Well, that’s it: Friday was the last day of my one year boatbuilding course at the International Boatbuilding Training College in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard.

The last few days were spent on fettling and making tools for clinker planking, which will be used at the College (see below), and later at home. My gripes are all ready to go, and I have made a small steam box to steam the hood (forward) ends of clinker planks.

On Thursday, we has a masterclass from Bob, our Senior Instructor, on how to ‘pay’ caulking seams with hot pitch.

Thursday is, by tradition, Thirsty Thursday. With an end of term mood in the air, we loaded up a car with two dustbins full of scrap wood and headed to the Hot Walls area of old Portsmouth, just next to the Round Tower. A few drinks at the nearby Still and West, and a bite to eat, and we took our firewood onto the shingle beach outside the Hot Walls, and had a bonfire … and some more to drink! It was a lovely way to mark the end of our time at IBTC Portsmouth.

We had a tour of the RN Museum workshop on Friday afternoon. Here, there are teams of riggers, shipwrights and conservators working on HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the other parts of the RN museum’s collection.

Amongst many interesting pieces, the most fascinating for me was a section of Victory’s mizen mast, removed after the battle of Trafalgar.

Sadly, HMS Victory is slowly being munched away by death watch beetle. Here are a couple of photos of the results:

Victory’s rigging also needs regular maintenance and replacement.

When I spotted this mug sitting nearby a shipwright’s bench, I was reminded that have been advising patients for over thirty years – and not just patients, I might add!

In my experience, advice is rarely followed when sought, and almost never welcomed, let alone followed, when offered without request!

Clearly the shipwright has learnt this too, and has a healthy, if cynical, view on the matter.

I have not quite cast off from IBTC. In a fortnight’s time, I am going to spend two or three weeks completing the planking on the 10ft Paul Gartside dinghy that the next group of students have already lofted, set up and started to plank up … the very same dinghy that I have decided to build myself at home. I will be working with Bob Forsyth, and it’s the chance of us working together, and my having a masterclass in dinghy planking along the way, that made me decide to do this. I am looking forward to using the gripes and steam box I have made, and will let you know how it goes.

The exam week went OK – I think. I know I’ve made some errors, but overall they seemed to go OK. Between exams, we caught up on some odd jobs, and have been finishing things off in our last two weeks.

One of the group has erected a mockup of a large boat’s hull, for caulking practice.

Work on the Deck Boat is about done. Rowlocks have been fitted and all the knees have been fitted now.

I have finished my decking exercise:

My test oar has had many coats of varnish, and I have now added the leather and copper bands to both Practice and Test oar:

During this week, I have also been making Gripes in readiness for making my own clinker dinghy. They hold the new plank in place for fitting and fixing. Here are some of the wedged gripes, complete with leather protective pad:

There’s just two more days to go … ahh!

It all feels rather odd. The year has gone so quickly. But I have learned so much and dare to feel the I can now build a clinker dinghy on my own – though I am glad to have the offer of a helping hand and advice from a couple of the instructors!!

On the 14th of January, we had a two day sojourn at the Solent University, for our module on composites. Fibreglass/GRP is just the tip of the iceberg as far as composites are concerned, with differing resins and different materials, such as carbon fibre, kevlar etc. Some testing mathematics too, but it gave us an insight into an aspect of boatbuilding that is a world apart from the traditional skills we have been learning. We learnt about tank testing for initial stability and had a tour of the facilities, including their test tank, 3D printers, and the state of the art bridge and engine room simulators where, I’m ashamed to say that (in a brief period of inattention) I crashed our simulator tug on Southsea Beach! Happily, there was no real harm done.

On the 16th, we started our City & Guilds exam oar. We have all made an oar as a practice piece a few months ago, and took about two and a half weeks to complete it. This time we had just six days to do the test piece. It went really well, and we all felt a great sense of achievement, halving the time to make this second spoon oar.

On the 21st, we were given a treat: a ride on Motor Gun Boat (MGB) 81.

Motor Gun Boat (MGB) 81 was commissioned and accepted on the 11th July 1942; she first worked up at HMS Bee, the Coastal Forces base at Weymouth, and in August 1942 joined the 8th MGB Flotilla at Dartmouth.  Over the next year MGB 81 was involved in six actions.

An official order dated 26th August 1943 redesignated MBG 81 as MTB 416.  The 8th MGB Flotilla itself was also renumbered the 1st MTB Flotilla.  Although the boat was reclassified as a torpedo boat, we have no specific evidence of her ever having carried torpedoes.  However, her first recorded action as an MTB was on the 21/22 April 1944 in Lyme Bay, when three groups of E-boats were plotted in the area.  The MTBs were vectored on to the five enemy craft and engaged two at close range, and MTB 416 suffered action damage.

She was back in service for the Normandy landings and was involved from the 6th to the 30th June.  A few days after D-Day, the flotilla transferred from Dartmouth to HMS Hornet at Gosport.  Overnight on the 23/24 June 1944, MTB 416 was involved in an attack on a German convoy leaving Cherbourg.  Although MTB 416 was only backing up the operation, one of her crew was killed.

She was paid off in April 1945, after which little is known of MGB 81. However, in 1958, she was arrested by Customs officers at Shoreham whilst on a smuggling operation!

From June 2017 to November 2018 MGB 81 underwent a major structural rebuild and internal refit, and was equipped with three new engines.  This work was paid for by the Chancellor using LIBOR funds.

Our work on fitting out DB (Deck Boat) 1 continues. I have fitted the last of the ten thwart knees, and had a great time on Friday shaping the transom.

One of the exercises we have to do, if we can, is to make a deck structure, laid with planks (not teak, as far too expensive). It’s an exercise that we can work on in stages through the course. This week, I managed to get the planks cut and fitted, and the seams caulked with mastic.

This coming week, we have our City & Guilds and College Diploma exams, but I will have some time this week and the following two weeks to complete the deck exercise and any other outstanding work, such as completing the fitting out of DB1.

I returned to college on Monday, after a really good break. We’re supposed to finish the small boatbuilding module this week, so have all been pushing on, hoping to complete the fitting out of Deck Boat 1.

When I finished for the holiday, the three thwarts were fitted, and I was about to fit the side benches with that tricky stepped scarf-like joint.

After two weeks away to mull things over, I was clear in my mind how I would tackle the job. I started to work.

“I didn’t think we were going to have a stepped joint … we can do without it” said one instructor. “You could mitre the inner corner” enjoined another, who added: “it would be good to put a thumbnail rounding on the edges of these thwarts,” and then showed me how the thumbnail is done.

And we’re short of instructors!!!

Using a router, I nervously cut out the joint on the thwarts. Finishing off with a chisel, I then planed the bevel on the side bench.

I measured and marked out, then checked and re-checked. Had I got this right? With heart in mouth, I cut each mitre in turn. Relief, then jubilation as, with just a few ‘relief’ saw cuts, the joints came together tightly.

Bob’s advice had been both good and timely: the mitre to the inside corner of the joint, and the thumbnail rounding, have made all the different to the final result.

With the side benches fitting nicely, I glued up the joints with thickened epoxy resin. ‘Butt’ blocks cross the underside of the joints to give extra strength and support.

To strengthen the gunwale of the boat, including against side impact, thwart knees are being fitted.

Here are the two thwart knees I am making for the centre thwart. On Monday, I aim to finish them, fit them with roved copper nails ,and trim the tops level with the gunwale.

Some of these knees will be covering my carefully-made joints, leaving only that mitred section visible. Ah well, if invisible to others, at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that they’re a good fit!

Well, we haven’t managed to finish the fitting out of DB1 but, before the course ends in just six weeks, we do have some spare days left to finish off various projects. It would be great to complete this project.

I’ll keep you posted.

Apologies for not updating you earlier. I have been slacking it seems – though not at the college! Time for an update, and there’s a lot to cover.

The five of us have been working together to get DB1 (Deck Boat 1) planked up and fitted out.

With her planking completed, we could take out most of her moulds, and fit in the timbers (ribs). These were bent into place by steaming them.

Once we had most of the timbers in, the last moulds could be removed. Suddenly she looked very roomy.

More steam bent timbers were fitted, and fixed in place with roved copper nails.

She is so beamy that there is a lot of weight way out from the keel. With time there is bound to be a little sagging as a result, but to stiffen her up and reduce this, “floors” were then added. Floors are not what you stand on, they are reinforcements to the lower part of the hull.

Risers next – these strips of wood are fitted inside the boat (more steaming), fixed to the ribs, and will support the thwarts (seats). While I fitted these, the others worked on fitting the gunwales (inwhales, as the Cornish say) inside the top edge of the hull, and rubbing strips on the outside of the top edge (sheer).

Strengthening brackets (quarter knees at the stern, and breast hook at the bow) are now in place (James, Richard and Mark), the bottom boards are in (Tom). I have fitted the three thwarts.

The aft thwart (at the back of the boat) is wider than the others. I have christened it ‘the Duchess’s seat’!

It is a little unfortunate that the forward thwart slopes downwards aft, so that the person sitting on it, facing towards the stern will – whether rowing or passenger – feel they are tipping forwards a little. I am reminded of a ploy sometimes employed by the previous generation of GPs to mine (!): an inch would be cut off the front two legs of the patient’s chair, which helped to discourage then from sitting back and taking overlong to discuss their problems – especially useful on a Friday afternoon apparently So, I have christened this thwart ‘the Patient’s seat’!

I have started making side benches to run between the middle thwart and the ‘Duchess’s seat.’ The above photo shows the stage I had reached at close of play yesterday: the bench has been fitted to sit against the ribs, with a small gap between it and the planks. I now need to make the joints between the bench and the thwarts.

These are going to be a challenge, not only to make the joints themselves fit well, but to get it all to fit into the curved inner line of the hull and ribs.

Yesterday was our last day before a two week Christmas break, so I have some time to mull this over (and improve my drawings)!

It is really good to see the progress we have made in the last few weeks, working together on this little boat. But, the highlights of this week are – as they should be – family times. On Tuesday, we attended James’ Wings Parade at RNAS Culdrose.

And, today is my birthday: we’ve had a lovely time, with Siobhan, David and our gorgeous grandchildren.

With Christmas just a few days away, I wish you all health and happiness for the festive season and 2020.

Jeremy Hunt first suggested increasing the GP workforce by 5,000 GPs in 2014, and that target formed part of the Conservatives’ 2015 election manifesto under David Cameron.

While the pledge was omitted from the party’s 2017 election manifesto, the Conservatives later confirmed they were committed to the target.

HOWEVER, according to the latest figures, the number of fully-qualified GPs has continued to fall in spite of increases in trainees.

The General Practice Workforce data up until 30 September 2019 showed that there were 328 FTE additional GPs, including trainees – a rise of 0.9% – compared with September 2018.

BUT, there were 340 fewer fully qualified GPs (excluding registrars) and 489 fewer fully qualified permanent GPs (excluding locums and registrars) over the same period.

IN ADDITION, the number of GP practices also fell by 3.8%, totalling 6,867, suggesting the closure or merger of 270 practices over 12 months.

AND, the figures also show that there were just 297 more nurses (a rise of 1.8%) in the quarter to September 2019 compared with the quarter to September 2018. This led to a record number of vacancies as hospitals sought to recruit for the winter – more than 43,000.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, British Medical Association council chair, said: “Significant holes in the workforce across areas such as acute medicine and mental health care, particularly in some parts of the country, means that staff are being pushed, often at a detriment to their own health, to make up these shortfalls.

“This is not fair for staff and not fair for patients. The UK falls well below comparable high-income countries in terms of the number of doctors per population (emphasis added) – we do not have to accept this as the norm.

“The Government must do all it can to both retain doctors, including addressing the pension crisis, and ramp up its recruitment efforts by investing in the NHS to make it an attractive career option for doctors and staff from the UK, the EU and internationally.”

Sally Warren, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said the volume and intensity of GP workloads is driving many to either reduce their hours or leave the profession altogether. And although more GPs than ever are being trained, the figures produced by the NHS show that GP numbers continue to decrease, she said.

“Across the country, health and care services are grappling with severe staff shortages,” she continued. “Latest workforce data out today shows there are currently over 105,000 vacancies in NHS trusts, plus 122,000 vacancies in social care at any one time. If the next government wants to deliver on promises to improve health and care services for patients and the public, they must first tackle the workforce crisis.”

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, described the figures as “disappointing”, adding: “It is serious and we need to see drastic action taken to reverse this trend.”

NHS Digital also produced data for GP appointments, which showed that there were a record 31 million appointments in October – a rise of four million on the previous month.

Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair, said: “The highest number of patients are seen on the day they book their appointment – this speaks volumes to the diligence and commitment of GPs and colleagues in the wider healthcare team.

“Many patients are seen within the following days, and while longer waits are often due to proper planning for long-term care, practices share the frustration of patients when they are unable to always offer appointments sooner.

“This comes on the backdrop of falling GP numbers and the long-term picture is damning, with hundreds fewer full-time equivalent, fully-qualified family doctors than we had this time last year. GP partner numbers are falling at an even faster rate, owing to the additional stresses of owning and running practices.”

So, how did the number of GP appointments go up? The figures are not just for GPs – they will include nurses, healthcare assistants, and practice pharmacists.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, former House of Commons health committee chair and now a Liberal Democrat candidate, added: “People across the country struggling to get appointments will be appalled to see the number of GPs and practices continuing to fall. The Conservatives have completely failed to keep their promise to increase the number of GPs and have now plucked an even greater number out of the air.

“People depend on GP practices for their front-line care. Both patients and the primary care workforce have been badly let down by this government and the situation in general practice will make for a very difficult winter across the NHS.”

Worth noting that Sarah Wollaston was elected as a tory MP in 2010, and only left that party in February of this year … so her criticism is rather opportunist, and not a little hollow!

Hollow too rings the Conservative party’s current ‘pledge’ to increase the number of GPs by 6000 by 2024-25.

Not that I trust any of the other parties to retain GPs and senior consultants who can choose to retire earlier than they intended – as I did. Successive parties have demoralised the workforce, not least by imposing evermore difficult targets that have unforeseen consequences on the system, patients, and clinicians. I don’t think the NHS is safe in any of their hands, but it may now be ripe for hostile USA providers to step in.

Apparently, clinker planking gets its name from a Scandinavian word, clinking – the sound made when iron nails were being hammered in to fix planks to the hull. We use copper nails now, that don’t ‘clink,’ but the etymology is interesting.

Our task, as we move on to ‘Small Boatbuilding’ is to plank up the hulls of the two Deck Boats, finishing at least one, so we can ‘fit out’ the hull with thwarts, and knees (brackets) etc.

Deck Boats like these were one of the smaller, if not the smallest boats ever commissioned by the Royal Navy. Originally from the northern coast of France, and used as fishing boats, the story goes that they found a role in WW2, transporting spies/commandos, and supplies, to and from ships to the shore. They would have been of carvel construction, but clinker is lighter and in keeping with the traditions at the time.

That switch from carvel to clinker brings some considerable difficulties as the turn of the bilge on these boats does not lend itself to clinker construction – as we are finding out!

We are learning a whole new load of terminology: Jerrolds, browing, broddling sticks …; and the associated techniques, including the use of twisted nails.

Of course (!) before putting on more planks, we had to remove some already in place, trying to get a better fit against the transverse moulds. Then, we could start to add new planks. We are supposed to do a practice plank in pairs, then do a test plank for the IBTC Diploma. However, the main goal is to get one of the boats fully planked for ‘fitting out.’

It seems as if it’s a bit of black magic, getting thin strakes to fit tightly against each other in a complex curved shape. How on earth can this be watertight?

The trick is to make the plank/strake fit like a glove, as if flopped on fluidly against there plank below. To get that fit, we use a spiling batten, which readily adopts the required position and shape, and then transfer the shape to a plank, and cut to size. Basically simple, but rather tricky at first.

Once the stock plank is cut to size, reduced in thickness to 9mm, a jerrold (type of joint) is planed in, so that at the bow and stern the planks form a smooth line, rather than a stepped profile.

The planks are steamed to help get them to fit at the bow.

Not in the boxing sense, of course, but an update on our spar-making projects.

After glueing up the four planks to make a 28 ft length, the design of the spar was plotted out by James and Tom who then set to, to mark it out and cut it to size on four faces, before taking it to an octagonal section and then a 16-sided section. After that, the spar was rounded using sandpaper.

A knot in the wood became loose and needed repairing. Tom scalloped out a section to remove the knot and then scarfed in a laminated infil. The end result was superb

Mark and I were given the ‘poisoned chalice’ – a previously-made spar that matched the dimensions for the Victory class racing boats, but was otherwise far too thick for the club’s requirements.

It’s one thing making a square piece of wood round, quite another to thin down a spar with a pear-shaped cross section.

All the time, we had to keep the spar level, and carefully reduce the diameters at key points, then ‘join the dots’ to get it tapered and straight.

The four of us were all thrilled to hear that the Chair of the Victory Class Technical Committee has measured and checked our two masts and passed both as suitable for the club.

No, not mine, but for BB13, the previous cohort to us, who finished in September, and had their Graduation Day on Thursday.

The last graduation, of BB12, had been a bit lame, so the four of us, with James our Student Mentor-cum-Instructor devised some comedy awards, which added some fun to the event.

There is a six month period of overlap, when two cohorts of students are both out on the “shop floor” and it has been great to get to know and work alongside these fellow students.

It was lovely to see them all again, catch up, and give them a good send off. Some have already found work in boatbuilding or other activities – it will be great to keep in touch and follow their progress.

‘Thirsty Thursday’ is a weekly tradition for the IBTC Students so, naturally, the celebrations continued at our usual hostelry, The Ship & Castle!

On Thursday 24th October our group of five students, together with two ex-students and two Instructors, headed west on a ‘jolly.’

First off, we visited Tommy Nielsen’s yard, situated in the historic Gloucester docks.

Everything on Gladys is massive in its scale. This is a major restoration.

Her new decking is Douglas fir. All the seams are being caulked, just as we have done, with caulking hammer and irons, but here with oakum (hemp that has been mixed with tar), for its longevity.

Her hull is getting three layers of oak planking, which are fixed to the original frames, and to each other, with a combination of bolts, spikes and droves. The shortest of these – the six inch droves – are square-sectioned nails. They are driven into pre-drilled holes in the planks with a pneumatic hammer, but have to be finished off with a sledge hammer. Heavy work!

Masses of oak is being used here. Someone commented that it was a waste, given that the ship is to be used for corporate entertainment. In my view, restoring this vessel properly, making her fit for another hundred years, is an end in itself. Also, there are very few outfits in the UK that could do this scale of work, and having these projects is an important part of maintaining the industry’s skills and capacity.

The yard has three main income streams: new build/restoration, rigging, and the film industry, where their skills in rigging classic ships are particularly useful. They send teams around the world to work on projects. Quite an outfit!

After an overnight stay in Bristol, we visited the Underfall yard, which is truly the heart of the Bristol City harbour. Here, there are a collection of boat builders and allied trades, and a massive collection of Victorian machinery for controlling the level of water in the harbour, and maintaining the docks.

As we walked to our next boatyard stop, just 10 minutes away, we passed an open shed, where some people were readying their gig for the next season. Gig racing is most popular in Cornwall and the Scillies, but clubs are taking up the sport elsewhere – including, as we found, in Bristol.

Our last yard visit was to a small two-three man outfit. The owner commented that there had been times when he didn’t know if the business would survive into the next month, and he had diversified into online boat supplies sales, which was helping. Clearly, the business life of small artisanal boatbuilders is a precarious one.

There are some big companies, but not many building in wood. Here, there are opportunities for young apprenticeships. However, apprenticeships are not available or suitable for older entrants to the industry. And, as in many other areas, adverts for shipwright/boatbuilder vacancies ask for evidence of experience.

Thankfully, I am not dependant on finding work in this industry, though I would like to make use of the skills I have learnt. Just as well as, generally speaking, classic boatbuilding job opportunities are limited, and then mainly self-employed/sub-contractor in nature. It was interesting to hear how the couple of ex-students who had joined us on this trip, and who had graduated 18 months ago, were managing to find such work. It’s out there if you’re prepared to seek it out, develop networks, are willing to move about and to be flexible. Not an easy life though – especially for those with commitments.