Clint Chase, Boatbuilder

Clint Chase writes from Portland, Maine, having stumbled on my recent post about his new Drake rowboat:

I just saw Drake on one of your Blog posts. I don't know how I missed that. You've been linked on my website. Great blog, keep it up. How do we cross link our blogs? Mine is www.clintchaseboatbuilder.blogspot.com.

I plan to post more on water and rowing stuff. Also, FYI, I am developing a line of wood-composite oars that I think may be popular. They'll have spruce looms with carbon fiber, epoxy infused blades. Pretty snazzy. More coming on this front.

Also, you mention liking Gartside's work. I love his Flashboat design. Have you rowed one? I am eyeing that boat as a potential one to do in composite if there might be a market here in the States. The kevlar guideboats are a hit, so I don't see why Flashboats wouldn't except that they are from across the pond so may take a little longer to catch on.

Cheers,
Clint Chase

Clint's blog is excellent, and I have linked to it right over there -------->
Wednesday's post is particularly insightful, I think, with a couple of really nice pics too. Clint takes two pairs of oars with him when rowing. One pair is long with wide blades for maximum oomph in flat water, the other shorter with narrow blades for rowing through a chop, especially upwind. They allow a higher stroke rate, and the narrow blades mean you don't need to feather.
I really like Clint's combination wood/carbon fibre oars too.
Carbon fibre shafts bend alarmingly and, frankly, are pig-ugly. But wooden blades are heavy and delicate. So an oar with a lovely varnished spruce shaft and a light but tough carbon fibre blade really appeals. And once the blade is painted the neighbours need never know.
Clint is developing a vacuum infusion process (VIP) for making the blades, in which the carbon fibre mats are held against an inner core in a vacuum bag. The resin is then allowed to enter and is drawn through the carbon fibres by the vacuum, to create a blade with no bubbles and little wasted resin. The result should be an oar with the loveliness and strength of wooden shafts and the lightness and indestructibility of carbon fibre blades. I want a set already...
I have never rowed a flashboat, but they are hugely popular in Cornwall where they are raced with total Cornish aggression. A bit tippy for popular taste, I think, but slippy as hell.
Flashboats arose at a time when race rules were relaxed, allowing boatbuilders to go bonkers in the pursuit of speed. So a kevlar flashboat would be entirely within the flashboat ethos, I feel.

Rowing positions for the St Ayles Skiff

Here is boatbuilder Alec Jordan testing the rowing positions for the St Ayles Skiff, the prototype traditional rowing boat for the Kingdom of Fife.
Getting the distance between the thwarts correct is vital if the boat is to be successfully raced by community crews whose heights may range from quite small to average (6ft 5in). Measuring old boats is little help here as heights have significantly increased since the arrival of proper sustaining food in modern times (hamburgers and pizza).
Boatbuilder Chris Perkins writes: "The trial of seating positions by Alec was very useful - the cox is going to have to be a pretty short lightweight - there is not a great deal of room in the stern but we are now comfortable that the spacing of the thwarts is going to work well."
The only modification of Iain Oughtred's design has been to simplify the inwales. "Some deep thinking is going on during the fitting out to help make this part of the build as easy as possible for novice builders," Chris writes. "We have already partly moved away from Iain's glorious sweeping taper of the inwale, planing that down on all three laminations has proved very time consuming, the twisted grain in larch hasn't helped as deep cuts tend to tear out so fine cuts and very keen plane irons are the order of the day. Our modification does recognise tradition as study of a traditionally built Fair Isle Skiff shows - I just wish I had taken far more snaps of 'Aluna Ivy' at Portsoy this year! If only I had known what I would be getting involved with!"
More details and pics at Chris's blog.

Young boatbuilder's latest launch

There's no disguising the fact that the Home Built Boat Rally forum is populated mainly by the middle-aged, including me, but Peter-John Sanders is the exception. He has been building boats from a very young age and his latest has just hit the water. "The launch went very well and I had a great weekend messing about in it with two friends on the canal," he writes. "It's a Selway Fisher Stornoway 9 design and it rows really nicely. It's going to have a sailing rig, I have finished the mast, daggerboard and rudder, and have nicked the yard and sail from my little green one."
He hopes to bring the boat to an HBBR meet, but it won't be soon because he goes up to university shortly.

HBBR at the Cotswold Water Park

Riverview45 has posted a rather jolly picture on the HBBR Yahoo! forum, showing me setting out in the newly refurbished Snarleyow at the HBBR meet. Dignity, style and baldness.

Drascombes gather at Dell Quay

I got Snarleyow out yesterday, her first outing on Chichester Harbour for months due to the refurb and 'training' for the Great River Race. It was a fabulous day for rowing, sunny, windless and high tide at noon. I put in at Itchenor and ambled up to Fishbourne, impressing myself with the power I can put on after simply going out three times a week instead of twice. Must try and keep it up.
A fleet of Drascombes was milling about at Dell Quay in the light breeze. Eventually they rafted up for lunch, a rather impressive sight. They were the Drascombe Association, a friendly bunch. The skipper of the boat at the front told me his boat was horrible to row, but it looks as though it would be OK with its slim lines and transom well out of the water. I must try one.

St Ayles skiff turned over

The prototype St Ayles Skiff under construction at Jordan Boats has been turned over and looks like a boat. Chris Perkins writes to say that it looked good upside down but has now "achieved a step change in the looks department when seen from a 'proper' perspective for the first time. Iain Oughtred has produced yet another stunning design, I think she is a real beauty."
What really impresses me is the weight - two people are casually holding the 22ft boat in the air. Of course, the thwarts, gunwales, kabes and so on still have to be fitted (Alec has got a pile of larch in) and varnish+paint always seems to add an unexpected amount of weight. Even so, a crew of four plus cox should be able to lift it out of the water with no difficulty at all.
Chris expects next week to be an endless round of sanding and painting (which he secretly enjoys) so anyone who happens to be in the Kirkcaldy area would be welcome to put in a bit of elbow grease. Contact details are here.

HBBR Cotswold Water Park (Tailpiece)

My Chippendale Sprite Snarleyow only made it to Cotswold Water Park by the skin of her varnish. The strip of softwood in the middle of the gunwale had rotted at the ends, so I replaced it and took the opportunity of planing the ends down at bow and stern to make a rather elegant tapered effect. Now I have to put the extra coats of varnish on.

I have never seen a boat carried on an open-top car before. Chris Adeney brought his Selway Fisher Waterman canoe on top of his vintage Morgan. It was a pity he did not bring his Linnet rowing boat as well, as it is towed behind and the whole rig must look very impressive. The boats are even painted the same colour as the car. "That way, you only need one can of paint," Chris says.