Glen in the Sail Caledonia Raid event. Looking it up, I decided it would be great fun to take part in the 2023 (20th anniversary) event.
I set to, to prepare Buccaneer for her trip to Scotland, getting sails cleaned, her outboard serviced, giving her “a tickle” of varnish, fresh antifouling, and a new bowsprit. Flares, and other safety equipment were purchased, along with plentiful supplies of snacks and some items to dress the boat – of which more later.
My very good friend, Craig, kindly agreed to join me, which was all the more generous of him, given that he had a couple of major family events coming up just after the end of our adventure. Many thanks are owed to his wife, Mandy-Jane, for loaning him at this particular time.
With launch in Fort William being set for Saturday 27th May, we left on the preceding Thursday, stopping overnight near Penrith, and completing our journey on Friday afternoon. We were able to park the boat in the Lochaber yacht club and get her rigged for the morrow.
A fleet of 14 boats were launched by early Saturday afternoon and, after a quick briefing, we joined our moored-up boats for the first race in Loch Linnhe. Unfortunately, one of our shrouds had come adrift, which took an age to fix, and we started at the back of the fleet. However, Buccaneer performed well, and we were not the last to cross the finishing line.
We entered Corpach Basin via its sea lock, and moored up in the basin for the night. That evening’s BBQ at the local rugby club was overlooked by Ben Nevis
On Sunday morning, while Craig and fellow crew members took cars and trailers to our finishing point outside of Inverness, we ascended the Corpach Locks, and then a second flight of locks, called Neptune’s Staircase. Here we were joined by our drivers, and locked through to Gairlochy Top – a beautiful spot:
Craig and I contributed a couple of shanties to the evening’s entertainments – we had been practicing for months!
With a flat calm on Monday morning, we had to row the 10km from Gairlochy to Laggan. Thankfully, in the afternoon, a light breeze developed and we had a row/sail race in the afternoon on Cean Loch. The Raid had now been joined by the very well-known maritime photographer Kathy Mansfield. She buzzed around in one of the rescue boats taking some super photos of the boats, not least of Buccaneer and her sister Tela, Kingfisher – Kathy has a soft spot for the Tela and has recently had published an article on Nobby’s Tela, Kingfisher in Water Craft magazine.
Monday night was spent at Laggan Locks, from where we motored on Tuesday morning, down Laggan Avenue to Loch Oich.
A quick triangular course race saw us competing well with Kingfisher, and Kathy taking some photos of us doing so. Her photos can be seen on the Sail Caledonia Facebook page (albeit low resolution and watermarked).
There was then a 2 mile rowing race to the Aberhalder bridge.
We dressed the boats as we locked up the Fort Augustus Locks. At the the final lock, the lock keepers judged the “Best Dressed Boat” competition.
We had set Jolly Roger bunting on the standing rigging, a large Jolly Roger flag on the mast, a parrot on the end of the boom and bandanas on our heads. And …
In Fort Augustus we had a super dinner with Nobby and Bee at the Boathouse restaurant, which is situated at the head of Loch Ness.
The passage of Loch Ness was completed over Wednesday and Thursday. The Force 3-4 headwinds made for great sailing. The two Telas were well-matched, and it was great to be pitting ourselves against, and sailing in company with, Nobby and Bee in Kingfisher.
We had traversed the mighty Loch Ness, and the evenings celebrations in Dongarroch included a Haggis, Neeps and Tatties supper and a folk music band, who kindly allowed Craig and I to do a few of our numbers.
Friday, was our last day, and we motored to the Tomnahurich swing bridges, with one of the French boats rafted alongside.
The first of the two adjacent swing bridges’ motors was not working properly, and had to be opened manually. Thankfully, we did not need to lower our masts! Then up our last flight of locks at Inverness to the sea lock, for the final race across the Beauly Firth to the slipway at North Kessock. Here we retrieved the boats – the crews had brought the trailers round earlier in the day.
We had travelled coast to coast. In the sea lock, Buccaneer was still sporting her large Jolly Roger flag. Beyond the sea lock stands the Kessock Bridge which separates the Beauly Firth and the Moray Firth.
That evening, we returned to Dongarroch and the Ros Crana barge, which had been our accommodation, and mother ship. Sylvia, who had flown up to Inverness on Wednesday, joined us for the celebrations: a buffet supper and ceilidh to round off the holiday.
Sadly, the event is not going to be run again – at least not in its current form, which makes me all the more grateful to Nobby for telling me about it, and glad to have been able to go.
Here are a few more photographic memories of a fantastic trip:
Nobby and Bee in Kingfisher:
Other participants:
The rescue boats, Ros Crana, and support team:
The in-house musician, Mark, playing the bagpipes as we finished the races or passed through the locks, and the other musical interludes:
I was tidying up in Docs Den when there was a knock on the workshop door. My good friend Craig’s face appeared, and he bravely entered, politely not commenting on the confusion and chaos within.
“That’s a nice vice” he said, pointing to my Dad’s old engineer’s vice, made in Australia by Dawn, and brought to England when my Mother imported him in 1962. “I could do with a vice like that – I’ve only got a woodworking vice on my bench.”
Dad’s vice, refurbished in 2018.
I had also refurbished a small Record No.1 vice in 2020, for one of the previous IBTC graduates, an ideal size for her to use on her boat. It was one that I had happened to have just hanging around:
Sally’s vice – refurb number 2!
It was early December, and having been somewhat at a loss as to what to give Craig for Christmas, I now had more than the germ of an idea for a suitable gift!
I did some internet research. There are loads of cheap Chinese imports to choose from, but the quality is not great. Ebay had some pricey vintage vices, but none that looked that good. Suddenly, I remembered that I had a rusty old Record No.2 vice, tucked out of the way on the floor of the garage, just one of those things one can’t throw away, because they are bound to come in useful one day. I seem to have a lot of such things!
Digging out the vice from the garage, I found that it was indeed very rusty. I considered using Evaporust on it, but time was short.
I had previously toyed with the idea of de-rusting old tools using electrolysis. So, after some more internet research, I set to and made an electrolysis tank, using pieces of rebar as the sacrificial cathode. With a new fuse in its plug, the car battery charger I bought in my late teens for my first car was back in action, after over 40 years! With some washing soda added to the water in the bucket/tank, we were off. It took three days of electrolysis to clean off the rust, but it did a great job, with just enough time remaining for me to paint and reassemble the vice in time for a pre-Christmas brunch with our friends.
Before.Tank set up.Cooking nicely (outdoors because hydrogen is released).The finished article: a vintage vice that is probably well over 50 years old, with quality to match!
I think that has cleared my stock of excess/unused engineer vices, but I have a couple of woodworking vices ready for refurbishment when needed, AND an electrolysis tank to boot. Perhaps I should set up in business!!
It has taken me a long time to prepare the garboard planks for my dinghy build. Paradoxically, these first planks are the hardest to fit. Various small projects and other distractions have drawn things out far longer than I care to say. However, I did manage to get the required “fag paper fit.” Of course, the second side took half the time of the first!
I have been fortunate to have help from a couple of friends, Matthew and Richard (of Grumpy Shed Productions fame) to pre-drill and then fit the planks.
I have used Arbokol 1000 polysulphide as a bedding compound, copper roved nails through the plank and hog, and silicon bronze gripfast nails to fit the plank to the apron, stem and transom edge.
I am somewhat disappointed that there is a 1mm gap between the hood end of the planks and the stem but, overall, it has gone as well as I dared to hope.
I have a few projects to get done for Christmas, but hope to increase the planking pace in the New Year!
Just over a year ago, I spent a day with Stephen Stokes learning how to carve letters. He is an excellent teacher, and I can recommend his courses to anyone interested in the subject (he teaches woodturning too). My reason for doing the course was to be able to carve the name on the transom of the dinghy I am building.
But why leave it there?
This sign for my friend Richard, who got me into woodturning, is always at the front of his stall at craft fairs. Apparently it draws people in, and has no doubt increased his sales!
Not an original idea, but one of Stephen’s, is this short but so-true phrase:
It certainly does!
My latest effort was for a good friend who has started repairing and restoring bicycles, including for charity:
I’m still a novice letter carver, but it’s a totally absorbing and relaxing way to make just a handful of shavings … and something worth looking at.
Of course, it’s not just men … women and children too!
Here is a writing box, made for a creative writer to store her ideas.A dovetailed mahogany box, with a floating spalted ash lid; and internal mitred boxes of sitka spruce, with a turned mahogany lid handle.
For a few years now, we have spoken with a chair maker, James Mursell, at some major craft fairs. He runs the Windsor Workshop near Pulborough in West Sussex. Knowing that I fancied doing one of his courses, Sylvia gave me one of his chair-making courses for Christmas, booked for a week in early July.
We stayed in one of the self-catering cottages on James’ farm, beautifully converted from former stables. While I steamed and shaped chair parts, Sylvia was able to have a well-earned break, reading and relaxing.
James has the programme down to a tee. His instruction and teaching was excellent and, it was great to be learning in a small group with the other seven attendees.
The group included a father and son team, a father, mother and son team and a man who had come over from Japan, just to do the course!
We used cleverly-designed jigs to steam bend the arm and bow of our chairs.A test fitting.This jig supports the arm, ready for drilling the holes for some of the spindles – drilling the holes in-line is the most challenging part of the process.Shaping the ends of the armsPutting wedges in the bow.Eight happy novice chair-makers with our expert teacher/mentor, James Mursell (far left).A ‘Classic’ Windsor chair in Ash and Mahogany …… and its new owner.
After some delay – I am much better at starting things than finishing them – here is Sylvia’s new Windsor chair, with its hard oil and wax finish applied, in its rightful place, at the desk I made for her.
If anyone reading this fancies making a stool or Windsor chair, I can thoroughly recommend a course at The Windsor Workshop. No prior knowledge or woodworking experience is required, though a little certainly helps. James also produces some super chair-making tools and, yes, I have got a few of them for future projects!
Using the paper tape method, the marks for the top of the planks on each mould were transferred from port to starboard – an amazingly simple and accurate method.
The battens were then fixed to the starboard side.
In order to get the planking positions at the stem symmetrical/level, the ‘Two Pencil Trick’ was used:
Just as one can easily spot a painting that is not level when walking into a room, sighting the top of each set of planks with opposing pencils (and a willing helper) is a very accurate way to ensure they are level.
Unfortunately, I spotted a lack of fairness at the rear section of a few battens, so these had to be adjusted on the first dose and the adjustments transferred across. By close of play yesterday, the job was done:
“Mischief managed” – well, the Lining Out is … at last!
Now it’s time to grasp the nettle and start on the garboard planks. Wish me luck!
There’s a saying, that the boat elves won’t help you build your boat. Unlike the brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Elves and the Shoemaker” you can pray for some magical help overnight but you’ll find none has been given when you return the next morning!
Never mind, there’s no harm in just having some elves/gnomes/gonks around.
Here’s a few that turned up (on my lathe!):
Our grandchildren loved trying to spot them in Doc’s Den today.
Talking of help from the ‘little folk,’ I must acknowledge Sylvia’s assistance with my boatbuilding endeavours, and I hope that our grandchildren will be keen to contribute at some stage too.
