www.talesfromtheboatshed.com

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.”

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:

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.

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:

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.

Things Men Have Made

Things men have made,

with wakened hands,

and put soft life into are

awake through years

with transferred touch,

and go on glowing for long years.

D.H Lawwrence

Of course, it’s not just men … women and children too!

I look forward to her first novel!

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!

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:

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:

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.

In February 2021, the Wooden Boat School in Brooklyn Maine USA released the first of a series of on-line videos: “Mastering Skills with the Wooden Boat School.” In these videos mainly led by Greg Rössel, he gives step by step instruction on individual aspects of wooden boat building. The $49.95 annual subscription, gives access to all the videos to date and to new ones coming out each month. Greg Rössel is an excellent teacher and I recommend his book “Building Small Boats” as well as these videos.

The episode on lining off a hull was released a few months ago and has been a very useful source of advice as I come to lining off the hull of my dinghy.

Lining off is the process of tacking battens to the stem, transom and moulds/frames to establish the positions and sizes of the planks to be fitted. The Americans use the term strake for planks, hence their term lapstrake instead of clinker for this type of construction of overlapping planks/strakes.

There is a lot to take into consideration in lining off!

The Garboard is the lowest plank – the first to be fitted – and this must be wide enough at the stem to establish a sweeping curve and provide room for the greater number of fixings at the stem to hold the plank in place (the tension on the fittings here is greater than elsewhere because of the degree of twist and curvature at the forward end of this plank).

Having determined the position of the garboard plank, it is time to line out the remaining nine planks.

At the stem, the width of the planks above the garboard should be equal, except for the uppermost plank – the sheer plank/ sheer strake – which is usually a little wider than the planks below for aesthetic reasons. The strip of wood that runs along the gunwale – the rubbing strip – gives the illusion that the sheer strake is narrower than it really is, thus the height of the rubbing strip has to be added when determining the width of the sheer strake, so the plank does not appear too thin. In addition, a slightly wider sheer plank is aesthetically pleasing.

The planks should be fairly evenly spaced along the widest part of the boat, but slightly narrower going around the turn of the bilge, and slightly wider where the curve of the hull is less (at the bottom of the boat). That’s why the plank next to the garboard is often called the board strake.

Dividing the curved length of the stem, transom and the moulds can be done using a tape measure and dividing the measured length by the number of planks. However dividing these measurements is not easy, especially if imperial, and anyway errors creep in when marking out. This is where the technique, described by Greg Rössel as “The Amazing Diminishing Pyramid” comes in. This is ancient geometry, used in determining perspective in drawings and design, perhaps better shown than described:

In practice, there is no point in doing this for all the moulds. Equal divisions are only necessary at the stem, and in the middle of the boat they serve as a guide only because the plank widths are adjusted to the degree of curvature as mentioned above. Once the lining out battens are nailed to the stem, transom and middle two moulds the battens adjust themselves to produce a fair line … like this:

My next job is to mark the top edge of the battens on the stem, moulds and transom (a shallow saw kerf on the moulds, and red biro on stem and transom). Then I shall remove the battens and use till roll tape to transfer the marks on each of the moulds and transom to the other side; fit battens to the starboard side; and check for fairness.

There’s a Greg Rössel tip for transferring the marks at the stem I shall describe later.

By the way, I had the devil’s own job getting the garboard plank’s batten to run fair between midships and the stem. Thanks are owed to Matt who helped to tweak the batten to give it a fair line! Thanks too to Mark and Sylvia for their help with this phase of the build.

On the 29th April, IBTC Portsmouth held our long-delayed (by Covid) Graduation Ceremony. Four cohorts of students gathered to receive their formal graduation certificates. It was a superb event, and great to meet up with those we had come to know well. In her speech, the CEO of Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust (PNBPT) and Heritage Skills Ambassador, highlighted the importance of, and value in maintaining, training in traditional heritage skills.

Four days later, the College staff were informed that PNBPT has decided to close the College, with the BB19 cohort completing their 1yr boatbuilding course in July, but BB20 having to leave at the end of their initial 12-week joinery (which they had only started at the beginning of March) and thus not completing their year’s course.

The Trust deserve much credit for taking over the College in 2017, when its future was in jeopardy. Thanks to the Trust’s intervention, and with its support, the College has trained many students in traditional heritage boatbuilding skills. Graduates have gone on to work internationally: three have gone to Costa Rica, to work on the Sail Cargo build, and others have worked in Venice and other parts of Europe. Closer to home, graduates have gone on to restore National Trust craft, work in the NMRN (National Museum of the Royal Navy) on HMS Warrior and HMS Victory, and one is currently working on Golden Hind in London.  One graduate is leading the restoration of ‘Falmouth,’ which is part of PNBPT’s Historic Boats Collection, and other recent graduates are doing superb work with him on a voluntary basis.  College students and at least one graduate have contributed to the Trust’s CMB (Coastal Motor Boat) replica project. Others have worked for the College, and many are working in the Marine Industry, which is crying out for people with the very skills that the College teaches.

Unfortunately, despite the Trust’s hard work and its best efforts, the College has continued to run at a significant annual loss. These financial difficulties have been well known, as have the efforts of the Trust to mitigate the deficit. Nevertheless, the news came as a shock for both staff and students. The Trust had painted a very positive picture of the College in their last accounts at Companies House, noting that the number of students was at an all-time high; and that the planned strategic review was not expected to move the Trust away from any of its activities.

I have written to the Trust’s CEO and Trustees, asking them to reconsider this decision. Not only because of my passion for the College and my fellow feeling for the staff and current students, but also because of IBTC Portsmouth’s valuable role in maintaining the heritage skills of traditional boat building. Sadly, their decision was final and irreversible, and my efforts were to no avail. Thankfully, pleas for BB20 to finish their year’s course have been heeded. The fact that they had made huge commitments and change of life decisions to do the 1 year course were highlighted. Indeed, three of that group are international students, and another is from Scotland.

I have been assured that every effort was made to find a way to make the College viable. I have been told that the Trust intends for Boathouse 4 to remain a thriving hub for volunteers and for trainees working on the historic collection; and that the Trust will look to support training opportunities for young people, in partnership with industry.

Nevertheless, I remain saddened and disappointed that the College is to close, and how this was handled. At least the current students can now finish their course. It is a great shame that a way could not be found for the College to continue. As I acknowledged when I wrote to the Trust’s CEO, the harsh realities of limited student numbers are a very real constraint on the success of the UK’s boatbuilding institutions, but I think it is important to say that the College’s year-long course cannot be replaced by short courses and secondments.  

Let’s hope that the remaining colleges are able to continue – for the sake of the maintenance of traditional heritage boatbuilding skills, the industry, and future students.

Oftentimes, things work out all right … better than feared.

Perhaps the anticipation of difficulty, and the fear of making a mistake – or of failure – has a part to play. I suspect that the subconscious mind prepares and plans our next steps, charting a way to succeed.

Then there are conscious thoughts in a sleepless night too!

I left you last time, contemplating the keel rabbet with some trepidation, and its end at the transom in particular. I wasn’t even daring to start thinking about the stem! The angle of the bevel changes along the length of the boat, but this is especially so at the two ends, and more so at the stem!

I decided to tackle the port side first. At each of the moulds, I beveled the hog, such that a plank would lie against the mould. Using a shoulder plane and a scraper with a square blade (enabling me to keep the inner angle of the rabbet at 90 degrees), I worked between the moulds, then headed to the transom.

Here is the finished rabbet at the transom on the port side, with the hog beveled and tapered in a smooth (fair) curve to meet the transom.

With the keel rabbet almost completed, the time finally came to tackle its transition into the stem. The keel rabbet must run smoothly from the keel up and into the previously cut stem rabbet. In doing so, the hog is blended three dimensionally. The width is reduced to fit the 1st mould; the thickness is reduced progressively to blend with the curve of the stem rabbet; and the bevel is adjusted so that the plank can twist from about 80 degrees at the 2nd mould to nearer 30 degrees at the 1st mould and into the stem – it’s a nerve-racking process, so I took it very slowly, gradually, and carefully.

in order for the garboard plank to lie against the first mould, the width of the hog has to be reduced, again with a smooth curve, down to nothing at its forward end,

So, the port side rabbet is completed, subject to any minor adjustments needed when the garboard plank is being fitted. With one down, and one to go, I can turn to the starboard side now – more confident in having done one side already!