Gartside yawl well underway

The year has started briskly with another new build on the stocks. This lovely 17' yawl is from the pen of Paul Gartside and features in the latest edition of Watercraft magazine http://watercraft-magazine.com/wc_one.html Paul has written an evocative essay on the thinking behind the design, following a subtle, but comprehensive brief from her owner.

The light clinker planking has been tricky to say the least, but what a shape! This looks like being a very slippery boat. Dan Johnson has made a beautiful job of the spars, rudder and centreboard and so much more.

Next will follow the deck..

New boat framed up

We managed to get Cubbage Wood framed before Christmas. There were 98 oak frames which all bent in beautifully - the reward for decent oak. This project can now proceed more slowly whilst the planking stock seasons and we get started on the next project...

Moulds and transom in place

Last week we attached the transom and sat the moulds on the keel. She's starting to look like a boat now. This week, we'll hopefully begin steam bending the oak ribs. Sockets have been cut into the centreline for the heels of 100 frames.

Centreline stood up

Once all the large backbone parts are cut, they can be bolted together. The stem, sternpost and knees are all tennoned into the wood keel, then bolted with high tensile bronze bolts. This photo taken at night shows the backbone assembled for the first time.

Cutting Cubbage wood centreline

The first job now the timber has arrived is to cut out the centreline components. Stem, keel, sternpost, deadwoods and knees. Here, Dan is chiseling the stem rabbet from some lovely oak.

Wooden Bikes 2

Here's a different shot of the first of our wooden bikes - a bit like a wooden boat, this thing feels alive!

Wooden Bikes

We've been discussing the idea of producing handbuilt wooden bikes for a while and the time came to actually build one. The result is astonishing! The first one is a compact single speed roadbike made of ash with a purpleheart centre stripe. It weighs in at 19.5 lbs and goes like a rocket. The ride is like nothing else - stiff, yet somehow compliant with none of the buzz you get from carbon fibre. The next stage will be to adapt the process so we can build them to order. More photos to follow...

Casting the keel

Whilst the timber was being milled, Tim Start nipped off and purchased 2.25 tons of scrap lead which was then delivered. The following day we loaded this into a fabricated steel mould and lit a fire underneath. Slowly we melted just over 2 tons into the shape of the boats ballast keel. Hot and heavy work, but a satisfying result!

Cubbage wood - timber milling

What an exciting day! Martyn Jones came down from Oswestry with his brand new Serra Bavaria sawmill. A totally amazing piece of kit and Martyn and his wife are very much a 'can do' team. We managed to mill all the timber we had felled in one long day. Our hopes that the trees we picked would be good were born out with some of the nicest oak I've ever seen.

Cubbage transom

I got the transom for our 25' ocean cruiser cut out from nice air dried oak. The rest of the timber will be milled soon.