New Year Resolution

This picture is my secret shame.
This lot of wood is a kit boat for a Woods Bee that Alec Jordan cut for me a loooong time ago, which I have failed to even start to build. It should be a rowing/sailing dinghy by now, looking something like this:

Progress of a sort has been made - one of the sheets of exterior grade ply that the kit came packed in were made into the washing-up bowl shaped boat in the front there. As Simbo, she has won me the title of Biggest Bloke in the Smallest Boat 2010.

So I hereby resolve that the kit will be built in 2011.
Although first I have to transform the other packing sheet into a cordless-drill-powered boat for the Water Craft competition at Beale Park (I will use another of Hannu's brilliant designs, Prism).
And then there is this, which will occupy a good deal of my time I hope >>>------->
And there is another building project looming, training for the Great River Race, and I am hoping to cash in on some invitations to go sailing this year as well.
So perhaps 2012 is a more realistic aim.....

St Ayles skiff prototype nears completion

Chris Perkins reports on his final week at Alec Jordan's shop in Fife, working on the prototype St Ayles Skiff:

"My last week on the project was spent cleaning up the inwales, building a temporary cox perch and generally helping fit the furniture and titivating. Each time this stage is reached in a build I am amazed at how much time is absorbed removing material. Work that will never be appreciated by anyone who has not got that particular T shirt but is immediately apparent if it is neglected. The route to a respectable finish always lies in the preparation - a truism that can never be said often enough in my view. The snaps include a couple of high level shots showing the almost structurally completed boat, just the breasthooks to fit at that stage (now done), obtained by some precarious ladder work by Alec in the upper reaches of his workshop. The cox's seat is a temporary affair until the positioning of feet and seats are proven on the water after which the buoyancy compartments will be retrofitted - space is pretty tight and it would be easy to get positioning wrong in a static environment, we really need to see the dynamics of the interaction of the various bodies to establish best position. The week passed all too quickly and my time on the build was over - altogether a fascinating few weeks which has transformed my view of kit boats - I am extremely grateful for Alec's invitation to join in the build which I hugely enjoyed. So much so that I have put my name down for the Ullapool group aiming to build the first West Coast St Ayles Skiff, not sure I have the spine to be an oarsman though. Alec has now started applying the finish, varnished gunnels and thwarts with the rest of the hull painted so it shouldn't be too long before I head down to the other end of Scotland to see how she looks on the water."

Chris - you can do it! The only downside to rowing is that it is as addictive as crack cocaine. There is nothing like being part of a crew on song, and you don't even have to be particularly strong or athletic. And there is the joy of getting fit out on the water, without having to endure the prison ship conditions in the average gym or do your knees in running.

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.

My new boat arrives (in bits)

Unbirthday time at Chateau Partridge - the kit for my Bee arrived this morning!
Alec Jordan has been busy transforming Lillian Woods' plans into computer form, and cutting sheets of ply so I don't have to. Apparently this was not a trivial process as the plans assume a lot of 'fitting to shape' which makes calculating the actual shape of several of the inside panels impossible. But as long as the hull comes out correctly I am confident I can get the rest of the bits together.
Construction starts as soon as the Great River Race is over (Saturday) and Snarleyow is repainted and re-gunwaled and it stops raining. Could be some time...
Eventually, it should look like this: