Today's milling

[ucoulddoit]

3 hours ago, Mr. Ed said:

Dyou still have the boat Andrew?

 

I sailed thousands of miles in the boat, but sold her over 30 years ago as life was moving on from my schoolboy dreams about boat building and sailing, to being married, and starting a family. No regrets about that though and quite happy these days to be working in my workshop.

 

Are you a boatbuilder as well?

 

Photos below are the finished boat in 1988, plus a few of the building which I did between the ages of 16 to 18 in our back garden. She was a wooden boat, with ½” marine ply on mahogany, teak, pitch pine and keruing framing. Very supportive parents and I was fortunate that my dad had wanted to do the same at a similar age. I’d been given a workbench and a few tools at about 5 years of age, so by 16 was quite proficient at making stuff. But nevertheless, it was a massive undertaking working largely alone on such a big project.

 

 

 

Longest trip on the boat was sailing round Britain aged 21, which took 2 months and singlehanded for 5 weeks of that with no self steering, radio, or much else, which was a great way to develop self reliance and seamanship.  Three years on I sailed around the world on a larger boat. Then as I said, settled down to pursue other dreams. And still dreaming of other things to be doing involving making stuff with wood…….

 

Thanks for your question which brought back great memories of those adventures many years ago.

 

Andrew

[Mick Dempsey]

Great story and pics, thanks.

[Mr. Ed]

Lovely boat Andrew. No boat builder I -

I can barely make a sandwich, but I have owned various wooden boats. Yours looks like a big Silhouette - do you remember who designed her?

[ucoulddoit]

42 minutes ago, Mr. Ed said:

Lovely boat Andrew. No boat builder I -

I can barely make a sandwich, but I have owned various wooden boats. Yours looks like a big Silhouette - do you remember who designed her?

The design is a T24, by Robert Tucker who also designed the Silhouette and many other small ply cruisers for home building. The silhouette was on my short list, but I went for the T24 as it was a bit bigger at 25 feet. My plan was to build a boat and sail singlehanded across the Atlantic, hence the bigger boat. But in fact, I’m pretty sure several Silhouette’s have made trans Atlantic crossings.
 

There was a real boom time for self building small boats in ply through the ‘50’s and 60’s. I bought the plans and started building in 1975. My dad and I had built a Mirror dinghy a few years earlier ( one of 10’s and 10’s of thousands self built in the UK) using the stitch and glue system and that was the inspiration for a bigger boat, longer trips, etc.etc.

 

Andrew

[Mr. Ed]

There was a T24 by Guy Thompson as well, but yours is very Tucker. 

[Mr. Ed]

My parents’ first boat with a lid on was a Silhouette Mark III. The first time I took it out on my own the mast fell off - that was a test of a 12 year old I can tell you. Then we nearly sank it under St John’s Wood (in the Regents Canal Tunnel).  Both events would have been in the early 1970s. Here’s a couple of nice wee woodies we have now

 

[Mr. Ed]

Oh and Dad didn’t build me a Mirror but did lovingly build me a pretty nasty little boat called a Puffin. Designed by the “DIY king” Barry Bucknell as I remember. How I envied the boys with a mirror - but it was done with love. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Mr. Ed

[ucoulddoit]

Those are lovely looking wooden boats. Quite envious! I guess the annual maintenance takes quite a while? That’s partly why I sold mine. Have had a battered fibreglass 12 foot dinghy for the past 27 years which is practical for mackerel fishing and my two lobster pots. Pretty sure it’s a very early fibreglass dinghy from the 1960’s and solidly made, and has survived a lot of abuse since we bought it.

 

Andrew

[Mr. Ed]

We don’t over use them and maintenance isn’t a nightmare. The big boat is a different matter and we’ve neglected it while housebuilding. It’s quite a boat and is wooden but glued and screwed rather than fully traditional so not as big a deal as it might be. Still a big thing. 
 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Mr. Ed

[ucoulddoit]

9 hours ago, Mr. Ed said:

We don’t over use them and maintenance isn’t a nightmare. The big boat is a different matter and we’ve neglected it while housebuilding. It’s quite a boat and is wooden but glued and screwed rather than fully traditional so not as big a deal as it might be. Still a big thing. 
 

 

Lovely looking boat. We went to see the Fife regatta in the Clyde last year and I came away dreaming of owning a traditional rigged boat. Very envious and looks like a nice sailing area. 
 

Andrew